ByJonathan Kalmus, Jonathan Kalmus
Prestwich Hebrew Congregation has selected a new rabbi after a year without a minister.
Dovid Eisenberg, the New York-born son of Austria's Chief Rabbi, was selected following pulpit auditions for the four candidates.
It will be the first ministerial position for the 29-year-old, who studied in yeshivot in America and Israel before coming to Whitefield kollel in Manchester three years ago.
Rabbi Eisenberg holds a degree in Talmudic law as well as a masters in business from Bar-Ilan University.
He will work as a team with his wife Miriam, who is from a Manchester family.
"I'd like to make people come to shul during the week," he said, "not just on Shabbat for two hours. That's my vision."
The synagogue's Clive Moss-Barclay, who assisted in the selection process, said the post will only formally be offered in July after being rubber-stamped by the shul council and an EGM
Describing Rabbi Eisenberg as "a very competent individual", he added: "Although this will be his first pulpit, we are confident he won hearts and minds of members when he spoke [at the auditions]."