The German-born British rabbi Chanoch Ehrentreu, who has died aged 89, was one of the leading Talmudists of the post-war era. For many years he headed the London Beth Din, the UK’s Orthodox religious court, serving the United Synagogue community.

He guided the Chief Rabbis of his time, notably Immanuel Jakobovits and Jonathan Sacks, on practical daily rulings from conversion to kashrut and general family matters.
He presided over the Beth Din’s arbitration panel, which considered civil disputes between Jews.

Although small of stature, the immaculately dressed Dayan Ehrentreu was said to be blessed with star quality. Everyone, from the most scholarly Talmudist to the secular thinker, could derive knowledge from his deep learning.

Most recently he taught at Beis Yisroel, the synagogue he founded in Hendon, and inspired two new kollels (scholarly gatherings) dedicated to adult Torah education in Edgware and Borehamwood.

Ehrentreu was noted for his compassionate approach. There are apocryphal stories that testify to his generous character. In an incident of almost biblical significance, he heard that a pregnant, secular Israeli woman being held in Strangeways prison wanted her baby son circumcised according to Jewish law. The Dayan went there and performed the ritual.

Two decades later, the same woman arrived on his doorstep accompanied by a 21-year-old religiously dressed man; her son.

She had not forgotten the mitzvah he had performed and wanted to thank Ehrentreu in person for returning her to the religious fold. Another time Ehrentreu fed an anorexic young woman, who had been given up by doctors, every day for five months till she recovered.

He was one of the first Orthodox figures to campaign for communal training in safeguarding for victims of domestic violence: he notably rejected any idea of covering up to protect the community’s reputation.

Ever patriotic, the Dayan insisted that Jews must obey the laws of their country, consistent with the Talmudic concept, Dina d’Malchuta Dina.

One of the Cohenim, or priestly class, Chanoch was born in Frankfurt am Maim into a distinguished rabbinic dynasty whose line dated back to biblical times.

His grandfather, also Chanoch, was Rabbi of the Orthodox community of Munich; burned into young Chanoch’s five-year-old memory was the burning of Torah scrolls by the Nazis on Kristallnacht in 1938.

He was sent to Britain on Kindertransport and educated at Amersham Grammar School, followed by Gateshead Jewish Boarding School, prior to entering the Gateshead Talmudical College.

The college differed essentially from the German Orthodox tradition familiar to Ehrentreu’s family, in that it rejected any form of secular higher education. Ehrentreu brought both worlds together in his own eclectic way, inspired by the confidence he gained in his early days at a non-Jewish school.

His time at Gateshead kollel was followed by his role as founding head of Sunderland Kollel in 1962. In 1979, he was invited to head the Manchester Beth Din, considered the most important centre of Orthodox life after London.There he raised standards in a hands-on way and could be seen personally inspecting slaughterhouses prior to morning prayers.

It was the same with Jewish burial societies; he put the task of caring for bodies before buriel squarely on the shoulders of those who knew and cared about the deceased.
He married Rachel (Ruchie) Sternbuch in 1955; she also boasted a long dynastic line, descended from the 18th-century Vilna Gaon, and brought to her role as rebbetzin an almost equal flair and energy.

They had three daughters and two sons, one of whom predeceased him. Ehrentreu had a phenomenal memory; he could remember the names of everyone he met and their personal circumstances. This gave him an edge within the wider community who discovered in him a scholar with a humane touch.

In a personal tribute, Rabbi Dr Yaakov Pearlman, Chief Rabbi Emeritus of the Republic of Ireland, writes: “As a young lad growing up in Manchester, England and attending Manchester Yeshiva in the 1950s, I met the young Chanoch Ehrentreu on several occasions. He would travel to Manchester to visit his brother, Rav Meir Tzvi and the Rosh HaYeshiva, Rav Yehudah Zev Segal. Even at that young age, Chanoch was recognised as a brilliant Talmid Chacham.

“During my tenure as Chief Rabbi of the Republic of Ireland from 2001 to 2008, my connections to Dayan Ehrentreu became more frequent.

"We collaborated and worked together on several crucial issues concerning my Irish Jewish community, including governmental challenges to shechitah, bris milah, and kashrut. I often invited the Dayan to Dublin both as a guest speaker and as an active participant in religious proceedings, including adjudicating many communal affairs, conversions, and divorces. He always responded to our requests for his guidance in these matters.

“In addition to his duties as a Dayan, he also felt strongly about promoting the study of Torah in K’lal Yisroel, and he personally established Kollelim.

“In his role as Communal Rabbi, Dayan Ehrentreu demonstrated his unwavering adherence to strict Orthodoxy and Torah values, and was vocal against all other so-called strands of Judaism, including the Progressive, Reform, and Conservative movements.

“I also met Dayan Ehrentreu at Conferences of European Rabbis, at which events he was regarded as the Ari Shebechaburah, (literally the lion or leader of the group.)

“On a more personal note, Dayan Ehrentreu was unique in many ways. He was very approachable, modest, and caring, and projected a friendly demeanor, while also known as a great Rabbinic leader.”

In 1984, Immanuel Jakobovits invited Ehrentreu to head the London Beth Din. It came at a time when there were huge halachic implications in the field of the latest medical developments, such as IVF treatment for infertility.

It was a deeply ethical challenge to both men; since Jakobovits was also engaged in the field of medical ethics.

The questions they pondered, for example, was the status of eggs from a Jewish woman incubated in the womb of a non-Jewish surrogate, or vice versa. The dilemma hinged on Judaism deriving from the matrilineal line.

As head of the London Beth Din he was noted for practical steps, such as his creation of an eruv, which allowed Orthodox Jews to behave normally on Shabbat, including carrying items or pushing buggies and wheelchairs.

He was probably the only figure in post Holocaust Europe who could bring the eruv into its accepted position today.

Yet for Ehrentreu there was only one Judaism: Orthodoxy. Sanguine about meeting Pope John Paul II on his visit to Manchester in 1982, he pulled out on learning that Reform clergy would also be there.

He considered the Progressive movement “pseudo-Judaism”. It also lay behind his reasoning not to attend the annual Limmud festival, which he urged Orthodox rabbis not to attend.

In 2003 he revived the bitter 1960s controversy around Rabbi Louis Jacobs when the future Masorti leader was denied his chance of becoming Chief Rabbi because of his belief, expressed in his seminal book We Have Reason to Believe, that Revelation is an evolving process and was not purely dictated by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. Backed by Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Ehrentreu ruled Jacobs could not be called up to the Torah during a service in Bournemouth Synagogue.

But Sacks, himself, did not escape the Dayan’s censure. Earlier a phrase in Sacks’ book The Dignity of Difference: How To Avoid The Clash of Civilisations, published to coincide with the first anniversary of 9/11, stated that the major world religions were moving towards the same goal.

Ehrentreu felt this relativised Judaism. Sacks offered his resignation, which the Dayan rejected. He suggested instead a new edition stating that the phrase was simply the view of other religions (and not that of the Chief Rabbi). Sacks complied and survived.

Ehrentreu retired from the London Beth Din in 2008 and devoted much time to the role of Chief Justice of the Conference of European Rabbis.

In 2018, Ehrentreu went to Berlin to receive the Bundesverdienstkreuz, the Federal Republic of Germany’s highest award, for his service to the Jewish community of Germany. Ehrentreu died on his 67th wedding anniversary.

He is succeeded as Rabbi of Beis Yisroel in Hendon by his son-in-law, the distinguished Halachist Dayan Dovid Dunner.
Gloria tessler

Dayan Chanoch Ehrentreu: born December 27, 1932. Died November 24, 2022