During decades of devoted service to the South London synagogue, Rabbi Philip Ginsbury, who has died aged 87, was also a popular and respected lecturer at Jews College and Jewish chaplain to Brixton Prison.
He served as vice-chair of the United Synagogue’s Rabbinic Council for a number of years, and was active in interfaith relations in South London.
Philip Ginsbury was the son of Alec (Zelig) and Beatrice Ginsbury (née Wolman), each of whose parents had immigrated to the United Kingdom from the Czarist Russian empire in the 1880s.
During and after the Second World War the family lived in Slough, where there was a Jewish community both in the immediate vicinity, and in neighbouring Windsor.
They relocated to Ilford prior to Philip’s barmitzvah.
As a young man Philip was known for his good nature and intelligence. He excelled academically, and was awarded a scholarship to the prestigious Ilford County High School.
Daniel Ginsbury (Photo: Handout)
Throughout his teenage years his desire to advance constantly in his religious learning and observance and to share his knowledge with others, were evident. On being awarded a state scholarship for his university studies he elected to attend Jews’ College, to train for and enter the rabbinate.
Philip formed many lifelong friendships at Jews College. He insisted on maintaining the integrity of halachic standards: this required him to challenge some accepted compromises in various United Synagogue communities during his student years, to the initial consternation, but with the eventual acquiescence of the senior leadership of the time. Philip also studied at Yeshivat Merkaz Harav in Israel.
His semicha was awarded by Chief Rabbi Sir Israel Brodie, Jews’ College Principal Dr Isidore Epstein, Sephardi Haham Dr Solomon Gaon, and the renowned Talmudical scholar, Rabbi Koppel Kahana.
The formal semicha certificate was accompanied by a handwritten note from Rabbi Kahana, commending his intellect, diligence, refined personality traits and halachic knowledge.
Due to his characteristic humility, that note was only discovered by Rabbi Ginsbury’s family many decades later.
Philip Ginsbury‘s first pulpit position, in his early 20s, was at Streatham synagogue, South West London.
In 1966, he became minister of the much larger, adjoining Brixton community, previously led by Dayan Myer Steinberg, and before him, by Rabbi (later Dayan) Morris Swift.
Philip Ginsbury (right) (Photo: Handout)
Rabbi Ginsbury continued living locally after his retirement, delivering the weekly Talmud shiur, whose participants celebrated its diamond jubilee with him at the same time as that of the late Queen Elizabeth II, and assisting the synagogue in various other roles, until 2018.
He lectured at Jews College from the mid-1980s, in Bible studies and associated rabbinic commentaries, and edited the College’s journal, Le-ela.
At this time he was also Jewish chaplain to Brixton Prison, and an authoritative and caring mentor to his younger colleagues, both informally, in the South London area, and in a formal role, for the wider United Synagogue rabbinate, via the P’eir programme, which provides training, support and networking opportunities for its Rabbis.
He spent several years as vice-chair of the United Synagogue’s Rabbinic Council, and spearheaded educational initiatives, including the United Synagogue’s Prelude to Pesach presentation at Friends’ House, Euston, in the early 1970s, and regular inter-synagogue quiz evenings .
Keenly involved in interfaith relations in South London, Rabbi Ginsbury became a treasured local figure among Jews and non-Jews alike.
In 2005, he published a work on Jewish history, co-authored with his close friend Raphael Cutler, entitled, Phases of Jewish History, and later re-titled Tragedy and Triumph, with the endorsements of Sir Martin Gilbert, and Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks.
Rabbi Ginsbury passed away peacefully after some three years of declining health, during which time he and his family were constantly appreciative of the first-class standard of care and kindness at the Schonfeld Square complex, in Stamford Hill, to which he had relocated.
He is survived by his three children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren Many tributes were received acknowledging Rabbi Ginsbury’s unwavering commitment to Orthodox Judaism, his constant kindness, conscientiousness and humility.
Rabbi Philip Ginsbury: born March 26, 1936. Died June 20, 2023
