Rabbis who commit serious crime or sexual abuse should be stripped of their title, according to student rabbi Gabriel Kanter-Webber, who presented his case for "defrocking bad rabbis" to
an audience of 160 in an online session at Limmud. 

The Leo Baeck College student said he was surprised to discover no formal guidance existed to strip rabbis guilty of crimes and abuse and at how rarely it had happened throughout Jewish history. 

He was inspired to explore the idea after the child abuse inquiry into the Catholic Church recommended defrocking religious leaders found guilty of abuse. 

"I was surprised, I think like many others, to discover it wasn't a thing that happened already," he said. 

"I think many just assume it was and I obviously wanted to explore that in a Jewish context."

Research for his MA dissertation discovered that in the history of Judaism only a small number of rabbis – fewer than 20 - have ever been stripped of their title. 

"I think it needs to be an option moving forward for leaders who have committed crimes of abuse. They should not be allowed to keep their titles. It is not fair on the victims and it also sends the wrong message that these figures are somehow trustworthy." 

He said a recent American case where a rabbi was charged with secretly filming women during ritual baths was a prime examples of when the perpetrator should not be allowed to retain the title of "rabbi".  

Rightly or wrongly your "everyday congregant" is likely to trust a figure with a rabbinic title, he said. "You have these people in prison who are still calling themselves rabbi and I don't think that should be allowed.”

As part of his dissertation he is proposing an amendment to the recently published code of conduct by the Joint Ethics Committee of Reform and Liberal Rabbis that would see it possible to strip leaders of their titles.

The code itself was developed to present a clear set of practices and processes to protect members, employees and clergy.

Mr Kanter-Webber said: "I would love to see my amendment adopted as it is an issue that is not going to go away."

While he was pursuing the idea in the context of Progressive movements, he thought other religious streams could adapt it to fit their own frameworks.

"I am only envisaging it being used in the contexts of serious crimes and cases of sexual abuse." he said. 

While congregants were more likely to expect that something like this existed already, he said, "Rabbis have this idea that once a rabbi always a rabbi so for them it is a concept that will be harder to relate to."