ר׳ סיריל קיצ׳נר האריס

ר׳ סיריל קיצ׳נר האריס (1936–2005) was a Scottish-born British rabbi who served as chief rabbi of the Union of Orthodox Synagogues of South Africa from 1987 to 2004. Educated and ordained at Jews’ College in London, he served British congregations and as senior Jewish chaplain to the British Armed Forces before leading St John’s Wood Synagogue. In South Africa he guided an anxious Jewish community through apartheid’s final years and the transition to multiracial democracy. He publicly supported full democracy, worked with Nelson Mandela, offered a prayer at Mandela’s 1994 presidential inauguration and blessed Mandela’s 1998 marriage to Graça Machel. He and his wife Ann helped establish African Jewish humanitarian initiatives, including what became Afrika Tikkun. His leadership joined Orthodox communal consolidation with public advocacy for reconciliation, social responsibility and Israel. After retiring in 2004, he died the following year in Hermanus and was buried in Jerusalem.