ר׳ שלמה הירשל

ר׳ שלמה הירשל (1762–1842) was the London-born rabbi who served from 1802 until his death as rabbi of the Great Synagogue and, in practice, Chief Rabbi of Britain's Ashkenazi communities. He was the son of ר׳ צבי הירש לוין, known in England as Hart Lyon, and a brother of ר׳ שאול ברלין. Taken to continental Europe when his father left London, he was educated in Germany and Poland in Talmud, theology and mathematics. He married at seventeen and later served for nine years as rabbi of Prenzlau. His London birth, scholarship and communal standing led the Great Synagogue to elect him in 1802. Although the appointment formally belonged to one congregation, his authority gradually extended across Ashkenazi communities in Britain and the emerging empire. His tenure strengthened coordination among London congregations, established prayers and orders of service for national occasions, and included the first English sermon by a Chief Rabbi. He supplied religious authority to new communities as distant as Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. Late in life he firmly opposed the West London Synagogue and the emerging Reform movement, a confrontation that sharpened the institutional split in Anglo-Jewry. He died in London on 31 October 1842 and was buried in Brady Street Cemetery.