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Rabbi Abraham Levy, influential leader among Britain’s Sephardic Jews, dies at 83
(JTA) — British Jews are mourning Rabbi Abraham Levy, who led London’s historic Spanish and Portuguese community for decades, building up multiple institutions serving Sephardic Jews in the process.
Levy died Dec. 24 at age 83, a decade after becoming emeritus spiritual head of the S&P Sephardi Community in London, following a 32-year period serving as the head rabbi.
“He was a man of God. A leader of religious life. And he did it with a great deal of conviction. He was a leader who was courageous and had integrity,” his successor, Rabbi Joseph Dweck, said during a special session held to memorialize Levy during the annual Limmud Festival of Jewish learning in Birmingham, England, which was underway when he died.
Levy had played a role in building the annual festival to its current status when, in its early days in the 1980s, his participation was unusual among Orthodox rabbis. Now, the festival is seen as an exemplar of pluralism.
“It is a huge loss for the whole of Anglo Jewry — he built our collective Judaism,” Dweck said. “He represented the Jewish community with such grace and eloquence. I am not sure how we replace that. When we were not sure what the Spanish and Portuguese custom was there was only one person we would ask — and that was him.”
Born in Gibraltar to an Orthodox family, Levy trained as a rabbi at London’s Jews’ College and also completed a doctorate at London University. He ascended to the top spot in London’s Spanish and Portuguese community in 1980.
During his tenure, Levy was responsible for opening Naima Jewish Preparatory School, the first Sephardi school in London since the early 20th century. He remained until his death the honorary principal of the school, which was located in London’s West End and enrolled a mixture of Anglo-Sephardi Jews, Ashkenazi Jews, and burgeoning numbers of Jews from Iran, Iraq and France in the late 1980s.
Levy is also credited with retaining Orthodox rabbinic ordination in England under the auspices of the Montefiore Endowment, after the body that had ordained him stopped minting new rabbis. He additionally created a leadership program for young Jews whose early graduates included Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Britain’s chief rabbi for 22 decades and a towering figure in contemporary Judaism.
Rabbi Abraham Levy led the S&P Sephardi Community in England for more than three decades. He is seen in prayer after his retirement. (Courtesy of Rabbi Joseph Dweck)
Rabbi Raphael Zarum, a graduate of the Montefiore rabbinic training program who is now dean of the London School of Jewish Studies, said Levy was gifted at integrating religious and secular ideas. There was, Zarum said, “a natural overlap for him… He would say, ‘We Sephardim do our jobs, we are part of the world and we are also close to our faith.’”
Levy took a lead role in Sepharad 92, the effort by the World Sephardi Federation to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Jewish expulsion from Spain and Portugal. His role included meeting heads of state and visiting Sephardic communities in Spain and Portugal.
As a member of England’s Council of Christians and Jews, Levy helped to foster positive relations between the faiths. Queen Elizabeth awarded him the OBE, Britain’s second-highest national award, for his interfaith relations work in 2004.
“Rabbi Levy will be profoundly missed, but his message of tolerance and his work toward interfaith dialogue hold enduring lessons for us all,” King Charles said in a statement. He said Levy had been his host when Charles visited the Bevis Marks Synagogue, the largest associated with the Sephardic community, for its 300th anniversary in 2o01.
“I knew him both as a kind and towering figure in his community and as a greatly respected and admired teacher across communities,” the king said in his statement.
Tributes also poured in from elsewhere in England, from British Jews of all backgrounds and even from the deputy mayor of Jerusalem, Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, who was a cousin. Hassan-Nahoum tweeted that Levy was “a great and proud Sefardi leader — who will be greatly missed.”
“Our community mourns the sad loss of Rabbi Dr Abraham Levy,” said the United Kingdom’s chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, in a statement. He “made his mark well beyond the Sephardi community. A committed rabbinic leader and outstanding scholar, he made a deep impact in interfaith relations and education.”
Levy was buried Dec. 26 in a cemetery in Golders Green, a predominantly Jewish neighborhood of London, after a funeral procession that included stops at the Naima school and the Lauderdale Road Synagogue, also part of the Sephardi community. He is survived by a son and four grandchildren.
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Indonesia Denies Prabowo Visit to Israel, Raising Questions Over Middle East Diplomacy
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto arrives in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, to attend the Gaza peace summit with world leaders. Photo: Screenshot
Indonesia has publicly denied that President Prabowo Subianto will visit Israel this week, contradicting media reports that he would become the first Indonesian head of state to do so and raising questions about Jakarta’s approach to Middle East diplomacy.
On Monday, Foreign Minister Sugiono said there was “no such plan” for Subianto to visit Israel, adding that he will return to Jakarta after attending the Gaza peace summit in Egypt, where leaders signed a US-brokered agreement aimed at ending the two-year conflict between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
Sugiono’s announcement followed media reports suggesting that preparations were underway for a historic visit to Israel, with Subianto potentially arriving on Tuesday or Wednesday
As the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation with no diplomatic ties to Israel, Indonesia would make history if its president were to visit the Jewish state, potentially opening the door to broader regional normalization efforts.
Subianto traveled to Egypt on Monday to join world leaders at the Sharm El Sheikh Peace Summit to discuss the future of Gaza and post-war reconstruction efforts.
“Indonesia is fully committed to promoting peace in the Middle East region,” the Indonesian leader said in a statement.
Hari ini, saya berkunjung ke Republik Arab Mesir untuk menghadiri Konferensi Tingkat Tinggi (KTT) Perdamaian Sharm El-Sheikh. Dalam forum ini, saya akan menyaksikan penandatanganan perjanjian perdamaian dan penghentian perang di Gaza.
Indonesia berkomitmen penuh untuk mendorong… pic.twitter.com/5cfLMV9wBA
— Prabowo Subianto (@prabowo) October 13, 2025
Even though Subianto has advocated for Israel’s right to exist and live in security at the United Nations General Assembly last month, he has also called for the establishment of a Palestinian state — a move that, Israeli officials have warned, would reward terrorism.
Indonesia has also repeatedly condemned Israel on the international stage, falsely accusing the Jewish state of committing genocide during its defensive campaign against Hamas in Gaza.
Last week, the Indonesian government imposed a ban on Israeli athletes from entering the country for an international gymnastics competition, citing protest against the war in Gaza.
Yusril Ihza Mahendra – Indonesia’s minister for law, human rights, and immigration – announced that Israeli athletes will be denied visas to enter Indonesia for the competition.
“The government will not grant visas to Israeli gymnasts who intend to attend the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Jakarta,” Mahendra said on Thursday.
The decision was made following directives from Subianto, who condemned Israel for its military actions in the Gaza Strip during his speech at the UN General Assembly.
In 2023, Indonesia was stripped of hosting rights for the Under-20 World Cup because of protests in the country regarding Israel’s participation in the international soccer competition.
That same year, the ANOC World Beach Games was canceled after Indonesia abruptly pulled out as hosts in protest of Israel’s involvement.
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Kamala Harris on whether Israel committed genocide: ‘We should all step back and ask this question’
Former Vice President Kamala Harris held back from labeling Israel’s actions in Gaza a “genocide” on Sunday but said it was an appropriate question.
“A lot of folks in your party have called what’s happening in Gaza a genocide. Do you agree with that?” correspondent Eugene Daniels asked Harris during an interview on MSNBC’s “The Weekend.”
“Listen, it is a term of law that a court will decide,” Harris responded. “But I will tell you that when you look at the number of children that have been killed, the number of innocent civilians that have been killed, the refusal to give aid and support, we should all step back and ask this question and be honest about it, yeah.”
Several lawmakers, including Vermont’s Jewish Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent, and far-right Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, have described Israel’s conduct in Gaza over the past two years in Gaza as a genocide, but the allegation has not gotten mainstream support in Congress.
Throughout Harris’ book tour for her new memoir, “107 Days,” the former vice president has drawn pro-Palestinian protests who have accused her of being a “war criminal” and of supporting “genocide” in Gaza during her term. She has at times rebuffed the protesters and also given airtime to their concerns.
“I was the first person at the highest level of our United States government or administration to talk about the fact that the people in Gaza were starving,” Harris told protesters at a book event last month, according to the Washington Post.
Later in the interview, Daniels asked Harris whether she agreed that President Donald Trump should be “commended” for his role in brokering the ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel that saw the release of the 20 living hostages on Monday.
“I don’t think we should hold any credit where it’s due,” said Harris. “I really do hope it becomes real and that the hostages are out, that Gaza is no longer being treated with such brutality of force, that aid goes in. I commend the people who have been a part of this process. I commend the Qataris, the Egyptians, and the president.”
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Eurovision Song Contest Organizer Calls Off November Vote on Israel Participation
A logo of the Eurovision Song Contest is seen in front of the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland, May 1, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
Eurovision Song Contest organizers will no longer meet online in November to vote on Israel‘s participation in the competition, following Middle East “developments,” the European Broadcasting Union said on Monday in an apparent reference to the Gaza ceasefire.
Austria had appealed to countries not to boycott next year’s contest – due to be held in Vienna – over Israel‘s participation and concerns about the two-year-old Gaza conflict.
Eurovision, which stresses its political neutrality, has faced controversy this year linked to the war, and several countries had pledged to withdraw from the event if Israel took part.
Austrian national broadcaster, ORF, which will host the 2026 contest, told Reuters it welcomed the EBU’s decision.
On Monday the Hamas Palestinian terrorist group freed the last living Israeli hostages from Gaza and Israel sent home busloads of Palestinian detainees, under a ceasefire deal aimed at bringing an end to the two-year-old war.
“The Board agreed to put the issue on the agenda of its ordinary Winter General Assembly, which will be taking place in December,” instead of the extraordinary meeting which had been slated to take place online in November, an EBU statement said.
It said that following “recent developments in the Middle East” the Executive Board agreed on Monday that there should be an in-person discussion among Members “on the issue of participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026.”
The EBU did not clarify, when asked by Reuters, if a vote on Israeli broadcaster KAN’s participation would still go ahead, and said further details about the session will be shared with EBU Members in the coming weeks.
KAN did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
In September a letter from the EBU’s President said the executive board recognized that it could not reach a consensual position on KAN’s participation in the competition.
“Given that the Union has never faced a divisive situation like this before, the Board agreed that this question merited a broader democratic basis for a decision,” Delphine Ernotte Cunci said in the letter.