Jonathan Romain

The Rabbi Dr Jonathan Anidjar Romain MBE (born Hampstead, London, England, 24 August 1954) is a writer and broadcaster and minister of Maidenhead Synagogue in Berkshire, England. He has a PhD in the history of British Jewry. He writes for The Times, The Independent,The Guardian, The Huffington Post, and The Jewish Chronicle and appears on radio and television.

Romain has been full-time rabbi at Maidenhead Synagogue since 1980.

From 2007 to 2009, he chaired the Movement for Reform Judaism's Assembly of Rabbis. Since January 2015 he has chaired the Movement's Beth Din.

For several years he was one of the judges for both The Times Preacher of the Year competition and the BBC's Frank Gillard Awards for religious programmes.

He is chaplain to the Jewish Police Association, and chairs the Accord Coalition, which he helped found as an alliance of religious and non-religious groups committed to campaigning against religious discrimination in state-funded faith schools.

In November 2012 he established Inter-faith leaders for Dignity in Dying (IFDiD), an inter-faith group of clergy, now numbering 50 leaders of many religious affiliations who support the aims of Dignity in Dying. The group calls for a change in the law that would allow terminally ill, mentally competent adults the choice of an assisted death.

In July 2014 he welcomed Lord Carey's support for the Assisted Dying Bill, describing the former Archbishop of Canterbury's intervention in the debate as "a breath of fresh air" and saying that Carey's change of view on the issue showed "it is possible to be both religious and in favour of assisted dying".

In 2013 he launched a campaign for recognition of Judaism in China.

His perspective on same-sex marriage is that marriage should be open to all. He argues that "anyone who takes sacred religious texts literally needs to move on with the times... The Bible is not the literal word of God, but the inspiration of God, as perceived by people of that era and subject to the limitations of the period. It therefore has to constantly adapt according to new knowledge and new insights."

He supports the legalisation of brothels, referring to Genesis and pointing out that "it is not for nothing that it [prostitution] is known as the oldest profession", adding: "It may be more messianic to want to end the sex trade altogether, but perhaps it is more religious to seek to channel it safely."

In 2014, on the issue of women becoming bishops in the Church of England he was quoted as saying: "Women have long been accepted as rabbis and have gone on to occupy positions of religious authority in both major synagogues and Jewish institutions. Those who thought Judaism would collapse when this happened have been proved resoundingly wrong and I am sure the same will be found in the Church."

In 2003, he was appointed MBE for his pioneering work in helping mixed-faith couples nationally, a theme covered in his book Till Faith Us Do Part (HarperCollins).

He is married to Sybil Sheridan, Rabbi of the West London Synagogue and former Chair of the Assembly of Reform Rabbis. They have four adult sons together.

Books

• Signs and Wonders: a new method of teaching Hebrew, Michael Goulston Educational Foundation (1985; New edition 1992) ISBN 0907372023 ISBN 978-0907372028
• The Jews of England, Jewish Chronicle Publications (1988) ISBN 978-0-907372-04-2
• Faith and Practice: A Guide to Reform Judaism Today, Reform Synagogues of Great Britain (1991) ISBN 9780947884086
• (with Anne Kershen) Tradition and Change: A History of Reform Judaism in Britain 1840–1995, Reform Synagogues of Great Britain (1995) ISBN 0853033161 (hardback) ISBN 085303298X (paperback)
• Till Faith Us Do Part: Couples Who Fall in Love Across the Religious Divide, HarperCollins (1996) ISBN 0006279252
• Renewing the Vision, SCM Press (1996) ISBN 0334026571
• Your God Shall Be My God: religious conversion in Britain today, SCM Press (2000) ISBN 0334028094 ISBN 978-0334028093
• Reform Judaism and Modernity: A Reader, a survey of Reform theology, SCM Press (2004) ISBN 0334029481 ISBN 978-0334029489
• God, Doubt and Dawkins, Movement for Reform Judaism (2008) ISBN 978-0947884-17-8
• Really Useful Prayers, Movement for Reform Judaism (2009) ISBN 978-0-947884-20-8
• Great Reform Lives, Movement for Reform Judaism (2010) ISBN 978-0947884215
• A Passion for Judaism, Movement for Reform Judaism, (2011) ISBN 978-0947884222
• Royal Jews: A Thousand Years of Jewish Life in and Around the Royal County of Berkshire, Grenfell Publishing (2013) ISBN 978-0957698604
• (as editor) Assisted Dying – Rabbinic Responses, Movement for Reform Judaism (2014) ISBN 978-0947884246

Newspaper articles

• Contributions to The Guardian
• Contributions to The Huffington Post

• "New book 'Assisted Dying – Rabbinic Responses'". News and press. Movement for Reform Judaism. 27 May 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2015. 
• "A Debate on Assisted Dying". Events. Liberal Jewish Synagogue. 24 April 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2015.