UK Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis
UK Chief Rabbi Ephraim MirvisOffice of the Chief Rabbi

Rabbi Doctor Yehuda Leib (Lionel) Mirvis, father of British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis has passed away.

The funeral is scheduled for 17:00 at the Sanhedria funeral home in Jerusalem with internment to follow on the Mount of Olives.

The senior Rabbi Mirvis is survived by his wife, Raisel (his first wife, Freda, passes away over 30 years ago) and his children, UK Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis (London); Dr Jonathan Mirvis (Israel); Lynette Silverman (London); and Howard Mirvis (Israel).

He had two sisters, Dorothy Mandelzweig, and the late Berenice Slasky.

He leaves 14 surviving grandchildren, and 48 great-grandchildren.

The late Rabbi Mirvis was the Rabbi of the Claremont and the Wynberg Hebrew Congregations in Cape Town. He also served as Rabbi in Benoni.

Mirvis preached against the apartheid system, and visited political prisoners held on Robben Island.

The late Rabbi Mirvis' father, Lazar Mirvis, was a Jewish Minister in Johannesburg.