David Shlomo Rosen KSG CBE (born 1951) is an English rabbi and interfaith coordinator. He was Chief Rabbi of Ireland (1979–1985) before relocating permanently to Israel in 1985. He currently serves as the American Jewish Committee's International Director of Interreligious Affairs. From 2005 until 2009 he headed the International Jewish Committee for Inter-religious Consultations (IJCIC), the broad-based coalition of Jewish organizations and denominations that represents World Jewry in its relations with other world religions.
Before being appointed Chief Rabbi of Ireland, he was the senior rabbi of the largest Orthodox Jewish congregation in South Africa (the Green and Sea Point Hebrew Congregation, Cape Town) and served as a judge on the Cape Beth Din (rabbinic court). He is also a board member of the Brussels-based organization CEJI - A Jewish Contribution to an Inclusive Europe that promotes a Europe of diversity and respect.
Early life and career
He was born in Newbury, Berkshire, England to Bella and Rabbi Kopul Rosen, founder of Carmel College, a Jewish boarding school for boys in Oxfordshire. He is the brother of Rabbis Jeremy Rosen (b. 1942) and Michael Rosen (21 January 1945 – 8 December 2008). He was ordained as an Orthodox rabbi at Yeshivat Har Etzion in Israel. In August 1973, he relocated to South Africa, where he was a student advisor to the South African Jewish Board of Deputies and the South African Zionist Federation. In March 1975, he succeeded Rabbi Newman, who had made aliyah to Israel, as rabbi of South Africa's largest Jewish congregation, the Marais Road Shul (formally known as the Green & Sea Point Hebrew Congregation) based in Sea Point in Cape Town. In South Africa, he was the youngest practicing rabbi in the country.
He dedicated many sermons on the incompatibility of Judaism and apartheid and attempted to foster a community stance on racial segregation. He was also heavily involved in interfaith activities as the founder and chairman of Cape Inter-Faith Forum, the Council of Jews, Christians and Muslims, later the Cape Town Interfaith Initiative. He also worked with Reform colleagues at Temple Israel to set up a facility in the area to provide cheap meals for vagrants. At a special Republic Day service, he reiterated that religious leaders, particularly Jewish religious leaders, who separated politics from religion failed in their duty. He also refused to attend a function held by the Board of Deputies and the South African Zionist Federation that was honouring Prime Minister Vorster on his return from a visit to Israel in 1976. He received anonymous death threats and the security police tapped his phone. He was supported by most of the congregation, the Cape Jewish Board of Deputies and Rabbi Duschinsky, head of the Beth Din. His work permit was not renewed by the government and he left South Africa after five years in the country.
Interfaith relations
Based in Jerusalem, he also serves on the Chief Rabbinate of Israel's Commission for Interreligious Relations.
He is an international president of Religions for Peace; and serves as the only Jewish representative on the board of directors of the KAICIID Dialogue Centre (interfaith centre) established in 2012 by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia together with the governments of Austria and Spain and the Vatican. He is honorary president of the International Council of Christians and Jews; and serves on the board of World Religious Leaders for the Elijah Interfaith Institute; and the World Council of Religious Leaders. In 2015, he attended a formal interfaith dialogue between Jewish leaders and scholars and their Orthodox Christian counterparts. He called for the Orthodox Christian leadership to called for the Orthodox Christian leaders to issue a statement on the status of the Jewish people; “A doctrinal repudiation that the Jewish people had been rejected by God could have enormous consequences,”. He added that this would go a long way toward eliminating “traditional prejudice” toward Jews.
Awards
In November 2005, Rosen was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great in recognition of his contribution to Jewish-Catholic reconciliation, making him the first Israeli citizen and the first Orthodox rabbi to receive this honour. In the same year he also won the Mount Zion Award for Interreligious Understanding. In December 2006, he received the Raphael Lemkin Human Rights Award from Rabbis for Human Rights – North America for having founded the organization Rabbis for Human Rights. Rosen was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours by Queen Elizabeth II.