Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis takes us behind the scenes of Prince William’s visit to Israel

S even decades after British forces left what was then called Palestine, Prince William’s visit last week ended a de facto boycott of Israel by the British royal family.

But just as unusual as the trip itself was the fact that Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis accompanied the prince as part of the delegation. With British diplomats brunching on the terrace outside, I sat down with Chief Rabbi Mirvis at the King David Hotel, where the British Empire of old lives on, to hear the inside story of this historic visit.

I don’t remember the last time a royal was accompanied by an imam to Saudi Arabia, and yet here you are as chief rabbi accompanying Prince William to Israel. What is the meaning of this unusual joint journey?

That’s a good question, because the fact that I’m a part of the official delegation of Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, is a statement. It speaks volumes about the very strong connection between the Jewish community and the royal family and the recognition of our connection with the State of Israel.

Kensington Palace [official residence of Prince William] invited me to be part of the duke’s delegation, and they were very sensitive to our requirements. They bent over backwards with the tiniest details to ensure that everything they were doing would be appropriate.

Can you give an example of that sensitivity?

I think they are aware that this is a country in which there is a strong religious tone. I’ll give you an example. When we went to the Yad Vashem memorial hall for the laying of the wreath ceremony, a key aide to Prince William said to me, “I’m very thirsty, can I drink some water here?”

I said, “Thank you so much for asking. In the cemetery, the answer would be no. But over here, it is in order.”

He said, “Thank you very much. I just wanted to do the right thing.”

So that’s an example of how they are so tuned in to respecting sensitivities.

I understand you gave him a kippah with a Hebrew inscription on it. Why did you choose this gift?

Prince Charles has his own personal kippah that he wore to my induction ceremony, with a royal insignia on it. He wears it with pride at Jewish events. Prince William needed a kippah for this visit, and so that’s something that our office liaised with him about. He was very particular about his kippah, you know, it should look right, et cetera. Eventually, once he had indicated the type he wanted, it was a personal gift from me to him. Inscribed on it is a pasuk that we chose from Yeshayahu [2:3]: “Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mount, to the house of the G-d of Jacob... for out of Zion shall the Torah come forth, and the word of the L-rd from Jerusalem.” Which is the purpose of this visit, with the aspiration of peace. Please G-d one day he will wear it as king of England.

Prince William is third in line to the throne, and by extension, to head the Church of England. So for him there must be a strong religious dimension. Did he say anything to you about visiting the Holy Land?

Yes. The sanctity of the land is an integral part of his consciousness, and he is very mindful of that. I think my presence with him underscored that point.

Also, the burial site of his great-grandmother, Princess Alice, is in Jerusalem. You know, I was with him in his suite this morning, and he pointed to the view of Jerusalem out of the window and said, “Isn’t this the most glorious sight?”

You were in Yad Vashem with Prince William. Did you get a sense of what struck him?

I’ve taken many dignitaries on trips that are Holocaust-linked, including accompanying the queen on her visit to the Belsen concentration camps. What I can tell you is that for Prince William, it’s absolutely genuine. I absolutely can say he feels it. He’s touched by it, he feels the responsibility.

His visit to Yad Vashem was not his first encounter of this kind. A year ago, in July, he visited the Stutthof concentration camp [in Poland]. He and I had a conversation beforehand. He explained to me that he and Princess Catherine were going to be visiting the concentration camp in order to send a message not just to all of society, but particularly to his generation, younger people, who have not witnessed an era of such destruction of human life. After his visit, he wrote a letter to me with the same messaging, taking it upon himself to be that torchbearer. And that was again his message yesterday.

In fact, what’s interesting about Yad Vashem is that he did it in one and a quarter hours, but he didn’t want to. At every stage he had questions, he was asking more, and they had to rush him forward. And just before he stepped into his car he said to me, “I wish I could have stayed the entire day here and done nothing else.”

This was meant to be an apolitical visit, but did you manage to convey anything to him about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict?

Prince William spent three entire days here. He [met] with senior Palestinian officials. No doubt he is hearing from them whatever it is they wish to say to him. He met with President Rivlin yesterday, and Prime Minister Netanyahu. So while this is a visit of goodwill, highlighting the connection between the two countries, obviously, you hear about the politics of the situation, and he’s getting many messages. Thankfully, within this visit, he has seen so many outstanding elements of Israeli society, and my hope is that he will take those messages with him and he will reflect them in everything he does and says in the future.

While I’m sitting with you here, I have to ask you about the threat to chinuch in the UK. We’ve all heard the latest reports of the Department for Education inspection to a chassidish school in London and their inappropriate questions for Jewish girls. As chief rabbi, what is your strategy for dealing with this new reality?

We are living in a new world in which secularism is being embraced. British society’s origin is a religious one. The head of the state is the head of the church. That is how the nation is defined.

We have entered into an era in which there has been a growth of an atheist secularist approach. And you can see that there is a humanist drive, a secularist drive, to remove faith from the public square and to guarantee that Britain will not be built on the principles of faith, but rather on different ethics, different values.

At a government level, in terms of those sitting around the cabinet table, there is an enormous amount of respect for faith. [Prime Minister] Theresa May attends church every Sunday. She is a religious person. The Secretary of Education, Damian Hinds, is a friend. However, if you look at the Department for Education, the approach seems influenced by a secularist agenda, and that is being reflected in the implementation of policies by [the education inspectors of] Ofsted. And as a result, there is a threat to our traditional chinuch.

I myself am ceaselessly involved in making connections and meeting with key decision makers at the highest level,  because there can be nothing more important than the education of our children. Many of our schools do not have a major problem, and there are some of our schools that do have a problem. Im yirtzeh Hashem we will find a way forward.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 717)