Remembering Rabbi Raymond Apple, a special man of many pursuits

The 30-day mourning period for Rabbi Raymond Apple, who passed away on Friday night, January 19, comes to an end on the evening of Sunday, February 18, and during the day on Monday, February 19.

According to Jewish tradition, there is something special about people who die on Shabbat.

Indeed, there was something special about Raymond Apple. He was one of the very few native-born Australians to be ordained as a rabbi and to be appointed as the spiritual leader of a major synagogue congregation.

Apple's life and pursuits

Before settling in Jerusalem with his wife Marian, Apple, who was born in Melbourne, Victoria in December 1935, was the senior Rabbi of the Sydney Great Synagogue between 1972 and 2005. Before that, he had served London congregations in Bayswater and Hampstead.

He was a man of many interests, involvements, and achievements.

Before studying for the rabbinate at Jews College, London, he was an educator working with the United Jewish Education Board, where he introduced Jewish studies by correspondence for children and adults living in outlying areas of Australia and New Zealand.

Over the years, before and after he qualified as a rabbi, he earned various academic qualifications, including degrees in Law, English Literature, and Arts, amongst others.

He was a keen historian and a leading member of the Australian Jewish Historical Society and the Jewish Historical Society of England, and later of its Jerusalem branch.

Multiple dedications throughout his life

He was also an army and police chaplain, a Free Mason, a university lecturer, a judge on the Sydney Beth Din (Religious Court), the Chief Rabbi’s Cabinet, and served as religious director of the Association for Jewish Youth, director of Jewish Chaplaincy at British Universities, chairman of the Jewish Marriage Council, and president of the Union of Anglo-Jewish Preachers.

He was also an active figure in promoting interfaith dialogue.

A prolific writer of books and essays, Apple also contributed from time to time to The Jerusalem Post and its flagship magazine, The Jerusalem Report.

This is just a small example of his community, educational, and rabbinical involvements.

Life in Israel

After relocating to Jerusalem, he was consistently invited by the Australian Embassy to be the Jewish religious representative at the annual Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) Day and Battle of Beersheba ceremonies at Commonwealth War Graves cemeteries in Jerusalem and Beersheba, and after the official program in each, led memorial services at the gravesides of Jewish soldiers who had fallen in battle during World War I.

In Israel, he was also a lecturer at Ohr Torah Stone’s Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and also served as president of the Israel Region of the Rabbinical Council of America.

In both the UK and Australia, he held executive positions, usually president or chairman, of the many organizations with which he was affiliated.

In 1995, while still in Australia, he launched his Oz Torah commentary on the weekly Torah Portion, which he continued after leaving the Island continent and moving to the Jewish homeland. The name Oz Torah is a wordplay linking the place of his birth and his final resting place. Oz is the colloquial name by which Australians refer to their country, and Oz in Hebrew means power or strength.

In addition to his wife Marian, to whom he was married for 63 years, he is survived by his sons Shmuel and Benseon, his daughters Riva and Adina, 20 grandchildren, and 27 great-grandchildren.

Because Torah commentary never becomes stale, his family has continued to re-post Oz Torah to the many people around the globe who have been receiving it for so many years.