Rabbi Tann sadly passed away on the 12th November
2007.
Rabbi Leonard Tann will be remembered for his great
sense of humour, working with various groups and
his interfaith work.
He was awarded a Doctor of Letters (DLitt) on 13
July 2005 in recognition of his inter-faith work
in Birmingham.
For almost 19 years Rabbi Leonard Tann held the
position of Chief Minister at the Singers Hill Synagogue
in Birmingham. During this time the Rabbi has been
involved with many church groups and faith leaders
within the City to pursue his passion for inter-faith
work.
The day after the terrorist attacks in the US on
September 11, Rabbi Tann visited the Birmingham
Central Mosque to visit it's leaders as a pledge
of solidarity in response to the verbal attacks
and daubing it had received. Other faith leaders
came as well – thus forming the Faith Leaders
Group, which now has regular meetings.
As well as his work with other denominations Rabbi
Tann enjoyed representing his congregation through
his involvement with various charities around Birmingham
and has studied part-time since 1997 to gain his
MA in Biblical Studies. Rabbi Tann was married to
Irene and had one son, Roger.
The community mourn his loss.
Memorial by Ed Doolan, MBE
RABBI LEONARD TANN -- MY FRIEND.
It was a strange friendship -- or was it? I am not
a religious person, yet we would spend much time
on the phone, or at either home, throwing ideas
around, getting deep into motivational matters and
human nature.
Perhaps it was the show-biz thing. Leonard was a
great "stand-up". Not just comedy on a
stage, but light and shade in the pulpit, at a meeting,
at a gathering or simply breaking the ice. Exchanging
humorous emails was almost a hobby with our Rabbi,
as many of you will know.
But his sincerity and his deeply caring nature will
also be remembered. His feelings for all the community,
Jewish and otherwise, are legendary. For the past
few years when it has been my honour to switch on
the memorial lights at St Mary's Hospice, Leonard
has been there, not speaking but comforting and
helping where he could. His work with the Christian
community, his training of Catholic Priests, his
friendship with the Archbishop of York, his work
with the media, his most recent wish to increase
our knowledge of the Dead Sea Scrolls -- he was
everywhere. Those of you at the funeral will recall
the Shul full of religious leaders, all genuinely
mourning our Rabbi. Mr Rashid from the Central Mosque
summed it up thus --- "I have lost a very dear
friend, and so have the Muslims. And we can do with
all the friends we can get. There will be prayers
said for Rabbi Tann at the Mosque on Friday."
He never forgot a birthday or an anniversary. He
would bring the card around to the house. On one
such occasion some cousins from London were paying
a visit. For our Rabbi to just "drop in"
made a huge impression.
We all have our own memories of this wonderful man
who is so enormously missed. But my final thought
returns to his sense of humour. Leonard would have
fallen about and laughed until the tears flowed
at the Birmingham Post coverage of his passing.
On the Tuesday they headlined "RABI" Tann.
Richard Johnson spoke to the Post and corrected
it from "RABI" to "RABBI". Next
morning they covered the funeral and compounded
the confusion. "RABBI LIONEL TANN" they
shrieked. So did I. And so would have Leonard.
I do miss him.
ED DOOLAN MBE
A Memorial by Father Mark Crisp
Rabbi Tann
At 6:30 Tuesday Morning 13th November I came
out of the shower and noticed that someone had
been trying to ring me on my mobile. To my complete
surprise I saw it was the Archbishop's number.
The Archbishop rarely phones me on my mobile and
certainly not at that time of the morning! I realised
it must be something extremely important and phoned
him back immediately and it was then that I heard
the tragic news of the loss of one of our finest
friends, Rabbi Leonard Tann.
I first met Rabbi Tann in 2002 at the 150th Celebrations
of the Restoration of the Catholic Hierarchy of
England and Wales. At the reception I ended up
sitting on the same table as him and soon I discovered
what a charming and entertaining man he was. In
2003 when we realised we were loosing our Hebrew
teacher at Oscott, I remembered Rabbi Tann and
wondered if he would be willing to help us. Our
students are not taught much Hebrew within their
course here at Oscott but it is essential that
they have an understanding of the language to
be able to appreciate the Scriptures. I was overjoyed,
therefore, when he enthusiastically agreed because
I knew he would not only teach our students but
he would also inspire them with a love of God's
Holy Texts.
There then followed four very happy and blessed
years. Of course the most significant event was
when we asked his opinion of a scroll that we
had discovered in our library. This turned out
to be a scroll of far greater value than we could
ever have imagined, it was an authentic Sefer
Torah. It was a great joy for us to present this
to the Singers Hill Congregation at a great celebration
in the presence of the Archbishop of Birmingham
on March 16th 2004.
Whenever Rabbi Tann arrived in the building he
always had a good joke share with us. For instance;
"A Jewish man was sat in a bar with his friend
and told him how his credit card had been stolen,
his friend asked if he'd reported it to the police,
to which the man replied, 'No I haven't, the thief
is spending less than my wife'"
We shall miss him in our staff common room where
he would sit and entertain us briefly and then
rush off saying; "it's time to teach 'my
boys'" (how he always referred to his students).
We have very many happy memories of his time with
us and I asked some of our students to write a
couple of lines about what he meant for them.
Their comments reveal the great dedication and
love which he gave to his work here.
"In teaching us Hebrew at Oscott College,
Rabbi Tann always said he wanted to share the
culture with us as much as the language, and that
he certainly did. He gave many wonderful insights
into the Jewish understanding of God, the world,
relationships and all the big issues of life.
But most of all he bore witness to what interfaith
dialogue, and all relationships, are meant to
be about - love. For Rabbi Tann, love of everyone
he met seemed to be the beginning and end of everything
he did, an expression of his love for God. He
was a generous, loving man who will be sorely
missed, and I pray that he is now sharing fully
in the love of his Lord."
"Rabbi Tann was a genuine man with great
humour and humility and he gave me a profound
insight into Jewish faith and life. Given his
premature death, it was ironic that the Hebrew
texts he taught us were about how we need to comfort
the bereaved and the future hope we have in Lord's
steadfast love for his people. I'll look forward
to sharing a few jokes again in heaven."
"For Rabbi Tann, life was a constant source
of joy and his love for the people he met was
self evident, he saw God's hand at work in every
aspect of life and rejoiced in it. His endless
fund of stories and his undoubted love and reverence
for the Hebrew Scriptures helped to bring them
alive and rekindled, in all those he taught, a
renewed appreciation of the divine word. The life
of Oscott College and the lives of all those he
taught and whose lives he touched are the less
for his passing. He will be sadly missed."
"Rabbi Tann was a gift from Almighty God
for the people of Birmingham, and most especially
I appreciated that gift here at Oscott. To learn
Hebrew from a master was a blessing. Rabbi Tann,
I miss you."
It was a great privilege for some of us to be
able to attend Midday Prayer at the Synagogue
on the day of his funeral. We also offered prayers
for him in our own chapel here at Oscott. We hope
that that his passing will not be the end of our
relationship with the Singers Hill Congregation.
Through Rabbi Tann we felt we had caught up with
long lost relations and we now pray that the family
connections will long continue.
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