Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs was appointed this week as the Chief Rabbi of the small provinces in the Netherlands..
The election was held at a meeting of the Council of the Inter-Provincial chief Rabbinate. The Council consists of representatives of the Jewish Municipalities in eleven provinces, which are under the jurisdiction of the rabbinate (IPOR).
Jacobs, 59, a Lubavitch Shliach, served the Dutch Jewish Community for more than 25 years.
In his new position he will be frequently consulted from around the country for solving problems and providing social assistance.
The appointment of Jacobs may be regarded as an expression of appreciation for all the good work that Jacobs has been doing for decades for the benefit of Netherlands Jewry, a local newspaper reported.
Rabbi Jacobs was born in 1949 in Amsterdam as a descendant of an old Dutch-Jewish family, with ancestors from Sneek, Maryborough, Hastings and Groningen.
He graduated from Yeshivas in France and Israel, where he obtained the rabbinical Smicha ordination. In addition to his work at the IPOR he is the rabbi of the Sinai Center, where he is responsible for the spiritual care in this sole Jewish psychiatric institution in Western Europe and is a board member of the Rabbinical Center of Europe.
Jacobs lives with his wife in Amersfoort. They have children and grandchildren in Holland, Britain, Israel, Canada and the United States.
