Rabbi Hammond

Who is Rabbi Tony Hammond?
We asked a few questions and this is what he told us:

How long have you been at BRS?
I am into my fourth whole year, and I spent a good part of my final rabbinic training year here too.

What were you doing before you joined us?
Educational director and lecturer at the LJCC formerly Spiro Institute. Literature and History courses, specially.
Before that, university and school teaching; before that, some goat farming and research into 16th century French literature!

What is your biggest challenge as a rabbi?
Making sure I am able to support and encourage the growth of the full range of Jewish activites and study in our community, because it is a diverse community and there is not a great deal else available to progressive Jews in the immediate neighbourhood!

Did you always want to be a rabbi, or did you have a childhood ambition to be a racing driver, goat farmer or world leader?
My mother has only now overcome her disappointment that another Tony got the top job in 1997. I was always drawn to teaching, and so I was always pointing in a general rabbinic direction, I suppose.
I enjoy writing, and I hope to be able to combine that with my work as a rabbi in time.

I think I have only now discovered what my earliest ambition was but I didn't have a single name for it!  It is to do all those things that you do as a progressive Rabbi!

If you have a question for the Rabbi, or about him, please let us know via the "Contact Us" facility.


For a flavour of our approach at Bromley Reform Synagogue, you can find a reflective piece that Rabbi Hammond presented to the March 2008 Synagogue AGM on the History and Ethos page of this website.