Lay Anglicana Claims World Scoop
The following story appears on page 11 of today’s Jewish Chronicle and is to be syndicated to other papers worldwide.
Ostrich feathers in Bishop’s family
BY LAURA SYKES
The Jewish Chronicle
23 Nov 2012
THE NEXT Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, at last knows the identity of his Jewish paternal relations, hitherto shrouded in mystery. It has emerged that his grandfather Bernard was one of four brothers named Weiler, who came to London from…read more…
Hmmm,
So Justin’s dad Gavin was in the States in the import/export liquor business, was he? Now prohibition ended in 1933, so was Gavin a bootlegger? And does that mean our Justin have some distant American Mafia connections? I think we should be told!
After all, a small contract with Murder Inc. might come in handy in sorting some of our current General Synod problems, don’t you think? Charley F-B.
(Arch)bishop Justin has already described his father as a bootlegger. My point is that he continued to deal in drink long after prohibition was ended…
I think (+)+ has a wide range of skills in his tool kit which are going to come in handy when dealing with General Synod. Let us hope so – he is going to need them!
Congratulations, Laura.
🙂
I just read your very interesting article in the JC. As my grandfather was one of many Jewish immigrants from Lithuania to South Africa who settled in the 1890s in Oudshoorn, the centre of the ostrich farming and feather industry, I wondered if there were more to the Welby connection to South Africa. My mother reminded me that the founder of Progressive Judaism in South Africa was Rabbi Moses Cyrus Weiler, born Latvia in 1907. Do you know whether there is a connection? If so, the archbishop would cherish the connection, as Rabbi Weiler did very good works among the oppressed black population of South Africa: see here
http://www.unitedsisterhood.org.za/index.php/about-us/rabbi-moses-cyrus-weiler
Thank-you very much, Arnie, this is an interesting prospect. Much is yet to be discovered – you will appreciate that I was only able to make the identification earlier this week! One of the reasons for wanting this to appear in The Jewish Chronicle is that it is so widely read and I am hoping that people will come forward, as you have, with more information. But I’m afraid at the moment I know nothing more.