Note from Rowland: I was privileged to know Harold Vallins – perhaps the only Jewish Rabbi in Australia to convert to Christianity. He invited me to speak a couple of times at the Brethren-affiliated retirement home where he lived, Grace Court. The last time I saw him was at the Vigil for Dawn Rowan (Google that name for more). (He was with a cute little dog). I miss him!

*****

RABBI HAROLD VALLINS 06/04/41 – 02/06/09

The Eulogy given by Gerald Rose at the Memorial Service for Harold at Beit HaMashiach on Tuesday 9th June, 2009.

Harold was born on 6th April 1941. He was the eldest of the two sons of Eve and Percy Cohen. His parents had lived in London but this was the time of the blitz and so they moved to Wales, where the boys were born and where, tragically, Percy died. In 1945 the family returned to London and Harold carried life-long memories of sheltering in the London’s underground rail system during bombing raids. Later his mother married Sam Vallins, with whom she had a daughter. Eventually the marriage ended.

Harold attended a secondary modern school, but left when he was in his mid-teens and worked for a while as the young ‘runner’ (odd jobs boy)

for the Jewish News. He also worked for a while at shoe designing. Harold found his real calling in life when, under the influence of the charismatic rabbi, Dov Marmur, he became very involved first in a Jewish Youth Group Movement. He finished his O and A levels, and then entered the Leo Baeck Rabbinic College. It was during this time that Harold developed friendships with outstanding rabbinic scholars and writers such as Rabbi Lionel Blue and Rabbi Jonathan Maginot who together with several other Progressive rabbis revised the Reform Synagogue prayer books, a work in which Harold was privileged to assist.

He often spoke to me of his admiration for Rabbi Blue and in a book of his that Harold gave to me, I found these words:

“My family’s religion is not founded on a book or a theology, nor on an organisation, or a tradition. For Granny and myself such things came later… The centre of our religion is a conversation with a voice… I’ve wondered if the voice were just my own reflection, but after a long analysis I can assure you that it isn’t. Also the voice itself over the years does not deny my own common sense, it just completes it, that’s all, with an uncommon one.” (Bolts From the Blue, Hodder and Stoughton, London; 1986:36)

It is that blend of common sense and the mystical encounter with the divine that was characteristic of Harold’s own spiritual journey. After Rabbinic College, Harold worked with the Jewish Blind Society as a social worker and established himself as outstanding in this field. From there he was appointed to St George’s Settlement Synagogue in London’s East End.

It was during this time that Harold and Naomi met, fell in love and married. Their children are Daniel and Nina. Naomi remembers Harold as being a dynamic and inspiring man.

Two incidents that Naomi shared with me seem to typify Harold and what it was like being part of his life. On one occasion when Harold didn’t have a car and Harold and Naomi therefore had a long walk home from the train station, Harold entertained and enchanted Naomi for the entire duration of their walk by singing humorous songs based on the Bible. Following their wedding, Michael, Harold’s brother presented them with a wonderful photo album of their wedding. However, getting into the car to drive home, Harold left the album on the roof of the car with predictable results. However, a rubbish-man found the album on the road, handed it in and by some miraculous circumstances it found its way in due course back to Naomi.

In 1981, the family moved to Melbourne, where Harold was appointed the Rabbi of the Bentleigh Progressive Synagogue where he became a well known community figure, much loved by many. But his controversial approach to a number of issues was one of the causes for his forming a new Synagogue in the mid 1990s that met in Gardenvale and then shared facilities with the Church of Christ in Cheltenham.

I have a vivid memory of the first time I met Harold. I was the President of the Cheltenham and Moorabbin Ministers Association. Our numbers were declining so we ran in the local newspaper an invitation to a special meeting to all Ministers to explore possibilities for our future. At the start of the meeting I invited everyone to introduce themselves. It so happened that I recognised all but one of those present. He was short in build, plump in size, bearded and congenial. I waited with real interest to discover who this newcomer could be and was absolutely flabbergasted when he calmly announced the he was Rabbi Harold Vallins from the Bentleigh Progressive Synagogue. What was a rabbi doing in a gathering of Christian ministers? Well, our invitation was to all ministers of religion.

Harold and I struck up an immediate friendship, found that we had almost identical paths into ministry and thoroughly enjoyed meeting and exploring our faiths not defensively or with the purpose of scoring points or winning doctrinal points. Just openly and honestly sharing! Harold became a welcome and very popular guest speaker at our worship services and kindly, and at some risk invited me to participate in Shabbat services at his synagogue. I think he enjoyed our somewhat informal and free worship style while I fell in love with the dignity and ritual of synagogue worship – even to the point of undertaking a course in Biblical Hebrew. I will deeply miss our sharing and his deep and wonderful friendship.

Some years after his first marriage ended, Harold met and married Charlene Stuckey. However, after a year they separated. In 1993, he married Johanne, the mother of Akiva and Shiree. Jean and I were welcome guests at their wedding.

During a visit to the National Prayer Breakfast in the US in 1998, Harold took the momentous decision to become a “follower of Jesus the Jew”. As a result the synagogue dissolved and Harold began to undertake a wide ranging ministry among Christian churches to help them understand the Jewish roots of their faith and to tell his own story of discovering Yeshua/Jesus as his Messiah.

Folk from all over Australia would contact me to tell how much they had been fascinated by this interesting Rabbi who had mentioned my name. For a time Harold served as a member of the staff of the Beit HaMashiach, a messianic congregation in the heart of Caulfield. He also undertook studies at Tabor College and along the way set up a gardening business (the Gnomes of Moorabbin).

Harold’s decision to become a follower of Yeshua placed great strains on many of his relationships. At this time his marriage to Johanne ended. Harold felt the separation deeply and missed his young children Akiva and Shiree whenever they were not with him.

Harold became an integral part of Grace Court where he lived over recent years and fulfilled a number of roles there as Manager, gardener and ‘in-house’ pastor and mentor.

Last Tuesday Harold tragically passed away. He is, and will be, deeply missed by so many of us who knew and loved him, but especially by those who were his family.

Harold is survived by his mother Eve Osen who lives in the UK, his brother Michael, his sister Marion, and his children, Daniel, Nina, Akiva and Shiree.

Gerald Rose