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| Rabbi Lionel Blue obituary Rabbi Lionel Blue obituary | |
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| For more than 30 years Rabbi Lionel Blue, who has died aged 86, was one of the most respected religious figures in the UK, largely on the strength of the regular three-minute homilies he gave on the Today programme’s religious slot, Thought for the Day, on BBC Radio 4 at around 7.50am, usually on a Monday. Delivering the monologues in a frequently whimsical manner, invariably closing with a genial Jewish joke, Blue sent listeners off chuckling to the working week. | For more than 30 years Rabbi Lionel Blue, who has died aged 86, was one of the most respected religious figures in the UK, largely on the strength of the regular three-minute homilies he gave on the Today programme’s religious slot, Thought for the Day, on BBC Radio 4 at around 7.50am, usually on a Monday. Delivering the monologues in a frequently whimsical manner, invariably closing with a genial Jewish joke, Blue sent listeners off chuckling to the working week. |
| He told an interviewer in 2004 that he liked to give people a reason to get up and face the day by offering enough spiritual stiffening not to dive back under the duvet. It was a style that made him, according to a poll in 2001, more esteemed in Britain as a spiritual leader than either the pope or the archbishop of Canterbury. | He told an interviewer in 2004 that he liked to give people a reason to get up and face the day by offering enough spiritual stiffening not to dive back under the duvet. It was a style that made him, according to a poll in 2001, more esteemed in Britain as a spiritual leader than either the pope or the archbishop of Canterbury. |
| Yet the gentle persona was at odds with a sometimes tormented personality. This gave substance and humanity to his spiritual reflections, but could also make him prickly. Interviews with him often mentioned his homosexuality because he always brought it up himself, though he would say: “I’ve never thought it a very gay thing to be gay.” | Yet the gentle persona was at odds with a sometimes tormented personality. This gave substance and humanity to his spiritual reflections, but could also make him prickly. Interviews with him often mentioned his homosexuality because he always brought it up himself, though he would say: “I’ve never thought it a very gay thing to be gay.” |
| He was the first rabbi to come out publicly, in 1980. His faith journey was tortuous and in his youth had led him at various times to being a Marxist and an atheist, then considering Christianity, before becoming reconciled to the Reform branch of Judaism. | He was the first rabbi to come out publicly, in 1980. His faith journey was tortuous and in his youth had led him at various times to being a Marxist and an atheist, then considering Christianity, before becoming reconciled to the Reform branch of Judaism. |
| Blue was the grandson of Russian Jewish immigrants (the family name was originally Bluestein). He was an only child, the son of Harry, a tailor in the East End of London who was periodically out of work during the 1930s, and his wife, Hetty, a legal secretary. As a child he claimed to have played his part with his parents and the rest of the East End community in seeing off British Black Shirts marching in Stepney – he helped to pass round the tea – and to have lost his belief in God when the deity did not immediately answer his prayers by wiping out Hitler and Oswald Mosley. | Blue was the grandson of Russian Jewish immigrants (the family name was originally Bluestein). He was an only child, the son of Harry, a tailor in the East End of London who was periodically out of work during the 1930s, and his wife, Hetty, a legal secretary. As a child he claimed to have played his part with his parents and the rest of the East End community in seeing off British Black Shirts marching in Stepney – he helped to pass round the tea – and to have lost his belief in God when the deity did not immediately answer his prayers by wiping out Hitler and Oswald Mosley. |
| His mother was a dominating figure in his life. During his Christian phase she threatened to kill herself with his father if he converted, a threat repeated later when he decided to become a rabbi instead. Blue claimed she told him: “You are only doing it to spite us. We have worked our fingers to the bone to get you out of the ghetto.” She had wanted him to become a solicitor, while his father hoped he might become a boxer. Latterly she lived with him and his partner until her death in 1994. | His mother was a dominating figure in his life. During his Christian phase she threatened to kill herself with his father if he converted, a threat repeated later when he decided to become a rabbi instead. Blue claimed she told him: “You are only doing it to spite us. We have worked our fingers to the bone to get you out of the ghetto.” She had wanted him to become a solicitor, while his father hoped he might become a boxer. Latterly she lived with him and his partner until her death in 1994. |
| Blue was a lonely, bookish child. During the blitz he was evacuated, moving 16 times to live with families around the south of England during the first period of the war, but eventually returning to Hendon after his parents moved there in 1943. Study at Hendon grammar school was followed by a place at Balliol College, Oxford, to read history. A brief period of national service in the army ended when he was invalided out following a nervous breakdown over his homosexuality; a further crisis occurred at university for the same reason. For many years he underwent psychoanalysis. | Blue was a lonely, bookish child. During the blitz he was evacuated, moving 16 times to live with families around the south of England during the first period of the war, but eventually returning to Hendon after his parents moved there in 1943. Study at Hendon grammar school was followed by a place at Balliol College, Oxford, to read history. A brief period of national service in the army ended when he was invalided out following a nervous breakdown over his homosexuality; a further crisis occurred at university for the same reason. For many years he underwent psychoanalysis. |
| He later claimed to have had a passionate but chaste affair with a woman that only served to convince him of his homosexuality. His adolescent Marxism apparently ended at Oxford when, sheltering from the rain one day in the doorway of a building that turned out to be a Quaker meeting house, he was invited inside to sit contemplatively with a group of Oxfordshire farmers. | He later claimed to have had a passionate but chaste affair with a woman that only served to convince him of his homosexuality. His adolescent Marxism apparently ended at Oxford when, sheltering from the rain one day in the doorway of a building that turned out to be a Quaker meeting house, he was invited inside to sit contemplatively with a group of Oxfordshire farmers. |
| The reawakening of faith led subsequently to his studying semitics at London University and to becoming a rabbi in 1960, having been one of the first rabbinical students at Leo Baeck College, Finchley, north London, named after a liberal Jewish German rabbi of the interwar period. He subsequently lectured at the college (1967-2013) and also became the convenor of the British Reform synagogues’ Beth Din, the ecclesiastical court (1971-88). As he told an interviewer later, initially the post helped shield his homosexuality: “I could scarcely excommunicate myself.” | The reawakening of faith led subsequently to his studying semitics at London University and to becoming a rabbi in 1960, having been one of the first rabbinical students at Leo Baeck College, Finchley, north London, named after a liberal Jewish German rabbi of the interwar period. He subsequently lectured at the college (1967-2013) and also became the convenor of the British Reform synagogues’ Beth Din, the ecclesiastical court (1971-88). As he told an interviewer later, initially the post helped shield his homosexuality: “I could scarcely excommunicate myself.” |
| He told another interviewer: “I went along with religion for many years not believing it, because after all a lot of it is not believable, but as I went on in life I began to trust it more and more and it reshaped me, made me a much nicer person … the religion thing worked.” He claimed to be guided by a guardian angel whom he called Fred: “I hold his hand and we sit next to each other and we cuddle.” | He told another interviewer: “I went along with religion for many years not believing it, because after all a lot of it is not believable, but as I went on in life I began to trust it more and more and it reshaped me, made me a much nicer person … the religion thing worked.” He claimed to be guided by a guardian angel whom he called Fred: “I hold his hand and we sit next to each other and we cuddle.” |
| Blue’s first broadcast came in 1967 and he was a regular speaker in the Thought for the Day slot from the 70s onwards. His thoughts were seldom profound, often sentimental and never controversial, but they touched a spot for many listeners who appreciated Blue’s doubt and vulnerability – and his transparent sincerity. The jokes which invariably ended each talk were usually both funny and pointed and played to Jewish stereotypes: “Nazi to Jew: ‘You Jews are the cause of all the trouble,’ Jew to Nazi: ‘Yes, Jews and bicycle riders,’ Nazi: ‘Why bicycle riders?’ Jew: ‘Why Jews?’” | Blue’s first broadcast came in 1967 and he was a regular speaker in the Thought for the Day slot from the 70s onwards. His thoughts were seldom profound, often sentimental and never controversial, but they touched a spot for many listeners who appreciated Blue’s doubt and vulnerability – and his transparent sincerity. The jokes which invariably ended each talk were usually both funny and pointed and played to Jewish stereotypes: “Nazi to Jew: ‘You Jews are the cause of all the trouble,’ Jew to Nazi: ‘Yes, Jews and bicycle riders,’ Nazi: ‘Why bicycle riders?’ Jew: ‘Why Jews?’” |
| His popularity as a radio broadcaster – on Radio 2 as well as Radio 4 – led to occasional television appearances, including a documentary, In Search of Holy England (1989), and to a string of lightly religious books with titles such as A Backdoor to Heaven, How to Get Up When Life Gets You Down, The Little Blue Book of Prayer and The Godseeker’s Guide. There were one-man shows in theatres around the country and two autobiographies: My Affair With Christianity (1998) and Hitchhiking to Heaven (2004). | His popularity as a radio broadcaster – on Radio 2 as well as Radio 4 – led to occasional television appearances, including a documentary, In Search of Holy England (1989), and to a string of lightly religious books with titles such as A Backdoor to Heaven, How to Get Up When Life Gets You Down, The Little Blue Book of Prayer and The Godseeker’s Guide. There were one-man shows in theatres around the country and two autobiographies: My Affair With Christianity (1998) and Hitchhiking to Heaven (2004). |
| Blue’s radio appearances became rarer as his health declined, after two heart bypasses, two bouts of cancer, a hernia, Parkinson’s and epilepsy over a number of years. In 1994 he was appointed OBE. | Blue’s radio appearances became rarer as his health declined, after two heart bypasses, two bouts of cancer, a hernia, Parkinson’s and epilepsy over a number of years. In 1994 he was appointed OBE. |
| He had three long-term partners, the last of whom, Jim Cummings, shared his life from 1980 after they met when Blue placed an advertisement in Gay Times. They lived together in a cluttered terraced house in Finchley until Jim’s death in 2014. | He had three long-term partners, the last of whom, Jim Cummings, shared his life from 1980 after they met when Blue placed an advertisement in Gay Times. They lived together in a cluttered terraced house in Finchley until Jim’s death in 2014. |
| • Lionel Blue, rabbi and broadcaster, born 6 February 1930; died 19 December 2016 | • Lionel Blue, rabbi and broadcaster, born 6 February 1930; died 19 December 2016 |