Jacob Danglow

Jacob Danglow (1880–1962) was a British-Australian rabbi, army chaplain, and army officer.

Overview

St Kilda Hebrew Congregation

Danglow born on November 28, 1880, in London Borough of Wandsworth, the second of nine children of Michael Danglowitz, a glazier from Cracow, Galicia, and his wife, Jessie (née Loafer). In 1893, Danglow entered Jews' College in London, where he completed his secondary education and received training to serve as a minister in an English-speaking synagogue. From 1899 to 1902, he studied arts at University College, London. In 1905, Danglow accepted a position as the minister of the St Kilda Hebrew Congregation, arriving in Victoria on September 15. He quickly brought his congregation under the authority of the London-based Orthodox Chief Rabbi of the United Synagogues of Great Britain. In 1911, he became a full member of the Melbourne Beth Din. On November 24, 1909, Danglow married May Henrietta Baruch, granddaughter of M. Michaelis, the founder of the congregation. He studied arts at the University of Melbourne, earning a B.A. in 1908 and an M.A. in 1911. In 1908, he was commissioned in the Australian Military Forces and appointed Jewish chaplain the following year. At the outbreak of World War I, he served as a military censor and, after repeated requests to his congregation for release, served overseas in France in 1918 as a chaplain to the Australian Imperial Force. In 1927, the growing St Kilda Hebrew Congregation dedicated a new synagogue building, which features large bronze doors named in Danglow's honor. In 1934, the Chief Rabbi in London approved changing Danglow's title from "minister" to "rabbi," granting him equal status with his counterpart at the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation. Danglow was appointed senior Jewish chaplain to the Australian Army in 1942. He traveled to New Guinea and the Pacific Islands and, at the request of Army Headquarters, was part of a group investigating the morale of occupation troops in Japan. As chaplain, he oversaw the publication of a Passover order of service and a prayer book for Jewish servicemen. Danglow resisted most attempts to bring radical change to his community, striving instead to maintain a moderate path of Jewish Orthodoxy. His personal loyalty to King and country increasingly led to a conflict with supporters of Jewish national independence and support for the State of Israel. The 3rd St Kilda Scout Group, founded in 1924, is known as “Danglow’s Own.” The first hospital wing of the Montefiore Home for the Aged was named in his honor. In 1950, Danglow was appointed O.B.E. and was made C.M.G. in 1956. He retired officially in 1957 but continued to preach until his successor arrived two years later. His wife died in 1948, and on August 7, 1949, in London, he married a widow, Diana (Dinah) Rosen, née Hestel. Danglow died on May 21, 1962, in St Kilda, leaving two daughters and a son.