Yehuda Refson

Yehuda Refson was born in Sunderland in 1946. He studied at the Gateshead Yeshiva and in Brunoy, France.{{fact|date=May 2021}}

Dayan Refsonhis court title arrived in Leeds in 1976.{{cite web

|url=https://www.judaismlive.com/templates/articlecco_cdo/aid/522248/jewish/A-Little-History.htm

|title=A Little History}}

In addition to his rabbinical (Shomrei Hadas Synagogue),{{cite web

|url=http://www.jewisheurope.org/detail.asp?ID=872

|title=Guide to Jewish and Kosher United Kingdom}} beis din{{cite web |title=Directory of Rabbinical Courts |url=http://www.yadlaisha.org.il/Page.aspx?id=67 |access-date=27 August 2018 |archive-date=28 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180828044711/http://www.yadlaisha.org.il/Page.aspx?id=67 |url-status=dead }} and Chabad emissary/outreach activities, Refson and his wife are co-directors of the Leeds Menorah School.{{cite web |url=https://www.chabad.org/centers/default_cdo/aid/118949/jewish/Leeds-Menorah-School.htm

|title=Leeds Menorah School}}

Refson also has an oversight position regarding the local kosher meat supply.{{cite web

|quote=Leeds also has a Beis Din with its own Shechita, headed by Dayan Refson.

|title=About Leeds Kollel

|url=https://yomhashas.org/about-leeds-kollel}}

Along with eight others, Refson brought a court case{{cite web |title=R & Ors, R (on the application of) v Leeds City Council (Education Leeds), Court of Appeal - Administrative Court |date=November 11, 2005 |url=https://high-court-justice.vlex.co.uk/vid/-52633533 |access-date=27 August 2018 |archive-date=28 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180828071028/https://high-court-justice.vlex.co.uk/vid/-52633533 |url-status=dead }} because the city council refused "free school transport ... for the purpose of facilitating the attendance ... at their present schools."

When the court noted that there were closer Jewish schools, albeit not Orthodox, Refson was the key point man, as stated in the court's summary of the case.{{cite web

|url=https://high-court-justice.vlex.co.uk/vid/-52633533

|quote=... their evidence in this respect. In particular the witness statement of Yehuda Refson the Av Beth Din of Leeds

|title=Statement

|access-date=27 August 2018

|archive-date=28 August 2018

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180828071028/https://high-court-justice.vlex.co.uk/vid/-52633533

|url-status=dead

}} The court record includes his "I am the decisor of Halachic matters which affect the entire community... my responsibility is for the orthodox community of Leeds."

His early religious education was at Gateshead Yeshiva and then at Yeshiva Tomchei Temimim Lubavitch of Brunoy, France, which was headed by Rabb Nissan Neminov.

Rabbi Refson received religious ordination{{cite web

|url=https://www.chabad.org/search/keyword_cdo/kid/22627/jewish/Yehuda-Refson.htm

|title=Yehuda Refson}}

• from the central Lubavitch Yeshiva in Brooklyn both as a rabbi and as a rabbinical judge
• from Rabbi Moshe Feinstein as a rabbi.

In 2018 he released a four-part online course titled "Soul Talk: The Science of Being."{{cite web

|url=https://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/3969153/jewish/Soul-Talk-Online-Course-Reveals-the-Spiritual-Reality-Behind-All-Existence.htm

|title=Soul Talk - Online course}}{{cite web

|url=https://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=3935173

|title=Soul Talk - The Science of Being}}

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Category:1946 births

Category:2020 deaths

Category:20th-century English rabbis

Category:21st-century English rabbis

Category:Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis

Category:Clergy from Leeds

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