Dayan Rabbi Yehuda Yaakov Refson was a veteran Chabad-Lubavitch emissary in Leeds, England, Rabbi of the Shomrei Hadass Synagogue, director of the Leeds Menorah School and longtime head of the regional Beth Din.
Born in 1946 in Sunderland, he studied in Yeshivah in Gateshead and then at the United Lubavitch Yeshiva in New York, Brunoy, France.
He was ordained as a Rabbinic judge and Rabbi at the yeshivah in Brooklyn and also received ordination from the world renowned halachic authority Rabbi Moshe Feinstein.
Dayan Refson married Ettel Raskin of London in 1970 and in 1976 the Rebbe selected the couple to be Chabad emissaries in Leeds taking up the pulpit at the Shomrei Hadas synagogue.
Throughout the decades, the soft-spoken and unassuming Rabbi led his community and inspired them to continue to build & to grow spiritually. Under his guidance, a number of Chabad emissaries took up key positions in the city’s Jewish community, ensuring a stable, inspired and devoted leadership.
Famed far beyond Leeds, he dispensed guidance to people from around the globe, who would seek to gain from his wealth of knowledge that encompassed both Torah matters as well as secular learning.
A prolific scholar and educator, in addition to his many local responsibilities, Dayan Refson was known for his profound love for his mentor, the Rebbe. “He was connected with the Rebbe with his heart and soul, He implanted that love and connection in all his children, all of them dedicating their lives to the Rebbe’s work.
Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, chief rabbi of the UK said of the Dayan, “Dayan Refson’s humility and kind-hearted nature endeared him to his community and many well beyond Leeds. He leaves behind him a most wonderful legacy. Our memories of him will provide ongoing inspiration.”
