Grand rabbi quits in plagiarism row

GRAND rabbi of France Gilles Bernheim has resigned after being found to have plagiarised other Jewish writers in one of his works and for having falsified his CV by claiming he had a philosophy degree.

Earlier this week, when news of the scandal broke he had said he would not resign but yesterday said he would be taking immediate leave of absence.

Rabbi Berhneim had falsified his CV by claiming a philosophy degree from the Sorbonne in an action which he said was a mistake due to a great tragedy in his life.

He is also said to have copied the writings of Jean-François Lyotard, Elie Wiesel and Jean-Marie Domenach and others in his 2011 work Quarante Méditations Juives and also plagiarised other writers in an essay against gay marriage. Parts of his essay were used by Pope Benedict in an address.

The grand rabbi of Paris, Michel Guggenheim, and the director of the rabbinacal school, Olivier Kaufmann, will take over his duties until a new grand rabbi is chosen to lead France’s Jewish community of 500,000.