Bernard M. Casper

Bernard Moses Casper (1916–1988) was a British-South African rabbi. He was born and raised in London; educated in London and Cambridge; and served as both a Rabbi and educator in Manchester and London. He was a commissioned Chaplain in the British Army through most of the Second World War, and served with distinction as Senior Chaplain of the Jewish Brigade, earning a Mention in Despatches. He served as Chief Rabbi of the Union of Orthodox Synagogues and its predecessors in South Africa from 1963 to 1987.

Early life He was born in London, his father was from Kovno in the Russian Federation. Both his parents died when he was three years old and he was subsequently raised by his grandparents and a cousin.

On the advice of Israel's Chief Rabbi he took up the position of Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregation of Johannesburg. In 1964 he became Chief Rabbi of the Federation of Synagogues of South Africa. One of his significant achievements was the 1965 concordat he arrived at with Chief Minister of the United Progressive Jewish Congregations, Rabbi Arthur Saul Super. They agreed that from "the religious point of view there is an unbridgeable gulf between Orthodoxy and Reform."

He retired in 1987, made aliyah to Israel and died eighteen months later in Jerusalem.