Lionel Blue is a British Reform rabbi and broadcaster. He is the first openly gay British rabbi. Born in the East End of London on 6 February, 1930, he was the only son of a master tailor.

He spent time in the Army but was discharged after a nervous breakdown brought on by anxiety over his homosexuality.

He is best known for his longstanding and respected work with the media, most notably the wry and gentle sense of humour on "Thought for the Day" on BBC Radio 4's Today programme. He is also widely respected in the U.K. as a journalist, cook and author.

Education

Blue read History at Oxford and Semitics at London University before being ordained as a rabbi in 1960.

Life as a Rabbi

Between 1960 and 1963, he was the minister of the Settlement Synagogue and Middlesex New Synagogue. He then became the European Director of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. In 1967, he began a long-term engagement as lecturer at Leo Baeck College in London.

Out and Proud

Blue was the first British rabbi to publicly declare his homosexuality and published Godly and Gay in 1981. He has been openly gay since the 1960s; he has had three male live-in lovers. However, his memoirs reveal that he was close to marrying Joanna Hughes, a fellow student he met at Balliol College, Oxford, in 1950 Hi is occasionally a guest speaker of the Jewish Gay and Lesbian Group. He-s also a patron of Kairos, an organisation for the well-being of body, mind and spirit for lesbians, gay men and their friends. He met his partner, Jim, in 1981 by answering a personal advertisement in Gay Times.

Broadcasting Career

His combination of wit, humour, humility and compassion has appealed to and entertained persons from diverse religious and spiritual backgrounds. For more than 25 years Blue has been a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4's Thought for the Day.

Books

• A Backdoor to Heaven (Fount, 1985)
• Kitchen Blues (ISIS Large Print, 1986)
• Bolt from the Blue (Hodder & Stoughton, 1986)
• Tales of Body and Soul (Coronet, 1995)
• My Affair with Christianity (Hodder & Stoughton General, 1999)
• Sun, Sand and Soul (Hodder & Stoughton General, 1999)
• Kindred Spirits (Fount, 1999). His autobiography,
• Hitchhiking to Heaven - Autobiography (Hodder & Stoughton General, 2004)

Health

He is a sufferer from epilepsy; however it is successfully controlled with medication. During an operation in 1997 a surgeon discovered a tumour which tests proved to be malignant. He went on to receive radiotherapy and hormonal treatment to reduce any further growth.

Rabbi Lionel Blue Quote

I don't believe death is the end. This world is like a corridor, like a departure lounge in an airport. You make yourself comfortable and get to know people - then your number comes up and you're called.