Team Member Profile

Biography

Rabbi Gutnick was born in Sydney, Australia and was one of the first Australian-born Rabbis to be appointed to a pulpit in an Australian Synagogue.

Rabbi Gutnick has served in the Australian rabbinate for 45 years.

He grew up and was educated in Sydney and Melbourne.  After study at the Rabbinical College of Australia and NZ, he later travelled to the USA to pursue and further his Rabbinical studies in the Central Lubavitcher Yeshivah in New York.  He subsequently received a number of Rabbinic Diplomas  covering general rabbinic studies (yoreh yoreh) and specialised rabbinical court studies (yadin yadin)  both there and in and Canada.  Amongst those credentials are rabbinic diplomas from Rabbis Mordechai Mentlik, Rabbi Yisroel Jacobson and Rabbi Ysroel Yitzchok Piekarski of New York and Rabbi Pinchos Hirschprung (Chief Rabbi) and Rabbi Yitzchok Hendel (Av Beth Din) of Montreal Canada.

At the behest of his mentor, the Rebbe of Lubavitch, Rabbi Gutnick returned with his Rebbetzin, Sara, and young family to Australia in 1974 to assume the position of spiritual leaders of the Strathfield Hebrew Congregation in Sydney.  At that time Rabbi Gutnick was also appointed as a Dayan to the Sydney Beth Din and worked in the field of Kashrut supervision as Rabbinic Administrator of the NSW Kashrut Commission – the forerunner of the current Kashrut Authority in Sydney.

In 1982 Rabbi and Rebbetzin Gutnick were asked to assume the spiritual leadership of the North Eastern Jewish Centre in Doncaster, Melbourne.  They served that community for 14 years until 1996 when they were appointed to the Elsternwick Jewish Community – a congregation affiliated with the Mizrachi Organisation in Melbourne.  At that time Rabbi Gutnick was also appointed as the Rabbinic Administrator and Halachic Authority of what was to become Kosher Australia – Australia’s largest Kosher supervising agency.

Rabbi Gutnick received a commission to the rank of Captain in the Australian Army in 1984. He subsequently served as Jewish Chaplain to the Australian Military Forces for nineteen years until his reaching retirement age from that position in 2003.

In 2002 Rabbi and Rebbetzin Gutnick were appointed successors to his father Rabbi Chaim Gutnick at the Elwood Talmud Torah Congregation upon his father’s retirement. He served in that position until his retirement in 2017.

In 2002 Rabbi Gutnick was also appointed as Dayan to the interim Melbourne Beth Din at the time of its restructuring. After restructure in 2004, Rabbi Gutnick was appointed as Senior Dayan to the current Melbourne Beth Din.

Rabbi Gutnick served as President of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia and New Zealand from 2003 to 2008. He then served as President of the Rabbinical Council of Victoria from 2014 until his retirement from the RCV executive in 2016.

Rabbi Mordechai Gutnick is currently  Emeritus Rabbi of the Elwood Hebrew Congregation and the Honorary Patron of the Rabbinical Council of Victoria.  He continues to serve as the Senior Dayan (Av Beth Din) of the Melbourne Beth Din.  He also remains the long-serving Rabbinic Administrator and posek (Halachic Authority) of Kosher Australia.

Rabbi Gutnick is a recognised authority on matters of Jewish law and ritual both in Australia and internationally.  He is a sought after counsellor and is a popular speaker and lecturer and speaks and lectures regularly both locally and internationally on both Halachic and general Jewish topics.

Rabbi Gutnick and his Rebbetzin Sara have been blessed with children who are all active in their own right in Rabbinic and Jewish communal leadership roles here in Australia and in the USA.  They are proud grandparents to over 20 grandchildren and have (currently) one great grandchild.

Role at Melbourne Beth Din