Mordechai Gutnick
Rabbi Mordechai Zev Gutnick is a prominent Orthodox Jewish rabbi in Australia. Gutnick has served as a member of both the Rabbinical court in Melbourne and Australian Rabbinical associations. He is associated with the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement; he is the eldest son of the late Rabbi Chaim Gutnick.Activities
Gutnick currently serves as a member of the Melbourne Beth Din in Melbourne, Australia. He is an authority in the field of kashrut and has been a Rabbinic Administrator of the Kosher Australia agency since 1997.
Gutnick has also served as president of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australia and vice president of the Rabbinical Council of Victoria. In 2012 he received the council's prestigious Patron award.
Gutnick has held rabbinic posts in both Sydney and Melbourne pulpits and is currently rabbi of the Elwood Talmud Torah Hebrew Congregation, succeeding his late father, Rabbi Chaim Gutnick, in this position in 2003.
In 2008 Gutnick officiated at the first Jewish wedding ever hosted by Australia's Parliament House in Canberra, when the federal member for Melbourne Ports Michael Danby married Amanda Mendes Da Costa. The wedding was attended by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his deputy among 150 guests.
Gutnick, like his father before him, served as a Military Chaplain in the Australian Army.
In August 2014, Gutnick was elected President of the Rabbinical Council of Victoria. Gutnick has also at times served as the head of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australia, and in this role he took a stand against Jews using civil courts to settle their disputes.
