Compassion for all people is a Jewish responsibility, and in its absence, no amount of prayer or ritual is enough to call oneself a religious Jew, says Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth.

Three years ago, Rabbi Mirvis, a native of South Africa, succeeded Rabbi Jonathan Sacks in that office, which was established in 1704.

In a Nov. 2 address at Congregation Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem before about 300 people, Rabbi Mirvis emphasized that a Jew can be completely devoted to his faith, his people and the State of Israel while at the same time actively care about others outside the community.

“Let nobody ever say that our responsibility to God is more important than to our fellow human beings, or the other way around,” he said.

“Being a good person is an integral part of being frum. I know many who are pretty religious Jews, even though they don’t keep Shabbat – although I wish they did – because they are good people,” he added.

“Then there are others who are davening and doing all kinds of mitzvot, but are not menschlich. I’m sorry, but they are not religious,” he said. “They may be super-pious… but showing no consideration for those outside our community is a treif way of life.”

This was Rabbi Mirvis’ first visit to Montreal as chief rabbi, part of his inaugural visit to Canada, which also included Toronto and Ottawa. He and his wife Valerie were hosted by Mizrachi Canada.

The couple are practising what he is preaching. They established the Ben Azzai Project to benefit developing countries, following a recent visit to India which took them to the slums of Calcutta and Mumbai. Ben Azzai was the second-century sage who held that recognition that everyone is created in the image of God is the highest principle of the Torah.

While they were deeply disturbed by the suffering of millions in India, the couple also was “blown away” by what Jewish organizations are doing to alleviate it. He affixed the mezuzah on a new medical centre, the only one serving a population of 200,000, that was built with support from Jews around the world.

The Ben Azzai Project will send Jewish university students to poor countries each year to do volunteer service, and the first group, accompanied by a rabbi, leaves for India next month. For eight days, they will work in the slums.

In 10 years, Rabbi Mirvis hopes that 150 to 200 young people will have served in the project and will become socially conscious leaders of the Jewish community in the United Kingdom.

Rabbi Mirvis, who is president of Mizrachi, the religious Zionist organization, in Britain, also stressed that Jews can be both loyal and contributing citizens in their countries and regard Israel as their “home.”

He began his talk by describing today’s world as divided politically in a way it never has been before, not so much along clear ideological lines as on whether societies should be open or closed.

This is expressed in attitudes to immigrants and refugees, as well as to free trade versus protectionism, he said.

Rabbi Mirvis said he’s disturbed that nine European countries now have governments favouring “the drawbridge up.” The decision to leave the European Union indicates Britain is moving to a more closed society, he thinks.

“What this means for Jews is not known, but history has shown that when a society speaks of ‘them versus us’, Jews invariably are cast among ‘them.’ We have to be vigilant,” he said.

Rabbi Mirvis congratulated the Canadian government for “bucking the trend” by welcoming immigrants and refugees and advancing free trade.

The global rift is also about “whether we embrace other cultures and let them permeate ours and change us, or we strive to maintain our unique culture,” he said.

Jews, he said, can show that it is entirely possible to be different and maintain “exclusiveness” and be fully engaged with others.

“It would be a safer world if others adopted this role model,” he concluded.