Rabbi Charles Berg, born Karl Rauchtenberg (1911 – 24 November 1979), was the first non-Orthodox rabbi to be ordained in England. He came to the United Kingdom in 1939 as a refugee from Nazi Germany, having been interned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp following Kristallnacht. ^{[1] [2]}

After assisting Rabbi Werner van der Zyl at Kitchener Camp, a camp for Jewish refugees in Sandwich, Kent, ^[3] he served in the British Army's Pioneer Corps and, at the end of the Second World War, was involved in the interrogation of Konrad Adenauer. ^[1]

Berg started his rabbinical training at the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums in Berlin ^[2] and continued it privately. He received his semicha in 1952 after being examined by Rabbis Leo Baeck, Arthur Lowenstamm and Dr Max Katten, becoming the first non-Orthodox rabbi to be ordained in England. ^[1]

He served as Rabbi at Bournemouth Reform Synagogue from 1948 to 1952. ^[1] In 1953 Wimbledon and District Synagogue appointed him as its first rabbi. ^[4] When he retired in 1974, the community had grown to 750 members.

He died on 24 November 1979 and is buried at Golders Green Jewish Cemetery. ^[1]

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