After Hart Lyon left London in 1764 it was agreed that his successor should be appointed and maintained by the Great and Hambro' synagogues jointly. However, they could not agree on a single name, and the Great Synagogue appointed Rabbi David Tevele Schiff, while the Hambro' and New Synagogues appointed Rabbi Meshullam Solomon. Each Rabbi claimed authority over the whole Kingdom, and the problem was resolved only after a split within the community at Portsmouth, then the largest in the provinces. A dissident group of Portsmouth Jewry established a rival congregation recognising the authority of Meshullam Solomon, while the main community formally accepted the authority of Rabbi Schiff in all matters appertaining to Jewish Law and the appointment of officials. They even agreed in token of submission to send five pounds of wax each year to the Great Synagogue, for the manufacture of candles to light that building on the Day of Atonement.

However as early as 1766 the Rabbi of the Great Synagogue began to use and be known by the title "The Chief Rabbi", and when Meshullam Solomon returned to Hamburg in 1780, all communities accepted Tevele Schiff's authority.

Schiff carried on a detailed correspondence with his brother the Rabbi of Copenhagen, which casts an interesting light on Jewish social life in Georgian London, even down to such matters as the purchase of night-caps (white) and handkerchiefs (coloured - Schiff was addicted to snuff)! The economic depression following the end of the American War of Independence led to frequent calls for the reduction of his salary, and while he was often asked to perform Rabbinical services for other synagogues gratis in the absence of their officiants, the fees paid at marriages somehow failed to come his way.

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