BOARD OF DEPUTIES COMMUNITY BRIEFING

by Comunidad Judía · 6 Adar 5781 – 18 February, 2021

Board of Deputies congratulates organisers of Charedi vaccination event

Board of Deputies Vice President Edwin Shuker has applauded the organisers of a session in Hackney which was set up with the aim of encouraging those Charedim who are in the top priority groups to have their vaccinations.
Edwin said: “We congratulate Hatzola, the Ostro Family Foundation and our own Deputy, Shmuel Yosef Davidsohn, on this important event. It is crucial that all of our community have their vaccinations when invited and sessions such as these which bring the vaccinations to the most vulnerable in the Charedi community are to be welcomed. Our congratulations go to the organisers on a true Kiddush Hashem.”

Read about the event in the Jewish News here and in the JC here.

Condemnation for UCU motion on antisemitism

UK Parliamentarians have told an online event focusing on education in Palestinian Authority area that children are being indoctrinated and incited to hatred in classes funded by British taxpayers.

Conservative MP and Parliamentary Chair of Conservative Friends of Israel Stephen Crabb told the Webinar, entitled Educate for Peace: “One of the examples that I have found most shocking is a maths textbook for six-year-olds. A maths exercise asks children to add the numbers of martyrs in the First Intifada to the number of martyrs in the Second Intifada. And this for me really shows how deep the problem goes – this normalisation of violence present right throughout the curriculum and this insidious messaging is extremely effective at manipulating young minds. I believe there is a direct link between this indoctrination and the participation of Palestinian minors in acts of violence against Israelis and we should be in no doubt that Palestinian incitement makes peace harder to achieve.”

Steve McCabe MP, Parliamentary Chair of Labour Friends of Israel, agreed that the content of the PA’s curriculum was unacceptable. He said: “LFI have been warning the Government about this since [the curriculum] was introduced in 2017. People will say that the UK does not directly fund the textbooks, but we do fund the 33,000 teachers and civil servants who design the curriculum and deliver it, so who prints the textbooks is of little consequence. There is a memorandum of understanding covering our aid relationship with the Palestinian Authority and it states quite clearly that the PA must act against incitement to violence, including allegations of incitement in the educational curriculum.”
Senior Vice-President Sheila Gewolb delivered the opening remarks, followed by a panel which also featured Marcus Sheff, Chief Executive of Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education. The event was chaired by Co-Chief Executive of the JLC, Claudia Mendoza. Closing remarks were delivered by Paul Charney, Chair of the Zionist Federation.

You can watch a recording of the event here.

COMMUNITY IN FOCUS: Young World Jewish Relief Committee

Young World Jewish Relief Committee co-Chairs, Rosa Shaul, a Manager at HSBC Private Banking and Katie Neville, Senior Finance Manager at Marks and Spencer, joined the committee after graduating from university, looking to raise awareness and fundraise for the charity’s global work.
Pre-pandemic they hosted a range of events, from supper quizzes and boat parties to speakers at the House of Lords. During the pandemic, the committee have worked hard to keep up the momentum by adapting their events. Recent events have included a virtual comedy night with some impressive headline acts, a socially distanced summer picnic and a drive-in cinema event. The committee are working on their fourth event, a collaboration with The A-gency – a new Jewish blind dating agency founded by Aimee Belchak.
Rosa and Katie believe it is important that the young Jewish community are engaged in the work of World Jewish Relief; not only should the community be profoundly proud of what the charity does, but through this committee and their reach, young Jews are gaining an awareness and connection to the charity which will help secure its future.

Read the full article here

This week, the Board’s Hidden Treasures shared an incredibly rare document from the Hull University Archives, courtesy of the Wickham-Boynton family. It is a York commodity bond produced following the implementation of the Statute of Jewry in 1275 which – among other restrictions – outlawed the practice of usuary. There is a Hebrew endorsement on the back. To see more treasures from the archives, visit the Hidden Treasures website here

ACTIVITY REPORT

POLITICAL

President Marie van der Zyl, Public Affairs Director Phil Rosenberg, Government, Regional and Religious Affairs Officer Daniel Elton and South Tottenham United Synagogue Deputy Shmuel Yosef Davidsohn met Mayor of Hackney Philip Glanville to discuss the vaccine rollout, promoting Covid compliance & implementing the safer streets scheme with sensitivity to local community needs. You can view a Tweet on this here.

Public Affairs Director Phil Rosenberg attended a Jewish community roundtable with Faiths Minister Lord Greenhalgh to discuss preparations for Purim in light of the Covid restrictions.

Public Affairs Director Phil Rosenberg chaired a virtual meeting with Nottingham MPs Lilian Greenwood, Alex Norris and Nadia Witthome. The event, which covered antisemitism, Israel, Covid, local issues and Uyghur rights, was hosted in conjunction with Liberal Judaism and the Nottingham Liberal Synagogue. You can watch the event here.

Public Affairs Director Phil Rosenberg and Public Affairs Officer Daniel Sugarman held a meeting with the community engagement team at the Conservative Party to discuss the community’s policy priorities.

ECOSYNAGOGUE

The Environmental Audit of EcoSynagogue (a project of the Board of Deputies) went live on Monday night. Award winning author, broadcaster and journalist, Jonathan Freedland introduced the event by emphasising the climate emergency. EcoSynagogue Rabbis; Sakhnovich, Mason, Wittenberg and Goldsmith, were joined by young adults Hodaya Mason, Gideon Futerman, Jodi Coffman and Artur Shkurdziuk to explain the importance of getting involved. The rabbis then explained how the Audit provides a practical and tangible solution for each shul to adopt on their own individual pathway.

Registration for the Audit and further information can be found on the website here. The 30-minute event can be seen here. The 30-second “Let’s do this together” video can be seen here.

COMMUNITY

President Marie van der Zyl delivered a presentation about the work the Board of Deputies undertakes to the Cheltenham Hebrew Congregation.

A regional Jewish Representative Councils Chairs and Presidents meeting, convened by the Board of Deputies, was held with discussions held about the importance of communications and volunteering. A Covid 19 update was also provided. The meeting was chaired by President Marie van der Zyl. Also in attendance were Public Affairs Director Phil Rosenberg, Communications Officer Simon Round, Director of Operations Judy Silkoff and Regional Coronavirus Advice Capacity Help (Co-Ach) Manager Sara Radivan.

President Marie van der Zyl and Community Engagement Officer Lauren Keiles met Chair of Reform Judaism, Robert Wiltshire and Vice Chair, Paul Langsford to discuss future areas of collaboration.

Regional Coronavirus Advice Capacity Help (Co-Ach) Manager Sara Radivan and Community Engagement Officer Lauren Keiles met Sandi Mann, Clinical Lead of Jewish Action for Mental Health (JAMH) to discuss areas of future work together.

Regional Coronavirus Advice Capacity Help (Co-Ach) Manager Sara Radivan met Louis Rappaport and Roy Saatchi, Deputies for Manchester Reform Synagogue and Naomi Ward, Chair of Manchester Reform Synagogue to discuss further Deputy engagement and future work together.
Director of Operations Judy Silkoff and Community Engagement Officer Lauren Keiles met with Laurie Rackind, Chief Executive of Jami, to discuss future areas of collaboration.
Community Engagement Officer Lauren Keiles attended the South London Jewish Forum meeting.

Community Engagement Officer Lauren Keiles met Lara Balsam from the Jewish Vegetarian Society to discuss future areas of collaboration.

INTERNATIONAL

Senior Vice President Sheila Gewolb attended the launch of the Commonwealth Jewish Women’s Network with Baroness Patricia Scotland as the keynote speaker.

International Relations Officer Talia Ingleby spoke with Andre Srulevitch, ADL Director of European Affairs and Assistant Director of International Affairs about shared areas of concern, including the Iran deal and the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

ARCHIVES AND HERITAGE

Archives and Heritage Manager Dawn Waterman talked to the New Generation group of the Jewish Historical Society of England about the Board of Deputies project Hidden Treasures; celebrating Jewish archives in Britain.