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Simon Rocker

Out of touch in Stamford Hill

By Simon Rocker, December 28, 2012

The United Synagogue’s decision to allow women to chair synagogues has been largely welcomed but not everyone is applauding.

In the Jewish Tribune, the Stamford Hill- based Charedi weekly, columnist Ben Yitzchok calls it a "most regrettable and major step backwards”.

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London synagogue considers pulling out of Orthodox body

By Simon Rocker, December 27, 2012

A north-west London synagogue is considering leaving the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations amid the controversy over a Golders Green rabbi accused of inappropriate behaviour with women.

Leaders of the North Hendon Adath Yisroel Synagogue in Hendon want to amend its constitution so that it can quit the Union if members wish.

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Police called over rabbi row

By Simon Rocker, December 24, 2012

Police were called on Monday night to the home of a Golders Green rabbi in the latest twist to the controversy that has engulfed the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations in recent weeks.

Earlier that day the Union had appeared to have taken action to expel the synagogue whose rabbi, Chaim Halpern, has been accused of inappropriate conduct with women.

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United Synagogue approves women shul chairmen

By Simon Rocker, December 17, 2012

Women will be able to serve as chairmen of United Synagogue congregations from next May after the US council gave the go-ahead on Monday.

Although the move had been approved by the chief rabbi and the London Beth Din, US president Steve Pack admitted that it had received a rather mixed reaction from rabbis.

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Pack pressed on chief rabbi search

By Simon Rocker, December 17, 2012

United Synagogue president, Stephen Pack, was pressed this week over the failure to date to choose a successor to Lord Sacks as chief rabbi.

At a US council meeting on Monday, St John’s Wood Synagogue representative Ronnie Lossos said: “We are getting a lot of feedback from very upset people at the length of time it’s taken. It’s causing bad feeling.”

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United Synagogue raises spending on youth

By Simon Rocker, December 17, 2012

Significantly increased investment in youth, education and community development is planned by the United Synagogue next year.

Central support for the Tribe youth organisation and education is due to rise from an anticipated £617,000 this year to £809,000 in 2013.

Community development funding is set to increase from £552,000 to £614,000.

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Hadley Wood's full treatment

By Simon Rocker, December 17, 2012

The United Synagogue has welcomed its newest community, Hadley Wood, which has become independent after operating for 17 years as a satellite of Cockfosters and North Southgate Synagogue.

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Hebrew is not recognised by the government

By Simon Rocker, December 14, 2012

The government’s planned exclusion of Hebrew from a list of officially recognised languages for primary schools could damage Jewish education, the Board of Deputies warned this week.

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War of words over Charedi rabbi case

By Simon Rocker, December 14, 2012

conflict has deepened within London’s Charedim over a rabbi accused of inappropriate conduct with women.

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The 40-somethings who lead the UJIA

By Simon Rocker, December 14, 2012

Few Anglo-Jewish leaders have risen to the top as rapidly as Bill Benjamin, the Californian-born chairman-designate of the UJIA who will succeed Mick Davis next month. An executive in an international property investment company, he had been on a couple of UJIA missions but by his own admission “wasn’t heavily active” in it when he was approached to run it a year ago.

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Cuts could cause police to set up services in synagogues

By Simon Rocker, December 13, 2012

If you are the victim of crime, you might one day have to go to your synagogue to report it.

The Metropolitan Police, forced to make cuts, is proposing to close public counters in many stations and set up reporting desks elsewhere, which could include community centres and places of worship.

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Census 2011: The Jewish breakdown

By Simon Rocker, December 13, 2012

The number of identifying Jews in England and Wales has risen slightly over the past decade, indicating a stability which contrasts with the usual perception of relentless diaspora decline.

According to the first results of the 2011 census published this week, 263,346 people answered “Jewish” to the voluntary question on religion, compared with 259,927 in the previous count of 2001.

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The woman who cut off a general’s head

By Simon Rocker, December 13, 2012

Chanucah is the easiest festival to keep. What’s not to like about lighting candles and eating doughnuts? You don’t even have to go to the trouble of reading a book, as you do with Megillat Esther on Purim.

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Masorti on the fence over gay marriage

By Simon Rocker, December 13, 2012

The Reform and Liberal movements have both welcomed the government’s promise to press ahead with the introduction of gay marriage.

The Chief Rabbi has made his opposition known, but he has certainly not been as vocal about it as Catholic leaders.

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Census results: rise in Jewish identification

By Simon Rocker, December 11, 2012

The number of people identifying religiously as Jews in last year's Census has risen in England and Wales from the previous count a decade ago.

According to the figures published by the Office of National Statistics today, there were 263,000 Jews who answered the voluntary question on religion in 2011, compared with 260,000 in 2001.

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Rabbi Halpern: 'I am innocent'

By Simon Rocker, December 10, 2012

The strictly London Orthodox rabbi accused of inappropriate behaviour with women has for the first time issued a public statement to protest his innocence.

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North-West London rabbis issue statement against Halpern

By Simon Rocker, December 7, 2012

The controversy over the Golders Green rabbi accused of inappropriate behaviour with women deepened yesterday as five rabbis released a statement against him.

Rabbi Chaim Halpern resigned two weeks ago as a dayan of the Union of the Orthodox Hebrew Congregations over complaints about his counselling sessions with women but remains as head of a congregation he runs in his home.

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United Synagogue undecided on Chief Rabbi successor

By Simon Rocker, December 6, 2012

United Synagogue rabbis are concerned about the delay in appointing a chief rabbi to succeed Lord Sacks next autumn.

It is two years since Lords Sacks’s planned retirement was announced and more than a year since the Chief Rabbinate Trust officially launched the recruitment process.

The question of the succession was discussed at a meeting of the Rabbinical Council of the US on Monday.

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Beth Din trying Rabbi Chaim Halpern is ‘planning a whitewash’

By Simon Rocker, December 6, 2012

After weeks of silence, the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations has announced that it will convene a special rabbinic court to hear claims against one of its rabbis of inappropriate behaviour with women.

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Bill Bailey's royal klezmer

By Simon Rocker, December 6, 2012

So far as I am aware, no klezmer band has yet appeared at the annual Royal Variety Performance.

But here’s the next best thing. Bill Bailey (right), in a musical comedy act, took the Match of the Day theme tune and had the audience smiling and clapping along when he slowed it down on his keyboard and rendered it as a “Jewish folk song”.

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