Double vision delights Masorti dinner crowd

Masorti’s vision for the next 10 years was outlined to a record 200 guests at the movement’s annual dinner at the New North London Synagogue, Finchley, on Sunday.

“We aim to double our membership, bringing the amount of individuals in the Masorti family to 15,000,” chief executive Matt Plen told them. “We also hope to establish new synagogues in key demographic areas.”

Services for youngsters and young adults were paramount, with investment in both Noam and Marom, “our highly successful youth movements, that will foster generational loyalty. And, of course, we will continue to resource our dynamic lay and rabbinic leadership development programmes. After all, Masorti Judaism is all about providing traditional Judaism for modern Jews.”

Senior Masorti rabbi, New North London’s Jonathan Wittenberg, said the movement was “the only place where I feel I can really be Jewish in a sense that I can truly understand as authentic”.

Keynote speakers were journalist Jonathan Freedland and Margo Miller, past chair of Democrats Abroad and an influential fundraiser for Hillary Clinton

They discussed the implications of President Obama’s re-election, particularly for Israel.

Co-chair Nick Gendler made the appeal following a film depicting a day in the life of the Masorti youth workers. “We punch way above our weight already,” he said. “Yet we need to better present our unique approach to Judaism to achieve our ambitious vision for the future.”

Bringing in £50,000, the dinner was Masorti’s most successful fundraiser.