Leaders' fresh pledge on harmony

Leaders of the United Synagogue, Reform, Liberal and Masorti movements have made a fresh pledge of commitment to the Stanmore Accords, the 1998 agreement to avoid infighting and promote co-operation.

The Stanmore Accords recognised that British Jewry was “damaged by infighting and mutual recrimination”.

Yet the future of the agreement had been in doubt amid growing dissatisfaction among the non-Orthodox bodies with the progress achieved.

Last autumn, the Progressives and Masorti issued a joint declaration without the US, promising to work more closely together. But now the lay leaders of the four synagogue bodies have agreed “to work together for the sake of the Jewish community and the future of Judaism in Britain”.