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United Synagogue to poll its members on Israel
British Jewry’s largest synagogue membership body said it wants to better understand what congregants think
September 29, 2025 14:34
British Jewry’s largest synagogue membership body said it wants to better understand what congregants think
September 29, 2025 14:34The United Synagogue is to survey members about their relationship with Israel and whether they think the organisation should be making more public statements about it.
While the Chief Rabbi, the spiritual head of the central Orthodox body, has spoken out on occasions – for example, recently criticising the UK government for recognising a Palestinian state before the release of the hostages by Hamas – the US itself has refrained for making comments.
A spokesman for the organisation stated, “We know our members have diverse views on Israel and we would like to have a better understanding of what they think.
“Next month we will be sending each member a short survey to help us understand their relationship with Israel. We also want to know whether, and to what extent, they think that the United Synagogue should be reflecting what our members think more publicly”.
The survey had been planned for some time and had not been precipitated by recent events, the spokesman explained, but it was “obviously good timing, given what’s going on”.
Former US president Michael Goldstein, who retired from office in July, said at the time that he had been proud of the organisation’s “steadfast commitment to Israel. Where others have wavered, we have stood firm.”
Where the organisation had shown smart leadership, he said, was in having kept “discussions about Israeli politics away from the pulpit and press releases”.
Acknowledging that members held “all sorts of views”, he said: “Our unbreakable bond with Israel does not mean we support every policy of every Israeli government. Our rabbis are able to say the Prayer for the State of Israel every week, while acknowledging the pain and suffering of innocent children in Gaza.”
Earlier this year, after a letter criticising the Israeli government over the war in Gaza from a group of predominantly Progressive synagogue members of the Board of Deputies appeared in the Financial Times, a number of US congregations threatened to withdraw from the Board. One has since quit.
However, the new president of the US, Saul Taylor has affirmed its commitment to the Board and said it was seeking to increase US representation there. “Even if we disagree at times with what certain people at the Board of Deputies say or do, vacating that important space leaves both the Board of Deputies and the United Synagogue worse off,” he said.
By contrast, Progressive Judaism, formed this year out of the union of the Reform and Liberal movements, has been more vocal, recently endorsing the Choose Democracy and Peace campaign, which is critical of the Israeli government.
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