Jonathan Goldstein has said there is no "greater sign of change" to the approach of the Jewish Leadership Council under his watch than the appointment of two female interim chief executive officers.
Speaking to the JC as he begins his second spell as JLC chair, the Ilford–born communal leader said he was "thrilled" by the recent confirmation that Claudia Mendoza and Michelle Janes would take over from out-going CEO Simon Johnson later this month.
But he insisted the changes should be viewed as a part of a wider "different approach" to the culture and operation of the JLC that he will continue to implement during his second three year term.
Asked about the image of the JLC as a 'wealthy old boys club', Mr Goldstein says: "With no criticism of my predecessors or the people who were on the trustee board beforehand, I think that was best epitomised by one of the visits to the Prime Minister [a 2016 meeting at Downing St with David Cameron] of a group put together in previous years where there was no female representative.
"It wasn’t right. Put aside the perception, the reality wasn’t right. It didn’t fit the variety of views within the community."
Mr Goldstein reflected on the law firm he had once run, "where 50 per cent of my partners were female." He said as result of the male dominance within the JLC "Simon (Johnson) and I did deliberately go out there and try and reverse that situation." He says he did not expect the culmination of that process to be the appointment of two interim female CEOs.
The stakes over the next three years could not be higher for the JLC, Mr Goldstein readily admits - particularly over executing the strategy for leading the community out of the coronavirus pandemic.
He believes the response so far has shown "the JLC at its best – when it has needed to lead and show that it can make a difference to people’s lives across the entire community."
Mr Goldstein speaks proudly of the JLC’s role in helping coordinate an emergency appeal for the community’s three biggest residential care home charities - Jewish Care, Nightingale Hammerson and The Fed in Manchester - to help deal with the financial impact of the coronavirus crisis on their services, and of the social care work the JLC is involved with, helping pull together fundraising for almost 30 charities.
He stresses his belief in team-work over personal glory – and then proceeds to give specific credit, naming just about every Jewish charity, fundraiser and JLC staff member in order to prove his point.
Mr Goldstein believes the next three months are "absolutely critical" in making sure the Covid-19 fund-raising push is put to best use. "I am really not interested in what we have done so far," he says. "The next three months are going to define whether we satisfy the needs of those charities."
Also within the next few weeks comes the expected publication of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) report into Labour’s antisemitism problem. Until the Covid crisis, Mr Goldstein suggests the threat of Jeremy Corbyn becoming Prime Minister was "the greatest challenge to Anglo-Jewry in our lifetime."
He is "extremely proud of the role the JLC played" in organising the Enough Is Enough demonstration in Parliament Square in March 2018 – in which thousands from the community turned out to stage an unprecedented demonstration against anti-Jewish racism in Labour under Mr Corbyn.
He says he felt there was no alternative other than helping organise the protest after then Labour MP Luciana Berger came under sustained attack for highlighting Mr Corbyn’s support for the graffiti artist responsible for an openly antisemitic painting. "Anyone who does not instinctively see that image of bankers on the backs of the poor as antisemitic has a problem," says Mr Goldstein, who describes Ms Berger as "the Queen Esther of our generation."
An enduring image from the protest is Mr Goldstein standing on a make-shift podium addressing the crowd, with ‘Dayenu’ signs held aloft by many in attendance. It is an image that helped give Mr Goldstein, who had been supportive of Labour politics under Tony Blair, greater recognition not just amongst the community but also across wider society. With "Enough Is Enough we worked in unity with the Board of Deputies, with the Community Security Trust and with other organisations," he recalls. "That really was my mantra on taking office - I am a big believer in collaboration. I don’t believe one person in this community is bigger than the team. The team is everything."
He urges a cautious but welcoming approach to new Labour leader Sit Keir Starmer’s stated wish to rid his party of antisemitism. "I do think it is important that we continue to hold Keir Starmer to account for the pledges and undertakings that he’s made," he reasons. "I also think that we should give him credit when we see him do things that clearly are a move in the right direction.
"The suspension of Labour members in Liverpool Wavertree was something that would not have happened under the previous regime. With the action taken over David Miller, the lecturer at Bristol University, I think these are signs that Starmer and his team do mean what they say."
At the recent meeting held between communal leaders and Sir Keir, Mr Goldstein stressed that the Labour leader would not be fully judged over his actions on antisemitism while the national crisis over coronavirus continued to rage.
For all his belief in collaboration and unity, Mr Goldstein accepts there have at times over the past three years been "differences of opinion" with the Board of Deputies.
He says he has "tried most of the time not to get involved in that debate in public" but accepts that at times there are "competing tensions between organisations."
Mr Goldstein says the JLC’s relevance to the community has only increased over recent months. "I don’t think the response to Covid we are hoping to deliver could have occurred in a wider organisation," he says. "Would the chairs of Norwood, Jewish Care or any of the other 35 charities have felt that their voice had the same magnitude as one of around 300 delegates to the Board’s Plenary?
"Clearly you have the heads of our welfare organisations, the heads of education, the heads of our synagogues – they all feel effectively represented by a federated organisation."
He says that if there was to be a merger of the Board and the JLC "it would happen naturally as a merger of equals in the fullness of time." But he believes that "culturally" the two communal organisations "are still very different."
Mr Goldstein says that current Board President Marie van der Zyl, "like her predecessor Jonathan Arkush, does a very effective job."
Asked for his thoughts on the current pressure being placed on the Board to alter their stance on criticism of the Israeli government - particularly over the proposed West Bank annexation - Mr Goldstein points out his own differing view to previous JLC chair Sir Mick Davis. "Mick is a friend who I have huge respect for and who is a huge Zionist. He has a stance [openly critical of current Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu] which he has written about and which he has been a very strong advocate of and I respect and admire that. I felt when I came in as chair that there was a danger that if I continued down that line it would deflect from the other work that I wanted the JLC to be doing. And that position has continued to this day. So I have never commented publicly on Israeli decisions or actions because I think that at the heart of our community is a deep, deep loyalty."
But Mr Goldstein admits the possible disconnect between the opinion of Israeli Jews and those in the diaspora does concern him. He says he still "does not believe it is the job of the JLC or any other mainstream communal organisation to take strong political opinions for or against a democratically elected government in Israel."
He also wants to pay tribute to his departing chief executive Simon Johnson – who was appointed chairman of the Rugby Football League last October. "Simon has been a wonderfully focused leader of our organisation," he says, before stressing that the next three years would be time for a "different approach" at the JLC. "We have been busy working on a strategy focusing on strengthening and coordinating our organisations," he adds.
"Claudia and Michelle will bring competing and contrasting skills and as working mothers we think we have created a framework for them to both grow within our organisation. What greater sign of change in the approach of the JLC than to end up starting my next three years with two new joint CEOs who frankly don’t put up with nonsense from anyone."
