Matt Lucas is among a host of Jewish community figures to be named in the 2026 New Year Honours List, with the actor and comedian recognised with an OBE for services to drama.
Lucas, who became a household name over 20 years through his comedy sketch series Little Britain, is a former RSY-Netzer youth leader who has appeared in productions and shows ranging from Les Misérables to Dr Who.
He is joined by influential Jewish figures from across every sector of society in the UK, among them the chief executive of the oldest Jewish youth group in the UK, a 101-year-old veteran, a former football club chairman and the most cited living scientist in the world.
Alongside Lucas in the arts world, Karen Emanuel, the founder and CEO of Key Production Group was named an OBE for her contribution to music. Emanuel’s music company makes CDs and vinyl for bestselling artists like Kylie Minogue, Nick Cave and The xx. Jewellery designer Solange Azagury-Partridge, whose parents were Sephardi Jews from Casablanca, was also granted an MBE for services to design. Since she opened her first store in London in 1995, Azagury-Partridge’s colourful, maximalist jewellery has been worn by A-list celebrities including Dua Lipa, Sarah Jessica Parker and Julianne Moore.
Neil Martin, chief executive of JLGB (the Jewish Lads’ and Girls’ Brigade), has been awarded a CBE for national service to young people, interfaith relations and Holocaust remembrance in recognition of his transformative two decades at the helm of the UK’s longest-running Jewish youth group, of which King Charles is a patron.
Martin, who was made an OBE in 2016, expanded the organisation’s Duke of Edinburgh’s Award programme so that it is now accessed by over 50 per cent of British Jewish teens, and launched the UK’s first interfaith National Citizen Service programme for Jewish and Muslim teens.
“I am profoundly humbled by this honour,” said Martin, who also chairs Yom HaShoah UK, the Jewish community’s annual Holocaust Memorial Day and the Interfaith Youth Trust. “More than an individual achievement, it reflects the dedication of the young people, volunteers, survivors, colleagues and partners who make this vital work possible, and whom I am so privileged to work alongside. JLGB shaped who I am, and every day I remain inspired by the next generation.”
(C) Blake Ezra Photography Ltd. 2017, www.blakeezraphotography.com(C) Blake Ezra Photography 2016
French-Canadian computer scientist Yoshua Bengio, named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world in 2024, was awarded an overseas OBE for services to artificial intelligence in the UK.
Bengio, the scientific director of Canada’s Artificial Intelligence Hub, is often referred to as one of the “godfathers of AI” thanks to his pioneering contributions to deep learning and neural networks. He was appointed to the United Nation’s Scientific Advisory Board in 2023 and is the UK’s Special Artificial Intelligence Adviser.
Polina Bayvel, the Royal Society Research Professor and Professor of Optical Communications and Networks at University College London, has been made a dame for services to engineering and to optical communications after being awarded a CBE in 2016 for services to engineering. Born in Ukraine, Bayvel emigrated to the UK with her parents Leopold and Rachel in 1978, aided by the former Chief Rabbi Lord Jakobovits and his office director Moshe Davis. Bayvel, a longtime member of Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue, has made significant contributions to the design of digital communications infrastructure through her work.
She said: “I am deeply honoured to receive this award – reflecting the pioneering research of the many students and colleagues in the Optical Networks Group, UCL – and very grateful to several generations of UCL provosts for supporting me and my group as well as to many teachers and mentors. Very proud to see our research contributions to the development and engineering of the digital communications infrastructure honoured in that way.”
Professor Jennifer Rubin, former Chief Scientific Advisor to the Home Office, was awarded a CBE for services to science and analysis. Rubin is the Chair of the Advisory Board of the School for Government at King’s College London and was previously Director of the Policy Institute at KCL. She served as Home Office Director General of Science, Technology, Analysis and Research (STAR) and Home Office Chief Scientific Adviser from 2021-2025.
“I am deeply honoured to receive this recognition,” Rubin said. “In every role, I have been privileged to work with people driven by a shared commitment: using science and research to improve lives by connecting knowledge with need. And of course, huge thanks to all who have supported me along the way, especially friends, mentors, and my wonderful family.”
A CBE was awarded to Daniel Levy, former and longest-serving chairman of Tottenham Hotspurs from 2001-2025, for services to charity and the community in Tottenham.
Contributions to Holocaust education were also highlighted in this year’s awards. British Army veteran Mervyn Kersh, 101, one of four centenarians on the New Year list, has been recognised for his services to Holocaust remembrance as a Jewish D-Day veteran who participated in the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. A member of the AJEX Jewish Military Association, he receives a BEM, as does fellow Jewish veteran Stanley Fisher, who is recognised for Holocaust remembrance.
Fisher was the only Jewish man in his battalion when he was conscripted to fight in 1942, and like Kersh, he witnessed the liberation of Bergen-Belsen.
Mervyn Kersh and Stanley Fisher at an AJEX service in the National Memorial Arboretum Jewish Memorial during National Armed Forces Week in 2024.[Missing Credit]
Chief executive of the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women (AJEX), Fiona Palmer, said honouring Fisher and Kersh is a “fitting recognition of their extraordinary service, bravery and lifelong dedication to ensuring Remembrance remains at the forefront. Both recently represented AJEX at the Jewish Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum during Armed Forces Week, a testament to their continued commitment to honouring Jewish servicemen and women who served in Britain’s Armed Forces. Their service and example continue to inspire us all.”
Mervyn Kersh and Stanley Fisher at an AJEX service in the National Memorial Arboretum Jewish Memorial during National Armed Forces Week in 2024.[Missing Credit]
Karen Pollock CBE, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said: “They fought for the rights and freedoms and the democracy we are so fortunate to live in today and this is why this country owes them a debt we can never repay.
“Having entered Bergen-Belsen concentration camp following liberation, both men have continued to share their memories of the horrors they witnessed. Both landed on the beaches of Normandy and fought to rid the continent of the Nazis and their evil ideology. This recognition is hugely deserved.”
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Oral historian Dr Bea Lewkowicz, co-founder and project director of Refugee Voices at the Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR), is appointed OBE for her creation of the audio-visual testimonies of Holocaust survivors and Jewish refugees, preserving their stories for Holocaust education now and in the future.
She felt “very honoured to have received this meaningful award for my work in Holocaust education and remembrance. My career has been guided by a belief in the enduring power of testimony. At a time when Holocaust denial and distortion and antisemitism is on the rise, and memory moves into history – I hope that the voices of the survivors will continue to shape Holocaust education, research, and public engagement, now and in the future.”
Also honoured for contributions to Holocaust education are Professor Ruth-Anne Lenga, programme director of University College London’s Centre for Holocaust Education, a former director of learning at the Jewish Museum London, who receives an OBE; Michael Marx, trustee of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, who is made MBE; Czech-born child psychotherapist Lydia Tischler, who survived Auschwitz at 10 years old, now an MBE and Hungarian Holocaust survivor Erno Kalman (Yisrael) Abelesz, who receives a BME.
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Michael Mail, founder and chief executive of the Foundation for Jewish Heritage, is recognised for services to heritage and charity through the documentation and preservation of synagogues across Europe. Among its projects to save Jewish spaces was the 2019 purchase of the former Merthyr Tydfil synagogue building with the aim of creating a Welsh Jewish Heritage Centre, and more recently the collaboration with the Brighton & Hove Hebrew Congregation to revitalise the old Middle Street Synagogue in Brighton.
“As you can imagine I’m delighted,” Mail said. “This is recognition for the cause I’ve been working on for the last eleven years promoting the preservation of beautiful historic synagogues.”
Richard Rosenberg, a member of Northwood United Synagogue, is awarded a BEM for his work as a trustee and fundraiser for the Teenage Cancer Trust, which he joined in 2003 after his wife was diagnosed with cancer.
Rosenberg, who just retired as the longest serving trustee, said: “During the years I was a trustee I was lucky enough to see the charity develop into a great support for the National Health Service. Along my trustee journey I was able to participate with my business partner and best friend Laurence Finger in many cycle rides and just recently at the age of 70 we completed a five-day ride from Cardiff to London via Oxford and Cambridge cycling 70 miles each day.”
Richard Rosenberg (right) with fellow charity rider Laurence Finger[Missing Credit]
For services to their local Jewish communities, president of Jewish Care Steven Lewis is recognised with an MBE, and Harrow-based David Lerner, a former secretary of JFS, with a BEM.
A BEM goes to historian and Liverpool Jewish community archivist Arnold Lewis for services to the Merseyside Jewish community.
MBEs also went to Simon Friend, a Jewish Care trustee who is honoured for services to charity, and political strategist Robert Rams for his political service. Rams said: “I’m incredibly honoured and proud to have been awarded an MBE as part of the King’s New Year Honours, in recognition of my work in the political world over the past 20+ years. It has been a privilege to work at all levels of government, alongside colleagues and communities who care deeply about public service and making a difference. I’m grateful to the many people I’ve had the opportunity to work with and for over the years, and to everyone who has supported me along the way.”
Husband and wife duo Barry and Maureen Leveton are recognised with BEMs for their contribution to the Jewish community in Norwich. Both are former presidents of the Orthodox shul, where a window commemorates Barry’s parents for their 50 years of service to the community. The couple has been married for more than 65 years.
Lisa Gerson, a trustee both of the General Optical Council and Cardiff United Synagogue, receives an MBE for services to optometry, education and social cohesion in her local South Glamorgan.
Enver Solomon, who was brought up in a mixed-faith household with a Jewish father, was made an OBE for his work as chief executive of the Refugee Council.
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