It’s been 20 years since the untimely passing of our deeply loved son, brother, friend and confidant to so many people. Our family is always struck by the number of people that still tell us what an impact he had on their lives, 20 years on. We are aware he personally introduced several people to their future life partners and even though he was ripped from our lives just at the start of his rise to political superstardom, his achievements at the tender age of 27 are still resonating with us. That’s legacy.
Alan z”l was destined for great things; he was in the United States working for a senator, as he sought to build on the glittering career he had built already. His wide cheesy grin disarmed even the most experienced of politicians. He usually got what he wanted and by the time he was murdered defending a friend, he was already influencing our politics. First as the elected chair of BBYO, then UJS, then BICOM, then as the first director of the Co-Existence Trust (a trust set up to build relationships between Jewish and Muslim communities). His contact book included ministers, prime ministers, crown princes, ambassadors and senior journalists.
It is no exaggeration that we all thought he was going to be prime minister. His name was spoken loudly and proudly by those that led our community, as a once in a lifetime generational talent.
To us and his friends he was just, lovingly, Alan. Loyal, funny with sometimes questionable dress sense and eating habits, yet he possessed a brilliant quick wit. No one left speaking to Alan disappointed, he had aura, presence and gravitas in spades. He was a mensch in the true sense of the word.
We set up the Alan Senitt Memorial Trust to honour his legacy and to carry on some of the work he had begun on improving relationships between different faith-based communities. We could never replicate the achievements of Alan, so we did the next best thing we could think of, attempting to instil the values that drove Alan to such greatness into future generations. Our Programme, Upstanders Leadership, is managed and facilitated by StandUp and Streetwise, a partnership between CST and Maccabi GB.
While modest, we have seen more than 2,000 young people from different faiths, backgrounds and communities graduate from our schools programme. All we have asked them to do is to listen and to learn from each other, and then to devise and complete a community-based project that makes a difference. It is so simple and so effective. Young leaders get identified and passion gets ignited in a programme that promotes nothing but kindness to others.
As a community we’ll never have the benefit of Alan’s response to the madness that has engulfed our society. As friends of Alan, we’ll never get to rib him again over the complexities of his love life or seek his calm, wise and kind counsel. As a family we will never stop grieving. Everyone has their own Alan story. His reach and impact was unquestionable and the work of the Trust is our contribution in honouring him in this endeavour. In this year, 20 years after his death, we need to keep sprinkling his stardust. We still often ask ourselves, what would Alan do?
This is a tribute by Karen, Emma and Jamie Senitt – the mother, sister and brother of Alan Senitt
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