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This week, the Institute for Jewish Policy Research has published one of the most significant reports in the history of our community. It says nothing surprising and little that is new. But in reminding us that within 15 years more than half of all Jewish children in Britain will be Charedi — and thus, within a relatively short time, a majority of all British Jews, it forces back on to the agenda an issue that simply has to be confronted.
Take just one, relatively small, area. Our representative bodies such as the Board of Deputies and Jewish Leadership Council are often attacked as being unrepresentative of the mainstream. But the demographic changes that are already under way will soon make that not an accusation but a simple statement of fact — but in a very different sense.
The Board does not include Charedi deputies; and the JLC has no Charedi members. When the mainstream is Charedi, what possible claim can either body have to being representative? But this goes far beyond them; this is an issue that has profound implications for the entire community.
