Priority setting
The UK Jewish Community is adept at fundraising but the requests and demands for money over the last few weeks have been heavy and quite simply overwhelming. The Campaign Against Antisemitism recently raised £500,000 and the Board of Deputies £200,000, the latter at the same time as a United Synagogue/CST joint fundraising appeal, all ostensibly for the same cause, fighting antisemitism and protecting the Jewish community.
This is in addition to the large number of smaller fundraisings, many of which are welfare related.
There is such a thing as co-ordination and prioritisation which is how the best businesses are run. Surely, it makes sense to prioritise the needs of the community. This can only happen with more dialogue and communication between the various charities as well as preventing overlap in activity and creating more efficiency. It could well result in more money being raised.
I say this as a committed and regular charitable donor and chairman of an active and well-respected charity. We should copy the large Jewish community of Argentina where there exists an umbrella organisation that decides how much money is needed and for which charity, and this works. What happens here is money-raising madness with insufficient thought, analysis nor imagination.
That would make giving so much easier and remove uncertainty and dilemmas for the potential donor. They do say that miracles can happen but who is listening?
Jonathan Metliss
Chairman, Action Against Discrimination
London W1
Antisemitism on campus
Your recent article on UCL’s decision not to extend its fixed-term Antisemitism Programme Manager role risks giving a misleading impression of a reduction in commitment at a time when action is, in fact, being strengthened.
The role formed part of a time-limited programme established in 2021 to deliver a plan of action on antisemitism on campus. That programme has supported extensive activity across the university, including dedicated antisemitism training for staff and students, sessions on Jewish life and festivals, enhanced security training, and strengthened support for Jewish communities.
UCL is not stepping back from this work, rather it is moving to a more integrated approach that will deliver more support for our staff and students. As the context of antisemitism has evolved, so too must the response. Rather than addressing issues in isolation, we are embedding responsibility and expertise across the institution. This includes establishing a new senior expert group, to advise on next steps, launching a Religion and Belief Action Plan that explicitly focuses on tackling antisemitism, and creating new religion-focused roles in our students’ union, including one post which will be dedicated to supporting and celebrating our Jewish community.
We know that, sadly and unacceptably, antisemitism remains a real issue, both at UCL and across wider society, and that more must be done. This is not a reduction in effort, but a step change in how that effort is delivered. We will be doing more, not less, to help our Jewish students and staff feel safe, supported and able to thrive.
Dr Michael Spence,
President and Provost, UCL
Nova location
Why is the Nova Exhibition hidden away in a Shoreditch warehouse rather than in parliament’s Westminster Hall?
Shimon Cohen
London N2
Jewish roots
Ariella Lister (letter JC June 19) has misunderstood my letter in the JC regarding the latest royal wedding.
The Jewish Genealogical Society is not a religious organisation, but one that encourages research into Jewish ancestry from a cultural and historic perspective.
The Jewish community in this country was officially established in the year 1656. Since that time, although some families have disappeared from the present community, many have re-discovered their Jewish ancestry, and it is our pleasure to assist them. This is a way of re-establishing their Jewish links, however remote. There is no “celebration” of an ancestor marrying “out”, as Ariella suggests. That event happened many years ago.
Many of the “disappeared” are part of the fabric of this country and have taken their part in many events, chronicled in the history of Great Britain. We sincerely hope that they will be proud of their Jewish background, as we are.
Doreen Berger
The Anglo-Jewish Special Interest Group
Author of The Jewish Victorian: Genealogical Information from the Jewish Newspapers 1871-80 and 1861-70 (2 vols.)
Ariella Lister writes about marrying out. Sad, inevitable, not new. We are a minute section of the UK population, one half of 1 per cent. What about marrying in?
At my Reform Synagogue there are a number of people, women and men, single and married, who have joined over the years, studied and embraced membership to the point that many are regular shul attendees, some serving on committees and even reading from the Torah at Shabbat services.
We need to be thankful that, as the Jewish community is under attack from the outside, other former “outsiders” embrace our faith, practice it and make a full contribution to the life of the Jewish community.
Barry Hyman
Bushey Heath
Sporting chance
While reading Ben Conway’s article about the way in which politics has always been a part of the World Cup and sport in general, I had a John Lennon Imagine moment (From Mussolini to Iran: the politics of the World Cup, June 12). Let us use the sportsmanship on the field of play, between competing nations of different religion and language, to inspire and civilise our politics. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.
Stan Labovitch
Windsor
Vigilant
I would like to clarify that the weekly hostage vigils held in Central Manchester, and attended by myself and other volunteers, was organised by North West Friends of Israel, and not the Shaare Hayim community in South Manchester, as stated in last Friday’s printed JC.
I would also like your readers to know that Stephen Blank, referred to as Chair of Shaare Hayim, is in fact chair of trustees of Shaare Hayim. Jonathan Dwek is chair of council of Shaare Hayim.
Candice Dwek
Hale, Cheshire
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