I remember a bright, emotionally intelligent pupil. Why is Rivkah Brown now distorting the universalistic Jewish values she was taught?
July 24, 2025 14:27
The recent LBC debacle surrounding James O’Brien’s farcical broadcast of an unverified text from one of his listeners, “Chris” whose wife was supposedly educated in a “Shabbat school in…leafy Hertfordshire” reinforced my distaste for the aural equivalent of the Daily Mail, but exacerbated by the fact that a microphone provides the approbation to spout antisemitic bovine excrement with little consequence.
However my ire was compounded when I learned that a social media defence of O’Brien and his caller was being generated by Rivkah Brown, one of my former pupils at Simon Marks Jewish Primary school where I was Headteacher from 2002. Rivkah asserted that she was taught at school that “Arab lives were worth less than Jewish ones”.
I remember her as a warm, academically bright and emotionally intelligent pupil – so I was absolutely flabbergasted that she has chosen to besmirch the school that I was so proud to lead for more than six years.
My vision for the school was predicated on making it the core of the community, opening doors to parents and articulating an ethos that was based on universalistic Jewish values that were non-judgmental and able to be understood and enacted by every child, regardless of faith or religious observance and where imagination, creativity and curiosity were key co-ordinates of learning. As headteacher I cannot vouch for every member of staff, but I do remember very clearly the support I had from parents, and under my term of office the school grew.
The geography of the school was unique, a holy triangle, positioned opposite the Satmar Yeshivah and the Masjid Quba and I worked tirelessly on building good neighbourly relations with both. Unfortunately Satmar were not overly interested, but there was incredible warmth from the Mosque and I built a close relationship with their staff, often disappearing there for some peace and reflection. Our football team played with the Muslim school up the road, usually losing, and the headteacher there and I would share ideas and sometimes frustrations.
The six years I led the school was the toughest job I had in a career in education and community spanning 50 years; I battled Ofsted, worked with wonderful governors and trustees, managed a disputatious staff team who had been in the school for decades, but above all I adored the children, and tried to inculcate in them key values of love for everyone regardless of faith or background and at every opportunity I would emphasise and teach the critical value of emotional intelligence.
So I hope that Rivkah will reflect on what she was posting and think about the impact of her words on those who shared a role in her education, words that can still hurt even after over 20 years and I would urge her to think about the joy of her bat mitzvah ceremony at Muswell Hill shul and her heartfelt sentiments then that spoke of love and universal Jewish values of community.
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