Sandy Rashty 14 June 2016 The Jewish Chronicle Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned the terror attack at a lesbian and gay nightclub in Orlando, which left 49 people dead and 53 injured in the early hours of Sunday morning. In a statement after the mass-shooting at the Pulse club, … Read More
Nominate someone special for a Chair’s Award
19 May 2016 Liberal Judaism chair Simon Benscher is seeking nominations for the Liberal Judaism Chair’s Awards – which are presented to members who have served the movement at either a national or local level. The deadline for nominations is May 31 and the nominee should have served Liberal Judaism … Read More
Celebrating 70 years of Liberal Judaism in Ireland
11 May 2016 Dublin Jewish Progressive Congregation (DJPC) celebrated its 70th anniversary with a sold-out gala dinner and jam-packed weekend of services and events, attended by VIPS representing all of Ireland’s faiths. Dignitaries included Most Rev Dr Diarmuid Martin, the Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland (Roman … Read More
The advance of Progressive Judaism
Simon Benscher 20 April 2016 Life at Liberal Judaism is never boring, and can be full of interesting surprises. From the precise moment I made the mistake of publicly declaring that our movement’s previous chair, Lucian J Hudson, had possibly overstated the time and commitment required for the role, it … Read More
A weekend of celebration at Woodford
12 April 2016 Three rabbis, two Christian clergy and a police officer were among 100 people celebrating the 50th anniversary of Woodford Liberal Synagogue’s building on Sunday. Woodford’s Rabbi Richard Jacobi put together a special civic service, which contained some of the community’s favourite prayers from the last half century. … Read More
Double celebration at Woodford
19 October 2015 The congregation at Woodford Liberal Synagogue celebrated TWO 90th birthdays this Shabbat. The shul was full on Friday evening for a service to commemorate the birthdays of Peter Benscher, life president of Woodford, and Rabbi Harry Jacobi, father of Woodford’s Rabbi Richard Jacobi and a vice president … Read More
Spare a Thought – September 2015
Simon Benscher 1 September 2015 As we speed swiftly towards our High Holy Days, I wonder if during our hours of communal spiritual refreshment we could give some consideration to the near 40 chairs of our Liberal congregations who would have probably spent days preparing what, for many of them, … Read More
Don’t react to attacks on freedom by restricting it
Lucian J Hudson 25 January 2015 The Jewish News Reflecting on events in France 200-plus years ago, philosopher and politician Edmund Burke was quoted saying: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” Recent events, again in France, bring Burke to mind. Violence … Read More
Putting the picture together
Lucian J Hudson 28 August 2014 The Jewish Chronicle Leadership in a crisis requires not just skill in responding appropriately in the moment but a coherence and consistency of purpose over time. Whitehall and Westminster’s response has lacked strategy, limiting UK’s influence short and long term, and unleashing an anti-Israel … Read More
Gove is right to push prevent
Lucian J Hudson 12 June 2014 The Jewish Chronicle Some family rows are worth having. After a stormy fortnight in Westminister, we should reflect that Michael Gove and Theresa May may in fact have done the British public a favour by surfacing a genuine tension in our approach to combating … Read More