Simon Rocker

1 week ago | thejc.com | Simon Rocker

It will be another few months before the embryonic Progressive Judaism, born of the union of the Movement for Reform Judaism and Liberal Judaism, will formally take its place among British Jewry’s denominations at the beginning of 2026. There are a few legal and administrative niceties to clear before the new movement, whose birth was approved by members of the two synagogue bodies at special meetings last month, is fully up and running.

2 weeks ago | thejc.com | Simon Rocker

Under the proposals, the existing gym and music block and adjacent nursery building at the girls site in Page Street would be demolished and “replaced with a new three storey building to provide a new middle school building for Hasmonean High School for Boys and a sports hall for use by the school as a whole.” Year 7 and 8 boys are currently being housed in a former primary school in Belsize Park.

2 weeks ago | thejc.com | Simon Rocker

Rabbi Zahavit Shalev, one of the senior leadership team at New North London Synagogue, is moving to become interim rabbi at Westminster Synagogue, whose spiritual leader for the past seven years, Rabbi Benji Stanley, is leaving to study in Israel. Her departure comes as the flagship Masorti congregation searches for a successor to its senior rabbi, Jonathan Wittenberg, who is due to retire at the end of the year.

3 weeks ago | thejc.com | Simon Rocker

A member of the AEC said that the postponement was still subject to a hearing at the Zionist court in Jerusalem, which adjudicates disputes within the WZO’s constituent organisations. Britain has just 19 out of 525 seats at the congress, which is largely composed of Israeli and American delegates. Owing to its stake in the Jewish Agency and the Jewish National Fund, WZO representatives help to determine £750 million in annual spending on Zionist activities in Israel and the diaspora.

1 month ago | thejc.com | Simon Rocker

So, it is worth dwelling on what he said about the conflict last week since it must reflect his judgement of where mainstream Anglo-Jewish opinion lies. While the Board did not engage in “megaphone diplomacy”, it had made its views known to both the UK and Israeli governments, he told deputies. He and some of his officers were recently in Jerusalem for a World Jewish Congress assembly.