Acknowledgements

This book has emerged, not from a merely theoretical inquiry but from an urgent practical concern: how to create a new organisation with the potential to transform a diaspora community, Anglo-Jewry, and set it on the road to renewal.

It is rare for a practical initiative to be launched by a book. In this case, however, in order for Jewish Continuity to succeed as an organisation we need to understand Jewish continuity as a concept, and the historical background which has made it suddenly problematic. In my thinking I have been helped by many individuals who have reflected on Anglo-Jewry and its needs, and I wish here to record my thanks.

My predecessor as Chief Rabbi, Lord Jakobovits, did much to prepare the groundwork. He established the Jewish Educational Development Trust in 1971 and his campaign, “Let My People Know,” placed education firmly on the Anglo-Jewish agenda.

My realisation that a new structure was needed for the 1990s originated in a conversation, three years ago, with Rabbi Shlomo Levin and Michael Cohen, two individuals who have done more than most to develop outreach and education in Anglo-Jewry.

Stanley and Carole Simmonds lent my family their lovely home in Jerusalem for the months preceding my taking up office, and it was there, overlooking the Old City, that the miracle of Jewish continuity and renewal captured my imagination. During my stay in Israel I had many conversations with Simon Caplan which began the process of evolving a practical strategy. Professor Seymour Fox, Alan Hoffman and Annette Hochstein of the Mandel Institute in Jerusalem lent their immense expertise in educational planning, and helped us to formulate the right questions.

All thinking on the future of Anglo-Jewry owes a special debt to Stanley Kalms and Fred Worms. The Kalms Report on the United Synagogue, A Time for Change (1992), and the Jewish Education Development Trust (JEDT) Report chaired by Fred Worms, Securing our Future (1992), provided detailed research on the current state of synagogue life and Jewish education, as well as imaginative prescriptions for change. Together, these two reports created the climate for a Continuity initiative, and our plans are set out against the backdrop of their conclusions.

The creation of a new organisation raises the spectre of battles for turf and territory. We were therefore fortunate to have, throughout, the support of the leaders of Anglo-Jewry’s other major communal bodies. Sir Trevor Chinn and Cyril Stein of the Joint Israel Appeal, and Lord Young of Graffham and Michael Levy of Jewish Care, helped us think through the problems of launching a new communal structure and gave freely of their advice. Michael Phillips, chairman of the Jewish Educational Development Trust, was unfailingly generous in his encouragement, as were Seymour Saideman, President of the United Synagogue, and Judge Israel Finestein, President of the Board of Deputies. Alan Fox, Melvyn Carlowe and Morton Creeger gave valuable professional counsel.

We could not have set up Jewish Continuity without the efforts of Michael Mail and Syma Weinberg of the JEDT, who did much of the early professional work, as did Lira Winston of the Sinclair Montrose Trust and Rhoda Goodman of my office. Their dedication was exceptional.

No less remarkable was the help provided by a formidably gifted group of lay people, each of whom contributed to the thinking and momentum of the initiative. Among them were Richard Alberg, Michael Bradfield, Charles Corman, Tony Danker, Norman Finegold, Allan Fisher, Sidney Frosh, Professor Martin Gilbert, Michael Goldmeier, Barbara Green, Stephen Greenman, Henry Israel, Brian Kerner, Henry Knobil, Alan Lee, Lynndy Levin, Daniel Levy, Peter Levy, Richard Loftus, Andrew Loftus, John Martin, Benjamin Perl, Rosalind Preston, Joshua Rowe, Professor David Hillel Ruben, Rob Sumroy and Professor Leslie Wagner.

We could not have proceeded without the support of leading figures in the Anglo-Jewish community. Special thanks are due to Stanley Cohen, Sidney Corob, Dr. David Khalili, Clive Marks, Dame Shirley Porter, Felix Posen, Sir Harry Solomon, Lord Woolf, Lord (David) Wolfson and Lord (Leonard) Wolfson, whose encouragement strengthened our conviction that Jewish Continuity was the necessary project for our time.

To these must be added the many educators, rabbis, youth leaders and outreach workers from all sections of the Anglo-Jewish community with whom we consulted before setting up the organisation, and whose views further clarified our plans.

I am grateful to Frank Cass of Vallentine Mitchell for agreeing to publish this work, along with other studies in Jewish renewal, and to Teddy Reitman for assisting the publications of our office. The manuscript was read by, among others, Dayan Ivan Binstock, Charles Corman, Judge Israel Finestein, John Martin and Professor Leslie Wagner, all of whom offered valuable suggestions and criticisms.

Two individuals, though, stand out for the sheer weight of their contribution. The first is Jonathan Kestenbaum, Executive Director of the Office of the Chief Rabbi. Jewish Continuity is as much his creation as mine. Since we first met, six months before we took up our respective positions, we have been engaged in continuous dialogue about the theory and practice of Jewish renewal. Intuitively, in those early days, I sensed that we would need to create something like Continuity, and that Jonathan was the person to do it. He has exceeded even those high hopes, and brought the project to fruition with commitment and panache.

The second is Dr. Michael Sinclair, Jewish Continuity’s first chairman. Michael, a psychiatrist turned successful businessman, sat with astonishing calm throughout our first meeting as I asked him to create, from nothing, the biggest project in recent Anglo-Jewish history. After I had finished my lengthy exposition, he gave me his reply. It consisted of one word: Yes. I was not sure then whether he knew what he was letting himself in for, and perhaps neither was he. Ever since, he has not only allocated vast amounts of time to the project but, more importantly, he has lent it the colouring of his unique personality, inventive, receptive and creative, practical and intellectual at once, and driven throughout by a deep thirst for spirituality and personal Jewish growth.

Finally, I must acknowledge the role played by Clive Lawton, appointed as I was preparing this final draft to be Continuity’s first Chief Executive. His colourful, unconventional approach to Jewish education augurs well for the future of the organisation as a source of innovation in Anglo-Jewry and as one that genuinely reaches out to Jews wherever they are.

May Continuity’s success be their reward, and the renewal of Anglo-Jewry ours.

Jonathan Sacks [1994]