 | |
| Formation | 1760 |
|---|---|
| Registration no. | 222160 |
| Legal status | Active |
| Headquarters | London, England |
Region served | Great Britain and Northern Ireland |
| Membership | over 300[1] |
President | Phil Rosenberg |
Chief Executive | Michael Wegier |
| Budget | £1.7 million[2] |
| Website | bod |
TheBoard of Deputies of British Jews, commonly referred to as theBoard of Deputies, is the largest and second oldestJewish communal organisation in the United Kingdom, after the Initiation Society which was founded in 1745. Established in 1760 by a group ofSephardic Jews, the board presents itself as a forum for the views of most organisations within the BritishJewish community, liaising with the British government on that basis. Notably, whileLord Rothschild was President of the Board of Deputies, theBalfour Declaration was addressed to him and eventually led to the creation of aJewish state in Palestine. It is affiliated to theWorld Jewish Congress and theEuropean Jewish Congress. The current president isPhil Rosenberg.[3]
The Board of Deputies of British Jews was established inLondon in 1760. Seven deputies were appointed by the elders of theSephardi congregation ofSpanish and Portuguese Jews to form a standing committee (Portuguese:deputados) founded to pay homage toGeorge III on his accession to the throne.[4] TheAshkenazi Jewish congregation then followed suit, establishing a public affairs committee to address urgent political matters[5] and safeguard the interests ofBritish Jews in the British Isles and the colonies.[6] The two bodies began to meet and united in the 1810s.[7] The joint organization was named the London Committee of Deputies of British Jews.
In the mid-19th century, the organisation was headed bySir Moses Montefiore, theSephardi lay leader of British Jewry, andNathan Adler, theAshkenazi Chief Rabbi. The current name was adopted in 1913. In the course of its history, some of the major disputes were between Sephardi and Ashkenazi leaders and between religious and lay leaders.[8]
The Board became more prominent in British society in the early twentieth century due to its support of refugees, notably leading an ultimately failed campaign against theAliens Act 1905. However, by the 1930s, the Board's position had shifted to a more assimilationist position in order to improve the perception of Jews among the non-Jewish British population, including adopting a position ofnon-Zionism.[9] In 1933,Neville Laski was elected as the board's president, and called for Jews to give "overriding consideration of duty and loyalty" to the United Kingdom.[10] However, the stances of the Board once again had shifted in 1939 with the election as President ofSelig Brodetsky, who was described by theJewish Telegraphic Agency as the "foremost Zionist in Great Britain".[11] As of 2024 the Board has continued to hold aZionist position.
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The Board is currently led by Phil Rosenberg - elected in 2024. The chief executive is Michael Wegier, the former chief executive of theUJIA. He succeededGillian Merron, who represented Labour asMember of Parliament (MP) for Lincoln from 1997 to 2010. From 2009 to 2010, she was Minister of State with responsibility for Public Health at theDepartment of Health. In 2020, she left her position at the Board when she was appointed alife peer, representing theLabour Party in theHouse of Lords. Michael Wegier leads a team of professional staff including Director of Public Affairs, Daniel Sugarman (formerly a journalist atThe Jewish Chronicle).
Its membership comprises deputies elected by affiliated individual synagogues, confederations of synagogues, and other organisations within the Jewish community such as charities and youth groups. MostHaredi synagogues have chosen not to affiliate, although in 2021 the Board received its firstHaredi deputy since the 1970s, from asynagogue inStamford Hill. In 2012, it was noted that nearly two-thirds of the deputies were over 60 years of age.[12] However, in the 21st century, the organisation has seen an influx of younger deputies, including two vice-presidents in their early thirties and Phil Rosenberg, who at the age of 38 was elected to succeedMarie van der Zyl as president from 1 June 2024.[3]
It serves as the principal reference point for government, the media and wider society. All matters tending to impact on the life of Jews in Britain fall within the Board's remit, including an active interfaith programme. It is the British affiliate of the World Jewish Congress, the world-wide umbrella organisation of Jewish communities and is the UK member of the European Jewish Congress. Its offices are co-located with theUnited Jewish Israel Appeal inKentish Town.
In January 2019, theJewish Leadership Council reiterated its call for a "unified communal structure" with the Board of Deputies. A previous merger proposal was rejected in 2015 after deputies felt that they would be relegated to second-rate status. In response to the later call, Marie van der Zyl said that "the representative body that speaks for the community must have the legitimacy and accountability that comes from being broad based, democratic and elected." Deputies have in the past noted that, while board honorary officers are accountable to deputies, who themselves are accountable to their constituencies, the Jewish Leadership Council had no such governance structure.[13] However, in March 2020, van de Zyl called inThe Jewish Chronicle for "a more permanent unity" between the organisations.[14]
The issues which the board states it addresses are:
In the 1936Battle of Cable Street the Board of Deputies decided to oppose the counter demonstration against theBritish Union of Fascists.[16]
In 2003, the Board, on its website, reproduced an extract from aUS State Department report that suggested that the aid organisationPalestinian Relief and Development Fund (Interpal) was helping to fund terrorist organisations. Interpal threatened to sue forlibel, whereupon the Board retracted and apologised for its comments.[17][18]
In the same year theJewish Leadership Council, which says it "brings together the major British Jewish organisations to work for the good of the British Jewish community", was founded.
In 2005, after theMayor of London,Ken Livingstone, compared a JewishEvening Standard reporter, Oliver Finegold, to aconcentration camp guard, the Board, along with theCommission for Racial Equality, filed an ultimately unsuccessful complaint to theStandards Board for England, calling on Livingstone to apologise. Livingstone responded by stating "there is no law against 'unnecessary insensitivity' or even 'offensiveness' to journalists harassing you as you try to go home" and that he had a "25-year running battle" with the paper's owners.[19][20]
In 2014, at the height of theIsraeli military operation in Gaza, the Board issued a joint statement with theMuslim Council of Britain (MCB) condemning antisemitism and Islamophobia.[21][22] The statement with its slogan 'to export peace rather than import conflict' proved controversial among some on the conservative wing of the Jewish community but was supported by others on the progressive wing and by groups in inter faith circles.[23] The principle of such a statement was approved by a majority of over 75% at a meeting of the Board on 21 September 2014. In December 2015, the new leadership of the Board distanced itself from the MCB over the latter's alleged links to theIslamistMuslim Brotherhood.[24]
In 2018, over five hundred British Jews signed a letter fromYachad saying that the Board had "deeply misrepresented" their views after the board criticisedHamas for "repeated violent attempts at mass invasion" but did not call for Israeli restraint or acknowledge that the IDF may have acted disproportionately in massacring Palestinians at theGreat March of Return.Liberal Judaism said that "the Board's credibility as the voice of British Jewry depends wholly on its willingness to listen to, hear from and reflect the values of all sections of the community".[25]
In July 2018, the Board suspended Roslyn Pine, deputy forFinchley United Synagogue, for six years, following comments she made which were described asIslamophobic, and for admitting to holding anti-Arab views.[26]
Writing inThe Jewish Chronicle in November 2018 aboutantisemitism in the Labour Party, Marie van der Zyl said, "Over the summer, we showed how we could keep this issue of antisemitism on the front pages day after day, week after week, exacting a severe political and reputational cost for continued failure."[27] In 2019, followingJeremy Corbyn's decision to resign as leader of the Labour Party, the Board asked candidates for the leadership to sign up to ten pledges in order to "end the antisemitism crisis". The pledges included a resolution of outstanding disciplinary cases, lifetime membership bans for some individuals, an independent disciplinary process, full and unconditional adoption of theInternational Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)Working Definition of Antisemitism, and engagement with the mainstream Jewish community. Most of the candidates for leader or deputy leader signed up unconditionally.[28][29]
In 2020, the Board clashed with the new Israeli ambassador to the UK,Tzipi Hotovely, and some members of the community over the Board's continued commitment to Palestinian statehood as part of atwo-state solution to the Israel/Palestine conflict.[30][31]
AfterScottish devolution in 1999, theScottish Council of Jewish Communities was formed to give the Jewish Community ofScotland a single democratically accountable voice in dealings with theScottish Parliament andExecutive, other communities, and other statutory and official bodies. The intention when it was established was for it to stand in the same relationship to theScottish Government as the Board of Deputies of British Jews does to the UK Government. Consequently, the council is autonomous in matters devolved by theScotland Act, such as justice, health and welfare, and community relations, whilst the Board of Deputies speaks for all Britain's Jews on reserved matters such as foreign affairs and equality legislation.
The most historically notable and longest-serving past president was the Victorian-era bankerMoses Montefiore, who in the 19th century travelled widely to assist Jewish communities in foreign countries, faced by persecution at the time. A complete list of presidents and interim positions is as follows:[4]
18th century
19th century
20th century
21st century
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