Board of Deputies of British Jews
The Board of Deputies of British Jews (Engl. Deputies Committee of British Jews ) is the most important representative body of British Jewry. Founded in 1760 as a joint body of Sephardic (Spanish and Portuguese) and Ashkenazi (Central and Eastern European) Jewish communities in London , it developed into a recognized forum for the different areas of the British Jewish community.
The committee is z. Currently headed by Henry Grunwald QC, who was elected to a three-year office in 2003. Historically significant was the Victorian philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore , who traveled the world in the 19th century to aid persecuted Jews and served as President of the Board. Later presidents include Arthur Cohen , Lionel Walter Rothschild and Greville Janner, Baron Janner of Braunstone .
The chief executive officer of the board is Jon Benjamin, who was succeeded by Neville Nagler in 2005 .
The committee consists of the elected deputies of the synagogue communities , synagogue alliances and other organizations of the Jewish community such as charities and youth groups. It serves as the main reference point for government, the media and the wider society. The Committee pays attention to all matters affecting the lives of Britain's Jews, including an interfaith program of action.
The office is in the home of Isaak D'Israeli , the father of British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli .
Criticism and controversy
In 2003 the committee accused the aid organization Interpal of terrorism . Interpal is threatened with libel suit , whereupon the committee apologized and reached an out-of-court settlement. The committee became involved in the Finegold affair when London Mayor Ken Livingstone compared the Jewish reporter Oliver Finegold or his newspaper to a concentration camp guard. The mayor's remarks sparked widespread protests. Together with the Commission on Racial Equality , the committee filed a complaint with the Standards Boards for England and asked the Mayor to apologize to the reporter. The mayor formally condemned the Holocaust but maintained his remarks about the journalist, noting that on religion, the "committee" was only a small part of Jewish society.
See also
literature
- Geoffrey Alderman : British Jewry since emancipation. The Univ. of Buckingham Press, Buckingham 2014.
- Todd M. Endelman: Board of Deputies. In: Dan Diner (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture (EJGK). Volume 1: A-Cl. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2011, ISBN 978-3-476-02501-2 , pp. 370-375.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from July 17, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Livingstone suspension frozen by judge guardian.co.uk , February 28, 2006
