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London Jewish ForumPromoting Jewish LifeBy Adrian Cohen, Chair, London Jewish Forum

The London Jewish Forum (LJF) has had a great year. The Forum has worked hard to develop a platform for engagement between London Jewry and London institutions.

We continue to develop projects with the Mayor of London, Greater London Authority, London MPs and MEPs, London Councils and other political institutions as well as with business and the civic society.

We have many highlights this year. LJF worked to promote community cohesion in the capital through projects such as United London Stands (ULS)which won cross-party support when it produced a platform in January 2009 along with six other faith groups in London. The ULS Jewish-Muslim dialogue was supported by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission and had a launch in City Hall with

the support of the party groups within the Greater London Assembly.

On the Olympics, the Forum has worked with Maccabi GB, UJIA and Lord Janner to fully develop the Jewish Committee for the L o n d o n G a m e s w h i c h i s recogn i s ed by the Games organisers. We have promises from both the Mayor of London and Minister for Olympics that there will be a commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of the Munich tragedy and have been widely lauded for the Ludwig G u t t m a n p r o g r a m m e t o commemorate the legacy of the father of the Parlaympic Games.We are proud to be part of the London Community Clusters group looking to develop more housing for London’s strictly orthodox community and relieve the chronic overcrowding issues in Stamford Hill.

LJF working with support of the UJIA have developed with 19 youth projects the London Jewish Youth Task Force who are fully engaged with LJF, the GLA and the community’s work around the Olympics.

LJF worked with 20 organisations on coordinating the publication o f a t h e L o n d o n Je w i s h Manifesto launched in July at Westminster. We worked with Jewish Care, the CST, the Mayor and NHS London on advice on swine flu.

We have worked with London’s Jewish Cultural providers and the Mayor to develop an exciting new project Open Jewish Culture which will see a London online cultural hub and a festival in March 2010.My thanks to the LJF members, s takeholder s our generous s u p p o r t e r s a n d o u r s t a f f members Alexander Goldberg and Elisa Ziff.

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The London Jewish Forum, Maccabi GB, the UJIA along with Lord Janner have formed the Jewish Committee for the London Games in 2008. This is dedicated to ensuring greater community involvement in the Olympic Games in 2012. The group is aiming to work with Jewish schools and their communities in meeting Jewish Olympians; the development of welfare, culture and religious services for Jewish a t h l e t e s i n t h e Olympic Village; a London 2012 Jewish website for visitors to the Games; the long-term legacy for the Jewish community w i t h i n t h e fi v e Olympic Boroughs and utilising sports to bring groups together and celebrate the cultural diversity of the city as it did

at an event including 300 school children at West Ham United in May. The London Jewish Youth Task Force representing 19 youth groups have since joined the JCLG.

The JCLG have developed a number of working groups to ensure that there is proper engagement with the Games. Since the commencement of the project over 60 different communal organisations have been brought into the activities of the JCLG.

The JCLG serves on a number of Olympic bodies including the Faith Reference Group and Community Outreach Groups of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG), the London 2012 Forum and the Faith Forum established by the London Development

Agency on the future of the park following the 2012 Olympics. We are now consulted by the Olympic Park Legacy Company on these issues.

With the large Jewish C o m m u n i t y o f S t a m f o r d H i l l located less than 2 miles from the Park there is enormous interest in the future use of the site.

Other key working groups within the Community Relations track include Community Relat ions, Culture, Commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of the Munich tragedy, Sports Legacy, Schools Programme and the Ludwig Guttman project. The latter marks the work of the founder of the Paralympics, a London Jewish doctor and refugee from Nazi Germany who has inspired millions. Tessa Jowell, the Olympic Minister publicly endorsed the Ludwig Guttman project.

JCLG has formal relations with the Olympic Committee for Israel and the Israel Sports Centre for the Disabled. The JCLG is committed to seeing the marking of the 40th Anniversary of the Munich tragedy and LJF won assurances from the Mayor of London and Olympic Minister that this would happen in an appropriate manner.

In late 2009, JCLG began work with the London Beth Din Kashruth Division and LOCOG to assure that there is Kosher provision at the Games. Different synagogues across the community are working on hospitality and chaplaincy issues.

“I fully endorse the London Jewish Committee’s work around the Ludwig Guttman Project”Tessa Jowell, Olympic Minister

Jewish Committee for the London GamesEnabling 2012By JCLG Staff

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Jewish Committee for the London Games was formed as a partnership between London Jewish Forum, Maccabi GB and the UJIA along with Greville Janner and the newly formed London Jewish Youth Task Force.

JCLG Partners

“London will mark the 40th Anniversary of the Munich tragedy in an appropriate way”Boris Johnson, Mayor of London

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January 2009 saw unprecedented levels of attacks against the Jewish Community in London. Faith communities responded to these attacks by setting up a United London Stands declaration showing solidarity and a commitment to stand up to racial and religious hatred in the city, to combat racism, antisemitism and Islamophobia and commit themselves to working together in order to work for the well-being of London, a multi-ethnic and multi-religious city.

The United London Stands platform was endorsed by the Minster for London, Baroness Warsi as a Shadow Cabinet representative, the leaders of all the party groups in the Assembly along with Jennette Arnold and Darren Johnson in their roles as chair and Deputy-Chair of the Assembly. The platform was been endorsed by major faith organisations, religious leaders and many Councillors across London.

Three of the signatories to this accord, the London Jewish Forum, City Circle (a Muslim group) and the Three Faiths Forum have built on the United London Stands platform both as a vehicle for achieving the aims of the platform and for ensuring that there is a more cogent dialogue between the Jewish and Muslim communities in the City in order for them to work on common issues in supporting the well-being on the city, to build trust between the leadership of the two faith communities and to work out a method of preventing conflict through open dialogue and youth cohesion.

Adrian Cohen and Asim Siddiqui wrote in their article in the Guardian’s Comment is Free of the need to “move to educate each other about the aspirations, religious, communal and national of each other in all their variety and complexity and to develop empathy between us” and move away from the “danger of living in parallel narratives”. They together chaired a dialogue at both the Equality and Human Rights Commission and a launch event at City Hall where Joanne

McCarthney (sponsor), Mike Tuffrey and Roger Evans all spoke on behalf of the three party groups within the Assembly. Nicky Gavron and Len Duvall also attended the session which helped bring together key figures in the two

communities.United London Stands worked with the Your Voice or Theirs and the Electoral Commission to produce materials for faith communities concerning voter registration and methods of voting. This went out to a number of community groups including 6000 Muslim leaders in the capital as well as a number of Jewish, Hindu and Sikh groups.London Jewish Forum worked with Your Voice or Theirs and New York’s Jewish Community to assist a British ex-pat group of 1500 families with a voter registration campaign.

United London StandsEnabling Community RelationsBy ULS

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The London Jewish Youth Task Force (LJYTF) was set up in January 2009 in a partnership between the main Jewish youth movements in London, London Jewish Forum and the United Jewish Israel Appeal - Jewish Life and Education Centre.

The group has representation from 19 Jewish youth projects that deal with youth and student provision in the capital that serving 23,000 young people. Around 10,000 belong to Jewish youth movements, 3,000 are members of the Union of Jewish Students in London, 12,000 go to Jewish schools, and several thousand belong to Jewish Societies in mainstream schools.

The group is looking into public funding for Jewish youth organisations and ways in which young Jews can engage politicians in the capital on

key issues of importance to young people in London. Three members of the LJYTF were co-opted onto the Board of the London Jewish Forum; one member was brought onto the Executive of the Jewish Committee for the London Games and a group is dealing with political engagement.

The LJYTF met with the Mayor’s Youth Ambassador and GLA Member James Cleverly at the end of 2009 and put forward their views on a wide range of issues. City Hall have offered the LJYTF the opportunity to develop several strands of work with it including a 2010 funding seminar.

London Jewish Youth Task ForceEnabling 23,000 Young LondonersBy LJYTF Staff

J a m e s C l e v e r l y M a y o r ’ s Y o u t h A m b a s s a d o r welcomed LJYTF

London Assembly Members, Jewish and Muslim leaders at City Hall

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The main political parties welcomed the launch of Towards a London Jewish Manifesto on July 10th 2009 in Westminster. 

Towards a London Jewish Manifesto  outlines some of the key issues of concern and aspirations of London's Jewish community. It was compiled by the capital's major Jewish organisations under the London Jewish Forum umbrella with the assistance of over 20 community organisations.

This for the first time builds a platform relating to the Jewish community’s London agenda on pertinent issues including welfare, education, housing, youth, culture, the Olympics and community safety.

At its launch Tessa Jowell, the Minister for London, Stephen Hammond, Conservative Shadow Minister for Transport and Tom Brake, Liberal Democrat Shadow Minister for London responded to the manifesto on behalf of their parties. All three pointed out this was the first ‘manifesto’ produced by a civil society group prior to the upcoming General Election and congratulated the London Jewish Forum and the many community organisations who contributed. The launch was

attended by Jewish community leaders from the UK and London’s largest Jewish communal bodies.

The launch was welcomed by Vivian Wineman, the newly elected President of the Board of Deputies and Chair of the Jewish Leadership Council, who thanked the MPs for their responses to Towards a London Jewish Manifesto.

London Jewish ManifestoEnabling Political EngagementBy London Jewish Forum

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it speaks to the concerns of the Jewish community, but does so in a way that seeks to make life in London better for all.”

Tessa Jowell MP, Minister for London

“London Jewish Forum should be proud of this first-class, thoughtful and important contribution. T h i s e n g a g e s w i t h i m p o r t a n t i s s u e s f o r London c iv ic soc ie ty, particularly youth provision and housing.

London Jewish Forum continues to engage with institutions across the capital. These are just some of the bodies with which we have developed further relations in the last year:• Mayor of London• Minister for London • Greater London Authority• Greater London Assembly• London Development Agency • Olympic Development Authority• London 2012 • Football Association • Olympic Legacy Company • Political Parties in London • Faith Forum for London • London Faith groups & leaders

• NHS London• Metropolitan Police Authority• 33 London Councils• London MPs• Shadow London Ministers • Equality&Human Rights Commission• Government Office for London • BBC • Relevant Government Ministries• London First • Many third sector & business orgs• Major policy Think tanks

Stephen Hammond MP, Shadow Minister

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HousingEnabling communityBy LCC MembersThe London Jewish Forum has come together with Agudas Israel Housing Association and a number of others to form London Community Clusters (LCC). This is a community based housing project which is seeking to use the Community Land Trust (CLT) model to develop urban housing solutions for hard pressed communities in London.

What is a CLT?A Community Land Trust is a mechani sm for the democrat i c ownership of land by the local community. Land is taken out of the market and separated f rom i t s productive use so that the impact of land appreciation is removed, therefore enabling long-term affordable and sustainable local development. The v a l u e o f p u b l i c i n v e s t m e n t , p h i l a n t h ro p i c g i f t s , ch a r i t a b l e endowments, legacies or development gain is thus captured in perpetuity, u n d e r p i n n i n g t h e s u s t a i n a b l e development of a defined locality or community. Through CLTs, local residents and businesses participate in and take responsibility for planning and delivering redevelopment schemes.

What progress have we made?London Clusters has successfully accessed funding from the Housing Corporation and other sources to develop a financial and organisational model for home ownership and af fordable hous ing which gives communities a real stake in their homes and local amenities by preserving the value of the land on which their homes are built for the benefit of future generations.  

Since the middle of 2007, London Jewish Forum has been working on finding new housing solutions to address the pressing needs of the strictly O r t h o d o x J e w i s h c o m m u n i t y (sometimes referred to as the haredi community) in Hackney.   This is a community characterised by large famil ies l iv ing in over-crowded conditions.   We have identified sites during 2009.

Our objective is to build up to 600 homes for ownership and rent during the next five years, primarily for the benefit of the haredi communities, in

clusters of c. 150 homes each, to provide a sense of community and mutual security.  The clusters will ideally be situated within a larger regeneration context, which will ensure that the community's housing is part of a wider integrated  solution for local residents in the areas concerned.

Government RelationsEnabling GrowthBy Party GroupingsThe London Jewish Forum regularly meets senior members of the Mayor’s staff on issues such as housing, interfaith, culture and contingency planning and has had a series of meeting with different London MPs and London Councils on issues pertinent to the Jewish Community in the capital.

The Forum launched its London Jewish Manifesto in July 2009 (see above) and has since followed this up with meetings with different London MPs. It has had meetings with the Minister for London.

The Forum has regular sessions with Deputy Mayor Kit Malthouse (in conjunction with the CST). The London Jewish Forum is on the Mayor’s Interfaith Consultative body headed by Deputy Mayor Richard Barnes in the last few months. The London Jewish Forum has met with key City Hall leaders.

London Jewish Forum has regular meeting with the Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Green groups within the London Assembly. This has led to the creation of a London Jewish Labour, London Jewish Conservative and London Jewish Liberal Democrats group developing within the Forum. These groups have been taking the lead on meetings with their respective party groupings within a London context as well as working with the LJF’s newly established think tank, Thinking Jewish London on issues of social policy especially on issues of citizenship, cohesion and civic participation.

We have also developed regional specific groups for East London and hope to use this model for constituency GLA Members and MPs in future.

We work with many Councils and Council leaders including Hackney, Barnet, Southwark, Lambeth, Harrow, Brent, Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Camden and Redbridge opening up opportunities for Jewish organisations.

Open Jewish CultureDeveloping audienceBy Open Jewish Culture

In announcing Open Jewish Culture, Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London said ‘I am delighted to give my backing to this brand new festival of Jewish culture. Across all walks of life, Jewish men and women have been key players in London's continuing success. Open Jewish Cul ture wi l l g ive Londoners and tourists alike the chance to discover more about the fantastic variety of Jewish arts and culture that is out there.’

Open Jewish Culture - the concept?

London Jewish Forum’s London Jewish Cultural Providers Group has been tasked by City Hall to develop the audience for Jewish culture in London both within its own community and the wider London public. The programme therefore enables the development of the cultural sector with the aim that the festival would make London the premier Jewish cultural hub in Europe and attract many thousands of Jewish visitors from the United States and Europe to London at this time of year.

This would be achieved by:

a.Open Jewish Culture – Online hub: An online hub for Jewish cultural/heritage producers will be developed to promote their activities to diverse audiences in London, across the UK and overseas. We envisage a portal that promotes public participation using email, social networking sites, RSS, Youtube, Twitter and Flckr. We expect it to grow organically and to carry links to reviews, blogs, podcasts and vodcasts

and to integrate with Facebook.

b. O p e n Je w i s h C u l t u r e - London’s Jewish Festival: This would be an annual festival of Jewish Culture and Heritage in London which would run between February and March each year. It would be backed up by a strategic marketing campaign and run by an Open Jewish Culture committee. Within this programme all the cultural providers would be able to put on events that would be marketed properly through the Open Jewish Culture framework whilst having quality assurance through the Jewish Cultural Providers Forum.

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London Jewish Forum continues to develop at pace. We have six key platforms of work: Culture, the Olympics, Housing, Youth/Students, Governmental relations and Community Relations.

The Forum continues to build an interface between London’s Jewish Community and London public institutions, businesses and the voluntary sector.

In 2010 we will see the furthering of the Jewish Committee of London Games programme with a series of planned activities and seminars as we continue to forge links with Jewish Olympians and Paralympians from across the world. We are also building relationships with Olympians and hope to work with the London Olympic Committee, the Mayor and Olympic Minister to ensure the Jewish community is fully engaged in activities such as the Cultural Olympiad, Schools and Sports projects, activities around Games times and ensuring that Jewish visitors to the Games are made welcome and are properly sign-posted. We will be working with different Olympic Boroughs and communal organisations on the Games Legacy in terms of housing, cultural and sporting legacy.

We believe that 2010 will be an important year in developing new sites for housing for London’s strictly orthodox (haredi) community and work was progressing at the end of 2009.

The Forum is increasingly asked to assist large and small Jewish organisations in developing their relations with both public authorities and untapped public and private sources of funding to

ensure the delivery of core services. Much of this work is bearing fruit.

The Forum was asked to support a cross-communal group of academics, activists, community policymakers and think tank professionals through our Thinking Jewish London group. We have organised a number of roundtables in 2010 already and hope to provide a forum which can present thinking on social and public policy based on the experience and values of our community.

We are proud to host the London Jewish Youth Task Force and this group has a workplan which will see it having a more active engagement with London institutions.

The Mayor of London and members of the London Jewish Cultural Providers Forum asked us to coordinate Open Jewish Culture and we are looking at an exciting programme of events in March 2010 and a legacy of an online events hub.

We are also supporters and members of the Mayor’s Advisory Group for a major interfaith conference in 2010.

This promises to be an exciting year for the Forum.

“2010 promises to be an exciting year for the London Jewish Forum with advances in our housing, Olympic programme and major developments for both the London Jewish Youth Task Force and the new Open Jewish Culture programme.”

Plans for the FutureCreating a vibrant Jewish LondonBy LJF

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