JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

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ident. In December 1992, the United Synagogue announced
£0.8 million of cuts and a freeze on rabbis’ salaries. It wound
up its three-year old sheḥitah operation, established as a result
of the bitter “sheḥitah wars” in the 1980s, with a loss of
£0.7 million.
The search for economies underlay the amalgamation of
the Jewish Blind Society and the Jewish Welfare Board to form
Jewish Care in December 1988. In the recession of the early
1980s and again in the slump of 1990–92, Jewish welfare organizations
had to cater for Jewish unemployed persons, too,
despite a shrinking income base. The second recession saw
many of the fortunes built up by Jewish entrepreneurs in the
1980s crumble. Grodzinski, the kasher baker, went into receivership
in February 1991 after trading for 102 years. The famous
kasher caterer Schaverin suffered a similar fate in November
1991. In June 1992, the Glasgow Jewish Echo closed down after
64 years of publication.
Nor was Anglo-Jewry immune to the social problems afflicting
the rest of society. In July 1991 David Rubin, son of an
eminent rabbi, absconded after allegedly defrauding fellow-
Jews of millions of pounds. A few weeks later, a child-abuse
case in the Orthodox community of Stamford Hill led to violent
demonstrations by members of the community against
the family that had taken the matter to the police.
Jewish communal institutions have been dogged by poor
finances, while attempts at reorganization have had uneven
success. In March 1993 the highly effective and inexpensive
Association of Jewish 6th Formers (AJ6), which prepares Jewish
teenagers for university, faced closure due to lack of funds.
AJ6 received a last-minute reprieve, but the affair showed the
need for a strategic funding policy. In April 1993, Lord Young,
former Tory cabinet minister and businessman, initiated the
Central Council of Jewish Social Services (CCJSS) which he
envisaged as a directorate for British Jewry. In July 1993 he
was elected chairman of the CCJSS, now embracing over 40
Jewish organizations.
Lord Young dismissed the Board of Deputies as inefficient
and incapable of providing either policies or leadership.
His view appeared to be confirmed when plans for its reform
were stymied. In December 1993, the Board failed to give a
two-thirds majority to measures to decrease the size of the executive,
the number of Deputies, and the frequency of plenary
meetings. The election of Eldred Tabachnik, QC, as president
in June 1994 revived hopes of reform.
The United Synagogue (US), which announced that it had
lost £1 million on a disastrous sheḥitah operation in June 1993,
pulled itself back into the black by means of draconian economies.
A series of institutional reforms failed to placate women
who demanded a greater say in its affairs (see below). The Rix
Report on Jewish youth in September 1994 called for greater
investment in youth work which was met with alacrity by the
CJCS and other funding bodies. After a series of poor appeal
results, the JIA was relaunched in October 1995.
The most important communal initiative was the inauguration
of Jewish Continuity in April 1993. Jewish Conti-
nuity was intended to raise money to fund new and existing
educational projects, invest in people to “champion” Judaism,
and provide advice and guidance across the whole Jewish
community. However, Continuity immediately aroused
the suspicions of Progressive Jews because of the absence of
any but Orthodox Jews from its directorate and staff. In May
1994 an allocations board was set up that included members
of the Reform and Liberal movements. Continuity hoped to
avoid Orthodox criticism of this move by making the allocations
board semi-detached, dispensing moneys given it for the
purpose by Continuity. In July 1994, Continuity reached an
agreement with the JIA that £12 million of the money raised
by the JIA in Britain would go to educational projects identified
by Continuity. In September 1994 it announced its first
grants, totaling £435,000. The largest number and amount of
grants went to Orthodox causes.
During 1995, critics continued to charge Jewish Continuity
with bias and a lack of strategy. In October 1995 it announced
a major review of its operations, to determine what
its role should be and end the confusion between its functions
as grant giver and service provider. The review would also deal
with the antagonism which had built up between it and the
JIA and Progressive Jews in Britain.
The fortunes of Jewish Continuity were inextricably
linked with those of its progenitor, Rabbi Dr. Sacks. He appeared
increasingly beleaguered by an intractable rabbinate,
an assertive Jewish women’s movement and confident Masorti,
Reform, and Progressive movements. In February 1993 a Jewish
women’s prayer group held the first women’s Sabbath service
in a manner authorized by Rabbi Dr. Sacks: in a private
house and without use of a Sefer Torah or prayers requiring
a male quorum. But there was pressure for more radical, and
according to many authorities permissible, steps such as use
of a Sefer Torah and praying in a synagogue. In March 1994, a
women’s prayer group defied Rabbi Dr. Sacks and held a service
using a Sefer Torah on a Sunday at Yakar, an independent
Orthodox study center in London.
In July 1993, Rabbi Dr. Sacks issued guidelines to the US
on how to accommodate women’s demands for greater involvement.
He ruled that women could become members of
the US council and sit on synagogue boards of management,
but only by co-option not election. This did not satisfy the
women of the US. In October 1993, Rabbi Dr. Sacks announced
his solution to the problem of agunot. He recommended mandatory
prenuptial contracts entitling the wife to support from
her husband until divorced by a get, and mutual cooperation
to achieve that end. Enforcement of this recommendation was
stymied by members of his Beth Din.
The inquiry into women in the community, initiated by
Rabbi Dr. Sacks and headed by Rosalind Preston, announced
its findings in June 1994. It revealed that women wanted more
spiritual involvement, more rituals in recognition of female
life-cycle events, the right to say kaddish, greater recognition
of the needs of single women and single mothers, urgent reform
of the get system, and greater sensitivity by Batei Din to
428 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6