THE JC POWER 1 0 0 WEEK TWO
Parttwoofourguidetothepowerplayersinanglo-Jewry.Ourpanelpick theirlistfrom50to31.Here,weexplainthereasoningbehindtheirdecisions
RUTH GREEN RUTH GREEN has set an example for women looking to take on senior roles in communal leadership. A supporter of Women in Jewish Leadership commission, she joined the Jewish Leadership Council’s trustee board this year, saying she was “excited” to take on the role. She comes from a youth movement background in Reform Judaism — as a former northern field worker for RSY Netzer and youth and community worker for North Western Reform Synagogue — but is now a member of Highgate United Synagogue. A trustee of the UJIA, she works on the Israel Experience bursary allocations committee and promoted the “Tenner for Tour” grassroots fundraising campaign. She is also co-chair of the UJIA Lead Now board, a programme for youth movement workers and UJS sabbaticals. Green — a senior counsellor with 25 years experience — has gone full circle, returning to work at the progressive King Alfred School in Golders Green where she was a pupil. DAYAN MENACHEM GELLEY THE AWARD of the title of “head” of the London Beth Din earlier this year formally recognised Dayan Gelley’s expertise in Jewish law. It also confirmed him in the role he had effectively played as the senior dayan of the central Orthodox ecclesiastical authority for the past seven years. Educated at Gateshead and Israel’s Ponevez Yeshivah, he has impeccable Charedi credentials and has maintained the Beth Din’s reputation as a respected halachic body in the wider Orthodox world. But he has also displayed flexibility, permitting women to chair synagogues and become trustees of the United Synagogue. And while he may not have been over the moon at Chief Rabbi Mirvis’s decision to go to the Limmud conference, he showed prudence and tact in respecting it.
HANNAH WEISFELD THE 33-YEAR-OLD has emerged as one of the leading voices of the moderate centre-left on the IsraeliPalestinian conflict. She insists that her Yachad organisation (which means together), is “avowedly pro-Israel” but Weisfeld is also fierce critic of Israeli policies in the West Bank. During Opera- tion Protective Edge she has made numerous media appearances on the BBC and Al Jazeera, advocating a middle-ground position on the conflict. She claims that since July Yachad has gained 1,000 new supporters and raised over £30,000 in donations. Previously a long-time member and head of education for the left-wing Zionist youth group, Habonim Dror, Weisfeld says her background in the movement inspired her passion for Israel. In addition to online petitions and letter writing campaigns, Yachad also organises group trips to the West Bank with a particular focus on Israel’s military court system. KAREN PHILLIPS/MARK ADLESTONE AS CHIEF executive and chairman respectively, Karen Phillips and Mark Adlestone are responsible for the running of Manchester’s leading Jewish welfare charity. They are paired together in the list because neither would have achieved what they have without the support of the other. Together, they oversaw the merging of the Federation of Jewish Services, the city’s largest charity, with the Heathlands Care Village, followed by a multi-million-pound redevelopment of the site. Phillips began her charitable work at the age of 16 before becoming a probation officer. Unimpressed with the help offered to her sick mother by Jewish welfare groups, she set about professionalising services and raising standards. Her work has earned her an MBE. Adlestone is a popular and successful businessman, running Beaverbrooks the Jewellers and regularly picking up awards for the chain’s level of staff satisfaction and its charitable giving.
LORD WINSTON A REGULAR presenter and contributor to a range of television programmes, fertility expert Lord Winston is as well known for his broadcast work as he is for his scientific research. He was inspired to become a doctor after his father died as a result of medical negligence when he was nine-years-old. Over the course of his career he became famous for pioneering techniques to improve IVF treatment. He is a regular contributor to current affairs programmes, such as Panorama, and has appeared on the panel show Have I Got News for You. As chairman of the Genesis Research Trust he has helped raise over £13 million to establish the Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology, which now funds high quality research into women’s health and babies. Within the community he has supported the UJIA’s annual fundraising dinners and has often discussed the influence of Judaism on his life and career. Married to Lira Helen Feigenbaum, the couple have three children. RABBI SHOSHANA BOYD GELFAND THE HIGH-FLYING American briefly made history as the first female rabbi to be professional head of a synagogue movement when she became Reform chief executive in 2011. But after a few months she bowed out for family reasons. Instead, she has been able to apply her talent for forward-thinking as director of the Pears-funded JHub, the centre for social action and innovation which has helped to nurture ventures such as Mitzvah Day, the Moishe House and the Jewish Volunteering Network. Interested in new ideas of community-building, she has fostered initiatives which particularly appeal to the young. She recently published a collection of Jewish folk talks for children.
RAYMOND SIMONSON JEWISH CULTURE has rocketed in London — thanks in, no small measure, to Simonson. As CEO of the JW3 commu- nity centre on Finchley Road, which opened its doors last September, he has overseen a cultural renaissance. He is a visible presence, regularly mingling with JW3’s 4,000 monthly visitors and promoting events with gusto. His passion for the centre — and for community action in general — is clear, having finally seen the building become a £50 million reality after a decade in the making. But then, he is hardly a stranger to highprofile communal development. During his six-year run as executive director of Limmud, he welcomed thousands of British Jews to the annual conference, expanding its programme to appeal to an increasingly diverse audience.
JOSHUA ROWE AS CHAIR of governors of King David High School in Manchester, Rowe is a leading voice on Jewish education, and has been a fierce defender of faith schools in the national press. A major philanthropist, in 2013, he produced a handbook on Israel in order to improve the public’s perception of the country, and ensured it was provided for free to all school pupils who wanted to learn more. He hit the headlines this year when he wrote a letter to blaming the government’s failure to provide funding for gifted pupils for British schools’ weak performances compared to international rivals. “If we are serious about raising standards, then I suggest the first step is to ensure that our brightest and most gifted pupils are fully resourced and successful schools are rewarded,” he said.
The Times JONATHAN WITTENBERG THE SOFTLY-SPOKEN senior rabbi of the Masorti movement is one of the few