Recruitment drive will support Masorti growth
MASORTI IS to prioritise the recruitment and training of rabbis, educators and community leaders over the next three years, chief executive Matt Plen told the 230 guests at its annual dinner in Finchley on Sunday.
Mr Plen said that advancements over the past year had included the establishment of new groups in Bristol and Liverpool and an agreement with Leo Baeck College to run a training programme for rabbis.
Going forward, the focus would be on “providing scholarships for two rabbinical students every year, creating high level study programmes for young people to nurture Jewishly-literate community leaders and creating a pool of candidates for rabbinical training”.
Two new rabbis, Roni Tabick and Oliver Joseph, would work to “grow
Matt Plen young Masorti communities”. Rabbis Tabick and Joseph and student minister Zahavit Shalev spoke passionately about the support they had received from the movement and their vision for the future. Four congregants also addressed the dinner, among them Kirsty Bright from the Elstree and Borehamwood community, who converted to Judaism through Masorti. Summarising, Masorti’s senior rabbi, Jonathan Wittenberg, said: “We have a spiritual and moral vision r o o t e d i n f a i t h , integrity, openness, tolerance and the belief in a just, sustainable, pluralist world in which humanity can live in harmony with itself and all nature. We, therefore, have a contribution to make not only to the Jewish community, but to today’s society in the UK, Israel and across the world.”
The dinner raised more than £60,000.