First message from new JHSE President

Dear JHSE Members, 

It is a great pleasure to write my first message as your new President.  As I take on this role I am humbled by the thought of the eminent people who have held the position before me.  Rest assured I will do my very best to live up to the values of this Society, and to grow and develop it for the future.  To this end, I will need the support of all of you, and especially of our excellent Advisory Board and Trustees.  

I am conscious as I write of the continuing war in Israel and Gaza, and of the precarious ceasefire between Israel and Iran.  Members of our Society bring with them a wide variety of interests and commitments, but I am sure we all share the desire for peace, justice and security for all the people of that region. At the edges of these conflicts, I hope that our Society will maintain its habitual openness to each other’s fears and concerns.    

Meanwhile our day-to-day activities continue. In the coming weeks we will be hosting lectures on Jewish Country Houses, on Jewish recipients of the Victoria Cross, and on the history of the Bloom’s restaurant. We are also proudly supporting the formal book launch of Nudrat Afza’s Kehillah at Dean Clough in Halifax on August 16^th between 12-2pm. Please join these events if you possibly can. We continue to grow new branches in Cambridge, Northwest London and Manchester, as well as supporting our existing hubs in Essex, Sussex, Liverpool, South London, Kent, Surrey, and Jerusalem.  

Finally, I would like to congratulate our New Generation Group (NGG) for winning a Rothschild Hanadiv Grant to support their increasingly complex administration and development.  We are really proud of the NGG, and will be doing all we can to strengthen the group and support their fascinating work. 

I wish you all a wonderful summer.  

Gavin