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Archived Press releases

Tuesday 6 Feb 2007
Welcome to the new JPR web site
Our new website (launched February 2007) aims to deliver easily accessible information about JPR’s policy work, meetings, seminars, lectures, conferences and publications.
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Friday 2 Feb 2007
JPR's Board argues case for independent thinking
JPR's chairman, Peter L Levy OBE argues the case for independent thinking in a letter to the Editor of the Jewish Chronicle.
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Sunday 30 Apr 2006
Antony Lerman returns to lead JPR in new direction
JPR’s founding director, Antony Lerman, has returned to JPR as Executive Director.
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Wednesday 7 Mar 2007
What future for multiculturalism?
In February 2007 JPR held a policy seminar with Tariq Modood, founding Director of the Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship, and Professor of Sociology, Politics and Public Policy at the University of Bristol, a leading authority on multiculturalism, and David Goodhart, the editor of Prospect magazine, whose essay Too Diverse? launched a heated debate on the failings of multiculturalism in the UK.
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Wednesday 11 Apr 2007
Demos and JPR co-sponsor major European 'Shared Belonging' project

Demos, the UK’s most influential think-tank, has teamed up with JPR (Institute for Jewish Policy Research), Europe’s leading Jewish think tank, on a major pan-European project which aims to recreate a sense of shared belonging in Europe’s pluralist democracies.

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Friday 18 May 2007
New study of British Jews ‘demolishes popular myths'

‘Our understanding of the British Jewish population has been revolutionized’, conclude the authors of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research’s (JPR) comprehensive analysis of the data on Jews derived from answers to the first ever voluntary question on religion in the 2001 Census. ‘The results have been truly fascinating and mould-breaking.’
 
The Report, Jews in Britain: A Snapshot from the 2001 Census, published today by JPR, lays bare the complexity of the Jewish population and demolishes several popular myths: ‘the Jewish nuclear family, the homogenous Jewish household, the Jewish housewife, the married Jewish couple or the universally successful and prosperous citizen.’

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Friday 20 Apr 2007
Who speaks for us? Representing the diversity of opinion in Britain’s multicultural society

The question of ‘Who speaks for minority groups?’ has become a hot topic. The government’s policy of giving preferential access to certain minority community organizations has come under fire. In recent years a growing number of new groups and networks have been established to give expression to the diversity of voices among Britain’s minorities. JPR held a policy seminar in March 2007 in the framework of its programme ‘Living Together: A New Approach to Building Civil Society,’ to explore the significance of this trend and to ask what it meant for the way communities represent themselves in British society and how it should affect government policy towards minority communities.  The seminar was chaired by Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland. The panellists were Sunny Hundal, founder of the New Generation Network and editor of Asians in Media; Tufyal Choudhury from Durham University’s Department of Law; Rokhsana Fiaz, Founding Director of The Change Institute, and Professor Susie Orbach, psychoanalyst, author and member of Independent Jewish Voices.

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Monday 16 Jul 2007
The Impact of Religion on Europe’s Future

Claims that projected demographic trends could lead to growing religiosity in Western Europe have been made in a paper published in July by JPR entitled ‘Sacralization by Stealth: demography, religion and politics in Europe’ by Dr Eric Kaufmann, Reader in Politics and Sociology at Birkbeck, University of London. Dr Kaufmann explores the main engines of religious population growth, namely, religious immigration and higher fertility, and suggests a number of ways in which this demographic change may manifest itself politically.

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Tuesday 2 Oct 2007
Shylock on the mind: Jewish versus Christian Readings of The Merchant of Venice

Susannah Heschel, professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College, presented a paper at a seminar organised jointly by JPR and the European Association for Jewish Culture in October on The Merchant of Venice in connection with a new production of the play directed by Julia Pascal at the Arcola Theatre, London. The seminar was chaired by Julia Pascal.

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Thursday 10 Jan 2008
Rediscovering the European Common Good - a progress report

Last winter JPR launched a new pan-European project, funded by the Ford Foundation, entitled Rediscovering the European Common Good. This ambitious and wide-reaching project is directed by Dr Diana Pinto, an intellectual historian and expert in European civil society living in Paris. The project addresses one of Europe’s most pressing political and social problems: the loss of a sense of the commonweal in our pluralist democracies. At stake is the building of new overarching social and political frameworks, which would respect group identities while giving precedence to the common good - in effect, a new res publica, a reinvigorated sense of the common good. (To read the Manifesto, please click here.)
 

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Monday 15 Jan 2007
Manifesto

Voices for the res publica
Rediscovering the European common good
A pan-European project
One of Europe’s most pressing problems today is a loss of a sense of the commonweal in our pluralist democracies. Religious and ethnic groups, whether majorities or minorities, are growing apart from each other. This is due to a combination of two factors: the weakening of the post-war ideal of reconciliation, integration and open borders, and the upsurge of xenophobia, racism, antisemitism and cultural intolerance.
 
As a result, feelings of shared belonging have been eroded and new types of tribalisms are emerging. The current multicultural and integrationist models of democratic life do not seem able to contain these tendencies.

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Thursday 13 Dec 2007
Antisemitism and Zionism: A complex (fruitful?) relationship
This was the title of a paper-in-process presented by Professor Idith Zertal at a JPR policy seminar in October 2007. Present at the conference were a group of scholars, intellectuals and journalists. The seminar was chaired by JPR Executive Director, Antony Lerman.
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Tuesday 18 Dec 2007
Jews and Other Europeans - Old and New

This was the title of the Malcolm Hay of Seaton Memorial Lecture which was delivered by Professor Zygmunt Bauman in December 2007 and held under the joint auspices of JPR and the University of Aberdeen. Professor Emeritus of the Universities of Leeds and Warsaw, Zygmunt Bauman is often described as the world’s foremost sociologist of post-modernity. His books include Modernity and the Holocaust, Postmodern Ethics, Globalization: the Human Consequences and Society under Siege. He was awarded the Amalfi European Prize in 1990 and the Adorno Prize in 1998. The lecture was chaired by Professor Christopher Fynsk, Director of the Centre of Modern Thought at the University of Aberdeen.

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Monday 7 Jan 2008
The Science Delusion

The Science Delusion was the title chosen by Lord Winston, Emeritus Professor of Fertility Studies at Imperial College and author and broadcaster, who delivered the Morris and Manja Leigh Memorial Lecture in December 2007. The lecture was chaired by JPR Chairman Peter L Levy OBE.
 

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Monday 21 Jan 2008
JPR Project on Child Poverty in British Jewry: A Mapping Project to Improve Community Services
A discussion paper produced in 2006 by JPR, in conjunction with the Shoresh Trust, provided clear evidence of poverty and deprivation among significant numbers of Jewish children in all sectors of the Jewish community, arising from divorce, single-parenthood, bereavement, redundancy or chronic disability
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Wednesday 20 Feb 2008
'Voting rights in Israel for Diaspora Jews' proposal criticised as 'fundamentally retrogressive' by JPR

Recent remarks by the Russian oligarch Moshe Kantor, speaking in his capacity as President of the European Jewish Congress (EJC), that all Diaspora Jews should have the right to vote in Israeli elections, are described as ‘fundamentally retrogressive’ in a Policy Briefing paper from the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR), the independent think tank working on policy ideas for an inclusive Europe.


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Archived media coverage

Friday 26 Jan 2007
Pressure grows on Lerman
“Antony Lerman, the executive director of the Institute for Jewish Policy research (JPR), was at the centre of a firestorm of criticism this week over his views on Israel and his controversial participation in the Mayor of London's conference last Shabbat.”
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Friday 26 Jan 2007
Why my JPR position is untenable (by Lord Kalms)
“Antony Lerman's article in last week's JC added disingenuousness to his dangerous argument.”
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Monday 5 Feb 2007
Prominent Jews call for open debate on Israel
“A group of prominent British Jews will today declare independence from the country's Jewish establishment, arguing that it puts support for Israel above the human rights of Palestinians.”
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Sunday 4 Feb 2007
Furore over Jewish critics' challenge to state of Israel
"A major battle has erupted in Jewish communities on both sides of the Atlantic over accusations that left-wing Jews are fuelling anti-Semitism by challenging the existence of Israel."
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Friday 26 Jan 2007
Gunning for Lerman
“Over the past two weeks, readers will have noticed what appears to be an increasingly concerted campaign to destabilise the executive director of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR), Antony Lerman.”
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Friday 12 Jan 2007
Enough of weak leaders
“By and large, Anglo-Jewish leaders — with whom I have worked over many years — are dedicated, well-intentioned Jews, genuinely striving to serve their community.”
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Friday 19 Jan 2007
Don't slur me, Mr Leibler, engage with me (by Antony Lerman)
“It’s a sure sign of a bankrupt argument when you resort to calling for the dismissal from his job of the person you disagree with.  When Isi Leibler incited Anglo-Jewish leaders to “act against me” in last week’s FC, he not only misrepresented my views, he failed utterly to engage with them.”
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Friday 19 Jan 2007
Children 'deprived'
“Around 3,000 Jewish Children are living below the poverty line in Britain today, according to new research into deprivation in the Jewish Community.”
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Tuesday 6 Feb 2007
Reflecting the reality of Jewish diversity
"Who speaks for minority groups?" is one of the hottest issues in Britain today. The government has acknowledged this, and made it a matter of national importance by trying to fight Islamist extremism through Muslim community bodies it prioritises as spokespersons for the Muslim community. But this policy of squeezing minority groups into "representative" boxes is facing a growing challenge. Minorities are increasingly asserting their own internal diversity and refusing to line up behind establishment or government-favoured organisations.
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Sunday 4 Feb 2007
Lerman: your views
The Jewish Chronicle publishes a selection of letters about the Antony Lerman controversy.
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Friday 9 Feb 2007
Lerman Azulay
I am an Israeli, a Zionist and a new member of the JPR board. I made aliyah in 1954 and served Israel for 33 years in the military, defence and security establishments. My children live in Israel and serve in the IDF.
I have read the articles and letters about Tony Lerman’s views. Frankly, I am more concerned about all those “good” Jews who are burying their heads in the sand. Not one has said anything constructive. With all due respect to Lord Kalms and others, I don’t see how they have contributed anything to Israel by walking out on JPR.

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Friday 9 Feb 2007
Contributors to debate...
Brian Klug “As the situation in the Middle East deteriorates yearly, more and more Jews watch with dismay from afar. Dismay turns to anguish when innocent civilians — Palestinians and Israelis — suffer injury and death because of the continuing conflict. No one has the authority to speak for the Jewish people. Yet during Israel’s war with Lebanon last summer, Ehud Olmert, the prime minister, told an American audience: “I believe that this is a war that is fought by all the Jews…”
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Friday 23 Feb 2007
Why didn't we listen to JPR?
The Jewish Chronicle published the following letter, entitled 'Why didn't we listen to JPR?' by Antony Lerman, in response to their report on elderly care provision (February 16).
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Friday 2 Mar 2007
We did listen
Antony Lerman contends that “little or no concerted, cooperative action was taken” after JPR’s Facing the Future report on the care of older people came out five years ago (Letters, February 23).

The facts are very different. This seminal piece of research acted as a catalyst for the charities, particularly in the welfare sector, to start talking to each other more than ever before.
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Friday 27 Apr 2007
JPR joins Demos
One of Britain's top think-tanks has joined forces with the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR) on a project to explore ideas of social harmony in contemporary Europe. Demos, which focuses on 'everyday democracy', is co-sponsoring the British leg of a series of round-table discussions among academics and opinion-formers being convened by the JPR in ten European countries.
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Thursday 17 May 2007
Nuclear family no longer the norm for UK Jews
 A report released Thursday provides a comprehensive insight into the British Jewish community and reveals that, even more than for their fellow Britons, the nuclear family is no longer a normative model for UK Jews.

The report, "Jews in Britain: A Snapshot from the 2001 Census," is based on a comprehensive analysis of responses from the first ever (voluntary) census question on religion, asked in 2001's national survey. It was published by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research in London, with help from the Board of Deputies of British Jews.


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Friday 18 May 2007
How lifestyles are rapidly changing for British Jews

The stereotype of a prosperous, homogenous Jewish community concentrated in a few boroughs in London and Manchester is demolished as “myth” in a new report.

The study, published today, is expected to force a radical rethink about the nature of Britain’s 270,000-strong Jewish community. It depicts a future for British Judaism dominated by the strictly Orthodox.


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Saturday 19 May 2007
Myth of the ghetto: report reveals UK's Jewish diaspora

by Kim Sengupta and Christina Bucher

A new report into Britain's Jewish population has found that the standard image of a homogeneous group concentrated in a few inner-city boroughs is grossly out of date.

The study finds, instead, that the community is increasingly split between the secular, often marrying into other religions, and the followers of orthodoxy.


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Friday 25 May 2007
Britain’s Jewish families look more unconventional

by Jonny Paul

A report released last week provides a comprehensive insight into the British Jewish community and reveals that, even more than for their fellow Britons, the nuclear family is no longer a normative model for U.K. Jews.

The report, “Jews in Britain: A Snapshot from the 2001 Census,” is based on a comprehensive analysis of responses from the first (voluntary) census question on religion, asked in 2001’s national survey. It was published by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research in London, with help from the Board of Deputies of British Jews.


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Friday 18 May 2007
The new ‘Jewish’ family: intermarried or cohabiting

by Simon Rocker

The traditional Jewish family is becoming less commonplace because of intermarriage, cohabitation and a growing singles population, according to a report published today by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR).

Based on the results of the 2001 Census, it indicates that up to three in 10 married or cohabiting Jews have a non-Jewish part....
(subscription required)
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Friday 18 May 2007
The Jewish family is dead

by David Graham

In Britain, there is a quiet revolution going on in Jewish homes, one that has potentially profound implications for the future of the community as we know it. What is more, this revolution has hardly drawn any comment at all. It is to do with “household structure”, a term which refers to the analysis of people’s living arrangements. Only data from....


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Sunday 20 May 2007
New study of British Jews ‘demolishes popular myths’
LONDON (EJP)---A new report demolishes several popular “myths and stereotypes” describing British Jews as prosperous, successful, and homogenous, living in a few boroughs in London and Manchester.

The Report, entitled “Jews in Britain: A Snapshot from the 2001 Census’’ was published on Friday by the Jewish Policy Research (JPR), a London-based think tank working for an inclusive Europe.

The report’s authors said that the study had “revolutionised” their understanding of British Jewry.


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Tuesday 22 May 2007
Report Exaggerates Importance of Ethnicity

by M Stein
The Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR) published last week its detailed analysis of the results of the 2001 Census. This fascinating document entitled “Jews in Britain: A Snapshot from the 2001 Census” takes the information gathered in the census, and uses the information based on the only voluntary question in the entire form, “What is your religion?” combined with the response to “What is your ethnic group?” to provide an insight into the Jewish community in the UK today. 

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Monday 11 Jun 2007
In & around

LONDON: A new report that “destroys the illusion of British Jewish uniformity” was published May 18 by Jewish Policy Research (JPR), a London-based think tank.

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Tuesday 22 May 2007
Opinion

The report published last week by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research on the Jewish community in the UK was interesting in many ways. However, it contains several hashkafic flaws, some of which it acknowledges itself. The census offered the opportunity to describe oneself as religiously or ethnically Jewish, or both. According to the census, 270,499 people described themselves of the members of their household as Jewish in answer to the religion question. Whilst 97% of British Jews described themselves as ethnically “white”, only a tiny minority – less than one percent – described themselves as ethnically, but not religiously, Jewish.

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Friday 26 Oct 2007
Chief's recipe to heal Britain

By Bernard Josephs and Leon Symons

A new book by Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks in which he rejects multiculturalism and assimilation, saying they have damaged British society, has been given a mixed reception by human-rights activists and anti-racists.


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Friday 26 Oct 2007
School absences
Teachers, governors and parents will be deeply concerned at a new report that calls into question the future of Jewish education and, by implication, the future of the community. The report, produced by the newly formed Commission on Jewish Schools, with data produced by the Board of Deputies’ research department, predicts a surplus of close to 50 per cent in Jewish primary- and secondary-school places within a decade. This is not the first time such fears have been posited: the Institute for Jewish Policy Research also predicted a massive surplus five years ago.
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Friday 28 Dec 2007
'Deprived' Charedim get MPs' help
DIANE Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, has filed an early day motion (EDM) calling for more research by the government into what she calls the Hackney Jewish community’s “hidden deprivation”.

Her action, which has the backing of the Respect MP George Galloway, follows a report on findings from the 2001 Census on the Jewish population in Britain. It was the first time the census included a question on religion.

The report, published in May by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research, found that Jews living in Hackney, East London, were experiencing higher levels of social deprivation than Jews in other parts of the country.

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Friday 18 Jan 2008
Lost Charedi boys
Our Jewish schools come out with flying colours from the Government’s latest educational league tables. But buried away in the statistics is disturbing evidence that many boys in the strictly Orthodox community are being systematically undereducated in secular studies.
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Friday 18 Jan 2008
Schools do well - but some boys are left out

New figures released by the government suggest that many boys in parts of Britain’s Charedi communities are leaving school before the age of 15. While pupils in Charedi girls’ schools are often performing well at GCSE, according to the latest secondary school tables from the Department for Children, Schools and Families, many of their male equivalents appear not even to be taking the exams.
 

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Friday 8 Feb 2008
High unemployment
Further to your article (How to survive a recession, February 1), I am writing to highlight quite how deep the problem of unemployment is within our community. The report published by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research in May 2007 shows there were over 6,000 Jewish people in the UK out of work, 4,000 of whom live in London. Over 1,000 of those have graduated from university. At a time when the City is feeling the pinch of gloomy economic forecasts, this will inevitably have a greater impact on the community.

Trisha Ward, Chairman, Employment Resource Centre, East End Road, London N2
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Media contacts at JPR

All media enquiries should be directed to:

Judith Russell
020 7935 8266
jpr@jpr.org.uk