JPR news archive

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Archived Press releases

Wednesday 12 Dec 2012
Stability of UK Jewish population size conceals significant change at the local level

Data released yesterday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), show that while the Jewish population of the UK has remained stable over the past ten years, significant changes are taking place at local and regional levels.

A joint report issued by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR) and the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and co-authored by Dr David Graham (Senior Research Fellow, JPR), Jonathan Boyd (Executive Director, JPR) and Daniel Vulkan (Senior Researcher, Board of Deputies), provides a first look at what the 2011 census data tell us about the Jewish population of England and Wales.

Monday 3 Sep 2012
EU survey of antisemitism now live

The second phase of fieldwork for a major study of antisemitism in Europe begins this week, as the EU seeks to gain a better understanding of a problem many in the Jewish community believe to be of increasing concern.

The study, commissioned by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), is designed to produce new insights into how Jews in nine EU Member States perceive and experience antisemitism today.  It is being conducted by the UK-based Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR) in partnership with Ipsos MORI, whose joint bid won the contract in an open tender process.

“Antisemitism remains an issue of concern today, not only to Jews, but to everyone in the EU. The ways in which it manifests itself vary according to time and place, and it affects Jews living in the EU in different ways. The FRA is conducting this survey to collect reliable and comparable data on antisemitism. This type of robust evidence will assist EU institutions and national governments in taking the necessary measures that will ensure that the rights of Jewish people are fully respected, protected and fulfilled across the EU, and the survey has been specifically designed with this goal in mind.”

Ioannis Dimitrakopoulos, Head of Department Equality and Citizen’s Rights at the FRA

The online survey investigates first-hand examples of antisemitic harassment and violence, as well as the extent to which Jews feel safe and secure in Europe today, how they characterize antisemitism, and whether or not they perceive it to be a growing threat. It further explores how and whether incidents are being reported, and levels of awareness among European Jews about their legal rights.

The research is being managed collaboratively between the FRA, JPR and Ipsos MORI, with specialists from the three partner organisations all involved in the project design. The JPR team, managed by Executive Director Jonathan Boyd, includes several of the world’s leading social scientists in contemporary European Jewry, including Professor Eliezer Ben-Rafael of Tel Aviv University, Professor Erik Cohen of Bar-Ilan University, Professor Sergio DellaPergola of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Professor Lars Dencik of Roskilde University in Denmark, Dr Olaf Glöckner of the Moses Mendelssohn Zentrum in Potsdam, Germany, Professor András Kovács of the Central European University in Budapest and Dr Laura Staetsky of JPR. Further expertise is being provided by Professor David Feldman of the Pears Institute for the Study of Antisemitism at Birkbeck College in London and Mike Whine and Mark Gardner at the UK-based Community Security Trust.

The data will provide important evidence both for European Union and national policy makers, as well as for national and European Jewish organisations concerned with security and antisemitism. All these stakeholders will use the data to tackle discrimination and hate crime against Jews, as well as rights awareness and under-reporting of incidents. Survey results will be published by the FRA in 2013.

“It is clear to all observers of contemporary Jewish life that antisemitism continues to be a major preoccupation and worry in Jewish communal circles. If it is ever to be effectively tackled, it is essential to have shared, reliable data. This survey is designed to provide that data: this is an important and unique opportunity for thousands of European Jews to share their experiences and voice their concerns with policy makers working at the highest European and national levels.”

Jonathan Boyd, Executive Director of JPR / Institute for Jewish Policy Research

• The FRA survey on perceptions and experiences of antisemitism is collecting data in nine European Union Member States – Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom during the second and the third quarter of 2012. The results will be published in 2013.
• This is the first survey of its kind to ask Jewish people across nine European Union Member States about their perceptions and experiences of antisemitism, hate speech, hate-motivated violence and discrimination, among other issues.

To find out more about the survey in English click here.
 
Pour plus de détails sur l’enquête en français pour la France, cliquez ici. 

Für weitere Informationen zur Umfrage auf Deutsch klicken Sie bitte hier.

A kutatás további részleteiért Magyar nyelven kattintson ide!

Pour plus de détails sur l’enquête en français pour la Belgique, cliquez ici.

Voor verdere details van het onderzoek in het Nederlands, klik hier.  

Per ulteriori informazioni tiguardanti l’indagine in Italiano, selezioni qui.
 

För mer detaljer om undersökningen på svenska klicka här. 

Pentru mai multe detalii despre studiu în limba română, daţi click aici.

Sīkāk par pētījumu Latvijas, spiediet šeit.                    

Для получения дополнительной информации о данном исследовании, предоставляемой на русском языке, нажмите здесь.

 
לפרטים נוספים על הסקר ב עברית לחץ כאן

Tuesday 21 Feb 2012
JPR convenes first symposium of researchers studying contemporary Jewry

Against a backdrop in which investment in research has declined but strategic planning and policy-oriented research are playing a greater role within UK Jewish organizations than ever before, JPR convened a symposium of researchers studying contemporary Jewry to begin a discussion about the role of research of the British Jewish community today.

With seed funding provided by the Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe, and chaired by JPR Associate Fellow Dr Keith Kahn-Harris, the group considered a range of questions, including: how the study of contemporary British and/or European Jewry could best be nurtured in the UK? What are the priority areas for research? How could academic and Jewish community organizations collaborate most effectively? And how could the status of research into contemporary British/European Jewry be raised within the wider academic world, within UK Jewish Studies and within the UK Jewish community?

A briefing paper will be drawn up as a result of the discussions, detailing the various practical recommendations raised, and a further symposium will be scheduled to take the ideas forward.

Wednesday 15 Feb 2012
National Jewish Community Survey (NJCS) update
JPR holds consultations with major Jewish voluntary organizations
» more

Thursday 12 Jan 2012
JPR submits evidence to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Science & Technology about the potential termination of the national Census

JPR has submitted written evidence, in conjunction with the Board of Deputies of British Jews, to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Science and Technology, assessing the potential impact of the termination of the national Census on the planning and provision capability of Britain’s Jewish community. The submission concludes that the potential discontinuation of the national census is of major concern to JPR and the Board of Deputies and that a viable alternative to the Census must include the collection of data on religion if the Jewish community is not to be put at a significant disadvantage in its data gathering capacity.

To read the submissions to the Select Committee click here.

Wednesday 11 Jan 2012
JPR's report on Jewish life in Hungary presented to Hungarian Ambassador
The findings of JPR's recently published report on Jewish life in Hungary were presented to the Hungarian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, H. E. Mr János Csák, by Jonathan Boyd at a lunch hosted by Sir Sigmund and Lady Sternberg on 4 January. The report, which is part of a series of studies funded by the Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe looking at the development of Jewish life in East-Central Europe since the collapse of communism, examines a range of issues, including demography, education, welfare, the preservation of Jewish heritage and antisemitism.
» more

Tuesday 4 Oct 2011
Students demonstrate a strong sense of Jewish commitment, but a weaker sense of social responsibility

Jewish students are comfortable being openly Jewish at British universities, despite having concerns about attitudes to Israel on campus. Their commitment to Israel and the Jewish People is robust, but their appreciation of their personal social responsibility lacks muscle.

These are some of the findings of the 2011 National Jewish Student Survey, conducted by JPR, the Institute for Jewish Policy Research, and published today. Entitled Home and away: Jewish journeys towards independence. Key findings from the 2011 National Jewish Student Survey, the research was initiated by the Union of Jewish Students and commissioned by UJS in partnership with Pears Foundation.

Wednesday 14 Sep 2011
New reports highlight need for reform of Hungarian Jewish infrastructure and preservation of Jewish heritage in Poland
The renewal of Jewish life in Hungary and Poland comes under scrutiny in two reports published by JPR this week.  The research, conducted by local experts on behalf of JPR and funded by the Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe, was designed to assess the development of Jewish communities in East-Central Europe since the collapse of communism, as well as the challenges they face going forward.
» more

Tuesday 15 Feb 2011
National Jewish Student Survey launched

A major study to examine the identity of Jewish students in Britain is being launched this week that could shape the Jewish community’s work with Jewish students over the next decade.

Commissioned by UJS Hillel, the survey is being conducted by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR), with data collected by leading global research company Ipsos MORI.

Thursday 15 Jul 2010
New report on the attitudes of Jews in Britain towards Israel reveals deep levels of attachment to the country

Jews in Britain strongly identify with and support Israel. They are ready to see Israel swap territory for peace and to talk with Hamas if it will advance the cause of peace. At the same time, they are concerned about Israel’s security, support the separation barrier/security fence and viewed the 2008/09 operation in Gaza as “a legitimate act of self-defence.”

These are the central findings of the most definitive study ever conducted of the attitudes of Jews in Britain towards Israel. The study, entitled Committed, concerned and conciliatory: The attitudes of Jews in Britain towards Israel, is published today by the community’s leading research institute, the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR).

Friday 11 Jun 2010
DIY Judaism: A roundtable discussion on the phenomenon of independent minyanim

A JPR and JHub event, in collaboration with Wandering Jews and the Carlebach Minyan, Belsize Park with:

Jonathan Boyd, JPR
Shoshana Boyd Gelfand, Movement for Reform Judaism
Rabbi Jeremy Gordon, New London Synagogue
Samuel Klein, Minyan Lev Simchah/N3 Minyan
Gabriela Pomeroy, Carlebach Minyan, Belsize Park
Naomi Soetendorp, Wandering Jews

on Thursday 10 June 2010

The discussion that took place is currently in the process of being written up and will be available to download shortly.

Thursday 13 May 2010
New report on synagogue membership in the UK in 2010 reveals a dynamic picture of communal change

A report published jointly for the first time by the Board of Deputies of British Jews and JPR, and co-authored by Dr David Graham, JPR’s Director of Social and Demographic Research, and Daniel Vulkan, Research and Information Officer at the Board, reveals a dynamic picture of communal change in the UK community, and charts significant changes in its religious make-up.

The report is of particular interest to community leaders and planners because it provides the only consistent indicator of patterns of Jewish affiliation and Jewish belonging over time.

Tuesday 27 Apr 2010
Research about the community for the community: JPR launches its innovative Community Research Initiative
JPR’s longstanding commitment to providing reliable data for Jewish communal organisations is being strengthened with the launch of our new Community Research Initiative.
» more

Monday 22 Feb 2010
JPR launches New Conceptions of Community
During the past 15 months, JPR has been engaged in a conversation involving a small number of the most insightful practitioners and thinkers in the British Jewish community today. The participants in the conversation were drawn from as many sections of the Jewish community as possible and were chosen because of their direct involvement in creating a particularly interesting version of Jewish community, their capacity to think reflectively and their willingness to engage constructively and respectfully in dialogue with others.
» more

Monday 8 Feb 2010
Your people shall be my people – what is the big theory of Jewish Peoplehood?

If much of the data is to be believed, the ties that bind Jews together are becoming increasingly unraveled and frayed. Links between Jews in Israel and the Diaspora, between different denominations, between the political left and right, are all breaking down. Has the powerful idea of 'one people with one heart' become consigned to the dustbin of history? Can it be rebuilt and renewed? If so, what needs to be done?

This session, which was given by Yonatan Ariel and Jonathan Boyd, JPR's Executive Director, at Limmud 2009 can be heard by clicking the link below.

Monday 8 Feb 2010
Predictions of our demographic demise are somewhat premature: discuss
Jews in Britain are experiencing a period of unprecedented demographic change. In 2006 recorded Jewish births outnumbered deaths for the first time since records began. Whilst one part of the community is slowly contracting, another part is rapidly expanding. What are the figures? Can we expect these trends to continue, and if so for how long? And what are the implications for the future religious, social and economic makeup of the community? This session, which was given by Dr David Graham, JPR's Director of Social and Demographic Research, at the Limmud 2009 Conference at Warwick University can be heard by clicking the link below.
» more

Wednesday 6 Jan 2010
From Jewish people to Jewish purpose: The new age of social innovation in American Jewish life, and its implications for British Jewry

Steven M Cohen, a leading sociologist of American Jewry, discussed the new age of social innovation in American Jewish life at a seminar for Jewish community professionals in December. The seminar was organized jointly by JPR and JHub, the London-based Jewish Social Action and Innovation Hub.

Professor Cohen described the efflorescence of independent, exciting and creative collective Jewish activity carried out by young people in their 20s and 30s in the United States over the past decade, and explained that such endeavours fitted mainly into five major categories.

Wednesday 18 Nov 2009
The Israel Survey
The Institute for Jewish Policy Research is about to conduct a national survey of the feelings and attitudes Jews in Britain have about Israel and their links to the country. It is being conducted online by Ipsos MORI in association with the Pears Foundation.
» more

Tuesday 7 Jul 2009
Professor Jonathan Sarna on the impact of the recession on Jewish communities

Jonathan D Sarna, Professor of American Jewish History and Director of the Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program at Brandeis University, Mass, USA, delivered the JPR William Frankel Memorial Lecture in July in the auditorium of Berwin Leighton Paisner, in association with the Jewish Chronicle. The lecture was chaired by Harold Paisner, Chairman of JPR.

Professor Sarna gave a stark warning that over the coming year, the Jewish community would have to make difficult decisions concerning ‘who will live and who will die’ in Jewish communal life. He predicted that organizations that were weak or undercapitalized before the recession were the least likely to survive.

Thursday 28 May 2009
JPR launches 'Open Forum' with article by Rabbi David Rosen
Today we launch the first article on JPR's new Open Forum, written by Rabbi David Rosen about Pope Benedict XVI's pilgrimage to the Holy Land
» more

Friday 22 May 2009
JPR appoints new Director of Social and Demographic Research
JPR is pleased to announce that Dr David Graham has joined the Institute as Director of Social and Demographic Research. Dr Graham is the foremost social demographic expert on the British Jewish community today. His thesis at the University of Oxford focused on Britain’s Jewish population, and he has published widely on this subject.
» more

Monday 20 Apr 2009
Voices for the Res Publica: Common Good in Europe

We have just launched a new section of our website specially dedicated to our project Voices for the Res Publica: Common Good in Europe. Here you can find all the commissioned papers, programmes and reports which have been produced since this ambitious and wide-reaching project was embarked upon at the end of 2006. Funded by the Ford Foundation, the project is directed by Dr Diana Pinto, an intellectual historian and expert in European civil society living in Paris.

Tuesday 24 Mar 2009
Israeli Ambassador addresses the changing strategic environment in the Middle East
H.E. Mr Ron Prosor, Ambassador of the State of Israel to the Court of St James, delivered the eighth Morris and Manja Leigh Memorial Lecture on The Changing Strategic Environment in the Middle East and the Danger of Appeasement to a packed JPR audience in March. The lecture was chaired by Mr Howard Leigh.
» more

Thursday 26 Feb 2009
The Significance of the Israeli Elections for the Peace Process

Just one week after the Israeli elections, on 18 February 2009, Professor David Newman* of the Department of Politics and Government, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, addressed a JPR seminar on the significance of the Israeli elections for the Arab-Israeli peace process.

Professor Newman spoke as formal consultations and negotiations to form the new government were getting underway. He described the two most likely options as equally unstable and undesirable: Benjamin Netanyahu would most probably be asked to put together a narrow, right-wing government, in which any party with the minimum three or more seats would wield disproportionate power; alternatively, Netanyahu and Tzipi Livni would ‘get their act together’ and put together a wide coalition, in which Netanyahu would probably be the Prime Minister.  He predicted, however, that this would be a government of paralysis.

Monday 19 Jan 2009
Is There a Global Jewish Politics?

A fluid pattern of independent action, coordination, competition or conflict emerges in JPR’s new policy debate paper

In a new policy debate paper published this week by JPR, which arose out of a seminar held at JPR last year, author Michael Galchinsky states that ‘when it comes to global Jewish politics there is an alphabet soup of organizations and individuals participating in the decision-making process.’ Jewish associations are essentially voluntary, he says. Their decision-making is neither top-down nor a result of a participatory bottom-up process. On the political level each brings its own constituency and mission to the table.

Tuesday 13 Jan 2009
JPR welcomes Jonathan Boyd as Research Fellow
JPR is pleased to announce the appointment of Jonathan Boyd, who joined the Institute in January 2009 as Research Fellow. He will be working on three major projects.
» more

Thursday 18 Dec 2008
The Future for Jews in Multicultural Europe

This was the subject of a panel discussion held in November within the framework of a two-day workshop, which was organized jointly by JPR and the Centre for the Study of European Politics and Society/Ben Gurion University. The discussion featured Dr Dov H Maimon, Fellow, Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, Jerusalem; Professor Dominique Moïsi, Senior Adviser, Institut Français des Relations Internationales, Paris; Dr Joel Peters, Academic Adviser, CSEPS, Ben Gurion University and Göran Rosenberg, columnist and author, Stockholm. The event was chaired by JPR Director, Antony Lerman.

Wednesday 3 Dec 2008
JPR appoints Harold Paisner as Chairman

Harold Paisner, Senior Partner of the City of London law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP, has been appointed as the new Chairman of JPR. He replaces Peter L Levy OBE who is stepping down after 16 years as lay head of the independent policy think tank.

Mr Paisner has served on the Board of JPR for 11 years. He is UK National President of the Union Internationale des Avocats, a member of the Paris Bar and a Governor of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Mr Levy warmly welcomed Harold Paisner’s appointment: ‘Harold has been involved in the Jewish community in the UK over many years. He knows continental Europe and the United States extremely well and has very close connections with, and a profound commitment to, Israel. I’m sure that all of this, plus his worldwide network of contacts, means that JPR will not only be in safe hands, but will be in excellent shape to meet the challenges of the future.’

Mr Levy was responsible for repositioning JPR as an independent institution. In 1996 he presided over the transformation of the Institute of Jewish Affairs (IJA) to the Institute for Jewish Policy Research. At the end of the 1990s Mr Levy created a broad coalition of philanthropists and communal agencies to support JPR’s groundbreaking social research project Long-Term Planning for British Jewry. More recently, he oversaw JPR’s relocation two months ago from its Wimpole Street premises to its new modern offices in Market Place, London W1.

Mr Paisner paid tribute to his predecessor, praising his commitment and enormous contribution to the Institute over many years. ‘Peter has been fundamental to JPR’s success. I’m delighted that he will remain on the JPR Board in the role of Vice-President. Our close colleague Lord Haskel will continue in his crucial role as JPR President.’

In a further move to prepare JPR for the future, its Director, Antony Lerman, who was close to retirement, has stepped down. ‘I returned for a second stint as JPR’s director almost 3 years ago to reconstruct the organization, develop a new Europe-oriented policy research programme and reposition JPR to face the difficult challenges of the 21st century. The Board and I feel I’ve achieved that goal and we think it’s a good time to prepare the way for a successor, who can continue the renewal process in tandem with Harold Paisner, the new Chairman.’

The outgoing and incoming Chairmen said: ‘We’re deeply grateful to Tony for all he has done for JPR, not only since he was re-appointed Director in 2006, but going back to when he joined IJA as a researcher in 1979. As the professional head of JPR he has led the organization with great distinction and vision. We’re delighted that he will continue to be available to advise JPR on its future plans.’ Mr Lerman plans to do more writing and work on some personal projects.

Tuesday 11 Nov 2008
The Jewish Future in Scotland: Engaging with the Scottish Government

On 27 October JPR Director Tony Lerman met with officials from the Scottish Government in Glasgow. The discussions covered a wide variety of subjects including antisemitism, Holocaust education, the impact of global events on the Scottish Jewish community and the interaction between European governments and Jewish communities throughout Europe.

The meeting was organized by the Glasgow Jewish Educational Forum (GJEF), which runs a programme designed to bring some of Britain’s leading Jewish academics and thinkers to Scotland to promote discussion and debate.

As part of that programme, Tony Lerman gave a lecture on 26 October to the GJEF entitled ‘Do We Get the Leaders We Deserve? Representation and Responsibility in a Time of Crisis’.

Wednesday 8 Oct 2008
JPR on the Move

Monday 28 Jul 2008
Is anti-Zionism a cover-up for anti-Semitism?

Read articles arguing for and against written by Ben Cohen, Associate Director, Department of Anti-Semitism and Extremism, American Jewish Committee and Antony Lerman, JPR Director. The articles were first published in CQ Global Researcher in June 2008.

Thursday 5 Jun 2008
JPR Dinner in honour of Dr John Sentamu, Archbishop of York

On 4 June 2008 JPR held a dinner at Glaziers Hall, London Bridge, in honour of The Most Revd and Rt Hon Dr John Sentamu, Archbishop of York. Lord Haskel, JPR President, presented the Archbishop with the Golden Jubilee Arward in recognition of his outstanding contribution to public life. The Archbishop delivered an address on The Role of Religion in Politics Today which you can read here in full  www.archbishopofyork.org/1841.

Previous recipients of the JPR Golden Jubilee Award have included Lord Goodman,Dr Henry Kissinger, His Royal Highness Prince El-Hassan Bin Talal of Jordan, William Frankel CBE, Lord Woolf and James Wolfensohn KBE.

Wednesday 7 May 2008
A Personal appreciation of William Frankel CBE by Tony Lerman

Thursday 24 Apr 2008
William Frankel CBE, Vice-President of JPR, dies aged 91

Tuesday 22 Apr 2008
Is Europe good for the Jews? Jews and the pluralist tradition in historical perspective

Monday 3 Mar 2008
Making More of Europe
A JPR policy seminar was held in February to explore the problems of developing European Jewish advocacy, cooperation and effective representation of European Jewish interests. Forty people attended, representing many of the organisations involved in this work in Europe: B’nai B’rith, the European Council of Jewish Communities, the American Jewish Joint Distribution, the Anglo-Jewish Association.

read more
» more

Monday 25 Feb 2008
Voices for the Res Publica: 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.
» more

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.

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
» more

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

Monday 7 Jan 2008
The Science Delusion

Tuesday 18 Dec 2007
Jews and Other Europeans - Old and New

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.
» more

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

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

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

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

Wednesday 11 Apr 2007
Demos and JPR co-sponsor major European 'Shared Belonging' project

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.
» more

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.
» more

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.
» more

Monday 15 Jan 2007
Manifesto

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.
» more

Archived media coverage

Friday 14 Dec 2012
Stable census figures mask key changes among British Jewry

Latest statistics suggest dwindling non-Orthodox community is being replaced by the ultra-observant

Thursday 13 Dec 2012
England's Jewish population rises to some 284,000; up 1.3 % in decade
Population remains stable over decade, bolstered by Orthodox Jewry's growth.
» more

Thursday 13 Dec 2012
Census 2011: The Jewish breakdown

The number of identifying Jews in England and Wales has risen slightly over the past decade, indicating a stability which contrasts with the usual perception of relentless diaspora decline.

According to the first results of the 2011 census published this week, 263,346 people answered “Jewish” to the voluntary question on religion, compared with 259,927 in the previous count of 2001.

Friday 2 Nov 2012
Does Scotland manage to be anti-Israel without being anti-Semitic?

by Anshel Pfeffer

'If someone writes Hezbollah on a bus shelter, that's anti-Israel. If someone writes it on a synagogue, that's anti-Semitic," Anshel Pfeffer is told. The third in a series on Scottish Jews.

Thursday 6 Sep 2012
EU launches online anti-Semitism survey in nine countries
Situation in Hungary is particularly worrisome ‘because we are seeing signs that official institutions there are condoning anti-Semitism,’ says European Jewish Parliament's co-chair.
» more

Thursday 14 Jun 2012
Amid the failures, bright hopes for future on campus

by Marcus Dysch

It would be easy to highlight the antisemitic attack which left a young Jew with a broken nose on a student union ski trip as evidence of another depressing and desperate year for Jewish students.

But the past nine months have been a period of relative calm on campuses, albeit one peppered with occasional serious incidents acting as reminders of the constant threat of racism and extremism.

Monday 28 May 2012
EU launches major study of anti-Semitism in Europe

The European Union has launched a major study of anti-Semitism on the continent.

Berlin (JTA)

The study, which aims to assess the problem and recommend solutions, is likely the first survey to ask Jews in nine EU member states about their perceptions and experiences of anti-Semitism, hate speech, hate-motivated violence and discrimination.

Monday 28 May 2012
EU Agency for Fundamental Rights antisemitism study

EU conducts major study into anti-Semitism

by Yossi Lempkowicz
Brussels (EJP)

The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) has commissioned a major study into anti-Semitism.

Saturday 26 May 2012
EU survey of anti-Semitism gets under way, in first study of its kind

Study spanning nine European countries seeks to assist governments and policy makers in taking measures to protect rights of Jewish people.

By Aimee Neistat

An EU-sponsored research project got under way this week, with a study that seeks to improve the way national governments and policy makers combat anti-Semitism.

Friday 25 May 2012
Online survey of antisemitism in Europe

EU to look into antisemitism on continent

By Simon Rocker

The European Union has commissioned a major investigation into antisemitism by the London-based Institute for Jewish Research (JPR).

Friday 4 May 2012
Charity funding is becoming an uphill struggle

Communal charities need to find new ways of reaching donors, leadership says

by Simon Rocker

Jewish charity leaders will be keeping a close eye on Chancellor George Osborne. Even before a growing political backlash forced the government to reconsider its controversial proposal to cut tax relief for big donors, the Jewish Leadership Council had sounded the alarm.

Thursday 3 May 2012
London Jews' Labour problem
Ken Livingstone, the once and perhaps future London mayor, has made a string of anti-Semitic remarks. Why do his party’s leaders indulge him?
» more

Monday 30 Apr 2012
Candidate Ken's attitude to Jews may be key in race to run London

The Times of Israel

Ken Livingstone, who has vowed to turn the city into a 'beacon' of Islam and slammed 'rich' jews, is now neck and neck in race to be mayor.

by Miriam Shaviv

Thursday 29 Mar 2012
Please, let's move on from the 'Ken and the Jews' dramas

by Ken Livingstone

The last week saw my relationship with the Jewish community in the headlines. I agree with those including in my own party who want to break out of the "drama" of "Ken and the Jewish community" - it's time to move on from that, onto something less headline-grabbing but more dynamic.

I understand the dismay caused when these kinds of controversies hit the headlines. Politicians ought to have humility when things like that happen. I am no exception.

Thursday 22 Mar 2012
Baroness Tonge: I got great support over my Israel line

Baroness Tonge has told the House of Lords she has received hundreds of letters of support following her resignation of the Liberal Democrat whip last month.

The controversial peer, now sitting as an independent, claimed 700 letters had arrived since she made anti-Israel comments at an Israel Apartheid Week event. She claimed "only five per cent" of the letters had been critical of her remarks.

Speaking in a Middle East debate in the Lords last Friday, she said the volume of correspondence from supporters in the United States led her to believe that "in America the tide is beginning to turn against Israel", a position which meant "Israel may indeed have to change in form".

Wednesday 21 Mar 2012
Ken Livingstone: what he really thinks about Jews

Labour-supporting Jews in London have written a devastating private letter to the party leader, Ed Miliband, after a group of them including Jewish Labour councillors, Labour members of the Board of Deputies and Labour Friends of Israel met Ken this month to try to build bridges. Previous discussions, they said, had been "acrimonious" and this one doesn't sound any better.
 
In the letter, obtained by the Jewish Chronicle, the Labour supporters write: “Many of us had just about managed to vote for [Ken] in 2008. Today, many of us who would otherwise normally vote Labour are finding it harder and harder to consider voting for Ken, despite agreeing with his policies for London.”

Saturday 25 Feb 2012
What does it cost to be Jewish in 2012?
by Russell Collins
 
We are in the midst of a global economic downturn, unemployment has reached a 17 year high, suicide rates are rising and the effects of depression are rarely out of the news – but what does it mean for the Jewish community and are we doing enough in terms of prevention or tackling the consequences?
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Thursday 26 Jan 2012
The age-gap peril we'll all have to face

Thursday 19 Jan 2012
JPR to take new survey

by Simon Rocker

The first national survey of British Jewry for 17 years is to be conducted later this year by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research.

Monday 7 Nov 2011
To Be Young, Gifted, and a British Jew

by Elliot Jager

One way to think of British Jewry is to focus on its slow and steady decline: 270,000 souls, demographically graying; synagogue affiliation on a downward spiral; out-marriage running at between 30-50 percent. The possibility of anti-Semitism is a constant, with 283 verified incidents reported in the first six months of 2011. Of these, 41 were categorized as "extremely violent" and 11 took place on campus. The line between despising Israel and holding Jews in contempt has been blurred beyond recognition, with the Guardian and Independent leading the way and even the once respectable Times joining in.

Saturday 5 Nov 2011
Survey: Half of British Jewish students experience anti-Semitism
More than four out of every 10 Jewish students at British universities reported witnessing or experiencing anti-Semitic incidents between October 2010 and this March, yet only two in 10 said they were concerned about campus anti-Semitism.
» more

Wednesday 2 Nov 2011
Survey: 4 in 10 British Jewish students experienced or witnessed anti-Semitism

by Alex Weisler

LONDON (JTA) – More than four out of every 10 Jewish students at British universities reported witnessing or experiencing anti-Semitic incidents between October 2010 and this March.

But only two in 10 said they were concerned about campus anti-Semitism.

Wednesday 12 Oct 2011
Mortar Bored - The Student Survey

By Bored of  Deputies 

Tuition fees have finally increased to a level where people actually notice the 18-22 year olds are disappearing for 3 of their formative years to ill-lit rooms in dank terraced houses. The Bored have already leaked some of the key findings of our student survey into the Jewish press. Now with freshers week now done and dust-covered and the smell of vomit and body odour pervading every campus bar, we will share a fuller picture of our study.

Monday 10 Oct 2011
National Jewish Student Survey 2011

‘Jewish students are comfortable being openly Jewish at British universities, despite having concerns about attitudes to Israel on campus. Their commitment to Israel and the Jewish people is robust, but their appreciation of their personal social responsibility lacks muscle.’

These are some of the headlines from the first National Jewish Student Survey (NJSS), overseen by JPR, the Institute for Jewish Policy Research, and published on 4 October 2011. Written by David Graham and Jonathan Boyd, Home and Away: Jewish Journeys towards Independence – Key Findings from the 2011 National Jewish Student Survey can be downloaded from:

http://www.jpr.org.uk/downloads/NJSS_report%20final.pdf

Saturday 8 Oct 2011
The 2011 National Jewish University Student Survey in the UK

A report was released on 4 Oct. 2011 with findings from the 2011 National Jewish Student Survey, conducted by Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR) and providing a comprehensive picture of Jewish student views and concerns in the UK.

The report was written by David Graham, Jonathan Boyd and titled: Home and away: Jewish journeys towards independence. The survey was commissioned by the Union of Jewish Students in partnership with Pears Foundation.

Thursday 6 Oct 2011
Jewish students say their voice is ignored

By Marcus Dysch

The most comprehensive survey of Jewish students' views ever conducted has revealed that young Jews staunchly support Israel, fear not finding a job after graduation, and are concerned that younger voices are not heard by the wider Jewish community.

The Institute for Jewish Policy Research's National Jewish Student Survey focused on dozens of issues facing Jewish students, including kashrut on campuses, their hopes for the future and details of relationships with Jewish and non-Jewish friends. It provides data never available before.

Thursday 6 Oct 2011
Exams and jobs the key concerns

By Jonathan Boyd

It is difficult to avoid the impression that British universities are a hotbed of anti-Israel sentiment to be approached with considerable caution. The issue has even caught the attention of Matthew Gould, Britain's ambassador to Israel, who has questioned the validity of the hypothesis, and noted that it is deterring Israeli students from studying here.

Our research provides, for the first time, the students' eye view on the issue. In addition to the study of Jewish students, JPR ran a parallel survey of students in general and learned that a majority of those at British universities actually have no feelings either way about Israel. They are neither pro nor anti; they are indifferent.

Thursday 6 Oct 2011
Eastern Europe splits 'destroy Jewry'

by Simon Rocker

The fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of Communism gave a new lease to Jewish life in eastern Europe. But the communities that began to revive in the 1990s appear to be struggling to cope with the challenges of pluralism, according to the first two of a series of reports on continental Jewry issued by the London-based Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR).

Wednesday 5 Oct 2011
'UK university students OK with being openly Jewish'

by Jonny Paul

Study by Institute for Jewish Policy Research says 58% believe Israel receives fair coverage in lectures and classes.

Tuesday 4 Oct 2011
Kipa vagy baseballsapka?

A rós ha-sána, az újévi ünnepség alkalmával ilyenkor a vallásos zsidó családokban a hosszúkás forma helyett kör alakú kalácsot (barheszt) sütnek, ami egyfajta jókívánságot jelképez: legyen kellemes és kerek az esztendő. Szokás még, hogy valami édes étel is kerül az asztalra. Például sárgarépa-főzelék, ami a gyerekeknél nem vált ki osztatlan lelkesedést: a kisebbek inkább mézzel leöntött almát kapnak.

A rós ha-sána számvetésre is késztet. Mi történt az elmúlt évben, és mi várható a következőtől?

A magyarországi zsidóság helyzete kettős. Budapesten sorra jönnek létre a civil szervezetek, szórakozóhelyek nyílnak, pezseg a kulturális élet, a zsidó őszi fesztivál a főváros egyik meghatározó rendezvényévé nőtte ki magát, új vallási felekezetek alakultak –jó ideje zsidó reneszánszról beszélhetünk. Csakhogy ezzel párhuzamosan ijesztően megerősödött a szélsőjobb, a nyilasok szellemi utódai egyre hangosabbak, az antiszemita hangulatkeltés mindinkább bekúszik a közbeszédbe. Akkor hát milyen ma zsidónak lenni Magyarországon?

Tuesday 4 Oct 2011
90% British Jewish Students open about Identity

Jewish students are comfortable being openly Jewish at British universities, despite having concerns about attitudes to Israel on campus. Their commitment to Israel and the Jewish People is robust, but their appreciation of their personal social responsibility lacks muscle.

These are some of the findings of the 2011 National Jewish Student Survey, conducted by JPR, the Institute for Jewish Policy Research, and published today. The survey was initiated by the Union of Jewish Students and commissioned by UJS in partnership with Pears Foundation.

The survey provides the most comprehensive portrait of Jewish student identity ever painted. It examines a wide range of issues including what and where Jewish students are studying, the nature of their Jewish beliefs and behaviours at university and at home, and the Jewish paths they have taken during their upbringing.

Tuesday 27 Sep 2011
In Hungary, focus on internal issues, not Israel

BUDAPEST, Hungary (JTA) -- There have been no rallies, no ad campaigns, no testy community discussions here on the Palestinians' bid for statehood.

On an issue that roused Jews elsewhere in the world, both pro and con, Hungary’s Jewish community has stayed mostly silent. The year-old Israeli Cultural Institute held a lecture on Palestinian statehood about three weeks ago, but nothing else was planned.

Thursday 22 Sep 2011
Jewish reforms urged in Poland, Hungary

Tuesday 20 Sep 2011
Is Jewish life in Hungary and Poland sustainable?

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

BUDAPEST, Hungary (JTA) -- It's not easy to decipher the complicated trajectory of Jewish life in post-communist Europe.

“There are claims and counterclaims about contemporary European Jewish life," Jonathan Boyd, the executive director of London’s Institute for Jewish Policy Research, said. "At one end of the spectrum there are reports of a remarkable renaissance of activity; at the other there is a strong narrative of decline."

Boyd's institute recently published a pair of reports written by local researchers in Hungary and Poland that offer a more nuanced view. The reports looked at the development of Jewish life in these two countries since the collapse of communism and examined the challenges their Jewish communities face going forward.

Friday 16 Sep 2011
Nem demokratikus a zsidó közélet – kutatás a magyarországi zsidóságról
A Mazsihisz reformra szorul, hogy jobban képviselhesse a magyar zsidóság érdekeit, szükségleteit. A teljes zsidó intézményrendszernek át kell alakulnia, egy demokratikus felépítésű ernyőszervezetre van szükség, hogy a viszonyok minden tekintetben igazságosak legyenek.
» more

Friday 16 Sep 2011
New reports highlight renewal of Jewish life in Hungary, Poland
The renewal of Jewish life in Hungary and Poland comes under scrutiny in two reports published by the U.K. based Institute for Jewish Policy Research. The research, conducted by local experts on behalf of JPR and funded by the Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe, was designed to assess the development of Jewish communities in East-Central Europe since the collapse of communism, as well as the challenges they face going forward.
» more

Thursday 15 Sep 2011
Overcome the hurdles and enjoy the positives

The new year on campus will bring tough challenges for Jewish students and the organisations which serve them so admirably.

Perhaps the biggest challenge will be working around the NUS's anti-Israel policies, adopted last May. The prospect of British student unions twinning with Hamas-backed institutions in Gaza, or sending students on flotillas, will inevitably increase tension on campus.

Thursday 15 Sep 2011
Reports highlight Jewish issues in Poland and Hungary

BUDAPEST (JTA) -- Reports released by a Jewish think tank in London highlighted the need for the reform of Jewish infrastructure in Hungary and support for Orthodox and non-Orthodox alternatives in Poland.

The reports issued Thursday, published by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research, assessed the development of Jewish communities in Hungary and Poland since the collapse of communism, as well as the challenges they face going forward.

Thursday 7 Apr 2011
Orthodox communities are growing poorer
A NEW report suggests that children in strictly Orthodox Jewish communities are facing a rapid growth in poverty and deprivation.

The report, by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research, points to sharp "demographic growth and distinctive educational priorities, combined with a general reduction in government support and likely diminution of charitable donations" as evidence for the report's findings.

The report highlights widespread unemployment in the charedi community as a significant reason behind the deprivation.

Wednesday 6 Apr 2011
More haredi children in Britain are living in poverty

(JTA) -- A new report warns of a sharp rise in child poverty in Britain's haredi Orthodox Jewish community.

The report says the rise in child poverty is due to the haredi community's large families, lack of secular education and work skills, and cuts in both charitable giving and state social benefits.

The issue is "most acute" among the haredi community, where "the alarm bells should be ringing loudly," according to the report, which was issued last week by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research in London.

Thursday 31 Mar 2011
Cuts leave Charedi children in poverty

by Simon Rocker

The strictly Orthodox community is facing a rise in child poverty as a result of benefit cuts and lack of secular education for boys in its schools, according to a new report.

With the economic downturn and government spending cuts, it says: "The alarm bells should be ringing loudly".

The report, by Jonathan Boyd, executive director of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR), is the most comprehensive survey of child deprivation undertaken in modern British Jewry.

The Charedi community is particularly at risk of "considerable damage".

Friday 25 Feb 2011
Let's not see a return of the Jedi

Jedi? Or Jewish?

The 2001 Census recorded 270,000 Jews in Britain - and 360,000 Star War "Jedis," as a result of a hoax email campaign which, undoubtedly, raised a chuckle. But, unlike Jews, Jedis are not in the business of caring for the vulnerable and disadvantaged, nor do they run homes for their elderly, schools or social facilities.

Thursday 24 Feb 2011
Every tick will count for the community
BRITISH JEWS could miss out on funding and facilities in the coming years if community members fail to indicate their religion in next month's census, the Board of Deputies warned this week.
» more

Thursday 17 Feb 2011
Survey results to shape future

The largest study of Jewish student identity and what it means to be Jewish on campus was launched this week.

It is expected the results will shape the community's work with students for the next decade.

The survey has been commissioned by UJS Hillel and is being conducted by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR).

Wednesday 26 Jan 2011
Our responsibility for the Jewish future

by Danny Ayalon

With the current assault on Israel's legitimacy growing, the Jewish people as a whole are being targeted.

Sunday 5 Dec 2010
The exception that disproves the rule

By Jonathan Boyd

Launched 30 years ago by a group of Jewish educators in Britain, Limmud now rewrites the Jewish educational rule book.

Friday 19 Nov 2010
The most important debate we'll ever have

by Simon Rocker

Mick lets the cat out of the bag, but habit of consensus strong.

For as long as anyone cares to remember, the lay leaders of British Jewry's major organisations have observed an unwritten code: to avoid public criticism of Israel.

On rare instances, the Board of Deputies might have raised its voice, such as over the Sabra-Shatila massacre of 1982. But by and large, if they had qualms about Israeli policy, community leaders have preferred to convey them privately to Israel behind closed doors.

Thursday 15 Jul 2010
New report on the attitudes of Jews in Britain towards Israel reveals deep levels of attachment to the country
All media coverage of the Israel Survey is available below
» more

Thursday 17 Jun 2010
Numbers that don't add up

by Geoffrey Alderman

The counting of Jews has never been straightforward. Orthodox Jews maintain that it is forbidden to count Jews directly. Some say that in biblical times a half-shekel was taken from every Jew, and then the coins were counted.

Friday 11 Jun 2010
Chief Rabbi: 'I did my best for women'

by Simon Rocker

The Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks, has defended his efforts to improve equality for women during nearly two decades in office.

His record was challenged by June Jacobs, a former president of the International Council of Jewish Women, at questions tabled following a lecture the Chief Rabbi gave to the Institute for Jewish Policy Research in London this week.

Tuesday 25 May 2010
Haredi numbers rise in Britian

Synagogue membership has stopped declining in Britain, due to a rise in the number of fervently Orthodox Jews.

Membership numbers for central Orthodox and liberal synagogues are still down from five years ago, according to a new survey by the Board of Deputies and the Institute for Jewish Policy Research.

Monday 24 May 2010
Synagogue membership in 2010
Membership of a synagogue has traditionally been regarded as the most widely held point of formal affiliation to and identity with the Jewish community. However, the situation has been changing fast in recent years, with membership becoming more fluid and transient. It is therefore of interest that the Institute for Jewish Policy Research and the Board of Deputies of British Jews have jointly published Synagogue Membership in the United Kingdom in 2010, by David Graham and Daniel Vulkan.
» more

Friday 21 May 2010
Orthodox synagogue membership stable

by Simon Rocker

The decline in synagogue membership in the UK has slowed down significantly over the past five years, according to a new survey.

The number of Jewish households which belong to a synagogue fell by just 0.3 per cent since 2005 - compared to an overall drop of 16.8 per cent over the two decades from 1990 to 2010.

Friday 21 May 2010
Orthodox prop up declining synagogue membership

by James Martin

The decline in synagogue membership across the UK has "flattened out over the past five years" due to a surge in "strictly Orthodox" memberships.

A joint survey, published by the institute for Jewish Policy Research and the Board of Deputies, shows that at the start of 2010 there were around 83,000 household memberships which is a decline of 600 since 2005. In 1990, nearly 110,000 households were members of synagogues.

Friday 7 May 2010
Shock news: S&M link to Tories

The JC editor and the TV mogul are much more surprised than I am by their decision to go Conservative

By David Aaronovitch

A writer's life is a happy life, except in one circumstance. That is, as this week, when the lambent flow of phrases, sentences and paragraphs have to be created in advance of a life-changing event but will generally be consumed after it. I write before the election; you are probably reading this when the result is known.

Friday 30 Apr 2010
Who votes for whom in the Jewish community?

By Simon Rocker

Members of central Orthodox synagogues are far more likely to vote Conservative than those in Reform synagogues, according to research on the political attitudes of British Jews collected early this year.

Friday 5 Mar 2010
Charedim demand Hebrew, not Yiddish, census

by James Martin and Simon Rocker

Census to include questions in Yiddish for first time in 110 years — but the Orthodox argue it should be in Hebrew

Friday 5 Mar 2010
The Choosing People

by Simon Rocker

“The traditional Jewish community, bounded by a combination of external hostility and limitations and internal comfort and familiarity, has had its walls battered, breached and broken, not so much by antisemitism but rather by the winds of sociological change. We are now free to come and go as we please.

“…In many respects, we are no longer a chosen people, compelled by God, or fate, or history to be part of the Jewish community, but rather a choosing people, deciding day-by-day, minute-by-minute whether or not we want our Jewishness to inform our lives.”

So writes Jonathan Boyd, executive director of the Insititute for Jewish Policy Reseach in the introduction to a collection of short essays on changing Jewish society and the challenges ahead. Contributors to New Conceptions of Community range from chief executive of the London School of Jewish Studies Raphael Zarum to Reform executive director Rabbi Shoshana Boyd-Gelfand to Moishe House musician Joseph Finlay. Worth a look.

Friday 15 Jan 2010
So, what do you really think about Israel?

British Jews are great supporters of the Jewish state aren’t they? We are about to find out

By Simon Rocker, 15 January 2010

Tuesday 12 Jan 2010
What turns young American Jews on

By Simon Rocker

Reasons to be cheerful: leading social scientist Steven Cohen highlighted some of the positive trends within American Jewry during a recent visit to London. You can now read a report of his observations here.

Friday 8 Jan 2010
JPR says Boyd is the new chief

By Simon Rocker, 8 January 2010

Jonathan Boyd, the acting director of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research since April, has been confirmed as its executive director.

Mr Boyd, who has previously worked with the UJIA and the Joint Distribution Committee’s International Centre for Community Development, joined the institute a year ago as a research fellow.

Thursday 7 Jan 2010
Gaza questioned in Israel poll

The most detailed survey of what British Jews think of Israel was launched today by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research.

Conducted by Ipsos Mori and commissioned by the Pears Foundation, it consists of a questionnaire that takes about 15 minutes to complete online.

Friday 1 Jan 2010
Things are better, but not by much

Friday 1 Jan 2010
So is your voice being heard yet?

by Winston Pickett

Ten years ago, a controversial report called for changes in the way the views of the community are represented to the outside world. What has changed over those years?

Friday 1 Jan 2010
Grassroots left out in the cold

by Simon Rocker

If you were to ask, are British Jews better represented than they were a decade ago, then it would all depend on what you meant by “better”.

There is a difference between whether organisations are more effective in getting their message across, than whether collectively the views of British Jews are being more fairly represented by organisations that claim to speak for them.

Friday 20 Nov 2009
New survey: do you fly the flag for Israel?

The first full national survey on how British Jews feel about Israel is to be carried out early next year.

Friday 20 Nov 2009
There's no need for the gloom
Yes, Anglo Jewry has political problems. But we live vibrant lives.
» more

Wednesday 18 Nov 2009
Antisemitism and the reported world
Channel 4's Dispatches on Britain's Israel lobby perpetuated the same old antisemitic myth – and that has effects in the real world. To read Jonathan Boyd's article on the Comment is Free website click here.
» more

Friday 9 Oct 2009
Givers happily take the bait

by Alex Kasriel

Although Jews are supposed to give at least one-tenth of their income to charity, Institute of Jewish Policy Research figures suggest that 20-to-30-somethings are less likely to do so than their parents.

Friday 28 Aug 2009
My way, the Sinatra style of Judaism
Grassroots Jews may be a fringe group now, but their concept has huge implications for the future
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Friday 24 Jul 2009
Communal life after the recession
We need new ideas — and ideals — to meet radical change in the Jewish world
» more

Friday 10 Jul 2009
Professor: diaspora in danger

by James Martin

Diaspora Jews are under increasing threat from assimilation due to a lack of “mission causes”, according to an international expert on Jewish history.

Brandeis University’s Professor Jonathan Sarna made the statement while delivering the first William Frankel memorial lecture last week, in memory of the former JC editor and chairman, who died last April.

Friday 5 Jun 2009
Stability ‘not the end of the story’ for community

by Simon Yaffe

Britain's charedi community is counter-acting any decline in numbers within the rest of the Jewish population. Demographics expert Dr David Graham told the Jewish Telegraph that this is unusual in the Diaspora. The 34-year-old was recently appointed director of social and demographic research at London’s Institute for Jewish Policy Research.

Tuesday 2 Jun 2009
David Graham
David Graham has joined the Institute for Jewish Policy Research as director of social and demographic research. Graham joins from the Board of Deputies of British Jews, where he was a senior research officer for two and a half years.
» more

Friday 22 May 2009
Think-tank: new UK focus

The Institute for Jewish Policy Research has announced a change of direction with a key new appointment.

David Graham, who has worked on demographic surveys for the Board of Deputies, will be the new director of social and demographic research. He will be supported by a new advisory board, chaired by Professor Steve Miller, an expert on research into Jewish communities.

Friday 9 Jan 2009
It's hard to be a Jew, especially in a recession

The harsh winds of recession have started to make an impact on the Jewish community. Donors have cut back pledges, synagogue bodies are laying off staff and one institution has already gone to the wall. MST College, in North-West London, which specialised in teacher training for strictly Orthodox schools, closed at the end of last month.

Friday 9 Jan 2009
New JPR Fellow

A new research fellow is joining the Institute for Jewish Policy Research to head its investigation into Jewish child poverty in the UK.

Jonathan Boyd, a former director of research and development at the UJIA and for the past two years director of operations for the Joint’s International Centre for Community Development, will take up his position this month.

Friday 12 Sep 2008
Jews attacking Jews

By Antony Lerman

When I first started professionally monitoring and studying anti-Semitism almost 30 years ago, there was, broadly speaking, a shared understanding of what it was. True, historians differed over a precise definition - quite understandably, given that the term was coined only in the 1870s, and was then used to describe varieties of Jew-hatred going back 2,000 years. There was also a degree of political manipulation of the phenomenon, with both the right and the left blaming each other for causing it.

Friday 13 Jun 2008
Archbishop honoured at a JPR dinner
One of the UK’s leading Christian personalities has been honoured by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research for his contribution to public life.

The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, received JPR’s Golden Jubilee award at a dinner in his honour at Glaziers Hall in London last Wednesday.

» more

Monday 9 Jun 2008
The Flying Archbishop
http://eursoc.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/2535/The_Flying_Archbishop.html
» more

Thursday 5 Jun 2008
Archbishop of York criticises government at JPR dinner
The Archbishop of York has launched a powerful attack on the government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, accusing it of sacrificing liberty for misguided notions of equality.
» more

Thursday 5 Jun 2008
Archbishop Sentamu says Labour's obsession with human rights is 'threat to freedom'
His condemnation of human rights without religion, and his decision to point the finger at Labour, came in an address given to the Institute for Jewish Policy Research.
» more

Thursday 5 Jun 2008
Archbishop of York blames labour government for selfish society
In a speech given at the Institute of Jewish Policy Research, he said: "One of the many mantras of the New Labour party of a decade ago was that of 'rights and responsibilities' - the idea that along with entitlement comes obligation.
» more

Thursday 5 Jun 2008
Sentamu hammers Brown's Labour government
The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, spoke last night at a dinner given by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research at the Glaziers' Hall in the City of London.
» more

Thursday 5 Jun 2008
'Rampant consumerism' criticised
The Archbishop of York has blamed the Labour government for allowing what he calls "rampant consumerism" to control Britain's moral values.
» more

Thursday 5 Jun 2008
Civil liberties 'facing threat'

Civil liberties are under threat from Government bureaucracy and "petty-mindedness", the Archbishop of York has warned. In a speech delivered to the Institute of Jewish Policy Research in London, Dr John Sentamu said red tape and diktats in politics were threatening personal freedom.

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
» more

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.
» more

Friday 18 Jan 2008
Schools do well - but some boys are left out

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.

» more

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.

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.
» more

Monday 11 Jun 2007
In & around

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.

Tuesday 22 May 2007
Report Exaggerates Importance of Ethnicity

Tuesday 22 May 2007
Opinion

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.

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

by Kim Sengupta and Christina Bucher

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.

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

by Simon Rocker

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....

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.

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.
» more

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.
» more

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).
» more

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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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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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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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 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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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 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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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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