Whether we're talking about safety in Britain, the next Israeli election or global affairs, the real question is this: can we escape the sense of living from one crisis to the next?
Dr Jonathan Boyd
As Jews gather together for Rosh Hashanah this weekend, many will arrive carrying a familiar mixture of hope and anxiety. Some will wonder what the coming year holds for Israel, where a general election looms and deep political divisions remain unresolved. Others will be thinking about the United States and whether Donald Trump's grip on power will begin to loosen after the mid-term elections. Across Europe, attention will turn to a succession of national elections, culminating in France's presidential contest next spring. Here in the UK, we are only beginning to understand what a new Labour government under Andy Burnham might mean for the country as a whole, for Israel, and for British Jews.
Then there are the fears that occupy our nighttime thoughts. Many will recall the attack on Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation in Manchester last year. As the High Holy Days approach, security personnel, synagogue leaders and congregants alike will be quietly asking themselves whether it could happen again. They will know, as all Jewish communities know, that moments of celebration and reflection now carry a degree of vulnerability that has become disturbingly familiar.
These concerns are understandable. They are also unavoidable. We live in an age of heightened uncertainty, and Jewish communities are hardly alone in feeling it. Yet as important as these questions are, I find myself increasingly drawn to a different set of questions altogether. Not so much what will happen, which is very difficult to predict, but what the cumulative effect of recent years has already been.
Can we learn what enables communities to adapt to change?
Since October 2023, much of Jewish communal life has been shaped by reacting to events. Terror attacks, war, antisemitic incidents, campus protests, political upheaval, diplomatic crises. Communal attention has been consumed by the next headline, the next social media storm, the next reason to worry.
But communities cannot live indefinitely in a state of emergency. Sooner or later, we need to pause and ask what all of this is doing to us, and where we are heading. And in many respects, that is what this time of year is all about.
The Jewish calendar has never promised certainty. Quite the opposite. The High Holy Days remind us how little we know about what lies ahead. Governments may rise or fall. Political fortunes may shift dramatically. Some of today’s anxieties will prove justified; others will not.
The more important question is whether we are prepared for whatever comes next. When uncertainty increases, what enables communities to adapt? What helps them remain resilient? Strong leadership, trusted institutions, social connections, schools, synagogues, welfare organisations and security arrangements all matter. They all need investment if they are to remain fit for purpose.
Can we understand the deeper changes taking place within our community?
Another underlying capacity receives far less attention: the capacity to understand ourselves clearly. Communities that navigate uncertainty most effectively rarely have the greatest confidence in their predictions. They are usually those that understand most clearly who they are, how they are changing, and where their strengths and vulnerabilities lie – and who then use that understanding to shape how they plan for the future. In other words, resilience depends not only on what communities think, but on how well they understand the people they are trying to sustain.
That is why I expect questions of identity, belonging and confidence to become more important in the coming year. They are not peripheral to community resilience; they are part of its foundation. The events of recent years have not merely changed the environment in which Jews live; they have also changed the conversations taking place inside Jewish homes, schools, synagogues and communities. They have prompted difficult questions about belonging, visibility, solidarity, continuity and the future.
For younger Jews in particular, the period since October 2023 may well prove formative. Long after today’s political disputes have faded, it may continue to shape how they think about Israel, Jewish identity, communal engagement and their relationship with wider society. The challenge, therefore, is not simply to navigate the next election cycle or news cycle. It is to understand the deeper changes taking place around them.
Elections will come and go. Governments will rise and fall. Much that currently feels urgent will eventually recede. The questions that matter most may be the ones that remain when the headlines have moved on.
How confident are Jews about their future? How connected do they feel to one another? How much trust do they place in the societies around them? And ultimately, what kind of Jewish community is emerging from this period of uncertainty? As we begin a new Jewish year, those are the questions I find myself returning to. Not because I know the answers, but because they may ultimately matter more than any prediction about the year ahead.
Originally published in The Jewish News
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Dr Jonathan Boyd
Executive Director
Dr Jonathan Boyd
Executive Director
Jonathan has been Executive Director of JPR since 2010, having previously held research and policy positions at the JDC International Centre for Community Development in...
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