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Progressive Judaism (United Kingdom)
Progressive Judaism is the UK's second biggest Jewish denomination, representing around 30% of synagogue-affiliated Jews and taking an approach to Judaism that blends tradition with modernity – rooted in shared values, diverse voices and a commitment to inclusion and equality. There are 80 Progressive communities across Britain and Ireland. The intention to create one Progressive Judaism for the UK was first announced in April 2023 and then confirmed in May 2025, when the member communities of Liberal Judaism (United Kingdom) and The Movement for Reform Judaism both voted to unite into one movement. The legal process to dissolve Reform/Liberal Judaism and create Britain’s new Movement for Progressive Judaism is expected to be completed around November 2025. Progressive Judaism UK is a member of the World Union for Progressive Judaism and dates its history back to the Haskalah (Jewish enlightenment) of the 1770s and the introduction of Reform Judaism to Britain from the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Progressive Judaism
Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous revelation which is closely intertwined with human reason and not limited to the Theophany at Mount Sinai. A highly liberal strand of Judaism, it is characterized by little stress on ritual and personal observance, regarding Jewish law as non-binding and the individual Jew as autonomous, and by a great openness to external influences and progressive values. The origins of Reform Judaism lie in mid-19th-century Germany, where Rabbi Abraham Geiger and his associates formulated its early principles, attempting to harmonize Jewish tradition with modern sensibilities in the age of emancipation. Brought to America by German-trained rabbis, the denomination gained prominence in the United States, flourishing from the 1860s to the 1930s in an e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Torah, Written and Oral Torah, Oral, as literally revelation, revealed by God in Judaism, God on Mount Sinai (Bible), Mount Sinai and faithfully transmitted ever since. Orthodox Judaism therefore advocates a strict observance of Jewish Law, or ''halakha'', which is to be Posek, interpreted and determined only according to traditional methods and in adherence to the continuum of received precedent through the ages. It regards the entire ''halakhic'' system as ultimately grounded in immutable revelation, essentially beyond external and historical influence. More than any theoretical issue, obeying the Kosher, dietary, Tumah and taharah, purity, ethical and other laws of ''halakha'' is the hallmark of Orthodoxy. Practicing members are easily distinguishable by their lifestyle, refraining from doing 39 Melakhot, numerous rou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judaism In The United Kingdom
British Jews (often referred to collectively as British Jewry or Anglo-Jewry) are British citizens who are Jewish. The number of people who identified as Jews in the United Kingdom rose by just under 4% between 2001 and 2021. History The first recorded Jewish community in Britain was brought to England in 1070 by King William the Conqueror who believed the Jewish population's commercial skills would make his newly won country more prosperous. At the end of the 12th century, a series of blood libels and fatal pogroms were perpetrated in England, particularly on the east coast. Notably, on 16 March 1190, during the run up to the Third Crusade, the Jewish population of York was massacred at the site where Clifford's Tower now stands, and King Edward I of England passed the Statute of the Jewry (''Statutum de Judaismo'') in 1275, restricting the community's activities, most notably outlawing the practice of usury (charging interest).Prestwich, Michael. Edward I p 345 (1997) Yale Un ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Religion In The United Kingdom
Christianity is the largest religion in the United Kingdom. Results of the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 Census for England and Wales showed that Christianity is the largest religion (though it makes up less than half of the population at 46.2%), followed by the Irreligion, non-religious (37.2%), Islam (6.5%), Hinduism (1.7%), Sikhism (0.9%), Buddhism (0.5%), Judaism (0.5%), and others (0.6%). Among Christians, Anglicanism is the most common denomination, with 53% of Christians believers in the UK identifying with this denomination as of 2023, followed by Catholic Church, Catholicism, Presbyterianism, Methodism, Unitarianism, and Baptists. Results for the 2021 United Kingdom census#2022 census for Scotland, 2022 census in Scotland indicated that the majority (51%) had irreligion, no religion, but that 38.8% of the Scottish population identified as Christian (of which 20% identified with the Church of Scotland and 13% with the Catholic Church in Scotland, Catholic Church). I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laura Janner-Klausner
Laura Naomi Janner-Klausner (; born 1 August 1963) is a British rabbi and an inclusion and development coach who served as the inaugural Senior Rabbi to Reform Judaism from 2011 until 2020. Janner-Klausner grew up in London before studying theology at the University of Cambridge and moving to Israel in 1985, living in Jerusalem for 15 years. She returned to Britain in 1999 and was ordained at Leo Baeck College, serving as rabbi at Alyth Synagogue ( North Western Reform Synagogue) until 2011. She has been serving as Rabbi at Bromley Reform Synagogue in south-east London since April 2022. Janner-Klausner represents a progressive Jewish voice to British Jewry and the wider public, speaking on affairs including Israel-Palestine, social justice, same-sex marriage and interfaith relations. Janner-Klausner is a regular broadcaster on programmes such as BBC Radio 4’s ''Thought for the Day'', BBC Radio 2’s '' Pause for Thought'' and BBC One’s ''The Big Questions'' and ''Sunday Mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Danny Rich (rabbi)
Danny Rich is a Labour councillor and mayor for 2025-26 of the London Borough of Barnet. He was, until 2020, the Senior Rabbi and Chief Executive of Liberal Judaism in the United Kingdom. Early life and education Danny Rich was born in London, and attended Hearnville Primary School and Sir Walter St. John's Grammar School, where he was head boy. Following his A-levels in German, History, and Government and Politics, he worked for the London Fire Brigade before entering Manchester University to study Politics and Modern History, doing his undergraduate thesis on ''The Palestinian Experience in Jordan: 1948–1970'' and maintaining an active role in student politics, being twice elected chairperson of Manchester University Students' Union. During this time, he also served as a visiting lay minister for Leicester Progressive Jewish Congregation, and as a teacher/service leader at Manchester Reform Synagogue. In 1984, Rich began rabbinical training at Leo Baeck College, a priv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucian Hudson
Lucian John Hudson (born 1960) is a strategy and communications specialist from the UK. Early life and education Hudson was born on 5 July 1960 in London to Polish parents, Jan and Wanda Maria Pikulski. He has a degree in philosophy, politics and economics from St Catherine's College, Oxford. Religion and conversion to Judaism Hudson was brought up as a Roman Catholic. He was educated by Jesuits but he became interested in Judaism. He converted to Judaism in 2005 By 2009, he became Chair of Liberal Judaism (United Kingdom), Liberal Judaism, developing over his six years in office a vision and strategy for the movement and closer collaboration with the leadership of UK Jewry and the Movement for Reform Judaism. The latter helped pave the way for the unification of Liberal and Reform Judaism into one Progressive Judaism (United Kingdom) in 2025. Career Hudson was an executive producer and television journalist for 17 years with the BBC and ITV. He was director of commu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leo Baeck College
Leo Baeck College is a privately funded rabbinical seminary and centre for the training of teachers in Jewish education. Based now at the Sternberg Centre, East End Road, Finchley, in the London Borough of Barnet, it was founded by Werner van der Zyl in 1956 and is sponsored by The Movement for Reform Judaism, Liberal Judaism and the United Jewish Israel Appeal. It is named after the inspirational 20th-century German Liberal rabbi Leo Baeck. Rabbinic ordinations from Leo Baeck College are recognised worldwide by the Liberal, Reform and Masorti movements. To date, Leo Baeck College has trained over 170 rabbis, its alumni serving Jewish communities in the United Kingdom and across the world. Leo Baeck College also pioneered the training of rabbis to serve the Jewish communities of the former Soviet Union and has been at the forefront of Jewish-Christian-Muslim dialogue for decades. In addition to the training of rabbis, Leo Baeck College trains teachers, provides an educa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Jewish Chronicle
''The Jewish Chronicle'' (''The JC'') is a London-based Jewish weekly newspaper. Founded in 1841, it is the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world. Its editor () is Daniel Schwammenthal. The newspaper is published every Friday (except when this is a Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday, when it appears earlier in the week) providing news, opinion pieces, social, cultural and sports reports, as well as editorials and a spectrum of readers' opinions on the letter page. The news section of its website is updated several times a day. The average weekly circulation in 2024 was 10,082, of which 4,442 were free copies, down from 32,875 in 2008. In February 2020, it announced plans to merge with the ''Jewish News'' but, in April 2020, entered voluntary liquidation and was acquired from the liquidators by a private consortium of political insiders, broadcasters and bankers. The paper's political stance under editor Jake Wallis Simons subsequently moved to the right. In 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West London Synagogue
The West London Synagogue, abbreviated WLS, and fully the West London Synagogue of British Jews () is a Reform Judaism, Reform Judaism, Jewish congregation and synagogue, located near Marble Arch, at 34 Upper Berkeley Street, in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England, in the United Kingdom. The congregation was established on 15 April 1840. The current synagogue building was dedicated in 1870, and was Listed building, Grade II listed in 1989. It is one of the oldest synagogues in the United Kingdom and it was the oldest house of prayer affiliated with the Movement for Reform Judaism, before its affiliation lapsed in February 2023. History 19th century On 15 April 1840, 24 members of the Mocatta, Goldsmid family, Goldsmid and other families announced their secession from their respective congregations, the Sephardi Bevis Marks Synagogue and the Ashkenazi Great Synagogue of London, and their intention to form a prayer group for neither "German nor Portuguese" Jews ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Rayner
Rabbi John Desmond Rayner (30 May 1924 – 19 September 2005) was a Berlin-born British Liberal Jewish rabbi. Early life He was born in Berlin as Hans Sigismund Rahmer in 1924. He left Berlin in 1939 on one of the last Kindertransports. The Kindertransport programme brought around 10,000 children to the UK. Both his parents, Ferdinand Rahmer and Charlotte Landshut, were murdered in the Holocaust. Between 1943 and 1947 Rayner served in the British Army. In October 1947 he took up an open scholarship in modern languages that he had previously won at Emmanuel College, Cambridge five years earlier. In his second year he switched to Moral Science which comprised philosophy, logic, ethics and psychology and graduated in 1950 with First Class Honours. In his third year Rayner specialised in Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac and Semitic Epigraphy. In his sixth year Rayner began working as a research student on a thesis about Maimonides' conception of Revelation. Career Rayner was ordained in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matrilineality
Matrilineality, at times called matriliny, is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which people identify with their matriline, their mother's lineage, and which can involve the inheritance of property and titles. A matriline is a line of descent from a female ancestor to a descendant of either gender in which the individuals in all intervening generations are mothers. In a matrilineal descent system, individuals belong to the same descent group as their mothers. This is in contrast to the currently more popular pattern of patrilineal descent from which a family name is usually derived. The matriline of historical nobility was also called their enatic or uterine ancestry, corresponding to the patrilineal or "agnatic" ancestry. Early human kinship Scholars disagree on the nature of early human, that is, Homo sapiens, kinship. In the late 19th century, most scholars believed, influenced by Lewis H. Morgan's book ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
