To commence the meeting members watched the United Synagogue special online Memorial Service together with members throughout the country, which was led by Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis.
The prayers of mourning were in memory of the hostages Shiri Bibas together with her two children Ariel and Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz.
Following this, members were treated to a superb presentation given by Andrew Gilbert, Vice President of the Board of Deputies. He was formerly joint Chairman of the London Jewish Forum and in addition has been involved in a leadership capacity with various Jewish organisations.
Attendees were so immersed in the talk that the time passed so quickly and they derived a lot of information from the presentation. Andrew analysed the differing strands of the Jewish Community in Brent and North West London. He also paid attention to the changes in other parts of the country as well as neighbouring Boroughs such as Harrow where some of the Kenton Killah live. He spoke about trends in growth and the differing age range which has also had some impact on communities as well. The changes following the Census in 2001 and 2021 were noted along with the difficulties later experienced during the Covid Pandemic and more recently the rise of antisemitism.
The trends to where other faiths live were also noted. A variety of questions were then posed and Andrew noted the Resilience and Cohesion meetings that he has had particularly with the Metropolitan Police and also policing of demonstration marches.
To round off the evening there were delicious refreshments and the opportunity to speak to Andrew and mull over some of the interesting statistics Andrew had provided from the Census.
By Rachelle Goldberg