In years past, I have spoken quite regularly about roots; about the history of this special community and the responsibility that demands to both preserve and build upon those unique roots. As I look back over the last few years, a number of themes appear to be recurrent ones. But the overriding one for me has been, and continues to be, the challenge of moving our community forward and introducing change which, at the same time, continues to hold at its core the values and respect for the ethos of this community and its founders.

As we look back over these past few years, having now enjoyed two years of High Holyday Services at home and countless special services in the delights of our newly refurbished synagogue, I think we can all agree that the enormous amount of ambition, confidence and hard work required to conceive of our new space is a true Belsize triumph.

For that, I would like to thank the Head of our Redevelopment Committee, my good friend Jonathan Joseph, who is standing down with effect from tonight’s meeting. Thank you for all you have given us, and for all you have already committed to continue to do, even if no longer as a Board member.

Edgwarebury Cemetery

Our situation at Edgwarebury Cemetery has been completely transformed over the past year. Some eight years after beginning this project, Keith Conway and Steven Bruck have finally delivered to us the additional lands we so urgently required, in order to continue to provide appropriate facilities for all our future burials for generations to come. To Keith and to Steven we say a very hearty thank you for your tireless efforts.

Over the course of the past year, very considerable work has been done planning for our new burial site. At the same time, we have taken our full and equal seat at the management table of the cemetery. In taking this step we have, for the first time, come out of the shadows of our prior sponsor, Liberal Judaism, and have needed to address a very wide variety of issues around our own burial practice.

I would like to thank Elizabeth Nisbet who has invested countless hours, first conjuring up the myriad of questions arising around our burial practice, and then working together with Jackie Alexander and a team of volunteers on her committee to arrive at answers to those questions which are appropriate to Belsize members. The result of their work is included in a booklet about our burial practice, which will soon be distributed to all members.

Another result of their work is the creation of a new Burial Committee, which will consider issues which we may not have foreseen and which will require rapid decision-making and which will, of course, be worked on together with Rabbi Altshuler, as this is an important area of our activity. Thank you Elizabeth, Jackie and all those who assisted.

Nursery School

Last year I told you of the closing of our Nitzanim Nursery due to changes in local authority funding, which would have had severe implications on the successful operation of our Nursery. I am very happy that since that time we have been able to find an excellent Nursery with a great track record in Hampstead Garden Suburb that has chosen our facilities as the ideal location for their second nursery, known as Keren’s Gan.

In the five months of operations they have grown from a handful of children here on opening day to a group of more than 20 children and they are planning for even greater numbers in September, as they strive to achieve a maximum size of nearly 50 children attending their programme.

This nursery allows us to make better use of our physical capacity, making a welcome financial contribution, as well as continuing the Belsize tradition of having children in a Jewish nursery present in the building and experiencing a Jewish education from the very earliest stages of their educational and social development.

AJR

We have this year also welcomed the Association of Jewish Refugees into our premises for regular twice-weekly meetings that include the provision of a full luncheon, as well as social and educational activities. This project again allows us to make better use of our physical premises, while making a modest contribution to our operating costs.

We did not hesitate in moving forward with the AJR, as we believe we should continue to support the vital work they do, and hope that more of our members will take advantage of the service they provide here. We hope the AJR will continue to be happy in their new Belsize home for many years to come. And, we hope to find additional ways to generate new revenue in the years ahead by making even better use of our excellent facilities.

Fund-raising

As we look back over these past few years, some other things seem to have changed little, yet will require serious attention in the immediate future. The Hon. Treasurer will shortly present her final report before standing down and I would like to thank Deborah Cohen for all the countless hours and amazing effort she has invested in trying to put our finances onto a more assured footing. I’m afraid that as she has done before, Deborah will tell you about the financial challenges we face as a community.

In short, we have a clear choice to make – we either find new ways to raise significant funds that will reduce our recurring deficit, that runs at nearly £140,000 per annum, or we face cutting back either on our facilities or the programmes and services we offer. You will recall we have eaten into our reserves quite significantly in order to achieve our capital projects, and that compounds the pressure upon us all to balance our books in new ways.

I know some were upset that the pricing of tickets for the recent phenomenally successful and entertaining “Belsize Has Talent” event was very high. But, in fact, the only reason this event was proposed was in order to raise additional money with which to run the Synagogue. We were fortunate to have raised £5,000 from that great evening; and yet my sense is that some members struggled with the notion that this was a fund-raising event and not just another sociable Belsize evening.

Let’s hope that in the coming years we can continue to run even more successful fund-raising events that provide something special that appeals to members and encourages us to be even more generous than we already are.

And, speaking of fund-raising, it is at this point that I would like, on behalf of all of you, to thank my close friend and our life-long member who is also standing down tonight from his position as Head of Fund-raising, Allan Morgenthau, thank you so very much for your work, not only in developing the concept for “Belsize Has Talent” but for raising nearly £1.3 million over the past 2½ years; funds without which we could not have achieved all that we have.

Services, Speakers & Events

We have this year been a part of some very emotional times with our Cantor Norman Cohen Falah, who finally married his beautiful Florencia, subsequently deciding to take advantage of an excellent opportunity to move closer to his son Ivan. While we miss Norman’s musical presence, we have been blessed with much home-grown talent, with many members stepping in to lead our Services so capably these past six months. Thanks to John Abramson, David Baker, Joe Brookes, Rob Nothman, Ben Wolf and Josh Kendall, who have all provided us with beautiful chanting of our various Services through Shabbat and Chaggim.

There is so much more that has happened over the course of this past year – including the first Synagogue trip in a number of years, with the very successful Krakow and Auschwitz visit led by Professor Anthony Polonsky and our Rabbi, and so wonderfully organised with painstaking attention to every minute detail by Henny.

We have also witnessed a mini-explosion of political discourse, with various MPs and local Councillors, as well as a former Iraqi MP having met with us, addressed us and answered a variety of questions. We also welcomed the British Ambassador to Israel, Matthew Gould, who addressed us at a Shabbat Service.

We have enjoyed another highly successful Israel Dinner, thanks to the tireless work of Justyn and Rebecca Trenner. We have enjoyed the most successful mini-machane in years, with some 25 youngsters participating a few months ago, thanks to the incredible work of our youth leader Jonathan Davidoff. Our Belsize/Alyth football team is officially the Maccabi Under 9 Champion and Cup Winner.

Our Bazaar has continued to produce magnificent results with the “Auction of Promises”, again highlighting a terrific weekend of fund-raising; thanks so much to Philip Brass as well as to Marion and Dennis Nathan. So much more has happened this year. Our Cheder programme continues to flourish, thanks to the creative work of Jeanie Horowitz; thank you, Jeanie. I would also like to acknowledge the incredible work done with our social care programme and offer all our thanks to Dorothy White for the work she does, together with her team of volunteer friends.

Sadly, we have this past year lost many important members of our community. While time will not allow for the full list to be read out, I would particularly wish to mention the tragic loss of Jonathan Roberts z’l whose vibrant young life was just coming into maturity when he was hit by a car during the last week of his first year at Oxford University.

I would also like to remember our long-serving Board member Mark Petrushkin z’l, who over the years did so very much for us all in so many ways, including as long-time Chairman of the Bazaar Committee – but always quietly and without fuss in the true Belsize Square tradition. Y’hi zichronam baruch – may their memories serve as a blessing to us all.

Fortunately, we were also blessed to be able to share some very happy occasions together, celebrating first the long-standing service and leadership of Rabbi Rodney Mariner, as well as his 70th Birthday at the end of last May, followed in autumn by our Induction Service for Rabbi Dr Stuart Altshuler. Of course, both the cemetery and refurbishment projects could not have been realised without the work of many but I would like here to thank Rabbi Mariner for the considerable time he devoted personally to both these projects.

Rabbi Altshuler has now come through his first full year and more with us, and I think I speak for all of us when I thank him for his wise counsel, his leadership, his warmth and his positive approach to trying new ideas and working with the many different components of our complex kehila. Rabbi, thank you for all you have given us.

The Women’s Issue

We have worked together this past year, the Rabbi, lay leadership and all the community, in beginning to tackle a major issue which has troubled many members for years. I believe that the Open Discussion held in late December, followed by some very deeply considered thinking and planning by the Officers and approved overwhelmingly by both the Executive and the Board, has allowed us as a community to finally address the “unaddressable” issue of women’s participation in Services, in a way that is sensitive to the needs of the large majority of our community and without trampling on the feelings of those of our members who were happy with the status quo.

While we still have a path ahead to travel together as one kehila, I am encouraged by the dignified manner in which this vital issue has been addressed in recent months and by the

respect and consideration shown by members on all sides of this debate. And for that I think we can all be very proud, as it was never obvious we could find a sensitive way forward.

Acknowledgements

There are always a few important thank you’s that require special mention and I hope you’ll forgive me if this year there are just a few more than normal. The committees of this community do an incredible amount of work and, with over a dozen active committees, it is not possible to thank everyone personally. So please accept my thanks to all of you who invest so much of your time and energy in making Belsize the community it is. It is the committees that really drive what happens here.

And executing those decisions is a team of very dedicated people. From Gordon, with the help of Greg, who keep our facilities in top shape, to Jennifer, Jagdish and Adam in the office, thank you for all you do. Adam, considering my prior time as Treasurer, you have put up with my financial and liturgical inquiries for many years with good humour and great spirit and I thank you most sincerely for always doing so with a smile.

I imagine that by now most of you are aware, but the end of this calendar year will mark another milestone for Belsize Square because, after many years running our Cheder programme and more recently running our office these past eight years, Henny will be taking her well-earned retirement. And, while we are delighted that Henny will continue to take an active role in communal affairs, as an ongoing member of the community, she will no longer be responsible for all things Belsize.

Henny, you have been an invaluable source of knowledge and experience in so many areas of our activity that words really don’t seem enough to say thank you. Fortunately there will be another opportunity to express all of our thanks but for now, please accept my personal thanks on behalf of everyone here tonight and on behalf of the entire community for your incredible support and assistance throughout my term and well beyond.

I would like to thank all the members of the Board for your guidance and for keeping me on the straight and narrow. We have had an interesting year including one meeting, which if I’m not mistaken, only broke up at midnight. To Board members Graham Brown, Joe Hacker, Jonathan Joseph, Vivien Lewis and Leslie Sheinman, who all stand down at this election, thanks so very much for your many years of wise counsel.

The Executive has spent considerable time this year grappling with many of the issues that have been so successfully resolved these past months. And so to John Alexander, Brenda Brod, Deborah Cohen, Suzanne Goldstein, Adam Hurst, Elizabeth Nisbet, Rob Nothman and Vera Pollins, as well as to Steven Bruck, Jonathan Joseph, Tom Nathan and David Rothenberg, who sat at the Executive table, thanks so much for all your time and efforts.

I have had the great fortune these past three years to be able to benefit from guidance at critical moments in our development from no less than three outstanding past Chairmen and I would like to say a special thank you to Harry Davies, Steven Bruck, and Tom Nathan for always being there to assist me at the most sensitive moments. And, to our fourth outstanding past Chairman, Thomas Tausz z’l, I know how very happy you would have been to see both the cemetery and refurbishment projects completed.

I have been fortunate these past two years to have a stable and excellent team of Honorary Officers. To Deborah Cohen, our retiring Treasurer, and to Adam Hurst, my thanks for the huge volume of work you put into ensuring our accounts are handled appropriately and our budgets are prepared with precision. This is also a good time to thank Jon Pollins for the work he invests each year ensuring our statutory accounts are prepared with great precision and accuracy. And I know you all join me in wishing Jon a very complete and successful treatment and a speedy recovery to full health.

I would also like to thank Rob Nothman who has invested greatly of himself these past years, first in the Rabbinic succession project and more recently in organising the special celebration services held to honour Rabbi Mariner last spring and then induct Rabbi Altshuler this past autumn. Your positive energy, Rob, is infectious.

In a moment I will say a word about our new co-Chairs. But first I have a confession to make. You see, Belsize Square has, in fact, enjoyed a co-Chair for the past three years, unofficially that is. Many people have asked me over the years what exactly is the responsibility of the Hon Secretary.

And, while responsibility for the scheduling and minutes of Board and Executive meetings and arranging the AGM and this year’s General Meeting are part of the job description, as are overseeing the Office and keeping in touch with members at key milestone events – I must confess that Vera has really worked beyond these responsibilities, acting more as a co-Chair.

Vera Pollins has always made herself available, despite all her other personal, professional and Belsize commitments, to be there to listen to issues, advise me on our history, or simply offer her wise, experienced counsel on how best to deal with a sensitive situation, of which, believe it or not, there have been a fair few during these past years. So to you, Vera, I want to express profound thanks for having been by my side through thick and thin and, in the process, always having helped me arrive at a better solution.

New Co-Chairmanship

I am very lucky and honoured to be turning over the Chairmanship of this community to such a dynamic duo – John Abramson and Suzanne Goldstein. John has in recent years taken on increasing levels of responsibility in a variety of areas and, for the past year, worked very closely with Norman on all things revolving around the running of the musical side of our service in anticipation of Norman’s departure.

That we have not had to worry about leyners or daveners these past six months is a credit to only some of the work he puts in as well, of course, to the time Sue Mariner spent in years past training lay daveners in our liturgy. We are fortunate that John’s career has changed in a way that allows him to make additional time available for communal service and we are thankful to him for agreeing to take on this role.

Suzanne has been actively involved with everything to do with the educational side of our activities for as long as I can remember – be it with the Nursery, the BUTS programme, of course our Cheder, and with our youth programme. Suzanne puts incredible energy and focus into all that she touches and we are so fortunate that both John and Suzanne have come forward and agreed to serve as co-Chairs for the next three years. They have already spent countless hours preparing for a smooth transition and I know you will all offer them the same wholehearted support I have always enjoyed from you.

This is a very complex and large community to run, and the time devoted to it has continued to grow in recent years and has been a challenge for a number of us past Chairmen. Having a clear split of responsibility, as I know they plan, is something that should hopefully allow them each to spend less time than a single Chair would need and at the same time should provide the community with an even greater focus and specialism in diverse areas of our activity.

Some of you have asked why I would not stand for another term. While I appreciate the sentiment, I suspect you may not really appreciate all that is involved in this role. When I accepted this nomination, I said very clearly that I would do so for one term only, which I felt was only right, having already served as Treasurer for a prior three-year term.

It is important for the future growth of our community that we are constantly challenged by new people and new ideas. I know John and Suzanne will bring many fresh new initiatives from which we will all benefit.

Conclusion

So, as I move onto the wall of history outside the Library – I realise the Library is one area I failed to mention earlier but we all owe a huge thanks to Henry Kuttner, who has so successfully managed our Library for many years and who stood down this year and passed that role on to Ruth Rothenberg.

My final thanks this evening must go to Ossi, Noa and Ben. They have all put up with too many Shul conversations, meetings and missed dinners, due to my Belsize commitments. And Ossi has prepared countless amazing Shabbat dinners facilitating my work and particularly helping to convince prospective Rabbinic candidates of how much better the English culinary experience is than what they might have heard. Ossi has been a very wise, if publically silent, counsel to me, and I thank her for all she has put up with these past three years.

So as I now join the club of past Chairmen, I would like to share this one closing thought with you.

Belsize Square has always been a community with a strong sense of its roots and has always been a community full of special care for all its members.

As we have tackled some sensitive issues in recent times, I have noticed a certain new attitude creeping into the lexicon and one which I think should concern us all greatly. It is an attitude not unique to Belsize and indeed is one becoming increasingly prevalent in society – it is the attitude of “me” and “my family”.

Our future at Belsize will be a glorious one, provided we all continue to consider what is best not for me and my family, but what is best for us all as one large family. That is the true meaning of kehila. That is what being part of a large community is really all about.

So, as we move into this era of new leadership, please entrust to Suzanne and to John your goodwill; and please ensure that as they lead us in tackling whatever new and difficult issues may arise, we do so with the same sense of responsibility to one big kehila that has characterised the recent discussions and decisions we have made.

As long as we continue to think and act and care as one large family, concerned for the well-being of everyone, we will continue to go and even grow, from strength to strength.

Paul Burger

FROM OUR NEW CO-CHAIRS

Co-Chair Suzanne Goldstein

Family and friends, this has been a different AGM from last year, and yet again there has been more change. Our community has had a huge amount of upheaval to deal with and I understand how difficult that has been for many of us.

I thought it might be helpful to briefly go over my own history in the community and then tell you what I, as co-Chair, would like to achieve in my three years of office.

My grandmother Friedel Kochmann was a founder member of this Shul and on the Board, as was my father Hans Wreschner and uncle Max Kochmann, who became Treasurer.

My first role in the community was on the Board 30 years ago, as a member of what was then called the Women’s Society. I then became co-Chair with Richard Schiffer of the Parents’ Association and went on to be co-Chair of the Belsize Members Group with Vera and, finally, for the last five years I’ve been Chair of Education and a member of the Executive. I think the skills and experience that I’ve built up in these roles will enable me to work efficiently and effectively as co-Chair with John.

Under Paul’s Chairmanship we have a wonderful bet Knesset, a new Rabbi and an assured place to bury our dead. His strong leadership allowed these changes to go through and we’ve been extremely fortunate to have had the right man in the right place at the right time. I’d also like to acknowledge the very important role Ossi’s support has played in Paul’s Chairmanship and how much she’s given to our community.

We now have Keren’s Gan, the AJR and the Scouts all renting space from us. This brings us revenue and raises our profile, two very important assets. I’d like to make sure there are clear management guidelines in place to keep these relationships on a professional and mutually beneficial footing.

The cemetery now provides us not only with an assured space for burial, but also with an important financial asset. Our job as co-Chairs is to support the Burial Committee, which has so ably written our Code of Practice.

I’d also like to ensure that each member of the Executive has clear areas of responsibility, so they can report to the Board from an informed position. I think it’s really important to maintain a process whereby any proposed changes are discussed with the Board before they are implemented. It’s also important for decisions to be taken in a timely manner, but there needs to be the opportunity for different viewpoints to be heard.

I started by talking about all the changes we’ve been through over the last couple of years. I think our priority now should be to have a period of consolidation, where we learn to live with these changes and understand their full implications.

As we’ve learnt with our new building, even an amazing and successful project leaves a snagging list. My job, with the teams’ help, is to operate a metaphorical snagging list for all the community’s new projects, which allows us to see where problems have arisen and to deal with them. Setting up the Chairmanship post as a collaborative one is indicative of how I like to work, but also allows this huge job to be shared, so that we can tackle the jobs which need doing before they become fire-fighting ones.

With the help of the Officers, Executive and Board, I hope that we can continue to grow a community that people will not only want to join but contribute to as well.

The Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, said on Radio 4 recently, when talking about Shavuot, that the Jews made a covenant with God to build a society which took collective responsibility, where by working together a better community could be created. I hope that by commitment, hard work and collaboration, we can progress this very important community for the better.

Suzanne Goldstein

Co-Chair John Abramson

Who am I?

I was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, but with solidly Litvak origins – three grandparents originated in Lithuania and my father’s father came from Riga in Latvia. When I was growing up in South Africa, there were about 80,000 Jews in the country – about the same as in Australia and about a quarter of the number in Argentina at that time. The vast majority of South African Jews are of Baltic origin.

I grew up in a traditional Modern Orthodox environment – going to Shul every Friday night and walking to my Granny’s flat for chicken soup and kneidlach afterwards. The community was possibly insular but very secure in its Jewish identity and unequivocal in its support for Israel.

I went to an Orthodox Jewish day school until just after my barmitzvah and then to a state high school. My secondary education, which was based on the national curriculum of the apartheid government, was interesting, to say the least. Let’s just say that the then government’s view of African history was not the most balanced.

Narrowly avoiding being called up to serve my compulsory two years in the South African Defence Force, I went to university in Johannesburg and studied English and South African literature. I also became involved in student politics and played my part in various anti-government campaigns. Looking back, this was a fascinating but also tragic time in the history of my country. Perhaps as a result, I decided to become a lawyer and I came to London to study law at the London School of Economics.

To cut a long story short, I qualified as a solicitor and for the last 20 years I have worked in the City, specialising in insurance and reinsurance law. Currently, I am the European Head of Legal and Compliance of a global insurance company.

My parents came to the UK from South Africa over 30 years ago, took up residence in Oxford and are still there today. My mother is professor of Modern Hebrew Literature at Oxford University and my father is a semi-retired investment banker. My younger brother and his family live in Boston in the United States. I have two sons, Joel and Theo, whom many of you know. We are all Arsenal supporters. My wife Paula has two children, Leah and Nathan. They support the other team.

My Belsize History

When I first arrived in London, I lived in Swiss Cottage and started going to the New London Synagogue in Abbey Road. At university I met a Jewish friend who lived in Belsize Square. He told me about the synagogue in the middle of the square, that belonged to a strange sect that he didn’t quite understand. I decided to try it one day and turned up for a Friday Night Service. A strange sect indeed. Lots of people with German accents, a tall Australian Rabbi, an American chazan with a beautiful baritone voice and, in the choir, the voice of an angel that I later found out belonged to Sue Heimann.

I have always loved Jewish liturgical music and had not heard much Lewandowski and Sulzer. Our music at home was more traditional East European, sung by a male choir. Just one Friday Night Service here was enough for me. I was completely blown away by the music that I heard – complex, beautiful and intensely spiritual. I joined the sect. That was in 1992, so this year I celebrate my 20th anniversary.

In those years, I have done a lot here. I have been on the Board for about 12 years. I have taught at Cheder. I was involved in the startup of Kikar Kids. For the last nine years I have served as the community’s representative on the Board of Deputies and have sat on the Liturgical Committee, the Israel Committee and ad hoc committees, organising various things. Last year Paul Burger asked me to chair the Chazan Search Committee, a great honour.

My Vision

We have inherited so much from Paul Burger, our outgoing Chairman. He is dynamic, he has vision and he has a formidable work ethic. His commitment to our community is unequivocal

and unquestionable. Paul has taken us to a new level. He has helped us to build a strong foundation for our future development. Suzanne and I are committed to building on that foundation, to creating something that continues to work effectively and which will secure the spiritual, physical and financial future of our beloved community for us, for our children and for our children’s children.

My vision for the community touches various aspects of our community’s life:

Liturgical

One of our continuing liturgical challenges is the leading of our services. We have a dedicated and talented team of lay shlichei tzibbur, to whom we owe a huge gratitude for continuing our services with the decorum and skill that we have come to expect. However, we are committed, as a community, to having a professional chazan lead services and we are continuing the search for the right person.

It is not easy. On the one hand we are a highly attractive proposition for a professional cantor, who is serious about the music. On the other hand, professional cantors are a little thin on the ground these days and we have very particular requirements.

One of these requirements is the preservation of the musical tradition that we have inherited, one of the treasures of our community. We are doing our best to preserve that with our in-house resources. I am, however, committed to finding the right chazan to take over and to lead our musical life for years to come, and who will also look after other important aspects of our life: teaching adults and children, managing our B’nei Mitzvah programme and assisting the Rabbi in providing ministerial pastoral care where needed.

Governance

73 years after the start, we are a grown-up community of nearly one and a half thousand people. We are a registered charity and we are a company limited by guarantee. We manage a substantial budget and we have become a landlord, leasing out our parts of our property on a commercial basis. We have legal obligations to our members and to our tenants. In fulfilling these obligations, we are regulated by both the regulator of companies and the regulator of charities.

It is easier to fulfill these obligations with a robust governance structure, which allows us to make decisions effectively and to explain the thinking behind every decision. Suzanne and I have plans to enhance the effectiveness of the Board and the Executive in their decision making. We will also review and support the absolutely excellent work that is carried out on a daily basis by our office and the paid members of our administration.

Membership

Our membership is, of course, the lifeblood of our community. We will work as hard as we can to maintain our current level of membership and to create a flow of new members. But fundamental to any initiative to attract new members is a process of defining who we are and what we want to be.

Our community has changed a lot over the last 73 years. Our community now comprises the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of our founder members. Our community has taken its place in the community of British Jews. Our community has steadfastly maintained its independence from any of the recognised liturgical movements.

We have tried several times in the past to define who we are. The answer has never been a simple one. Maybe that’s the way it should be. We certainly do attract new members and we will look at new ways to continue that process. For example, I would like our website to become more interactive and more informational. I would like all our published communications to be effective and up-to-date and to be a forum for discussion and debate. Above all, I would like our services to continue to inspire in potential new members the same things they inspired in me all those years ago.

Youth

It is a well-known fact that we generally lose most of our youth in the period between bar/bat mitzvah and marriage. Every teenager in the community is a means by which our community will live on from generation to generation. We have a lot to offer our youth and we constantly try to communicate this to them.

Our youth worker Jonathan Davidoff has reached out effectively to several individuals with very positive results. His work is excellent and we will provide complete support, so we can continue to reach out to our youth in a language that we hope they will understand.

Commercial Opportunities

One of Paul’s crowning achievements was to oversee to conclusion the renovation of our premises. We now have a beautiful sanctuary that is fit for purpose in every possible way and a refurbished hall. Our education facilities have also been upgraded and the beautiful new classrooms on the top floor of the building are a pleasure for teachers and children. We have in these magnificent buildings an asset that we hope to use at times other than Shabbat and the chaggim.

We will explore further commercial opportunities – concerts, lectures, study groups, cultural events and meetings – that can all be held here for the enhancement not only of our own community but the wider community in London. We would like to put Belsize on the map as a place that people really want to come to.

I am truly honoured to have this opportunity to be your co-Chair for the next three years. I greatly look forward to making my vision our reality.

John Abramson