WJR’s ‘inspiring’ global outreach is ‘what it means to be Jewish’

World Jewish Relief, the Jewish community’s main overseas aid organisation, held its annual fundraising dinner on Tuesday night at the iconic, Grade II* listed Roundhouse venue in Chalk Farm.

Compering the evening was radio and television presenter Suzy Klein, whose own grandfather, Alec Wise, was supported by World Jewish Relief, then called the Central British Fund, when he came to the UK from Hungary in 1939.

“I’m sure many of you have similar stories because this organisation saved the lives of more than 65,000 Jews in the 1930s and 40s,” she said.

This figure equates to “an inordinate number of people all connected by World Jewish Relief, and that is the reason we are all here tonight,” said Klein.

WJR, she said, was “utterly entrenched in the fabric of our Jewish community. In our past, but more crucially, our present and our future, because this organisation keeps moving forward and it keeps innovating.”

Suzy Klein (Credit: Blake Ezra Photography)

Over the last year, WJR has directly supported over 142,000 people across 21 different countries, including 40,000 vulnerable individuals and families in Ukraine and over 2,000 Israelis, with 62 per cent of the total comprised of women and girls. Sixty-four per cent of WJR’s international expenditure is spent on Ukraine.

A video was shown demonstrating the organisation’s impact in the country and on the Ukrainians whose lives have been “transformed” thanks to WJR and its donors.

Lady Valerie Mirvis spoke in place of her husband, Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis, who had to go on short notice to Israel for the brit milah of his newly arrived 18th grandchild.

Complimenting the “remarkable and amazing” achievements of the WJR team, Mirvis said: “At a time when acts of hatred and demonisation are tragically on the increase, we can derive enormous hope from this hall full of people, united in our determination to enable our Jewish values to inspire ourselves and others, by giving our enthusiastic support to World Jewish Relief to achieve its noble aspirations on our behalf.

“We will never lose our hope, because together we can truly contribute to making this a better world.”

Lady Valerie Mirvis (Credit: Blake Ezra Photography)

Chair of WJR, Maurice Helfgott, reflected on being among the delegation last month who welcomed His Majesty King Charles to the Jewish Community Centre Krakow, which is supported by WJR and was inspired by the King. 

Helfgott said he felt an “enormous and profound sense of gratitude” that the King had taken the time to travel there, speak out against antisemitism, and continued to be royal patron of the organisation.

“When I expressed those sentiments (of appreciation) to his team, his closest advisers said to me: ‘He didn’t just choose to do it. He insisted on doing it’,” said Helfgott.

He also expanded on WJR’s role in responding to world crises of recent years, which included a programme in Israel which, in cooperation with Israeli authorities and President Isaac Herzog, secured “special funding to give mothers and babies access to neo-natal infant healthcare in two Gazan field hospitals”.

“This is what I believe it means to be Jewish,” he said to resounding applause.

Pianist Daria Golovchenko (Credit: Blake Ezra Photography)

Highlighting the significance of so many proud Jewish people coming together in public to each do their part for the greater good, Helfgott continued: “Tonight, we come together as a Jewish community, with our friends, here in a public space devoted to arts and culture. And we shouldn’t underestimate the importance of being seen, being proud, being heard.”

Also speaking was Samuel Gorman, 21, a history and politics student at Birmingham University and participant in the chief rabbi’s Ben Azzai Programme, in partnership with WJR, which affords university students the opportunity to go on a nine-day social responsibility trip to Rwanda to learn about and support the community there.

Gorman said WJR and its partners were doing “incredible work” in the country, which includes providing vocational training and lifting families out of extreme poverty.

Paul Anticoni (Credit: Blake Ezra Photography)

Making the evening’s appeal, WJR chief executive Paul Anticoni highlighted some of the many programmes overseen by the organisation, including the Specialist Training and Employment Programme (STEP), an award-winning initiative that has assisted some 13,000 refugees – predominantly Ukrainians, Afghans, and Syrians – to resettle in the UK to learn English and find employment. It is the UK’s largest employment programme for Ukrainian refugees.

WJR is driven by a “relentless pursuit for action”, he said.
Toasts to the King and to the President of Israel were given. A moving musical performance was provided by pianist Daria Golovchenko, from Kherson, Ukraine, who played three pieces written by Ukrainian composers.