School report: Why I, an Orthodox rabbi, love teaching my mostly Muslim class - The Jewish Chronicle

It has become almost axiomatic to our understanding of Jewish life in the United Kingdom that antisemitism is rife. It is expanding both in terms of the number of incidents and in terms of the intensity and venom of those incidents. The evidence is unarguably true. Statistics show that reported attacks are on the rise.

The BBC, quoting the Community Security Trust, informed us that cases of damage and desecration to Jewish property rose by 246 per cent from 24 in the first half of 2023 to 83 between January and June 2024. No one dares to point out that in absolute terms this seems to be relatively low, especially if we factor in the likely increase in the reporting of events.

What could be ignored in 2023 as “not worth worrying about” has become a significant attack in 2024. The statistics are reinforced by anecdotes which are often, in turn, supported by the serendipity of an onlooker with the wit to record the event and distributed through the uncritical channels of social media.

With antisemitism apparently pervading every corner of British societ,y there is respite in the form of a remarkable school. This is a school where earlier this week they had a guest teacher. None other than the very Christian Rector of Harpenden, aka Patrick Moriarty, erstwhile head teacher of JCoss.

The student body in this school is nearly 70 per cent Muslim with a large number of Muslims on the teaching faculty. The combination of faiths becomes all the more startling when you notice that the head of department is an atheist and the class teacher is an Orthodox rabbi. If you yearn for a community where different religions can live side by side with integrity, visit this school. It’s what they do, all day long.

Rabbi Michael Pollak[Missing Credit]

On which remote Shetland Isle can this paragon of peaceful co-existence be found? You do not have to look that far. Peaceful tolerance thrives despite the pessimistic mood music of the press and social media. This is Hendon School, situated 100 metres from the throbbing heart of Jewish life which is Brent St.

When the head of religious studies, Andy Meldrum, was asked how the school manages to bridge the chasms between its many constituencies, he conceded that it is challenging but pointed out that the work of the school is crucially important not only for the individual students but also for the health of all the participating communities. We dare not fail.

Earlier this year on Holocaust Memorial Day a wonderfully robust and thoughtful survivor visited and entranced a group of sixth formers of all faiths and backgrounds. Bells rang for the next lesson but the students lingered, determined not to let the opportunity pass to share their rejection of racism and intolerance with their delighted guest.

Later that day I, the aforementioned Orthodox rabbi, took a delegation of Muslim Kosovan girls to a Holocaust Commemoration Event organised by Yad Vashem UK at the Albanian Embassy celebrating the heroic resistance of the Albanian people of behalf of their Jews during the Second World War. There was no Shoah in Albania.

Six months into the academic year, I can report that despite the statistics and contrary to the anecdotes and to the ongoing amazement of my Israel-based relatives, there is not an iota of antisemitism in Hendon School. This is my anecdote and my statistic. I believe that this is the truth for most Jewish people in the UK

I, an Orthodox rabbi, have been teaching Christianity and ethics to largely Muslim audiences at this school. I have been subject to no moment of racism. Not a nanosecond of antisemitism. This is the real world of British youngsters. It’s in the middle of Hendon. It is flourishing and it’s why, at the age of 72, this rabbi still goes to work every morning.

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