In last week’s JC we offered a list of the Jewish heroes of 2023. It turned out that the government’s Honours Committee has done something very similar.

We expect that the Honours List will recognise a number of high-achieving members of the tribe — and we’re always proud of what that says about our contribution to wider society.

But this time it felt different. There were so many Jews honoured for their contribution to Jewish life, many of them prominent in the fight against antisemitism, that the List seemed to give us a strong message of solidarity.

The Chief Rabbi’s knighthood, the OBE for Board of Deputies president Marie van de Zyl and her predecessor Jonathan Arkush, the MBEs for TV presenter Rachel Riley and to Mark Gardner, chief executive of the Community Security Trust — all richly deserved individual honours, but taken together were a powerful endorsement of the importance of speaking up against hatred, and an acknowledgment of the courage that this takes.

Mr Gardner said that his honour was a testament to the commitment and work of the CST’s many volunteers and staff, who give up their time to train and guard communal events. Without them our communal life would feel a great deal less safe.

We are in their debt, and it is good to see their work celebrated in this way.

Of course, the people who have been leading the fight against antisemitism for years are the Holocaust survivors.

Six are honoured this year, including Lily Ebert (pictured) who at 99 has more than a million followers on TikTok to educate about the horrors of the Shoah. Their unflagging determination to combat hatred is an example to the nation.