Employees and partners of Barnet Council from the NHS, social care and police sectors took part in a packed one-day programme at Finchley United Synagogue geared to improving their “cultural competence” when dealing with Jewish community members.

Organised by the Chief Rabbi’s wife, Valerie Mirvis, in her capacity as a Barnet Council senior social worker, it was the first event of its type since the pandemic.

The wide-ranging agenda offered insights into Anglo-Jewish history, Jewish life-cycle events and customs and practices. The 100 attendees were given a tour of the Ashkenazi and Sephardi synagogues at the Kinloss venue and the shul’s director of operations, Shimon Gillis, explained the significance of artefacts likely to be found in a Jewish home, including those on the Shabbat table.

There was a talk on “what it means to be a Jewish woman in the UK in 2023” and an address by Hannah Loftus, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, who told her parents’ story.

Challenging issues covered included “sexual abuse in the Jewish community”, presented by Valerie Mirvis and Rabbi Elchonon Feldman of Bushey United Synagogue, a qualified psychotherapist.

Showing the audience a ketubah, Mirvis explained the premises of the Jewish marriage contract, going on to outline the historic reasons why the more Orthodox might be suspicious of authority figures.

Both she and Rabbi Feldman stressed that members of this segment of the community might not be able to articulate that abuse had occurred, lacking the framework to tell their story coherently.

Dashing out mid-session to the Torah Treasures Judaica store in Golders Green, Rabbi Feldman returned with examples of writings in English and Yiddish designed to teach children about personal safety.

The bottom line, Mirvis told the key workers, was not to be “put off by the culture. Just keep asking the questions.”

Following a networking lunch, Donna Swanberg, Barnet’s head of service for safeguarding, quality assurance and workforce development, led a Q&A with Community Security Trust CEO Mark Gardner on “Antisemitism in the UK today”. Outlining the trust’s work on behalf of the Jewish community and its close links with counter-terrorism police, Gardner explained how antisemitism manifests, its impact on British Jews today and the connection between antisemitism and anti-Zionism.

Speaking to the JC, Barnet Council “life story practitioner” Paulette Cato-Tyson said she had found the programme “so informative.

“It’s really allowed me to have a deeper understanding of how Orthodox Jewish people think and how important it is that we are sensitive meeting them in their own spaces.

“I’ve worked with Jewish families before and never thought about things like how I should dress before going into their homes and who I could connect with to get the answers to these questions.”

Barnet internal audit manager Berniece Sarsah is responsible for the team that audits Jewish schools in the borough. She said the event had “more than fulfilled my expectations. I now have a greater understanding of what to expect and how to behave when going into these settings. It’s so important.”

Attendees received a 20-page explanatory booklet produced primarily for United Synagogue staff and titled Standing on one leg – a basic guide to Judaism. The booklet includes a comprehensive glossary and advice on pronouncing Hebrew and Yiddish terms.

Barnet hopes that the awareness day will be held annually going forward.