The JC at 175: leading lights of the community (and a few politicians) on what the JC means to them - The Jewish Chronicle

Ephraim Mirvis
Chief Rabbi
Arthur Miller, the celebrated Jewish playwright, once said: “A good newspaper is a nation talking to itself.” For 175 years, the JC has been a unique forum for the Jewish community to talk “to itself”. Since 1841, via the pages of the JC, we have celebrated moments of the greatest joy together, we have grieved in moments of devastating tragedy together; we have learned, laughed and probably more often than we would have liked, we have quarrelled. Like a mirror held up to our community, it has shown us as we really are: divided or united, proud or humbled — but always compassionate, enthusiastic and generous.

To this day, two Hebrew words remain on the JC’s masthead. They are sefer zikaron — a “book of memory”. The JC is indeed a “chronicle” in the truest sense. It is a record of who we have been, of how we have lived and of what has been important to us over the years. May the next 175 years be filled only with occasion for us to celebrate together, to see the good in every Jew and to cherish the boundless beauty of our collective Jewish identity.

Rabbi Lord Sacks
Emeritus Chief Rabbi
The more I travel the Jewish world, the more I have come to appreciate the professionalism, openness and excellence of the Jewish Chronicle. It is a defining institution of Anglo-Jewry and one of which we should be proud. Mazeltov on your 175th anniversary.

Theresa May
Prime Minister
I am delighted to congratulate the Jewish Chronicle on its 175th anniversary. Since its launch in 1841, the Jewish Chronicle has represented the British Jewish community with unswerving dedication and professionalism. Jewish people have long been an important and integral part of this country. I value the enormous contribution you make and, in turn, the contribution the Jewish Chronicle makes by reflecting the diversity of Jewish religious, social and political thought across the spectrum. As the world’s oldest and most influential Jewish newspaper, the Jewish Chronicle is testament to the very best qualities of journalism, and I wish the paper and its readers every success in the years to come.

Luciana Berger
Labour MP
The JC is a vibrant and vital part of British life, with an impact way beyond our community. I am always struck by the number of my parliamentary colleagues who like to stop and chat about articles they’ve read in the JC. It is part of our tradition of a free, outspoken and independent press and I will defend loudly its right to publish fearless journalism. Mazeltov to the JC and here’s to decades more of its news and views.

Tim Farron MP
Liberal Democrat Party leader
The Jewish Chronicle is the ultimate community institution. For 175 years it has relayed and reflected upon the trials, the challenges and the very many achievements of British Jews. As such it has played a crucial role in strengthening the Jewish community, and providing a role model for how to build and empower different communities across Britain. Indeed it was doing community politics well before the Liberal Democrats came up with the idea. I wish it a very happy birthday.

Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner
Reform Movement Senior Rabbi
The JC is a microcosm of Jewish life. It was always in my house as I was growing up and I loved reading about my family — I felt very proud of seeing them in the paper. I like that it is a mixture of Jewish community-interest stories and broader world issues.

Baroness Deech
Cross-bench peer
I haven’t missed a copy in 60 years. Through boarding school, university and abroad, it was my link to the Jewish community and its views, a vast noticeboard of births, deaths, marriages, books, recipes, iconoclasm and Orthodoxy, all jostling to be heard. There are some great and controversial columnists and the paper always nourishes our cohesiveness and national profile.

Rabbi Jonathan Romain
Maidenhead Reform Synagogue
Sometimes the JC is the “weekly worry”, carrying unsettling details about Jewish life here or abroad. Other times it is bursting with exciting personal or communal developments. On occasions it spills over with broiguses that infuriate or bemuse. It is also a unifying factor that keeps the different wings of the community in touch with each other. But always, it is a source of news, analysis and gossip about our extended Anglo-Jewish family that is essential to living a Jewish life.

Lord Howard
Former Conservative Party leader
The Times may claim to be the paper of record for the country as a whole but the Jewish Chronicle fulfils that role for the Jewish community. I well remember waiting with keen anticipation for the weekly arrival of the JC when I was growing up in south Wales. I wish the JC every success for its next 175 years.

Paul Charney
Chairman of the Zionist Federation
Jews in the UK are rightfully proud of the long history of the Jewish Chronicle. As well as providing exemplary coverage of our own community here, it also provides excellent, nuanced updates on the situation in the Middle East. While mainstream reporting of Israel is too often shallow or slanted, the JC is a valuable counter-measure. And in recent years, with the rise of anti-Zionism, it has focused a necessary spotlight on the latest manifestation of anti-Jewish prejudice. The JC is an integral part of the history of Jews in the UK and in this Balfour centenary year, here’s to another important anniversary for our community.

Baroness Neuberger
Senior Rabbi to West London Synagogue
I love the JC. It provokes joy, irritation, downright disagreement and admiration in varying measures, but Shabbat wouldn’t be Shabbat without it, and I depend on the JC’s excellent intelligence. I love the features too — often inspiring a sermon or an article, and almost always thought-provoking. Here’s to the next 175 years, from the Senior Rabbi of the even older — at 176 years — West London Synagogue, and looking forward to the JC’s equally joyful celebrations.

Karen Pollock
Holocaust Educational Trust chief executive
For as long as I can remember, the JC has been a staple of family Friday-night discussions around the table. I could fly to the moon and back but my family will only be impressed if they read about it in the JC. Now, as chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, it remains a key way that we keep up to date with communal life. The JC is a powerful voice, well respected at the highest echelons of government. Thank you and congratulations on this milestone — our week would not be the same without the JC on a Friday.

Lord Mendelsohn
Labour peer
The JC has a unique place in the heart and soul. As you read, so you grow. As you age, so you read each section with a different interest and intensity. The last 175 years have been a journey in which the journal of Anglo-Jewry has been our witness, our guidebook, our memory and a reflection of all that has been good (and sometimes not so good) for our community. Long may it continue to thrive in the next 175 years.

John Ware
Investigative journalist
The JC is like a Friday-night friend popping in, telling me which familiar face is up, down, and what they’re thinking. And with such a broad span of coverage I can’t think of another community-based newspaper that rivals it. This is a thoroughly professional newspaper, unafraid of who or what it might offend by asking the right questions. It is a beacon to minority communities of how free-thinking can set you free.

Jonathan Arkush
Board of Deputies president
The JC is quite simply an institution in its own right and an essential read for anyone who wishes to understand what’s going on in the British Jewish community. Of course, as with any newspaper, I sometimes disagree with its editorial line and I am occasionally provoked by some of the opinion pieces and letters it publishes. But it is a must-read. It’s a venerable institution and there’s simply nothing like it the world over.

Stephen Pack
United Synagogue president
The JC has faithfully reported the history of Anglo-Jewry for generations. It holds a special place in the heart of many Jewish families.
Just after I was married I remember my late father saying he wanted to order the JC for me so I would know what was going on the community. We have read it ever since. I wish the JC continued success.

Paul Anticoni
World Jewish Relief chief executive
The JC continues to promote our lifesaving humanitarian work, showcasing how the British Jewish community punches above its weight and makes a real difference to worldwide crises. You helped us tell the story of the refugee crisis by visiting a camp in Greece and you spent time in Ukraine reporting on the impoverished Jewish community. Mazeltov on your 175th birthday.

Rabbi Danny Rich
Liberal Judaism Senior Rabbi
On behalf of Liberal Judaism I am delighted to send greetings to the Jewish Chronicle on its 175th anniversary. As someone with an interest in Anglo-Jewish history, the JC is a key source which charts the ups and downs, the triumphs and the broiguses of our community.

Sir Mick Davis
Jewish Leadership Council chairman
For generations of Anglo-Jewry, the JC has become part of the fabric of our community. Its voice is recognised nationally and internationally, and provides a conduit for news, comments and opinion like no other.

David Delew
Community Security Trust chief executive
The JC has long been the respected voice of Anglo-Jewry, admired world-wide for its accuracy and ability to penetrate the heart of communal issues.
CST has had the pleasure of working closely with the JC since our inception, assisting with security matters when necessary, and discussing whatever the latest news is concerning physical and political threats to our community. We look forward to continuing our relationship and wish the JC every success for the future.

Simon Schama
Historian
I’ve felt passionately about the JC ever since 1958 when I fell hard for the editor’s daughter. Our romance came with brief assignments to cover classical music concerts and recitals where I threw in the odd “lyrical”, “poetic”, “masterfully interpreted” (since that seemed to be called for) after a heavy evening with Brahms.

Later I had a school holiday job in the library where I scissored and glued articles of relevance for the archive, and tried to butter up the great, tough-minded, warm-hearted Chaim Bermant who was a kind of journalist god to me. Between heavy Latvian-Scottish sighs he gave me encouragement, which was a bad thing since I then delivered to the paper essays of adolescent pretentiousness on “why I am a Jew” or “whither Israel?” and the like.

Being Jewish and withering Israel has become something else over the decades and I’ve lived half my life in America but reading (and sometimes writing for) the JC has always felt like coming home to the loud, anxious, garrulous, darkly humorous, schmaltzy mishpocha to which I irrevocably belong.

Dina Brawer
UK ambassador of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance
The JC broadens our perspective of Jewish community. It reminds us that despite our different synagogal and communal affiliations, we all belong to the wider British Jewish community reflected in the pages of the weekly JC.

Rabbi Joseph Dweck
S&P Senior Rabbi
In its pages, the Jewish community is brought together. The JC celebrates our triumphs and gives perspective to our challenges. Its longevity is a sign for its future. I wish all involved continued success and may we read of our great future accomplishments in its reports.

Robert Halfon MP
Government minister
I grew up seeing the JC delivered to my family home. It is so important — not just as a significant message place for information on “Jews in the news” but much more importantly as something which helps keeps us strong and focused. The JC to me means, culture, identity, politics, community — all the best things that British Jews bring to the UK.

Matthew Gould
Former UK ambassador to Israel
When I was ambassador, the Jewish community in the UK was a key partner, supporting our efforts to build positive links between the two countries. And the JC was a bridge to the community.
For five happy years, the JC was an important part of not just my Jewish life but my professional life as well. I appeared often enough to warrant my own link on the JC homepage. The key moments in my life were recorded, from David Cameron’s visit to Israel to the birth of my children.
Growing up, I always understood the importance of the JC for the community. Now, I have reason to be personally grateful to the JC, and everyone in the JC team. Happy birthday.

Sharon Bannister
President of the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester
The JC gives Jews in Manchester an opportunity to be informed about what is happening in other areas in the country. Happy 175 years.

Ephraim Borowski
Scottish Council of Jewish Communities chair
The JC’s coverage of Jewish life outside the main metropolitan communities can make an important contribution to communal cohesion.

If members of smaller communities recognise their own lives reflected in the national press, their identity is affirmed.