A strictly Orthodox Conservative councillor with a track record of making controversial statements about the role of women in Judaism and the teaching of same-sex relations is the new Mayor of Barnet.
Brian Gordon, a councillor in Edgware, will take office as mayor for the north London borough in May after topping the vote against Labour candidate Councillor Anna Clarke at a Barnet Council meeting last week.
In April 2007, Mr Gordon had made national newspaper headlines when he apologised for any offence caused after he “blacked up” to impersonate former South African leader Nelson Mandela at a Purim party.
While Mr Gordon’s election as mayor was welcomed by some in the borough, including controversial ex-mayor Brian Coleman, others expressed concern about his record of making divisive comments relating to the communal matters and wider political issues.
Last August, the JC revealed Mr Gordon, an executive member of the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, had called for “peaceful mass protests” to prevent religious schools being compelled to teach about same-sex relations.
And in a series of blogs for the Jewish News he has also expressed his beliefs on communal issues.
In April 2019 he wrote: “Our faith schools are undergoing an unprecedented crisis.
"Parliament is in the process of passing legislation compelling all schools to include Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) in the syllabus.
"Regulations are also in place to force all schools to teach about LGBT + lifestyles.
“Teaching RSE, under the banner of ‘safeguarding’, may be a perceived antidote to the malaise within general society, saturated as it is by pornography, abuse and promiscuity.
"LGBT+ instruction may indeed follow today’s political preoccupation with equalities and political correctness.
"But they are inappropriate in a Torah-orientated environment.”
In May 2017, in an article headlined ‘United Synagogue women should be content with their roles’, Mr Gordon wrote of women in the US: “They have no desire to lead services, carry a Torah scroll, or wear tzitzit and tefillin, any more than their husbands have the urge to bake challot, light Shabbat candles or have babies.”
Discussing the Women of the Wall protests at the Kotel in Jerusalem, Mr Gordon wrote in July 2013: “I would hesitate to dignify the Women of the Wall by calling them ‘worshippers’.
“Their antics are clearly more about feminism than Judaism.”
Mr Gordon said “from a Jewish perspective (and probably that of other faiths too) these developments are highly disturbing.”
The Jewish LGBT+ organisation Keshet UK told the JC: “We would welcome the chance to meet with the future Mayor Gordon to discuss the work we do for the people of Barnet, in partnership with rabbis, shuls, youth and young adult organisations, schools and community organisations, to create a world where no one is forced to choose between their LGBT+ and Jewish identity.”
On Wednesday, Liberal Judaism’s Rabbi Danny Rich told the JC that the outgoing Mayor, Councillor Caroline Stock, “was a superb unifying figure for the Borough of Barnet”.
On Cllr Stock’s replacement, he added: “The nomination of Councillor Brian Gordon has certainly raised some eyebrows but, who knows, perhaps the ‘Office can maketh the mensch’.”
Cllr Gordon did not respond to the JC’s attempts to contact him.
