Community leadership course re-launches post-pandemic

The community’s flagship leadership development course for senior lay and professional leaders has relaunched after a pause during the pandemic.

Some 18 senior leaders form the third cohort of the the Dangoor Senior Leadership programme. They came together for the 2023-24 launch event at The Grove Hotel, Watford on Sunday 29 January.

The group participating in the 15-month long programme is cross denominational and has representation from across London, the south, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham and Glasgow. It includes a mix of professional and lay leaders with many having feet in both camps. The sessions combine in-person and online experiences including residentials facilitated together with the prestigious Windsor Leadership.

Among the participants are: Rabbi David Mason, currently Rabbi at Muswell Hill synagogue but shortly to take up the reins as CEO of JCore; Raphi Bloom, fundraising and marketing director at The Fed in Manchester; Limmud’s new director of innovation and engagement, Joe Hyman; Sam Clifford, CEO of Finchley reform synagogue, Becky Teiger, community director of Sinai Reform Synagogue in Leeds and lawyer and academic Felicia Epstein who is chair of the Kol Rina partnership minyan in Golders Green.

Since the first cohort, in 2017, The Dangoor Senior Leadership Programme (DSLP) has built on the success of Gamechangers, its predecessor. It has given senior Jewish community leaders in the UK both the space and time to reflect on their community leadership, and build their skills and confidence to face the opportunities and challenges facing their organisations and the community as a whole.

Michelle Janes, co-CEO of the JLC and executive director of Lead said the new cohort are “a committed, skilled and motivated group of communal leaders who give us much to be hopeful for in the future of our community.”

Raphi Bloom, fundraising and marketing director of The Fed and programme participant said: “Ensuring our UK Jewish community – and specifically the Manchester Jewish community – is sustainable is a huge priority for me and I feel confident that participating in the Dangoor Senior Leadership Course will help me develop skills to play a key role in meeting these challenges.”

One alum, Jo Grose, shortly to take over as CEO of the United Synagogue said the leadership programme was a “turning point” in her Jewish community career: “Not only did it introduce me to a set of tools and models which I still employ when developing organisational strategy, but it also provided me with lasting network of trusted lay and professional colleagues.”