New UJS president Raphi Leon: ‘Jewish students must take our story into the wider world’
Incoming Union of Jewish Students president says his focus will be helping students live proudly Jewish lives while strengthening relationships beyond the community
Raphi Leon has pledged to help Jewish students take “our story into the wider world” as he begins his term as president of the Union of Jewish Students (UJS), saying the next challenge is ensuring Jewish life on campus is defined by confidence rather than hostility.
Speaking at UJS’s annual State of the Union breakfast in central London, Leon said Jewish students had shown remarkable resilience over the past three years but now had an opportunity to shape how they are seen beyond their own communities.
The event marked the handover from outgoing president Louis Danker to Leon and was chaired by Liverpool JSoC co-president Kezzy Miller.
Reflecting on his own journey, Leon said he had often felt caught between his British and Jewish identities before finding confidence through Jewish student life.
“I spent my life living in a space between my British identity and my Jewish identity,” he said.
He said universities remained one of the most important places for shaping the future of British Jewry, describing campuses as spaces where lifelong friendships, leadership and community are built.
Looking ahead to his year in office, Leon said one of his priorities would be encouraging Jewish students to engage confidently with wider society rather than retreat from it.
“We need to take our story into the wider world,” he said.
“We have so much to contribute, and we should be proud to share that.”
Leon also warned that while some of the large-scale protests seen after 7 October had diminished, the “normalisation” of antisemitism remained a significant concern for many students.
He argued that the answer was not to withdraw from public life but to continue building strong Jewish communities while creating opportunities for dialogue with those from different backgrounds.
The breakfast also marked the conclusion of Louis Danker’s presidency after a year in which UJS expanded its engagement with universities, government and Jewish Societies while publishing its landmark Time for Change report on campus antisemitism.
Reflecting on his year in office, Danker said UJS had worked to ensure Jewish students were “the ones telling the Jewish student story, not the wider world.”
He also rejected suggestions that British Jews had no future in the UK, telling guests: “We do have a future in Britain.”
Opening the event, UJS chair of trustees Carolyn Bogush praised Danker and the outgoing sabbatical team for leading Jewish students through what she described as a demanding year, while welcoming Leon as the organisation’s new president.
She said UJS remained committed to ensuring Jewish student life was “not only protected but proud, active and ambitious”.
Bogush highlighted the organisation’s latest impact report, which showed UJS had supported 80 Jewish Societies across the UK and Ireland, backed more than 1,000 student events and carried out hundreds of campus visits over the past year.
“Behind every number is a student who has found community, a JSoc committee that has felt backed, a young person who has gained confidence, or a campus where Jewish life has become more visible, more secure and more joyful,” she said.
Addressing Leon, she added: “UJS is strongest when it remains genuinely student-led, and our job as trustees is to make sure that student leadership has the structure, resilience and confidence to help you and your team succeed.”
Leon now begins his presidency with a pledge to build on UJS’s work supporting Jewish students while encouraging the next generation to engage confidently with wider society and tell their own story.
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