VOICE OF THE JEWISH NEWS: So much to celebrate!

As your community newspaper, we take enormous pride in reporting the many good news stories emanating from our community and celebrating individuals who inspire us all. In this issue alone you’ll read about community members standing for Parliament, assisting the emergency effort in Nepal, marking the emotional 70th anniversary of the Holocaust and raising vital funds for charity.

But it’s not just on charity volunteers that we depend for our communal organisations to thrive in the future. Who takes on leadership roles is a crucial question and one that led to the launch of our Twenty Five Under 25 initiative and relaunch of Forty Under 40, both sponsored and enthusiastically supported by the Jewish Leadership Council.

Culminating today in the publication of our top 10, the countdown is designed to pinpoint community members aged under 40 who are poised to occupy senior communal roles and likely to shape the direction and perceptions of Anglo-Jewry through their work. Our expert panel, chaired with wisdom and patience by communal colossus Andrew Gilbert, faced an unenviable task in whittling down the contenders from hundreds of worthy nominees.

Whether you agree with the final choices or not, two things seem crystal clear. First, the remarkable Luciana Berger is more than worthy of occupying the coveted number one slot. Second, the make-up of the final line-up and the fact that so many high-calibre candidates didn’t quite make the cut bodes incredibly well for the future.

Enormous credit is due to Gabriel Pogrund, editor of the London Tab student newspaper, who expertly took on the daunting task of writing all 65 profiles across both lists.

We look forward to toasting the success of all our nominees at a celebratory reception later this month.

The rewarding process and its legacy is perhaps best summed up by Jewish Leadership Council chief executive and judge Simon Johnson in this week’s issue: “This shows the benefits of leadership training and development.

“It is now incumbent on us to nurture and develop this group, give them opportunities, mentoring and encouragement to continue and grow their communal involvement.”