What We Stand For

We live in morally challenging and physically dangerous times. The Jewish State of Israel is facing ethical challenges which the Jewish people have not faced in thousands of years.

We believe that the terrible attacks on our people – over the last century – must deepen our response to ethical challenges. The Torah commands us to transform the memory of our own oppression into compassion for others: “You shall not oppress the stranger, for you know the soul of the stranger, since you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 23:9). This calls on us not to internalise a sense of victimhood, nor to allow our suffering to desensitise us to the suffering of others in the context of our self-defence, but rather to focus on our obligations of social justice within Israel and our communities, and on the ethical leadership we owe to wider humanity.

JEP’s aim is to provide a challenging orthodox voice based on Torah ethics, that holds our community to account for its thoughts and deeds, and that seeks to uncover and share insight concerning the issues of today.

We Believe That

1. All humanity is created in the image of God and has the potential for the Divine.

2. As Jews, we have the responsibility to be a blessing to humanity both in action and by advocating Torah values.

3. By our actions we must emulate the ways of God by becoming a society founded on kindness, justice and righteousness - חסד, משפט וצדקה (ירמיה ט:כג). Accordingly, imbued with the ethics and wisdom of our Jewish heritage, the Torah, and with the experience of thousands of years of oppression as a minority, we as Jews must be particularly sensitive to the plight of other minorities and vulnerable elements in society.

4. Zionism is an opportunity to realise these values, in national life.

5. Promulgating Torah values involves engaging constructively with the challenges facing humanity, including questions of social and environmental justice, ethics, and gender discrimination, upon which the Torah can provide insight.

Mosaic in the Beit Chabad Gallery, Jerusalem, illustrating Isaiah 2:4, with lion, spear and spade

From Vision to Action

To this end, we will lead and influence thought and education, facilitate spaces for discussion, and monitor ongoing developments and respond publicly.

JEP will publish thought pieces, host events, and speakers, and create spaces for discussion within the British Jewish Community and in Israel.

An inaugural publication will be distributed on Yom Kippur in more than 25 synagogues, including United Synagogue communities such as Magen Avot and independent congregations such as Ner Yisrael.

The JEP Jakobovits Prize essay competition will be launched for teenagers, university students, and those in yeshivot and sems. Our aim is to help place Torah ethics back at the centre of communal debate.

JEP’s Founding Committee

  • Michael Pollak

    Michael Pollak studied at the legendary Chevron Yeshiva before completing a Philosophy degree at LSE. He teaches Philosophy and Ethics at Hendon School and gives the Daf Yomi shiur at Ner Yisrael.

  • Daniel Greenberg

    Daniel Greenberg CB is the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, he has combined a career in parliamentary and public law and standards with a long-standing interest in Jewish education and ethics.

  • Elkan Adler

    Elkan Adler is a lawyer, working in the Finance and Blockchain industries. He currently serves as a Gabbai in the Magen Avot synagogue.

  • Donald Franklin

    Donald Franklin PhD, a government economist, has published on the philosophy of equality. He leads a Talmud circle at Golders Green Synagogue. He chairs the Jerusalem Interest-free Micro finance Fund.

  • Brian Berenblut

    Brian Berenblut PhD, a physicist, was a founder of Ner Yisrael Hendon and served as Gabbai. He recently compiled The Land for Peace Debate on the 1993 Jakobovits–Kimche dialogue.