The United Synagogue

Barnet Shul Vote For Full Member Status Of US

PRESS RELEASE

London,
20th May 2008

BARNET SHUL VOTE FOR FULL MEMBER STATUS OF US

Members of Barnet Synagogue last night voted overwhelmingly to move from affiliated status to full membership of the United Synagogue.

At an EGM attended by near to 100 members, Chair of Barnet Shul, Paul Kleinman, gave a presentation on the benefits of becoming a member shul. He was echoed by Rabbi Barry Lerer who highlighted some of the areas he was particularly looking forward to enjoying as a full US member including primarily access to the Tribe Community Membership scheme which encourages 21-30 year old single Jews to join US member shuls and also the ability to network more with the US Rabbinate.

Geoff Hartnell, Vice President of the US, presented an overview of the US and its responsibilities across the UK Jewish community, which was then followed by a lively question and answer session.

The move to full member will now be put to the US council meeting on 14th July for formal adoption.

Paul Kleinman, Chair of Barnet, commented: 'We, at Barnet Synagogue, are delighted to have succeeded in moving our community forward to join the United Synagogue as a Member Synagogue. We see this as the right time for Barnet to become part of the wider community embodied within the United Synagogue and as the next step in this wonderful and vibrant community’s development.'

A statement read out from Dr. Simon Hochhauser, President of the United Synagogue, commented: “The essence of the United Synagogue lies in the mutual nature of the relationship between its communities. We want to give our member synagogues the clear message that their destiny lies very much in their own hands. The role of the Centre is to support your aspirations and as a full member community, we will work tirelessly to ensure your continued unique character and independence of spirit.”

David Kaplan , Director of US Community Division, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Barnet formally as a full member US community and to share with Barnet all the resources at our disposal in order to help facilitate their continued growth and development and to assist them with new initiatives for the benefit of their membership both old and young.”

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