Dear Readers,
What a year it has been! As we sit here, days away from the great Day of Judgement that will determine what the next year holds in store for each one of us, we naturally find ourselves looking back at the last 12 months.
Each week inevitably brings a wide variety of news stories from around the globe – some completely out of the blue; others utterly predictable.
The front page of any newspaper will always bear testimony to the biggest stories out there, and the last 12 months have seen events from all walks of life take residence on our front page.
Headlines have undoubtably been dominated by the widespread communal anger over Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party, as more and more of his shady past is revealed week by week.
Every Jew in the country can at least take great heart from the huge army of courageous people who oppose him. These valiant fighters of truth and justice, both Jewish and beyond, never give up in the hope of protecting our country from one day having such an anti-Semite as our Prime Minister, G-d forbid.
Sadly, we have also witnessed those tragic moments when once again people have been murdered simply for being a Jew, or for believing in different values, with more terrorist atrocities taking place, both in Israel and beyond.
Ofsted have presented even more of a pressing issue for religious Orthodox schools, with more rules being imposed on charedi schools then ever before. The episode a few months ago when a Stamford Hill school, following tremendous pressure by campaign groups, were revisited by Ofsted, only serves to highlight the threat posed to Charedi schools. For despite having passed an Ofsted inspection with good marks only a few months prior thereto, and notwithstanding the fact that its pupils achieve some of the best grades in the country, the school was subsequently deemed to be a failing school.
This very week, you can read in the pages of this newspaper, all about the Chief Rabbi’s new document that he has just produced concerning the Jewish response to dealing with LGBT pupils, an issue that is at the forefront of the Ofsted dilemma.
Yet, we always try and contrast the sad and often depressing world news with uplifting stories from worldwide British Jewry. Indeed, throughout the year, people from all different communities and backgrounds have had a turn on our front page picture box in order to highlight various significant milestones and achievements in their lives.
From celebrating with pupils as they toast their exam success, to applauding the people who go the extra mile for charitable causes, we always ensure our front page uplifts our readers as well as reminding them of the difficulties faced by many in the world around us.
There is so much good constantly pouring out from within our wonderful communities, that the tens of thousands of people who read our paper each week will always be left filled with pride at what Jews constantly achieve, wondering perhaps if there is any more they could perhaps contribute themselves…
As we approach Rosh Hashanah, the staff at The Jewish Weekly take this opportunity to wish all our readers a Shanah Tovah, a happy, healthy sweet new year, filled with blessings and success and we look forward to continuing to brightening up your weekends for many more years to come.
