Jewry in the red

In Britain the number of Jews is in rapid decline according to Rabbi Neil Amswych, of Bournemouth Reform Synagogue: “At the moment there are about 265,000 Jews in this country, whereas 10 years ago there were 270,000, if you look back 20 or 25 years there were 300,000.”

Despite the decline of the Jewish population, Rabbi Amswych doesn’t think Judaism is in crisis but admits that: “We do need to look at it very honestly and carefully.

“The most prominent reason of this decline is intermarriage, when a Jew marries someone who is not Jewish there is often a crisis of identity especially when it comes to raising children.”

The New Jewish Mission

Rabbi Amswych became a rabbi is because he believes he can help halt that trend: “It’s not about creating a new religion, is bringing modernity and tradition all together.

Some of the proposals of the Reform movement are to write a service for single mothers. In the past the service for baby blessings was meant for fathers and mothers, but currently a lot of the mothers who bring their babies are single mothers.

Some ideas seek to promote equality. Today when a boy is eight days old he is circumcised and is brought into the cabinet with god, but there’s nothing for girls: “I’m not suggesting that we should circumcise girls, but we should have something as powerful and meaningful for them”, said Rabbi Amswych.

“We are also proposing prayers for especial occasions, prayers on remission of cancer, for the death of a pet, because we need to meet people where they are."

Judaism has been based on a gender model man and woman and these ideas are being challenged by the presence of other communities such as the transgender, transsexual, gay and lesbian people.

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