Union of Jewish Students

Union of Jewish Students of the United Kingdom & Ireland

Founded	1919 (1919)
Type	Student Union
Location	London, UK
Area served	The United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland
Members	c. 64 Jewish Societies, > 8,500 members
Key people	Josh Seitler (President)
Employees	c. 15
Volunteers	400
Website	www.ujs.org.uk
Formerly called	The Inter University Jewish Federation

The Union of Jewish Students of the United Kingdom and Ireland (UJS) was established in 1919, when it was known as the Inter-University Jewish Federation (IUJF). The organisation was renamed UJS in 1973 and currently represents a constituency of approximately 8,500 Jewish students, with somewhere between four and five thousand being members of its affiliated Jewish Societies (J-Socs) on individual campuses. It is an executive member of the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS) and the European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS). The current President for the 2016/17 academic year is Josh Seitler, a graduate of The London School of Economics.

About UJS

UJS is a confederation of Jewish Societies (J-Socs) but also provides further opportunities for student engagement through our national programming.

UJS full-time staff are recent graduates led by an elected President.

The core values of UJS are:

Cross-Communalism: They believe that UJS and J-Soc activities should be open to all Jewish students regardless of religious affiliation or denomination.

Peer-leadership: They believe in empowering students to run their own programming for their peers.

Representation: They believe that Jewish students should have their voices heard both locally and nationally. J-Soc committees and the UJS President are elected roles which consider the views of their members and in turn represent the views of Jewish students to the wider community.

Engagement with Israel: They believe that Jewish students should have the support and space to explore their connection and relationship with Israel.

UJS's work is divided into 5 areas:

J-Socs: They currently provide training and funding for over 60 J-Socs situated around the country. UJS offers J-Socs this support in order to enhance their activities and Jewish student life on campus.

Campaigns: UJS campaigns to defend its members' interests. They work with universities, NUS (National Union of Students) and the government to ensure that the needs of Jewish students are met and represented at every level.

Careers and Networking: Members of UJS are offered the opportunity to participate in career networking events, master classes and a summer placement scheme.

National Events: Each year UJS hosts and runs national events to bring together Jewish students from across the country. These include: JUEFA Cup football tournament, UJS training Summit, UJS Conference, UJS Student Awards, Shabbat UK and Jewniversity Challenge.

Services: They work with universities to secure Jewish student accommodation and spaces for J-Soc activities as well as sourcing kosher food for students on campuses around the country.

History

The IUJF (Inter University Jewish Federation) was the creation of the Manchester Jewish Association. They had the vision and the foresight to comprehend a growing pride in the Jewish Community and that the time was ripe for Jewish students to have a national organisation to co-ordinate the activities of the Jewish student Societies and to represent Jewish students at a national level.

The first step was to hold a conference in Manchester on July 17th 1919 at which four societies were represented: Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Oxford. Although not represented on the outset, the London University Jewish Society subsequently took an active and eventually a leading part in the federation’s affairs.

In 1946 the following Universities had societies affiliated to the Federation: Belfast; Birmingham; Cambridge; Cardiff; Dublin; Durham; Edinburgh; Glasgow; Leeds; Liverpool; London; Manchester; Oxford; Reading; Sheffield.

The two main activities of the Federation, from its inception, were an annual Summer School and an Annual Conference, held in the winter vacation.

With the rise to power of the Nazis, large numbers of Jewish students had their studies disrupted and many sought refuge in various countries outside Germany; the International Students Service was in the forefront of providing advice to these displaced students and financial assistance was made available from communal funds. The Federation was active in supporting these efforts; almost £2000 was raised from University students in Britain.

Throughout its existence the IUJF was involved with the general Jewish community. It was represented on the Board of Deputies and the Zionist Federation and had an ongoing liaison with Jewish Youth Study Groups.

For almost fifty years from its foundation until the creation of the Hillel Foundation, the IUJF had no office, no staff, no sabbatical officers and no assured budget other than the money that the students could raise themselves. The Federation was run from the rooms of the then Chairman or Secretary; all activities were organized by the students themselves on a voluntary basis in their spare time; from time to time small subventions were obtained from the general community.

It was the partner with which B’nai B’rith set up the Hillel Foundation which provided the IUJF with its first permanent office and its first professional assistance. This enabled the Federation and its successor, UJS, to increase its work beyond the wildest expectations its founders.

The organization was renamed UJS in 1973 and currently represents a constituency of approximately 8,500 Jewish students, with somewhere between 2500 – 3000 active members of its affiliated Jewish Societies (J-Socs) on individual campuses.

Activities

UJS also takes a leading role in the politics of the National Union of Students with at least one member of the National Executive Committee being closely linked to UJS for many years. UJS has supported Wes Streeting and Aaron Porter, who became successive Presidents of the National Union of Students in 2008 and 2010. The UJS funds delegations of Students’ Union leaders to visit Israel. Through this it has had a close involvement with the NUS Anti-Racism and Anti-Fascism campaigns in recent years. UJS does not locate itself anywhere specific on the right-left political spectrum, claiming to be a pressure group supporting the interests of Jewish students, rather than a political faction. UJS works with those it believes to support the interests of Jewish students.

In addition to its political role, UJS is active in representing Jewish students' specific religious needs to academic institutions, providing informal Jewish education to members, promoting inter-faith dialogue, and social activity. For many of its members the political aspect of its activities are secondary.

The UJS Student Awards

The annual UJS Student Awards were inaugurated in 2009 to recognise the hard work and dedication of Jewish students who have made an exceptional contribution to Jewish life on campus. These students devote countless hours of their time on top of university work, extra curriculars and spending time with their friends to ensure that Jewish student life on campus is thriving, vibrant, safe, and fun. The winners of the awards are listed below.

Year	Education Award	Events Award	Social Action Award	CST Campaigns Award	Communications Award	Israel Engagement Award	Interfaith Award	Liberation Award	Developing J-Soc of the year	J-Soc of the year*	Alan Senitt Award**
2009	Adam Parker, Oxford J-Soc	Aaron Kienwald, London J-Soc	Yoav Farbey, Bristol J-Soc	Adam Langleben, Leeds J-Soc					Brighton & Sussex J-Soc		Jeremy Foreman, Bristol J-Soc
2010	Gideon Julius, Bristol J-Soc	Ben Curtis & Alex Green, Birmingham J-Soc	Daniel Heller, Nottingham J-Soc	Marcelle Jennings, Brighton and Sussex J-Soc					Durham J-Soc		Rachel Wenstone, Leeds J-Soc
2011	Aurel Diamond, Bath J-Soc	Benjy Levey, Stu Bernstein & Charlotte Sapier, Birmingham J-Soc	Ricky Kaplan, Nottingham J-Soc	Gabi Kobrin, LSE J-Soc					St Andrews J-Soc	Birmingham J-Soc	Ilana Fenster, Nottingham J-Soc
2012	Charles Braunstein and Michael Kosky, Leeds J-Soc	Fleur Freedman, Shushu Aberbach, Simon Fidler & Natasha Nassimi, London J-Socs	Dan Clyne, Sarah-Jayne Grahame & Rebecca Shapira, Nottingham J-Soc	Jay Stoll, LSE J-Soc	Robert Prager, Leeds J-Soc				Exeter J-Soc	Nottingham J-Soc	Joseph Moses, Birmingham J-Soc
2013	Joseph Hyman, Leeds J-Soc	Stacey Abendstern, Birmingham J-Soc	Abigail Kay, Heythrop College J-Soc	Claire Sackman, Birmingham J-Soc		Sam de Kare-Silver, Nottingham J-Soc	Simon Leigh, Nottingham J-Soc		Reading J-Soc	Imperial J-Soc	Robert Prager, Leeds J-Soc
2014	Edinburgh J-Soc	Saul Gaunt, Brighton and Sussex J-Soc	Noah Nathan, Imperial J-Soc	Miriam Rose, Middlesex J-Soc	Mark Larah, Manchester J-Soc	Samantha Magnus & Jordan Grabski, Leeds J-Soc	Ben Kasstan, Durham J-Soc	Melissa Leigh, Manchester J-Soc	Middlesex J-Soc	UCL J-Soc	Joe Cohen, Nottingham J-Soc
2015	Ela Naegele, Oxford J-Soc	Olivia Davidson & Sophie Calmanson, Birmingham J-Soc	Linnet Kaymer, Oxford J-Soc	Miriam Steiner, Joshua Brill & Daniel Ben-Chorin, Brighton and Sussex J-Soc	Hannah Sharron, Birmingham J-Soc	Joel Salmon, St. Andrews J-Soc	Esther Malkinson, Loughborough J-Soc	Hannah Brady, UCL J-Soc	Durham J-Soc & Newcastle J-Soc***	Bristol J-Soc	Lucy Cohen, Leeds J-Soc
2016	Sally Patterson, Rebecca Filer, Leo Berger & Lily Ross, Bristol J-Soc	Lily Keisler, Glasgow J-Soc; Kathryn Rose, St Andrews J-Soc; & Josh Woolf, Lancaster J-Soc	Orli Goldberg, Birmingham J-Soc	Joel Collick & Jonny Shamir, Cambridge J-Soc	Eliot Cohen, Cambridge J-Soc	Sacha Ephrussi & Yoni Stone, Oxford J-Soc	Aaron Simons, Oxford J-Soc	Louise Cohen, Nottingham J-Soc	Lancaster J-Soc	Oxford J-Soc	Joel Salmon, St. Andrews J-Soc

• For 2011 & 2012 this award was known as the Large J-Soc Committee of the year award before becoming the J-Soc of the year award in 2013
  • The Alan Senitt Award is given each year to a student who has given an outstanding contribution to Jewish student life. The award is given in memory of Alan Senitt (UJS Chair 2001-2003), who was murdered in Washington DC in 2006 aged just 27.
    • In 2015, 2 J-Soc's were jointly awarded the Developing J-Soc of the year award.

Past Leadership

The UJS President is elected by Jewish students to represent their voices within the community, universities, colleges and wider society.

Title	Name	Years in office	University	Notes
President	Hannah Brady	2015-2016	Kings College, London (BA); University College, London (MA)
President	Ella Rose	2014-2015	University of Nottingham
President	Joe Tarsh	2013-2014	Manchester Metropolitan University
President	Alex Green	2012-2013	University of Birmingham
President	Daniel Grabiner	2011-2012	University of Leeds
Chairperson	Alex Dwek	2010-2011	University of Manchester
Chairperson	Adam Pike	2008-2010	University of Manchester
Chairperson	Jessica Truman	2007-2008	Manchester Metropolitan University
Chairperson	Jonathan Levy	2006-2007	University of Manchester
Chairperson	Wallace Rosenberg	2005-2006	University of Manchester
Chairperson	Dan Sacker	2004-2005	University of Manchester
Chairperson	Mark Ross	2003-2004	Queen Mary, University of London
Chairperson	Alan Senitt	2001-2003	University of Birmingham
Chairperson	Ashley Hirst	2000-2001	University of Manchester
Chairperson	Ruth Bookatz	1999-2000	University of Manchester
Chairperson	Adam Dawson	1998-1999	University of Leeds
Chairperson	Danny Newman	1997-1998	University of Oxford
Chairperson	Susie Simmons	1996-1997	Manchester Metropolitan University
Chairperson	Nick Cosgrove	1995-1996	University of Hull
Chairperson	David Kaplan	1994-1995	University of Glasgow
Chairperson	Tony Danker	1993-1994	University of Manchester
Chairperson	Robert Sumroy	1992-1993	University of Cambridge
Chairperson	Ian Myers	1991-1992	Manchester Polytechnic
Chairperson	Howard Silverman	1990-1991	Keele University
Chairperson	Jonny Mendelsohn	1989-1990	University of Leeds
Chairperson	Stephen Kurer	1988-1989	University College London
Chairperson	Paul Frosh	1987-1988	University of Cambridge
Chairperson	Ashley Harshak	1986-1987	University of Newcastle upon Tyne
Chairperson	Adrian Cohen	1985-1986	London School of Economics
Chairperson	Simon Myerson	1984-1985	University of Cambridge
Chairperson	Matthew Kalman	1983-1984	University of Cambridge
Chairman	Sam Clarke	1982-1983	University of Sheffield
Chairman	Sam Jacobs	1981-1982
Chairman	Danny Joseph	1980-1981	University of Leeds
Chairman	Rowel Genn	1979-1980	Queens University, Belfast
Chairman	David Waxman	1978-1979
Chairman	Moshe Forman	1977-1978
Chairman	Simon Caplan	1976-1977	University of Oxford
Chairman	Mark Dines	1975-1976	University of Manchester
Interim Co-Chairman	Melvyn Kay	1974-1975
Interim Co-Chairman	Andrew Jacobs	1974-1975
Chairman	Phil Shilco	1974	King's College, London
Chairman	Alan Freeman	1973-1974	School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)
Chairman	David Bloch	1972-1973	University College London
Chairman	Rosalind Nysenbaum	1971-1972	Queen Mary, University of London
Chairman	Arnold Wagner OBE	1970-1971	University of Middlesex University
Chairman	David Rosenberg	1969-1970	University of Glasgow
Chairman	Alan Baker	1968	University College London

See also

• Hillel House
• British Jews

External links

• Official website
• Manchester J-Soc
• Liverpool J-Soc
• Leeds J-Soc