from The Jewish Chronicle (U.K.):

Two academics have studied life in the community over the past 20 years and come up with an encouragingly positive conclusion

Interview: Keith Kahn-Harris and Ben Gidley

Look at Britain’s Jews from the outside and you will see a shining success story. An influx of poverty-stricken refugees a century ago has evolved into a middle-class community with superb educational facilities, vibrant cultural life and outstanding achievement in many fields.

However, from the inside, it looks very different, say Keith Kahn-Harris and Ben Gidley. The two academics have written a book entitled Turbulent Times, an analysis of the Jewish community over the past 20 years. British Jews, they claim, are worried about their shrinking numbers, are riven by religious divisions and by a growing rift over Israel, and are scared by what is perceived as a new and virulent form of antisemitism. But Kahn-Harris and Gidley do not paint a gloomy picture of the community today. On the contrary, they argue that the fears and insecurities faced by Jews over the past 20 years or so have encouraged a period of renewal and re-assessment which has produced a far stronger, more vital community.