British Jews in 'Rabbigate' power struggle

Senior figures in Britain's Jewish community are being called on to resign their posts amid bitter faction fighting and a series of embarrassing leaked documents.

The contretemps comes in the wake of increasing tension over Jews' College – the world's oldest rabbinical college and an "Oxbridge for the orthodox" – which is on the verge of financial collapse.

At the heart of the row is a power struggle over who represents Britain's 280,000 Jews. The Board of Deputies, an elected umbrella organisation, was concerned that the Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, "invited himself" to speak at a Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony.

The Chief Rabbi represents members of the United Synagogue. Although that covers most orthodox Jews, he does not speak for others such as the more liberal, reform Jews.

The Board of Deputies expressed its disquiet in a memo written by its newly appointed director of communications, Fiona Macaulay – a memo that was subsequently leaked to Dr Sacks's office.

Last night, a senior officer on the board called on Ms Macaulay to resign. Eric Moonman, president of the Zionist Federation, and a former Labour MP, said her actions "smacked more of Jo Moore" at a time when she should be making "peace between all sectors of the Jewish community".

And he accused her of attempting to switch attention from her original memo by launching a witch hunt for the person who leaked it.

It is understood the Board of Deputies will issue a statement tomorrow calling for the resignation of Jerry Lewis, a vice president of the board and a controversial figure who has been in previous scrapes with the Jewish establishment.

Mr Moonman will also ask for the board's president, Jo Wagerman, to consider her position over a leaked letter she wrote. That letter criticised David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, for failing to attend the press launch of the Holocaust day, last November, accusing him of a "public insult".

Ms Macaulay, who worked for the Scottish National Party before taking up her new £35,000 a year post, said yesterday that the board had "no problem at all with the Chief Rabbi taking part in the event. All we were worried about was that other synagogal bodies should feel excluded."

Clouding the issue is Mr Moonman's view that she should step down since "she is not Jewish and there is a feeling among many deputies that perhaps it was not appropriate in such sensitive times to have a non-Jewish person".

But Ms Macaulay retorted: "I am disappointed and surprised that any member of the board should seek to make issue out of my religion." She said she had spent six years working in Israel, spoke Hebrew and was eminently qualified for the job.

The row follows new difficulties for the Chief Rabbi, who has staked his reputation on saving Jews' College – or the London School of Jewish Studies. Last week the principal Rabbi Abner Weiss resigned, claiming the stress of trying to hold the college together had almost killed him. Dr Sacks has now announced he will cancel his sabbatical, due to begin next month, and will instead take over as principal – a position he held in the 1980s.

Dr Sacks has attracted criticism previously for failing to secure the college's long-term financial status. Its future was cast in doubt when its latest benefactor withdrew funding.