One is a gym bunny who also likes to ski; one recovered from a horrible accident and is now in training for a second marathon; a third is a passionate traveller who is also a Formula One fan.
All of which goes to show that the three candidates to succeed Michael Goldstein as president of the United Synagogue have a well-established hinterland — a sense of a grounded life to bring to the table, for one of the most demanding lay leadership roles in the community.
And besides their private pursuits, each of the three — Marc Meyer, Claire Lemer and Saul Taylor — are taking part in one of the most hotly contested elections for decades. It is said to be too close to call: and each has a USP (unique selling point) rarely seen in communal life.
Marc Meyer
Meyer, the oldest of the three candidates, is a former chair of Hendon United Synagogue who, despite living in the UK for more than 30 years, still has a charming, but strong French accent; Lemer is a highly qualified medical professional who successfully campaigned for women to become trustees of the US a decade ago; and Taylor, the youngest candidate at 43, builder of a wildly successful alcohol business, is the grandson of the long- serving minister of Dollis Hill Synagogue, the Rev Harry Taylor.
Each of them, they tell Jewish News, has a passion for the United Synagogue running through them like a stick of Blackpool rock.
Meyer initially came to Britain for a job; but, he says, his previous Jewish life in France was one of assimilation. “I became a ba’al teshuva [someone who returns to Jewish practice] and I needed to have a new environment in which I could thrive.”
After the company for which he crossed the Channel was taken over, Meyer decided to become self-employed, and for the past 25 years or so has been involved in private investment work. In the last 18 months he has become chief executive of a “spin-out” company at University College London, involved in “deep tech”.
Meyer’s business activities matter to his bid for the US presidential role because he has ambitious plans for the charity which involve the use of AI (Artificial Intelligence).
In his manifesto, he says that if elected he will “introduce AI to streamline interactions, create custom onboarding for members, and provide seamless access to information, event participation, and tailored services.”
Meyer envisions “AI-powered chatbots on the website and mobile apps to answer common questions about services, events, and other relevant information, providing 24/6 (respecting Shabbat) answers and reducing staff workload. • AI-driven event recommendations based on members’ profiles, interests, and past attendance: virtual assistants. • AI-enhanced learning platforms – the United Synagogue Modern Orthodox University for all • AI-sustainable development metrics”.
All of which sounds both worthy and slightly frightening — but Meyer believes he can attract people to the US by offering “consensual” use of new technology, as well as providing a welcoming social hub (including “good wi-fi and good coffee”) wherever Jews congregate.
Currently, he says, “we don’t communicate properly with the members, and there is no feedback — no way to capture how people feel. If you don’t have that information, you don’t understand what people do or what they want”. AI, he believes, can help resolve that problem.
He is also deeply concerned about young Jews who are temporarily “lost” to the US in the decade after leaving university, and is keen to address how to bring them back into the fold. Meyer is ready to work with other groupings, such as Chabad, in pursuit of this goal.
Of the major problems facing the US, one is money — how to improve or add to the income streams besides what is brought in by kashrut, burial and membership — another is the role of women in the US — and a third is the challenge posed by the newly merged Reform and Liberal communities to form the Progressive bloc of Judaism.
Meyer is not bothered by the new Progressive bloc; instead, he tells potential US members: “Come to us, we represent Judaism, love for each other, solidarity, and tradition which means there will be a growing Jewish population in the future rather than a shrinking one. We can offer progressive ideas, not in a militant way but for people to feel non-pressurised… we can offer benefits. We are the civil service of Jewish life.”
On burial, Meyer has an intriguing suggestion: rather than, as at present, ask people to contribute to burial schemes in addition to their US membership package, he proposes giving those who join a burial scheme free US membership.
He is acutely aware of the ongoing discussion about the role of women in the US, both within the lay leadership and the increasing eternal clamour for Orthodox women rabbis. “It is literally common sense that there should be gender equality in communities, and it is important that there is a common standard.” So if one US community offers women the opportunity to read, for example, the prayer for the royal family, Meyer would like that to be practised across the board. Where he is less happy to take a position is on women in the rabbinate — saying this is a question for the Office of the Chief Rabbi.
As with the other candidates, Meyer is involved in other communal endeavours: he was chair of Hasmonean High School, co-founder and chair of the central Chevra Kadisha, and a Magen David Adom Europe board member. He also wrote a strategy report with McKinsey for the United Synagogue in 2015, so says he has a good overview of the “challenges and opportunities” facing the US.
He describes being president of the US as “a full-time job which is not a full-time job.” If elected, he envisages spending at least 50 per cent of his time on the role — and, vitally, “listening” to feedback from trustees and communities.
Claire Lemer
Claire Lemer holds down two most demanding full-time jobs —consultant paediatrician at the Evelina London hospital, and Chief Officer for Strategy and Innovation at the Women and Children’s Hospital, Birmingham.
Describing herself as “a third-generation US member” with a history of family service to the US and the community at large, Lemer was co-chair of her university J-Soc and has since taken part in numerous Jewish communal leadership programmes such as Adam Science and Champions of Change.
Today she is a US trustee and in the past decade has helped re-shape the voice of women within the organisation. In addition, she is a trustee of Kisharon Langdon, which supports people with learning disabilities and autism, a trustee of JCAT, which looks after primary schools, and Shaare Tzedek UK, which raises funds for the Israeli medical centre. Lemer also serves on the board of the Harris Federation, which runs over 50 schools, nationally.
So she is a candidate with many plates to juggle. She says: “I spent a year deciding whether or not to do this [stand for US president] and I talked to many people including synagogue chairs. I really as asking myself the question — could I bring something to this role which is needed at this moment?”
Part of that discussion, Lemer says, has been talking to the other organisations where she does voluntary work, and working out “succession planning” if she wins. “I have been very clear that this is a big role, and I will step back if I am lucky enough to be chosen as the next US president”.
She currently doesn’t work on Fridays and says confidently that her ability to delegate in her professional life can certainly be applied to the US presidency.
In 2017 Lemer was the victim of a serious car accident which led to her spending 10 weeks in a wheelchair and having, quite literally, to rebuild her life. She not only learned to walk again and then took up running, but also developed an understanding of what it meant to be a patient, giving her an unusual empathy with those who receive services, rather than always be the one providing them.
She notes that there has been a distinct shift in the background of US trustees. “There are trustees who are working full-time, who have big, big jobs, which is brilliant for our community, but it means we’ve had to think about how those roles are enacted. Part of what I want to do as president is to empower the professionals in the US, and support fellow trustees to be able to do their professional roles at the same time.”
She is aware of a certain amount of pearl-clutching in parts of the community at the idea of a woman president for the US — which, of course, already has a woman chief executive in Jo Grose.
But Lemer, who says she wants to be viewed “not just as a woman candidate but as the most capable person for the role”, says that what she most loves about the US is the lack of homogeneity in its 50 plus synagogues. “They are each different, each at different stages of the journey, and that’s a real strength and we have to find ways to encourage and support and enable that. We’re not all going to share the same views. We just have to find the language and the culture and the mechanisms to communicate with respect.”
She draws on her experience of writing a paper for the US which led to the by-laws being changed so that women could become trustees. Having succeeded in that ambition, she was asked if she herself wanted to become a trustee —and she did. “I’ve been on that journey of taking people along with me not everyone was enthusiastic from the start. But I have really learnt that it’s about listening, and appreciating where people are coming from”.
Lemer believes that her NHS experience — of adapting and looking at long-term strategy —can equally be applied to the US, not least when facing the challenge posed by the newly-merged Reform and Liberal communities.
“We have to be brave and also really proud of what we are: a centrist modern Orthodox community that has many attributes, that the world’s similar Orthodoxies look at and think, how wonderful.. We provide the infrastructure to the community and we have to articulate that… for me, this is about being aware of what our message is and really listening to our membership — and also being brave about adapting.” Her bottom-line answer to any “threat” posed by the Progressive bloc is “to strengthen brand awareness of the US and ask people to choose positively.”
She’s keen on the possibility of co-opting communal talent to add to those elected as trustees, and hopes that one day there will be simply US trustees rather than, as at present, male and female trustee posts.
Lemer is a firm believer in cross-community partnership, either for demographic reasons — perhaps in places where the US doesn’t currently have a strong footprint — or for social ones, such as working with Jewish Volunteers Network, or Israel-based support programmes.
When she’s not in the world of medicine or her communal commitments, Lemer gets up early and runs — she is now in training for a second marathon. “I love cooking and baking and am quite likely to have huge numbers of people over for Shabbat or chagim. I go to the theatre a lot, it’s one of my passions, and galleries — and I love travelling. I’m probably one of those people that burns the candle at both ends. All of these things keep me sane and give me moments of reflection, which are really important.”
Saul Taylor
At almost 43 — which he will be at the time of the election — Saul Taylor is the youngest of the three candidates bidding to become US president. A member of Stanmore and Canons Park Synagogue, he served on its council and was vice-chair of the community. He has been a US trustee for eight years and has led campaigns such as Young US, Project Welcome, Heritage, Chesed Appeal, Communities of Potential, and was co-founder of the Chesed Bursary Fund. He too has served on the boards of various Jewish charities.
Why does he want to be president of the US? “The biggest challenge facing the US is inspiring the next generation”, he says, “and I think having young leadership will make inroads into trying to involve those people in that bracket. It’s something the US has struggled with for a long time. I want to inspire people to get involved, to become leader. I elected, I believe I will be the youngest president in the history of the charity.”
Taylor grew up soaked in US involvement; apart from his grandfather, who served as minister at Dollis Hill for a groundbreaking 44 years, his father, Stuart, was vice-president of the US and its interim chief executive. It means, says the candidate, that he is familiar with every aspect of the US and its professional and lay leadership.
“i have visited most communities in the US — and I am passionate about the work and how it influences people’s lives.”
Responding to the Progressive merger and its potential impact on the US, Taylor says he “completely disagrees” that Progressive Judaism is a “threat” and that the US should be looking what it can do to “encroach on Progressive territory.” Instead, he says, “the US has been Orthodox since 1870. and I believe that by doubling down on our Orthodoxy that will help us strengthen, going forward. The problem has been that the US has been narrowing, and that we need to have conversations waitpeople who have been attracted to the left of us, and we need to work out how we include communities who have gone to the right.
“I find it very disappointing that we inspire people to get involved, and then they become more religious and then feel that the space is not for them in the United Synagogue. Whereas. on the other side, we have leaders, very well-educated people, who have felt that Partnership has been more their thing — and that has been more attractive. We need to work out how to become a broader organisation. By doing that we might solve any issues we might face from the merger.”
He is, he says, “very proud” of the strides the US has made into “women’s engagement”, and still thinks that the US needs “to work harder to encourage more women to come into more lay leadership positions”. He’d love to have a single gender neutral election for trustees, though believes the charity is “not there yet”. But he doesn’t think the Orthodox Jewish world is yet ready for the hand-grenade step of women rabbis.
In any case, Taylor says, the US has more pressing issues. For example, he is against the automatic “blanket pay rise” currently afforded to all staff, but is interested to explore the rising phenomenon of transferring burial rights for people who have paid into burial schemes outside the US and perhaps move to London to be with their adult children and grandchildren and find themselves having to start from scratch.
He is determined, he says, to launch “the biggest fund-raising campaign in the history of Anglo-Jewry” on behalf of the US, and points to huge amounts of money he has previously raised elsewhere. He also has ambitions for bringing in more provincial communities under the US umbrella — and is keen to expand the diversity of people served, from Sephardi to Black Jews and from single people to the growing number of French Jews. “Not everything has to be ’minhag Anglia’, says Taylor, though that is his own tradition.
Like his opponents, Taylor is keen to co-opt people who have not been elected to the US Council, making the most of the vast talent pool open to the charity.
Taylor’s business — begun after a period as a hedge fund entrepreneur — is in alcohol trading. His own label is D S Tayman whisky which is surely the must-have at any respectable US kiddush. As with Meyer and Lemer, Taylor is a keen traveller.
In a way, if the best qualities of the three candidates were distilled,, Anglo-Jewry would have an amazing successor to Michael Goldstein. As it is, just one person will be chosen on July 14. A hustings will be held on July 8.
