Is It Time for Jews to Leave the UK?
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Antisemitism is rising in Britain and many Jews are quietly leaving. Here's why one London rabbi is staying — and what he believes Jews must never forget.
As a rabbi in London, I hear that question more and more frequently. And I see some quietly voting with their feet as well.
But for me, the answer remains a resounding “No.”
Or perhaps more accurately: “Not yet.”
I grew up in Liverpool 50 years ago, and antisemitism then was, in many ways, worse than it is today. I remember arriving at my new school at around nine years old and being welcomed by a boy calling me a “dirty Yid” before placing chewing gum in my hair for good measure. Later, while attending Jewish secondary school, there were intermittent physical attacks as well.
Jews have always slept with one eye open and, in recent years, it has been opening wider.
Perhaps naïvely, I believed Britain had changed for the better in the 21st century; that antisemitism belonged largely to the past. But after October 7th, something shifted. We have seen violent rhetoric on our streets, attacks against Jews, and a level of hostility many believed unimaginable in modern Britain.
So naturally people ask: where does this end?
The truthful answer is that none of us knows. We find ourselves on a slippery slope with no visible bottom. Jews have always slept with one eye open and, in recent years, it has been opening wider.
Yet despite my concerns, I do not believe Britain today resembles Germany in the 1930s, as I hear some suggesting. It’s not even close. I say this not out of naïveté, but because I have spent decades studying the rise of Nazism and leading educational trips to Poland’s death camps.
The comparison, while emotionally understandable, is historically unsound.
Britain’s liberal democratic culture evolved gradually over centuries — from the Magna Carta through the Glorious Revolution and onward through the Great Reform Act and beyond. Germany’s democracy, by contrast, was young, fragile and lacked deep liberal roots. Antisemitism there was not merely tolerated; it had long intellectual, political and cultural foundations that became increasingly embedded within the state itself. At the time of Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch, Germany had been democratic for less than ten years.
Most importantly, the British state today remains fundamentally and vociferously opposed to antisemitism and antisemitic violence.
That distinction matters enormously.
Recently, a colleague of mine took a group of Jewish children camping. He casually mentioned the trip to the Community Security Trust (a charity that protects the Jewish community). Unexpectedly, local police proactively contacted him in advance to say they were aware of the visit and had assigned officers to help protect the group.
In 1930s Germany, the police were not protecting Jews. Increasingly, they themselves were the perpetrators. And the government stood behind them.
Britain today is still very different, thank God.
That does not mean things cannot worsen. They can. We are clearly living through a period of growing extremism, polarization and increasing anger. Jewish institutions require significant security. Many Jews feel uneasy in public in ways they did not only a few years ago. Those are realities and must not be minimized.
But panic is not a wise guide for decision-making.
I like to make decisions based on the reality before me, not hypothesised futures. And the present reality is this: Britain is a country governed by law, with institutions that, imperfect as they are, seek to vigorously protect Jewish life.
Above all, though, I believe Jews must not lose sight of our deeper mission.
More than 3,000 years ago, we were charged with the task of becoming “a light unto the nations” – to build lives rooted in holiness, justice, compassion and responsibility. Judaism brought into the world revolutionary ideas: love your neighbor, the sanctity of human life, moral responsibility, universal education, peace as an abstract ideal and the dogged belief that humanity will ultimately find its way.
At our best, Jews remind societies that human beings are capable of something more elevated than the pursuit of power, violence and self-interest.
And so, my response to antisemitism has always been this: become better.
Hatred that leads to hatred leaves only more hatred in its wake.
The great Jewish weapon has never been the sword. It has only ever been the moral vision and the stubborn refusal to give up hope for a better world.
Yes, Jews must defend themselves, vigilantly and vigorously. Yes, Israel must remain strong. And yes, Jews living anywhere in the world must avoid naïveté. If we have learnt anything from history, surely it is this.
But ultimately, the great Jewish weapon has never been the sword. It has only ever been the book, the idea, the moral vision and the stubborn refusal to give up hope for a better world.
Antisemitism reminds us that our work is not yet finished.
So no, I do not believe it is yet time for Jews to leave the UK.
That day could come. Jewish history teaches us never to dismiss such possibilities. But we are not there yet.
For now, I believe my task is to remain, to contribute, to help build a stronger culture of morality, responsibility and decency.
Israel is my homeland and my future, and I support it with every fibre of my being. But at present, I feel that my responsibility is to Britain and to its Jewish community.
I remain hopeful and optimistic.
And, like Jews throughout history, I sleep with one eye open.
