SALFORD WILL BECOME 'YIDDISH GHETTO'

THE Salford Jewish community is likely to become similar to the ghettos of eastern Europe - with Yiddish as the primary language, within the next 100 years. Dr Yaakov Wise told Sunday's Manchester Jewish Representative Council monthly meeting: "The ghetto will be recreated." An honorary research fellow at Manchester University's Centre for Jewish Studies, he said: "Our younger people are either marrying out or becoming more religious. "Shuls are closing rapidly and others are hanging on by the skin of their teeth." Dr Wise said that the current charedi population in Manchester was 35 per cent. In 10 years, he claimed, it would be 40 per cent, 20 years, 60 per cent and in 30 years it would rise to 70 per cent. He added: "You are going to have to get used to it or set a response. "We can try to create unity, but it will have to be, to an extent, on their terms." Dr Wise said that the charedi 'ghetto' would also stretch to Hilton Lane and Scholes Lane, Prestwich. "The chassidim will be the majority of the charedim and their first language is Yiddish," he continued. "The charedim are increasing three to four per cent every year - their mean age is 15, while the average age for the secular Manchester Jewish community is 47. "Non-charedi Jews will be a small minority - not just in Manchester, but all over Britain. "The younger, Bnei Akiva-type Jews have gone to Israel." Also contributing towards the meeting's title, 'Facing the Future - Facts and Figures About Our Community', were Manchester UJIA UK programme director Sally Halon, community statistician Martin Stern, the Hershel Weiss Family and Children Centre chairman Aaron Rose, social services consultant Janis Stout and the Delamere Trust's Malcolm Joels. Mrs Halon said there was apathy among younger Jews to become involved in community activities because of increasingly busy lives. She explained: "They don't think about the consequences for the community. "The old guard are becoming older - I am sure they would be only too happy to pass on the baton. "We live in a fragmented community, but we have to work together. "Many community members are protecting their 'fiefdom'." However, it is not all bad news, according to Mrs Halon. She said that the UJIA had, four years ago, set up its Lay Leadership Development Group. "We are developing a cohort of young leaders," Mrs Halon added. Mrs Stout told guests that the Institute for Jewish Policy Research would be publishing a full report on the 2011 Census next year, similar to the one they published on the 2001 Census. They will undertake a national Jewish community survey, with around 10 per cent of responses to come from Manchester. She explained that it will cover a wide range of issues including Jewish identity, affiliation and practice, education, social care, health and welfare, charitable giving and volunteering and demography. Mrs Stout said that Bury was the fifth most Jewish location in England and Wales, with a Jewish population of 10,302 - a 15.4 per cent increase from 8,942 in 2001. Salford is placed seventh with 7,687 Jews - up 48.4 per cent from 5,179 in 2001. Hershel Weiss Centre chairman Mr Rose dismissed a common myth that many ultra-Orthodox Jews do not work. He said: "They do have livelihoods, but it is not easy for them, when they are younger, to go to college, to go to university or receive training. "The circumstances at university, for example, contain many lax moral standards." Mr Stern said there had been a considerable change in the composition of the north Manchester Jewish community. He explained: "When I moved to the Broughton Park 40 years ago there, were a few middle-of-the-road, non-observant Jews and some non-Jewish families, too. "Now my road is 100 per cent Jewish and all of them are at least Shabbat-observant. He added that more charedim are moving from London due to cheaper housing prices for their large families. PUBLISHED IN THE JEWISH TELEGRAPH 15/2/13