One of the great Anglo-Jewish controversies of the early 1970s was the struggle over Clause 43 of the constitution of the Board of Deputies. I remember it well – for full disclosure I was briefly a member of the Board of Deputies in 1971-72. Being young and anti-establishment, I remember regarding the President of the Board of Deputies, Michael Fidler, as a sort of Jewish Enoch Powell.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews is a Jewish parliament, founded in 1760 to represent the Jewish community. At the time, Clause 43 (now renumbered) stated that on religious matters the Board would consult with the Chief Rabbi and the Haham – the religious leaders of the Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jewish Communities in London.
The representatives of Reform and Liberal synagogues felt that they were not recognized and were accused of doing a deal with Michael Fidler, behind the orthodox community’s back, to amend clause 43. The more staunchly orthodox representatives objected to recognition of the leaders of the Liberals and Reform as religious leaders.
The title of the book “Tell it in Gath” refers to a phrase in the second book of Samuel, which is actually translated as “Tell it Not in Gath”. Gath is a Philistine city and the original phrase meant do not spread details of your misfortune or bad news among the enemy. So ‘Tell it in Gath’ is intended to let everyone know the bad news – the amendment 43. The accusation was that Michael Fidler (and this was a very personal controversy at the time) had misled the Chief Rabbi, Dr. Immanuel Jakobovits into believing that the amendment of clause 43 did not change the Board’s consulting the Chief Rabbi and the Haham as halachic leaders.
As a result of the Amendment to Clause 43, the orthodox Deputies (representing synagogues in the Federation of Synagogues and the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations) withdrew their representatives from the Board.
The book was written by Abba Bornstein and Bernard Homa, who were lay leaders of the Machzike Hadath community based at the Spitalfields Great Synagogue in Brick Lane. They were both veteran members of the Board of Deputies.
Jewish Miscellanies 