53 Facts About Laura Janner-Klausner

Laura Naomi Janner-Klausner is a British rabbi and an inclusion and development coach who served as the inaugural Senior Rabbi to Reform Judaism from 2011 until 2020.

Laura Janner-Klausner returned to Britain in 1999 and was ordained at Leo Baeck College, serving as rabbi at Alyth Synagogue until 2011.

Laura Janner-Klausner has been serving as Rabbi at Bromley Reform Synagogue in south-east London since April 2022.

Laura Janner-Klausner represents a progressive Jewish voice to British Jewry and the wider public, speaking on affairs including Israel-Palestine, social justice, same-sex marriage and interfaith relations.

Laura Janner-Klausner is a regular broadcaster on programmes such as BBC Radio 4's Thought for the Day, BBC Radio 2's Pause for Thought and BBC One's The Big Questions and Sunday Morning Live.

In November 2014, an article by Jewish journalist Jessica Elgot in The Huffington Post opined that Laura Janner-Klausner was "fast becoming the most high-profile Jewish leader in the country" and described her as "wildly likeable, emphatic, intense, and outspoken".

Laura Janner-Klausner has written a book on the theme of resilience, Bitesize Resilience: A Crisis Survival Guide, which was launched on 7 May 2020.

Laura Janner-Klausner is Co-Chair of the Global Interfaith Commission on LGBT+ Lives and an honorary fellow of The Edward Cadbury Centre for the Public Understanding of Religion at the University of Birmingham.

Laura Janner-Klausner is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Laura Janner-Klausner was raised in north London and attended South Hampstead High School.

Laura Janner-Klausner's siblings are Marion Janner OBE, a mental health campaigner, and Daniel Janner KC, a barrister.

Laura Janner-Klausner was so disaffected by the experience that she left Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue the very next day.

Laura Janner-Klausner subsequently became involved in youth activities at Alyth Gardens Reform Synagogue near Golders Green, developing a passion for Reform Judaism's values of egalitarianism and social justice and expressing interest in becoming a Rabbi as young as 13.

Laura Janner-Klausner spent her gap year in Israel and was a representative of British Reform Judaism at Machon L'Madrichei Chutz La'Aretz.

Laura Janner-Klausner returned to London in 1982 and became a founding member of RSY-Netzer, which is the largest Jewish youth movement in the United Kingdom.

Laura Janner-Klausner studied divinity at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where she was taught by Rowan Williams, later Archbishop of Canterbury.

Laura Janner-Klausner studied alongside Linda Woodhead, now Professor in the sociology of religion at Lancaster University.

Laura Janner-Klausner was on the Union of Jewish Students executive and ran her university's Israel Society and Progressive Jewish Society.

Laura Janner-Klausner graduated with a degree in Theological and Religious Studies from the University of Cambridge in 1985.

Laura Janner-Klausner worked there continuously until 1998 and later became the Director of its English-speaking department.

Laura Janner-Klausner began working in 1992 at Melitz, an educational centre specialising in Jewish peoplehood based in Jerusalem, and later served as Director of the Centre for Christian Encounters with Israel, where she helped train Palestinian tour guides in Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

Laura Janner-Klausner led Israeli-Palestinian dialogue facilitation for the European Union's "The People's Peace" programme, following the Oslo I Accord of 1993.

Laura Janner-Klausner returned to London in 1999 with her husband David and their three children, citing the ideological intensity of living in Jerusalem as a primary reason.

Laura Janner-Klausner featured in a BBC radio series presented by Jonathan Freedland in 2008 entitled British Jews and the Dream of Zion, discussing the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine.

Laura Janner-Klausner then began to broadcast regularly on programmes such as BBC Radio 4's Today programme and BBC One's The Big Questions.

Whilst Rabbi at Alyth, Laura Janner-Klausner began chairing British Friends of Rabbis for Human Rights, an Israeli human rights organisation.

In July 2011, Laura Janner-Klausner became first Senior Rabbi to Reform Judaism, a position initially entitled "Movement Rabbi".

Chair-elect of Reform Judaism, Jenny Pizer, said Laura Janner-Klausner was "an influential broadcaster and writer, a great teacher and a popular rabbi of one of our flourishing communities".

Shortly after being appointed, Laura Janner-Klausner set improving periodically fraught relations between the Orthodox and Reform Judaism as part of her agenda.

In November 2014, Laura Janner-Klausner featured in "Beyond Belief" by The Huffington Post, a series of interviews with Britons who use faith "to create a force for positive change".

On 7 July 2020, Laura Janner-Klausner announced she would be stepping down as Senior Rabbi to Reform Judaism.

In May 2020, Laura Janner-Klausner published her book Bitesize Resilience: A Crisis Survival Guide.

On 18 June 2020, Laura Janner-Klausner was announced as the chair of the judging panel for the 2021 Wingate Literary Prize, described as "one of the Jewish world's top literary prizes".

Laura Janner-Klausner is a prominent voice on British interfaith relations and regularly meets representatives of Christian and Muslim communities.

Laura Janner-Klausner is a President of the Council of Christians and Jews and has worked with organisations including the Three Faiths Forum and the Interfaith Network for the UK.

In May 2013, following the murder of Lee Rigby, Laura Janner-Klausner joined faith leaders in solidarity with Woolwich residents and its Muslim community at the Greenwich Islamic Centre.

Laura Janner-Klausner signed an open letter from Christian and Jewish faith leaders including Danny Rich, chief executive of Liberal Judaism, and Alan Wilson, the Bishop of Buckingham, voicing support for gay marriage.

Laura Janner-Klausner has been recognised as a religious leader in the area of anti-LGBT+ discrimination and has been appointed to the Ozanne Foundation's Inter-Religious Advisory Board.

Laura Janner-Klausner has emerged as one of the leading British religious voices on the issue of refugee rights.

Laura Janner-Klausner was involved in bringing the issue to public prominence, writing in August 2015 that "when Jewish people look at Calais migrants, we see ourselves" and being one of the leading voices in a letter signed by over 200 Jewish representatives labelling the government's response "appalling".

Laura Janner-Klausner was especially vocal on the topic of the Calais Jungle, visiting on multiple occasions.

In September 2015, a short film was made documenting Laura Janner-Klausner visiting the Jungle alongside Imam Qari Muhammad Asim.

Laura Janner-Klausner was at the forefront of a letter signed by many Rabbinic leaders calling for the Dubs Amendment to be adopted and spoke out alongside Jewish leaders from a range of denominations after the amendment was initially rejected, saying "I believe Britain has the capacity and the will to do more during this crisis".

Internationally, Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner has spoken out against the treatment of refugees crossing the US-Mexico border by the Trump administration, saying "the numbing of empathy, the dehumanisation of other people through the encouragement of disdain are documented stages in history that have led to atrocities and even genocides".

Laura Janner-Klausner is a progressive Zionist and considers Israel the spiritual and intellectual centre of Judaism and the Jewish people.

Laura Janner-Klausner is a past chair of British Friends of Rabbis for Human Rights.

Laura Janner-Klausner is especially interested in the relationship between religion and power.

Laura Janner-Klausner has criticised religious fundamentalists, proposing that literalist interpretations of religious text "worship words instead of God".

At the Limmud Conference in December 2013, Laura Janner-Klausner delivered a JDOV speech about "Power and its Discontents", addressing themes of power and powerlessness in Judaism.

Laura Janner-Klausner was introduced by an aunt to her husband, David, in Jerusalem in 1986.

Dr David Laura Janner-Klausner was Programme and Planning Director at the United Jewish Israel Appeal and currently works as Director of Business Development at Commonplace Digital Ltd.

Laura Janner-Klausner is the brother of Amos Oz, the Israeli author.

Laura Janner-Klausner was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2013.