Who is a Jew? Jewish faith schools and the Race Relations Act 1976
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Abstract
This article considers in detail the decision of the UK Supreme Court on the admissions criteria of what is known as the JFS, formerly the Jews' Free School (E, R (on the application of) v Governing Body of JFS & Anor [2009] UKSC 15). This school was oversubscribed and part of its oversubscription policy was to give precedence to children recognised as Jewish by the Office of the Chief Rabbi (OCR). The OCR only recognised someone as Jewish if it recognised that person's mother as Jewish ('matrilineal descent') or if he or she had undertaken a qualifying course of Orthodox conversion. The Supreme Court held that this was in breach of the Race Relations Act 1976 as being discriminatory. This article considers both the actual decision and its implications not only for Jewish schools but also for faith schools in general.
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Volume/Issue
164
Page Number / Article Number
75-83
ISBN/ISSN
0269-817X
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Who is a Jew? Jewish faith schools and the Race Relations Act 1976. 2010: 75-83. https://archive.jpr.org.uk/object-uk493