AJEX, the Jewish Military Association, said farewell to outgoing Chair Dan Fox this week, with a l’chaim at the Royal Fusiliers Museum at the Tower of London. Staff, trustees, family, friends and supporters gathered in the former regimental mess to hear a number of speeches praising Dan and others, who do so much to promote commemoration and education, and combat antisemitism.
The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) began its long history at the Tower in 1685 and famously raised five Jewish battalions in the First World War. One Lance Corporal was a certain David Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister of the State of Israel, as portrayed in the on-site museum.
Dan, pictured here with his parents, Michael and Sandra, is a member of Radlett Reform Synagogue and serves in the Army Reserve. He described chairing AJEX as “the great honour of my life”. There was no doubting the impact he had made over five years, nor the affection and esteem in which he is held.
[Also in the photo are US Navy chaplain Rabbi Emily Rosenzweig, her husband Brian, and Rabbi Nathan Godleman, of the South London Liberal Synagogue and Army Cadet Force.]