by TJ Reporter
- Friday 1st of September 2006
A Tory Councillor apologised yesterday for any offence he caused the Jewish community, after he was quoted by two local newspapers as attributing Barnet’s rise in teenage pregnancies primarily to orthodox Jewish girls.
In a front page story bannered ‘Baby Boomers – teenage pregnancy rise highest in the country’ in last week’s Edgware & Mill Hill Times and Hendon & Finchley Times, it was reported that Chris Harris had claimed that the increase in teen births between 15 and 17 was due to “the large religious community such as orthodox Jews who tend to have babies at a young age”.
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His astonishing and unsubstantiated allegations were immediately refuted by orthodox communal rabbis, who called them absurd and bewildering.
Cllr Harris, while apologising to the community for any offence Jewish readers might have taken, said that his remarks had been taken out of context – a claim flatly refuted by the Times Newspaper group.
A spokesman for the two papers which have a combined circulation of over 120,000 copies per week, said it was sticking by its guns last night, saying the quotes were accurate and a fair reflection of Cllr Harris’s interview.
Rabbi Leivi Sudak of Lubavitch of Edgware said: “I’m astonished and shocked that he has come out with this and would challenge Councillor Chris Harris to find a secondary Jewish school which has a crèche in it.
“Other secondary schools do, but there aren’t any Jewish ones. In my 23 years of working as a mohel, I have never performed a bris on a baby whose mother was under 18 years of age and am unaware of any pregnant 15 to 17-year-old teenagers in Barnet. It’s also illegal and against the age of consent for any girl to have a baby at 15 but overall I am just shocked that this has been said.”
Rabbi Benjamin Rabinowitz, of Edgware United Synagogue, said he had never come across a pregnant teenager in his community.
Rabbi Gershon Overlander of Hendon Chabad said: “That’s bizarre. The implication is that they are not married and therefore they couldn’t be referring to the orthodox Jewish community. There is a certain misrepresentation here”.
Rabbi YY Schochet of Mill Hill United Synagogue said “For those orthodox Jewish girls who might get married young, it wouldn’t be below 18 years of age. That has nothing to do with teenage pregnancy and the correlation between the two is just absurd.”
Echoing his comments, Rabbi Avrohom Pinter, the Head teacher of Yesodeh Hatorah Girls School in Stamford Hill said; “That sort of statement is totally unfounded and cannot be attributed to the orthodox Jewish community as they do not get married at such a young age.”
Rabbi Gershon Overlander from Chabad of Hendon said: “That’s bizarre. The implication is that they are not married and therefore they couldn’t be referring to the orthodox Jewish community. There is a certain misrepresentation here”.
Responding to the community’s concerns, Councillor Harris told TJ: “Clearly when I was interviewed by the journalist, we were talking at cross purposes. I believed she was talking about everyone under the age of 20, and didn’t understand she was specifically talking about the age cohort 15 to 17. If I had realised she was referring to that age group, I would never have made the comments I made in relation to some ethnic groups on occasions having children in wedlock at a younger age.
“Evidently, teenage pregnancies in the age group 15 to 17 are virtually unknown in the Jewish community. I apologise if any unintentional offence or confusion has been caused due to the miscommunication between myself and the journalist.”
- Friday 1st of September 2006
A Tory Councillor apologised yesterday for any offence he caused the Jewish community, after he was quoted by two local newspapers as attributing Barnet’s rise in teenage pregnancies primarily to orthodox Jewish girls.
In a front page story bannered ‘Baby Boomers – teenage pregnancy rise highest in the country’ in last week’s Edgware & Mill Hill Times and Hendon & Finchley Times, it was reported that Chris Harris had claimed that the increase in teen births between 15 and 17 was due to “the large religious community such as orthodox Jews who tend to have babies at a young age”.
email this page to a friend print this page email the editor buy this content
His astonishing and unsubstantiated allegations were immediately refuted by orthodox communal rabbis, who called them absurd and bewildering.
Cllr Harris, while apologising to the community for any offence Jewish readers might have taken, said that his remarks had been taken out of context – a claim flatly refuted by the Times Newspaper group.
A spokesman for the two papers which have a combined circulation of over 120,000 copies per week, said it was sticking by its guns last night, saying the quotes were accurate and a fair reflection of Cllr Harris’s interview.
Rabbi Leivi Sudak of Lubavitch of Edgware said: “I’m astonished and shocked that he has come out with this and would challenge Councillor Chris Harris to find a secondary Jewish school which has a crèche in it.
“Other secondary schools do, but there aren’t any Jewish ones. In my 23 years of working as a mohel, I have never performed a bris on a baby whose mother was under 18 years of age and am unaware of any pregnant 15 to 17-year-old teenagers in Barnet. It’s also illegal and against the age of consent for any girl to have a baby at 15 but overall I am just shocked that this has been said.”
Rabbi Benjamin Rabinowitz, of Edgware United Synagogue, said he had never come across a pregnant teenager in his community.
Rabbi Gershon Overlander of Hendon Chabad said: “That’s bizarre. The implication is that they are not married and therefore they couldn’t be referring to the orthodox Jewish community. There is a certain misrepresentation here”.
Rabbi YY Schochet of Mill Hill United Synagogue said “For those orthodox Jewish girls who might get married young, it wouldn’t be below 18 years of age. That has nothing to do with teenage pregnancy and the correlation between the two is just absurd.”
Echoing his comments, Rabbi Avrohom Pinter, the Head teacher of Yesodeh Hatorah Girls School in Stamford Hill said; “That sort of statement is totally unfounded and cannot be attributed to the orthodox Jewish community as they do not get married at such a young age.”
Rabbi Gershon Overlander from Chabad of Hendon said: “That’s bizarre. The implication is that they are not married and therefore they couldn’t be referring to the orthodox Jewish community. There is a certain misrepresentation here”.
Responding to the community’s concerns, Councillor Harris told TJ: “Clearly when I was interviewed by the journalist, we were talking at cross purposes. I believed she was talking about everyone under the age of 20, and didn’t understand she was specifically talking about the age cohort 15 to 17. If I had realised she was referring to that age group, I would never have made the comments I made in relation to some ethnic groups on occasions having children in wedlock at a younger age.
“Evidently, teenage pregnancies in the age group 15 to 17 are virtually unknown in the Jewish community. I apologise if any unintentional offence or confusion has been caused due to the miscommunication between myself and the journalist.”
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