When someone leaves the Charedi community, or decides to increase their secular knowledge, it is often in the face of opposition from the original community. This is the case for men and women, but also for the children they might bring with them. Today, Mavar is celebrating the BTec Exam success of the child of one of our members –…

In the Jewish Leadership's Dangoor Senior Leadership course, we were encouraged to slow down to speed up, in the sense that by sometimes living life at speed, we lose track of what is really important in our lives and work. We can call this being mindful, or work-life balance, or any mixture of words, but what it does is helps…

I have now had the pleasure of being in post at Mavar for 3 months. It has been lovely getting to know the team, volunteers, Trustees, donors, and most importantly, members. Everything we do is informed by the needs of our members so I was delighted to complete with the team the first survey of my tenure. The results were…

In the last few weeks, I have attended events commemorating life-changing or traumatic events, and heard from people who have chosen or been able to change their lives and move on positively from their trauma. They have managed to “make lemonade out of lemons”. Psychology statistics (Hadassah Hospital, Dr Shiri Ben-David) evidences that post-traumatic growth is actually far greater than…

Through discussion with members over a twelve-year period, Mavar has come to understand some of the challenges faced by those who come for support. This reflective piece is based on anonymised member interviews and examines the experiences of people who leave or seriously question membership of strictly Orthodox (Charedi) Jewish communities. The study found that leaving is rarely a sudden…

Mavar is pleased to announce the appointment of Erica Marks as its new Chief Executive. Erica joins the organisation following her tenure at Migdal Emunah, where she played a key role in strengthening operations, expanding community engagement, and delivering impactful programmes. In her new role at Mavar, Erica will be responsible for guiding the organisation through its next phase of…

Mavar is seeking a Head of Education to support its work with young men and women from the Charedi community who have taken the challenging decision to follow a different path in life. Mavar offers a confidential service for people who have grown up within the strictly orthodox Charedi community and are now exploring options to work, study or live…