When we launched Vashti in November 2019, the UK was hurtling towards a snap election with British Jews strapped to the front seat. The timing wasn’t what we’d planned, but we felt we had to say something. So we did.
Since then, Vashti has become far more than an electoral intervention. We’ve reported on labour organising and European politics, exposed communal bigotry and unearthed forgotten rituals. We’ve published world-renowned scholars and some of the most exciting young thinkers on the Jewish left. We’ve become a site of Jewish left thought, and with a tiny budget and an even tiny team.
We’re proud of what we’ve done so far, and want to do more of it. To do that, we need to take stock.
Over the next few months, we’re going to take a back from publishing to focus on growing our team. Currently, Vashti is run by a handful of volunteers committed to the project of building a new Jewish media. We want to expand that group into a larger collective that shares our vision, and wants to grow Vashti into the platform we imagine it could be – that our audience wants us to be.
We’ll be sharing more about how you can be part of Vashti in the next few weeks.
We’re also going to be focusing on how to make ourselves financially sustainable in the long term. That said, we’re hugely grateful to the many people who’ve donated to our crowdfund so far – you are the reason we’re still here! We’ll be keeping the fund open during the break – you can contribute to it here.
Now is another urgent moment for British Jews. Last year’s antiracist surge, the slow death of Labour and the recent onslaught on Gaza have shifted the ground beneath our feet. A younger generation is defying an older consensus, and pursuing justice. We want to follow them.
We know this isn’t a great time for Vashti to be going away – but if we are to outlast this moment, to grow alongside the British Jewish left in the years and even decades to come, we need a nap.
See you when we wake up!