Back in 2015 Oliver Anisfeld was an undergraduate reading history at University College, London (UCL). Had he chosen, he could have had an assured future in the old-established family firm, H Forman and Son, headed by his father, the great grandson of its founder. At one time, when London’s East End was home to hundreds of thousands of Jewish immigrants from eastern Europe, you had only to mention the name Forman, and everyone knew you were talking smoked salmon. By 2015 the firm had expanded into an impressive nationwide enterprise with headquarters in the aptly named Fish Island, an area of east London adjacent to the River Lea.
However, the heir presumptive to the
Forman enterprise had other ideas.
Concerned at what he saw as apathy among young Jews about their Jewish
identity, he dreamed a dream. He
conceived the idea of a new, high quality, online global Jewish media
channel – a rich and vibrant source of information, thought, discussion and
interchange about issues of concern to Jews the world over. A source like this would have young Jews
particularly in mind. It would aim to
inculcate, sustain and enrich their awareness of their cultural heritage.
Ideas are ten a penny;
it takes special qualities of imagination, persistence and chutzpah to bring
one to fruition. These qualities Ollie
Anisfeld possesses in abundance. He set
his sights on enlisting the help of the eminent Jewish peer, Lord Kestenbaum, to
help with the birth of his enterprise.
Jonathan Kestenbaum, once head of Chief Rabbi Sacks’s office, and later
chief executive of the United Jewish Israel Appeal (UJIA), was known for his
extensive involvement in education.
“Tell him to leave a
message,” was Kestenbaum’s first reaction, when told that a young student was
asking for an interview.
“No,” Anisfeld told his
secretary. “I want to talk to him.”
“Tell him to send an
email,” said Kestenbaum.
But Anisfeld refused to
be palmed off. Finally Kestenbaum,
impressed with his persistence, agreed to see him.
“When he told me his
idea,” Kestenbaum later admitted, “I was hooked.”
Less than a year later J-TV was launched at a prestigious reception held at Portcullis House, adjacent to the Houses of Parliament. At the ripe old age of 22, Ollie Anisfeld had become a new Jewish media mogul.
Anisfeld says that over the years he has learned some of
the techniques necessary to grab and hold a social media audience. A video must be fast-moving, but it should
appeal as much to the emotions as to the eye.
To hold the attention it needs to be slick and graphic. Above all, it must be entertaining. I asked Anisfeld for an example, and he
quoted J-TV’s Purim fest of a few years back, when he engaged a professional
Donald Trump impersonator. It proved to
be an outstandingly popular video.
Over the five years of
its existence J-TV has built up a regular global audience of some 250,000,
though some videos have registered a million or more viewings. The channel finds its largest audience in the
US. with the UK a good second, followed by Israel, South Africa, Canada and
Australia.
J-TV is an on-line video streaming channel, using YouTube as its main platform. I asked Anisfeld whether he had been tempted to provide a fully-fledged TV service, but he said that he had favored the internet and popular social media from the start – he’d had no desire to launch his own website to carry his content. His idea was to make access for his audience as easy as possible, and he believes that on-line provision from the well-established social media platforms is the key to reaching the younger audience who are his main target. Being streamed online, J-TV can be watched anywhere and at any time.
Anisfeld has succeeded
in extending his audience to include a fair proportion of non-Jews – some 30
percent is his estimate. One ambition is, while expanding his existing devotees,
to reach out to a non-Jewish audience and engage their interest. He believes that the current upsurge of
antisemitism in the West is based in fair measure on lack of knowledge and
frank misapprehensions about Jews and Judaism.
In particular, he believes that some of the social pressure placed on University Jewish societies,
on both American and British campuses, could be countered by the dissemination
of well-based media content aimed at people who are open to reason.
In this aim, Anisfeld
told me, he would welcome input from people willing to contribute to his
growing operation. He wants to encourage
creative video material and genuine emotional involvement with J-TV. The enterprise has a long way to travel. Ollie
Anisfeld is seeking help to achieve its worthy ideals.
When we were last in touch, he had this to say: "You said I didn't go into the salmon business, but I would beg to differ. The salmon is unique in that it swims upstream, against the tide, and that's what I've been trying to do every single day."
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