ES News email The latest headlines in your inbox twice a day Monday - Friday plus breaking news updates Enter your email address Continue Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in Register with your social account or click here to log in I would like to receive lunchtime headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts, by email Update newsletter preferences

In a small area of north-east London, no bigger than two square miles, there are more than 50 Synagogues, dozens of orthodox schools and numerous Kosher supermarkets, butchers and bakers.

Once a small Haredi enclave, the Jewish population of Stamford Hill in Hackney swelled during and after the Second World War as refugees fled Nazi Germany and Holocaust survivors sought refuge in Britain.

With the growth of the Jewish population came a rise in the number of anti-Semitic attacks and by the late noughties police cuts, the economic crisis and rising levels of crime had exacerbated the Orthodox Jewish community’s sense of insecurity, community leaders said.

In response, they founded Shomrim. Hebrew for “guardians” or “custodians” it is a neighbourhood watch group which patrols the streets of north-east London clamping down on crime and protecting the Jewish population in Stamford Hill.

Last year the organisation said it facilitated 146 arrests, 22 of which were for anti-Semitic offences. A registered charity, Shomrim polices everything from drink-driving to racist abuse and its patrols are aimed at protecting all members of society, with 64 per cent of its work last year supporting the non-Jewish community.

Founded in 2008, its president, Rabbi Herschel Gluck, 58, describes its mission as “contributing to a safer and more harmonious city.” But almost a decade after it was established Shomrim finds itself more relevant than ever.

“In the past two years Shomrim has faced rising anti-Semitism and rising anti-minority feeling in general. It is definitely getting worse, people feel much more comfortable being anti-Semitic” says Rabbi Gluck, adding that it has meant “Shomrim has needed to be much more active and proactive in engaging with the relevant authorities.”

According to the Community Security Trust (CST), a charity which protects British Jews from anti-Semitism, anti-Semitic attacks in London rose by 62 per cent between the first six months of 2015 and 2016. While in a 19 day survey undertaken by Stamford Hill Shomrim in December the group recorded 19 anti-Semitic attacks, one for each day of the study.

As Rabbi Gluck puts it: “Minorities, and especially the Jewish community in Europe, are the weather vane of discontent and a wider feeling of insecurity in society, as people look for easy and quick answers to their problems.”

Initially established as a practical security operation Rabbi Gluck says the charity, funded by the Jewish community, has organically broadened its focus.

Its primary function remains patrolling the area and responding to reports of crime. Those on patrol are equipped with radios and stab vests and they liaise with London’s emergency services, as well as the Jewish ambulance service, Hapzolah.

But it also has a more philosophical aim of fostering good relations with the wider community, and the Met has acknowledged its role as an intermediary between the Jewish population and the police.

Rabbi Gluck says “Shomrim has very good relations with the Met, with local police and with all the organs of state it needs to work with” allowing it to work as “a bridge” between the Jewish population and wider society.

He says many Orthodox Jews find it hard to talk about anti-Semitism with people outside the Jewish community while others only speak Hebrew or Yiddish. “Don’t forget many of the people in this community are the children or grandchildren of Holocaust survivors or are Holocaust survivors themselves.

“And the Holocaust was a very traumatic experience for Jewish relations with government and authorities and many people still feel very vulnerable” he says.

From the tight-knit often insular world of London’s Orthodox Jews, and confronted with growing anti-Semitism in London, Rabbi Gluck stresses the need for communities to take more responsibility.

The onus, he says, has to be on the people: “After a billion pounds of cuts to the police more needs to be done by communities to help the authorities in their work, we need to contribute positively and constructively.”

Adding: “It is only this way that we can build a safe and harmonious society.”