Blackpool United Hebrew Congegration

Nahman ben Isaac

Nahman ben Isaac was appointed as reader of the Plymouth Hebrew Congregation, Devon, in 1815. Although he effectively served as first reader or chazan, he was not given that title as the elderly incumbent of that position, Jacob Judah ben Benjamin was still alive. His salary was £60 per annum. He was able to augment his salary with a further £20 per annum by acting as shochet for the Dock Minyan, an offshoot of the Plymouth Hebrew Congregation in Plymouth Dock, then a separate town (now known as Devonport) to the west of Plymouth proper. (Rabbi B. Susser's thesis, "The Jews of South-West England", Chapter 6.)

Rabbi Namyot
(d. 1917)

Rabbi Namyot, from Antwerp, Belgium, was the rav. at Gateshead Hebrew Congregation from about 1915 until 1917. (JYB listings; The Jewish Communities of North-East England by Lewis Olsover (1980), p.229.)

Rev. W. Neier

Rev Neier was minister to the Kettering United Synagogue Members Group, Northamptonshire, from about 1942/3 until July 1945 when he was appointed minister, teacher, and secretary to the nearby Northampton Hebrew Congregation. In 1946 he was chair of the Northampton Zionist society. (JC report 27 July 1945; JYB listing.)

Rev. Emil Nemeth
(c.1911 - 1 October 1968)

Hungarian born Rabbi Nemeth (m. Masie Cohen), was the son of Rev. Joseph Nemeth, a shochet in Leeds. He came to England in 1921 and studied at Etz Chaim yeshiva, Jews' College and obtained a BA from London University. He officiated at the Rosh Hashana services in New Tredegar, south Wales, in 1924. He assisted the ministers at Bayswater Synagogue and Hampstead Synagogue, and from 1940-c.1946 was acting minister at the Central Synagogue, Great Portland Street, while Rev Philip Cohen was chaplain to the Forces. He was closely associated with welfare work for those made homeless during the blitz and during his term at Central, the synagogue building was destroyed by bombing in 1941. Rev. Nemeth, who obtained semicha from Jews' College in 1963, served as minister of Highgate Synagogue, north London from 1947 until his death 21 years later on Kol Nidre night, in hospital. Over 400 attended the memorial service at the Highgate synagogue. He was the brother of Rabbi Morris Nemeth of Liverpool and New West End synagogue and the father of Michael Nemeth, part time officiant at Highgate Synagogue. (JC obituary 11 October 1968, tribute 1 November 1968; The Lost Synagogues of London by Peter Renton, p.7; various JC reports; and JYB listings.)

Rabbi Shmuel Neuman

Rev. Neuman served as chazan at Western Marble Arch Synagogue, London, and then at Hendon Synagogue, London (1981 to 2006). In 1996 he obtained semicha from Jews' College, London. Subsequently, Rabbi Neuman is a Jewish studies teacher at the Jewish educational charity Kisharon (2006 to present - December 2020). (JYB listings and JC reports.)

Rev. (or Rabbi) Heim Neumann
(c.1829 - 22 March 1899)

Rev. Neumann (m. Fanny Aarary in Dover in 1861), was resident in Dover, Kent, from on or before his marriage. From 1861 he advertised in The JC that he had taken "a COMMODIOUS HOUSE, No. 10, St. Martin's Terrace, in the most healthy part of the town, within five minutes walk of the sea, and will be most happy to accommodate those families who intend to visit Dover for the season, and will also be glad to take charge of any children whose parents may feel desirous of committing to his care." Similar adverts continue until 1866. He is assumed to have become minister of Dover Synagogue following Rev. R.I. Cohen's retirement (c.1865) and is believed to have stepped down as minister by November 1867, when the congregation advertised for a hazan, shohet and baal korah, adding that "No Cohen need apply". He served as minister at the Norwich Hebrew Congregation, Norfolk, (1874-1888), where his wife died in 1894 (she is buried at Earlham cemetery, Norwich). In July 1895 Rev. Neumann was unanimously elected first reader of the Manchester Old Hebrew Congregation (or Great Synagogue), his last known post. (JC various reports and internet research.)

Rev. Abraham Newman
(1869 - 26 March 1945)

Rev. Newman (m. Adeline Atlshuler in Leeds in 1891) was educated at yeshiva in Vilnius and came to England in the 1880s. He lived initially in Leeds working as a Hebrew teacher and in 1898 he was appointed as minister and shochet to the Blackburn Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire, serving until late 1904, during which period he founded a Society for the Study of Rabbinical Literature and took a leading part in the formation of the community�s Zionist Society. He then served as minister of the Leicester Hebrew Congregation from 1905 until his retirement in 1939, being the longest serving minister in the history of the congregation, and even following his retirement, he continued to serve in an emeritus capacity. He was also a visiting minister to the Northampton Hebrew Congregation. He died in Leicester in 1945. He was the founder and then Hon Life President of Leicester Zionist Society. ("From Poland To Paradise Lane and Other Journeys" - a history of the Jewish community of Blackburn, by Hilary Thomas, 2018, including Ch. 4 (the Newman Years) and biography, p.173; JC reports; and profile on the Leicester Jewish Gilroes website.)

Rabbi Dr Eugene Newman
(17 May 1913 - 1 January 1977)

Rabbi Newman (m. Bertha - d.2009) was born in Czechoslovakia and graduated from Prague University, the Prague Rabbinical Seminary and the yeshiva in Pressburg (today Bratislava, Slovakia). Coming to Britain as a refugee from Nazism, he was minister of the New Synagogue, Manchester (1939-1945) and of the Portsmouth and Southsea Hebrew Congregation (1945-1954) during which latter period he received semicha. He served as minister of Golders Green Synagogue from 1954 until his death in office in 1977. He was described as "a warm-hearted, kindly, gentle scholar-rabbi whose sermons were delivered with erudition and great sincerity". He was responsible for Welfare in the chief rabbi's cabinet and was honorary principal of the Marks-Kennedy Jewish Primary School in Golders Green. He authored a book on the Life and Teachings of Isaiah Horowitz (1972), the subject of his doctoral thesis. Rabbi Newman is buried at Willesden cemetery. A hall in the Netiv Meir Yeshiva in Jerusalem was dedicated in his memory. He was the father of Rabbi Michael Newman. (JC obituary 7 January 1977; JYB listings; online research.)

Rev. Gary Newman

Southport-born Rev. Newman was chazan (cantor) at the Higher Prestwich Hebrew Congregation, Manchester before moving south to become assistant minister and chazan at Southend and Westcliff Hebrew Congregation (1994-2000). He then served as minister of Newbury Park Synagogue, London (c.2000-December 2014) and, following the merger of that congregation, he was appointed community welfare minister of the new entity, Redbridge United Synagogue, London (January 2015-May 2019). Following yet a further merger, he became community welfare minister of Cranbrook United Synagogue, Ilford, London, serving from May 2019 until his retirement in May 2024. (JYB listings; Cranbrook United Synagogue website; and press reports.)

Rabbi Isaac Newman
(3 April 1924 - 20 July 2011)

London-born Rabbi I. Newman, M.Phil. (m. Rita Rubin) had served as headmaster of Notting Hill Synagogue Hebrew Classes (where his father, Rabbi Julius Newman, was minister) before becoming minister of Kingsbury District Synagogue, London (c.1948-c.1950). He subsequently served as chaplain to the Royal Air Force (1950-1956), minister of St Albans Hebrew Congregation, Hertfordshire (1956-1958), Dalston Synagogue, Poet's Road, London (from 1958 until the synagogue's closure in 1967) and Barnet & District Affiliated Synagogue, London (from 1969 until his retirement in 1989). He had also served as a senior lecturer (Judaica) and chaplain at Middlesex Polytechnic, Trent Park, honorary secretary of the Rabbinical Council and United Synagogue Chaplain to the R.A.F. Following his retirement, he settled in Jerusalem in 1989, where he was one of the founders of human rights organisation, Rabbis for Human Rights. In 2000, he received the Knesset Award for Human Rights, presented by the then Speaker of the Knesset, Shevach Weiss. (Click HERE for gallery of photographs of Rabbi Newman.) (JYB listings and "Who's Who" entries and information provided by Rabbi Newman's son, Prof. David Newman, OBE.)

Rabbi J. Newman

Rabbi Newman, who was born in Pressburg, Czechoslovakia (now Bratislava, Slovakia), came to Britain as a refugee in 1939 and spent some time as a lecturer and researcher on Juvenile Delinquency at the University of Liverpool. The results of his investigations were published under the title, "Youthful Lawbreakers". He also published a book on semicha: Semikhah (ordination); a study of its origin, history, and function in Rabbinic literature (Manchester University press, 1950). From 1941 he served as minister to the war time community at Penrith, Keswick and District Hebrew Congregation, Cumbria, and later became Rabbi of the newly-formed Addiscombe and District Synagogue, Croydon (1947-1951). In 1952 Rabbi Newman was appointed Regional Rabbi to the South African Jewish Board of Deputies. (JC profile 9 February 1951 and various reports.)

Rabbi Dr. Julius Newman
(1896 - 12 March 1950)

Rabbi Julius Newman (m. Ida, daughter of Rabbi Jacob Rabinowitz, in 1922) according to his obituary in the JC, came to Britain from Poland aged six (although other sources state that he was born, in Leeds). He studied at Etz Chaim yeshiva London and received semicha from Rabbis Kook, Daitches and Hurwitz, and was one of only three rabbis known to have received semicha from Rav. Kook during the latter's stay in London during World War I. He was awarded BA and PhD. as an external student of London University. In 1916 Rabbi Newman was elected assistant rabbi and preacher at the Chevra Sephard Synagogue, Bridge Street, Leeds. He was the long serving minister of Notting Hill Synagogue, London (1920-c.1945) and headmaster of the Talmud Torah. Rabbi Newman was president of the Hakerem Zionist society and first hon. secretary of the Vaad Harabbanim. He was the father of Rabbi Isaac Newman. (JC obituary 24 March 1950, Jewish Year listings and information provided by Rabbi Newman's grandson, Prof. David Newman, OBE.)

Rabbi Michael Newman
(b. c.1946)

Portsmouth born Rabbi Newman, son of Rabbi Eugene Newman, was assistant minister at Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue, London, until 1972 when he became minister at Luton Hebrew Congregation, Bedfordshire. Rabbi Newman served there until August 1975 when he took up the post of rabbi at Herzlia Adas Yeshurun Congregation in Winnipeg, Canada. In 1978 he was appointed rabbi to the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation and from the 1980s Rabbi Newman taught Jewish history and Talmud in London. (JC reports.)

Rabbi Monty Newman

Rabbi Newman, served as assistant minister, shamas, secretary to the congregation, secretary for marriages, cheder teacher and youth leader at Nottingham Hebrew Congregation, from 1944 until 1947 (although it is unclear he held all positions at the same time). He also qualified as a dentist and left Nottingham for Manchester, where he practised as a dentist in conjunction with his rabbinical activities. (Nelson Fisher Eight Hundred Years. The Story of Nottingham's Jews.)

Haham Rabbi David Nieto
(1654 - 10 January 1728)

Rabbi D. Nieto (also spelled Nietto) (m. Sarah) was born in Venice, the son of Rabbi Phineas Nieto. He studied medicine in Padua and at the same time obtained semicha from a local rabbi. He graduated in Medicine and Philosophy in 1687 at the age of 33. Rabbi Nieto then moved to Leghorn, Italy to work as a physician and was appointed Dayan of the local Beth Din. There he wrote a number of works in which he dealt with the differences of calculation in the calendars of the Greek, Roman, and Jewish ecclisiastical authorities pointing out a number of errors which had crept into the Christian calendar. In 1702, Nieto was appointed Haham to the London Sephardi community, now in their recently completed Bevis Marks Synagogue. He died in office in London in 1728 and was succeeded by his son, Isaac Nieto. Nieto was one of the most accomplished Jews of his time and was equally distinguished in philosophy, physics, medicine, poetry, mathematics, astronomy and theology. (Jewish Encyclopedia article on "David Nieto" c.1906 and British Chief Rabbis 1664-2006 by Derek Taylor, 2007, Chapter 7, pp.80-99.)

Haham Rabbi Isaac Nieto
(1687 - 1773)

Rabbi I. Nieto (also spelled Nietto) (m.1. Rebecca Carion de Taiba; m.2. Leah Supino), who was born in Leghorn, Italy, succeeded his father, David Nieto, in 1733 as Haham of the London Sephardi community and rabbi of the Bevis Marks Synagogue, five years following his father's death. He resigned in 1741 and initially went to Leghorn. He returned to London in 1747 and took up the profession of a notary. In 1749, he travelled to Gibraltar and was appointed Gibraltar's first Rabbi, establishing the Shaar Hashamayim Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in Gibraltar. Following the untimely death of his successor, Haham de Mesquita in 1851, he was appointed Ab Bet Din of the London Sephardi community, resigning in 1757 as a result of a violent dispute over the titles of the members of the Bet Din and the relationship of the members to one another. He died in London. (Jewish Encyclopedia article on "Isaac Nieto" c.1906 and British Chief Rabbis 1664-2006 by Derek Taylor, 2007, Chapter 9, pp.115-134.)

Rabbi Jacob Nieto
(22 December 1863 - 26 March 1930)

Born in England, Rabbi Nieto (m. Rose) was descended from a prominent Sephardi family, including amongst his rabbinical ancestors, the eighteenth century Hachamim of the Spanish and Portuguese congregation in London, David Nieto and his son Isaac Nieto. He was the son of Rev. Abraham Haim Nieto, minister at Kingston, Jamaica. Rabbi Nieto was brought up in Kingston from the age of eight and later studied in New York. Having returned to Jamaica, he was forced to leave again because of the great fire in Kingston in 1882. He returned to London and was employed as an assistant master at Norwood orphan asylum while he continued his religious studies. Rabbi Nieto served as minister of the Sheffield Hebrew Congregation (1889-1892), then attended Jews' College, London and preached occasionally at the Spital Square Synagogue in Bishopsgate, London. On the day after he obtained his educational qualifications from Jews' College, he emigrated to California and became Rabbi of Congregation Sherith Israel in San Francisco. He served there from 1893 until 1930. Rabbi Nieto led relief efforts after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. He strongly opposed the Great War as an imperialist venture, sought the abolition of capital punishment and advocated for women's rights. He held senior positions in Bnei Brith and freemasonry in California. A collection of the Rabbi's papers are held by the Online Archive of California. (JC interview with Rabbi Nieto during a visit to London, 7 July 1907, internet research.)

Rev. Martin (Mayer) Norden
(c.1911 - November 2010)

Rev. (later Rabbi) Norden (m. Ruth) was from Germany. In 1939/1940 he served as "rabbi" at the synagogue at Barham House, Claydon, near Ipswich, Suffolk, which acted as a "clearing house" for hundreds of kindertransport children following the closure of the Dovercourt camp at Harwich. He later served as reader at the Sheffield Central Hebrew Congregation (c. 1946), was appointed as reader, shochet and teacher to the Middlesbrough Hebrew Congregation from 1948 to 1951. He then moved to Canada and subsequently to the United States, where he obtained semicha under Rav Moshe Feinstein. In the 1970's Rabbi Norden made aliyah to Israel. He died in Jerusalem, aged 99. (Jewish Year listings and obituary on Kehilat Middlesbrough website.)

Rev. Michael Simon Nuremberg
(c.1813 - December 1889)

Rev. Nuremberg, born in the Duchy of Posen, was shochet and reader of Brighton Hebrew Congregation, Sussex from about 1843 until about 1879. (Brighton Jewry 250 - An anthology of the Brighton & Hove Jewish Community 1766-2016; JC reports.)

Rabbi Shlomo Odze
(b. c.1979)

Rabbi Odze was youth minister at St John's Wood Synagogue, London. He studied in Israel prior to his appointment as Minister of Birmingham Central Synagogue (2005-2012). In 2012 Rabbi Odze returned to London to become associate minister at South Hampstead Synagogue. (Internet research.)

Rev. Abraham Noach Oler
(19 October 1896 - c.1975)

Warsaw-born Rev. Oler (m. Rajzla) attended yeshiva and studied music at the Warsaw Conservatory. Following his move to Britain, he served as reader of the Sheffield Central Hebrew Congregation from 1927 to 1931. From about 1931 until World War II, he was first reader of the Sunderland Hebrew Congregation, also serving as acting minister until about 1934. In 1946, he moved to North America, serving congregations in New Brunswick, Canada, New York State and Connecticut. (JYB listings; Various JC reports.)

Rev. S. Olive
(d. 26 January 1928)

Rev. Olive, formerly known as Olwenstein, (m. Annie) served as minister, shochet, joint secretary and teacher of the Derby Hebrew Congregation (c.1912-c.1914), and then served the New Tredegar Hebrew Congregation, South Wales (c.1914 until at least 1916). He was later a shochet in London and died at Sandy's Row in London's East End. (JYB listings and various JC reports and death notice of 3 February 1928.)

Rev. Henry (Hanoch) Olivestone
(c.1883 - 6 May 1952)

Warsaw-born Rev. Olivestone (also Olivenstein, and formerly Oliwensztejn) (m. Cina Celia Siemon) came to Britain in 1914 from Antwerp. He served as reader, shochet and teacher of the Ebbw Vale Hebrew Congregation south Wales from about 1914 and in January 1916 was appointed minister of the neighbouring Tredegar Hebrew Congregation, although it is uncertain whether he also continued to serve the Ebbw Vale congregation, until about 1918. He was later with Adath Yisroel Synagogue, London, before serving as minister of Blackpool United Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire (1920-1924), Portsmouth Hebrew Congregation, Hampshire (1924-c.1926) and Walthamstow and Leyton Synagogue, London (c.1926-c.1932). During the early years of World War II he served as a liaison officer with the Jewish community in with Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, and was in charge of billeting for Jewish evacuees. He was later associated with the Yeshurun Synagogue, Edgware, where his son Bernard Olivestone was a founder member and long-term president. While at Tredegar in 1916, Rev. Olivestone published Zecher Ov, a memorial to his grandfather which was written by his father in Warsaw. He was also an inventor and patented a new design of a loud speaker. He died in Paris on his way to Israel and was buried at the Adath Yisroel cemetery, Enfield, London. (Jewish Year listings; and JC reports.)

Rev. Leslie Olsberg, MBE
(13 May 1922 - 26 July 2008)

Manchester-born Rev. Olsberg (m. Golda Landsberg from London) was an early pupil of the legendary Jonah Balkind and studied at Manchester Yeshiva. He was the founding (secular) head of Manchester and Salford Jewish Grammar School (now Mesivta High School) in 1947. Headmaster of Hebrew classes of the Higher Prestwich Hebrew Congregation, Manchester, and briefly, in 1970, of the Southport Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire, Rev Olsberg decided to enter the ministry in 1971, aged almost 50. For the next 36 years he was minister at Heaton Park Synagogue, Manchester, (1971-2008) and undertook duties in the wider community. He was chaplain to Heathlands Jewish home for the aged, to King David High School and to the Scouts and Jewish Lads and Girls Brigade in Manchester, as well as President of the Council of Christians and Jews. Up to the point he retired, aged 86, he was believed to be the oldest serving Jewish minister in the country. In 1994, a road, Olsberg Close, was named after him in Salford. He was awarded an MBE in 2007 for his over 60 years of service to the community. (JC obituary, 1 August 2008 and various reports.)

Rev. Abraham Opolion
(c. 1890 - 27 January 1962)

Rev. Opolion (m. (1) Leah, 1913, d.1940; (2) Bluma (Blanche) Kaplan, 1943) was born in Bedwellty, south Wales. He served as reader of the small Abertillery Hebrew Congregation, South Wales, from about 1914. He then served as reader of Leicester Hebrew Congregation (1916-1920) and as a teacher at its Hebrew school, and as reader of the Tonypandy Hebrew Congregation, south Wales (1920 to December 1921). From 1 January 1922, he served as minister of the Blackburn Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire, remaining there until late 1932 and then moved to London . He is also likely to be the Rev. A. Apolon who earlier served as minister of the Greenock Hebrew Congregation, Scotland (1913-1914). He is buried in East Ham cemetery, London (view image of gravestone). (JC reports and online articles; "From Poland To Paradise Lane and Other Journeys" - a history of the Jewish community of Blackburn, by Hilary Thomas, 2018, including biography, p.177.)

Rev. Jonathan Ordman, JP
(b. 26 March 1952)

Manchester-born Rev. Ordman, the grandson of Rev. Menachem BenZion (Mendel) Ordman, trained at Jews' College, London and studied chazanut under under the aegis of Rev. Leo Brill at Jews' College, London. He served as second reader at the Southend and Westcliff Hebrew Congregation (1987-1988) and left to take up the post of minister of the Nairobi Hebrew Congregation, Kenya. By 1989 he had returned to the UK and was chazan at South Manchester Synagogue (1990-2003). Rev. Ordman was chair of the public relations and media committee of the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester and served as a Justice of the Peace for 25 years. (Information provided by the family; JYB listing and JC various reports. See BBC spot, in which Rev. Ordman explains the place of chazanut and song in the Jewish faith.)

Rev. Menachem BenZion (Mendel) Ordman
(c.1889 - 28 May 1967)

Rev. Ordman (m. Molly Hinda Glickman, daughter of Rev. Abraham Glickman) was born in Naveran (near Telz), Lithuania and attended the famous Telz Yeshiva until he was offered a post at Chevrah Tehillim Synagogue, Lombard Street West, Dublin, Ireland, around 1910, where he served as chazan, shochet and mohel. Moving to England, he served the Burnley Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire, from at least 1921 until 1923, followed briefly by the Coventry Hebrew Congregation (1923-c.1924), and was elected chazan and shochet (and effectively minister) of the Stockport Hebrew Congregation, Cheshire (now Greater Manchester) in July 1924, where an additional duty was acting as Investigating Officer for the Benevolent Society. In about 1928, Rev. Ordman was appointed second reader, shochet and teacher to the Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation, where he served until retirement due to ill health in April 1947. Post retirement, he purchased a farm near Peebles in Scotland and was known locally as "Rabbie Ordman". He continued to assist congregations in Dublin (in particular Lennox Street Synagogue) and in Scotland and, for a short time, acted as reader at Hounslow and District Affiliated Synagogue, West London, where his son lived. He died in Manchester. Click HERE for photographs.  (JC obituary 9 June 1967 and various reports, internet research and information provided by his grandson, Michael Ordman.)

Rev. Samuel Orler
(24 December 1853 - 31 December 1923)

Polish-born Rev. Orler came to Britain in about 1873 or 1874, living initially in Stepney, London. His first known post is at Falmouth Jewish Congregation, Cornwall (1875-1880). In 1880 the Falmouth synagogue closed, following which Rev Orler was appointed chazan and shochet at Stroud Synagogue, Gloucestershire, as that congregation's first minister. In 1890 he returned to London and worked for the Shechita Board as a shochet and inspector. He was informally regarded as the spiritual head of the New Road Synagogue, Whitechapel, and for a number of years he conducted High Festival services in an honorary capacity at Redman's Road Talmud Torah, Stepney, London. His daughter Queenie married Rabbi Arnold Mishcon. ("The Hebrew Community of Cheltenham, Gloucester and Stroud", 1989, by Brian Torode; JC obituary 12 January 1924, various reports and internet research.)

Rev. Abraham Frederick Ornstein
(1836 - 6 December 1895)

London-born Rev. Ornstein at eighteen (c.1854) became reader/minister to the Portsea (Portsmouth) Hebrew Congregation, Hampshire, and was then appointed headmaster of the Birmingham Hebrew National School and secretary of the Birmingham Hebrew Congregation, Singers Hill, in 1860. He resigned on 1 September 1865 to take up the post of minister of the Bourke Street Synagogue, Melbourne, Australia (a post which at the same time had also been offered Rev. Henry D. Marks). Returning to Britain in 1875, the following year he became principal of Aria College, Portsea, until 1882. Rev. Ornstein emigrated to South Africa where he was minister of the synagogue at Cape Town and later established a college there. He died in Cape Town. (JC obituary 3 January 1896.)

Rabbi Shalom Osdoba
(b. 1967)

Rabbi Osdoba (m. Sarah), was born in Denmark, the son of Rabbi Avraham Osdoba (a Lubavitch shaliach in Copenhagen who became the senior member of the Crown Heights Bet Din in New York) and educated in Chabad yeshivot. He was appointed full-time rabbi of the new Hull Hebrew Congregation, formed following the merger of Hull's Old Hebrew Congregation and Hull's Western Synagogue, which took effect on 1 January 1994. He was responsible for the construction of a purpose built Mikveh in Hull in 2004. Rebbetzin Sarah Osdoba taught at the Leeds Jewish High School for Girls. Rabbi Osdoba served for some 18 years as the Hull community's last full-time rabbi, but in 2011 the community could no longer afford a full-time rabbi and the Osdobas moved to north west London (for a short period, until about June 2012, continuing to serve the Hull community on a part-time visiting basis). Rabbi Osdoba was director of the Chabad Israeli Centre in north west London from 2020 until 2022. (JC press reports and internet research.)

Rev. Isaac Ostroff
(11 February 1880 - 6 February 1933)

Rev. I. Ostroff was born in Bauska, Latvia (m. Bluma or Bloomah Levy from Stroud, on 22 May 1904, and had 10 children). He served as reader, teacher and shochet at Stroud Synagogue, Gloucestershire (c.1902-c.1904), Aberdare and Aberaman Hebrew Congregation, south Wales (c.1904-1907), and the Aberdeen Hebrew Congregation (1907-c.1911). From 1911 he was resident in London where his posts included teacher at Kilburn and Brondesbury Talmud Torah. In 1913 he inaugurated the Hebrew and religion classes at Wandsworth and Balham Synagogue, south London. Active for the rest of his life in south and south west London, he was, at the time of his death, aged 52, chazan at South-West London Associate Synagogue (by which name Wandsworth and Balham Synagogue was then known). He was a noted worker for the South West London Aid Society (Home for Aged Jews) and President of the South West London Jewish Literary and Social Society. (JC tributes 17 February 1933 and reports; JYB listings.)

Rev. Moshe David Ovici

Romanian born Rev. Ovici in his early years sang in various choirs under famous chazanim and at the age of 18, he was appointed chazan in Arad, western Romania. He later served as chazan at the Great Synagogue in Bucharest, Romania. He moved to Israel and served as chazan at the Mea Shearim Synagogue in Tel Aviv and at the Nachlat Avoth Synagogue. In 1958, he was appointed chazan at the Cathedral Road Synagogue of the Cardiff United Synagogue, serving until about 1960. (JYB listings; and Jolles's Encyclopaedia, p. 876.)

Rev. S. Calemanovitz

Rev. Calemanovitz (or Kalmanovitch) lived in Ottoman Palestine for thirteen years, serving as the minister of the Ekron settlement for six years. He subsequently served as minister of the Chester Hebrew Congregation, Cheshire, from about 1912 until about 1916. (JC reports and JYB listings.)

Rev. Hyman Caminetsky
(c.1840 - 12 April 1903)

Rev. Caminetsky (m. Rose) was born in Russia, served as a chazan from the age of eighteen and was a qualified shochet. He came to Britain in about 1885, where he officiated as a chazan. During the 1890s, he served in Cardiff, both at the Cardiff Hebrew Congregation, East Terrace, and the Beth Hamedrash, Clare Road. In 1894, he officiated at certain synagogues in Manchester, including the Fernie Street Great Synagogue, where he may have been their choirmaster, and the Cracow Synagogue. In 1901, he was appointed reader at Hightown Synagogue, Bell Street, Manchester. He died in Manchester and was buried at Urmston Jewish Cemetery. One of his sons was Peter Cummings (formerly Caminesky), FRIBA, architect and water colour painter. (Jolles's Encyclopaedia, p. 346.)

Rev. Ian Camissar
(b. c.1948)

London born Rev. Camissar (m. Helene), the son of Rev. Solomon Camissar, studied for a time at Gateshead yeshiva and took a three year course in chazanut at Jews' College, London. In June 1968 he was appointed temporary chazan/minister to the Harrogate Hebrew Congregation, Yorkshire. The post was made permanent and he remained in Harrogate until December 1975, when he left to become chazan of the Beth Hamidrash Hagadol Synagogue, in neighbouring Leeds. In 1989 Rev. Camissar served briefly as chazan minister of the Perth Hebrew Congregation, Australia, but returned to his former post at Leeds later that year. In 1991 he returned to Harrogate and served there until 1993. He moved to Bournemouth to become proprietor of Louise's, Bournemouth's only kosher butcher and deli. (JC various reports; Rosalyn D. Livshin's The History of the Harrogate Jewish community.)

Rev. Israel Candleshine
(d. 28 January 1949)

Russian-born Rev. Candleshine served as minister of Coventry Hebrew Congregation (c.1916-c.1918). He later became a lay leader of the Birmingham Jewish community, serving on the city's shechita board and was chairman of the Birmingham Talmud Torah. (Christina Hilsenrath, in her history of the Jews of Bath, has identified Rev. Candleshine as the same person as Rev. I. (or J.) Kandelschaine, who served as the last minister at Bath Synagogue, Somerset, in about 1900/1.) (Harry Levine, The Jews of Coventry 1970, p.44; and JYB listings; Christina Hilsenrath, in Jews in Bath: a community and their Burial Ground, 1700-1945, 2024.)

Rev. Bernard Cantor
(d. 1915)
Rev. Cantor served as a reader at the Sheffield Hebrew Congregation from about 1900 until about 1911. He is buried in the congregation's Ecclesfield Cemetery, Colley Road. (JYB listings.)

Rev. M. Cantor

Rev. Cantor studied at Manchester Yeshivah and held posts at several congregations in Ireland, Manchester, Leeds and London, before serving as chazan of the Birmingham Central Synagogue (c.1951-c.1954).  He was then chazan of the Leeds Chassidishe Synagogue from 1954 until 1964, when he was appointed as minister of United Congregations of the Copperbelt in Kitwe, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). (Jolles's Encyclopaedia; JYB listings.)

Rev. D. Caplan
(b. 1868)

Warsaw-born Rev. D. Caplan lived for a while in Sydney, Australia, and came to Britain in 1891. At some stage he was appointed reader and shochet to the Coventry Hebrew Congregation (serving until 1901), followed by the Pontypridd Hebrew Congregation south Wales (from 1901), and later Stroud Synagogue, Gloucestershire (c.1902). Although in 1903 he was reportedly appointed minister of the Plymouth Hebrew Congregation, Devon, it appears that he only served that congregation for a short time, or possibly, never took up the position. At the end of 1903, he was appointed reader, shochet and teacher of the Bedford Hebrew Congregation, serving until 1906. It is not currently believed that he is the same person as Rev Daniel Caplan of Blackpool. (JC reports.)

Rev. Daniel Caplan
(c.1879 - 20 February 1959)

Born in Slonim (today in Belarus), Rev. Daniel Caplan (m. Miriam Harris of Abertillery) came to Britain in the 1890s, although he may have spent some time in Australia. He served as minister in Abertillery, south Wales for some years. He served Exeter Synagogue, Devon (c.1906-1908). From about 1908 Rev. Caplan was minister, chazan, shochet and teacher of Blackpool United Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire, until 1920, stepping down briefly from the post of minister from c.1918 to c.1919. He moved to serve the Jewish community at Riversdale, near Cape Town, South Africa in 1920. However, he returned to Blackpool as early as 1923, when his wife opened "a high class Orthodox boarding house" in the seaside town. Rev. Caplan served as minister to the Barrow-in-Furness Hebrew Congregation, then in Lancashire, (c.1924-c.1928) and at Preston Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire (c.1926-c.1938) where he officiated at the opening of the Preston Synagogue in 1932. In about 1937, he was again appointed to serve the Blackpool United Hebrew Congregation, initially as reader and from about 1938 as second reader and officially retired in May 1947, but continued serving the community after then and also appears to have served as a visiting minister to the Blackburn Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire. He also served a second term at Barrow-in-Furness (1954-1959). He is buried in Blackpool Jewish cemetery and his portrait was displayed in the synagogue hall in commemoration of "50 years service". There was a Rev. D. Caplan, who served a number of communities, including Pontypridd and Bedford in the early 1900s, although it is not currently believed he is the same person as . (JC various reports and obituary of Daniel Caplan 27 February 1959; JYB listings.)

Rev. Herschel Caplan
(1921 - 30 April 2005)

Gateshead born Rev. H. Caplan (m Irene Stamm in 1951) was educated at Manchester yeshiva. He served as chazan sheini of St Annes Hebrew Congregation (1952-1958), as first reader to the Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation (1959-1964) and as second reader at the Southend and Westcliff Hebrew Congregation (1964-1966). He then moved to South Africa to serve as chazan to the Jewish community at Muizenberg, Western Cape (1966-1967), followed by serving as chazan and reader to the Pretoria Hebrew Congregation (1967-1975). On his return to England, Rev. Caplan was first reader of Hull Old Hebrew Congregation (1975-1978). He moved again to South Africa to serve as minister of the Witbank Hebrew Congregation, Transvaal (now Emalahleni, Mpumalanga) (1978-1981). Having returned to England, he served as minister of Staines and District Synagogue (1981-1986) and Margate Hebrew Congregation (1986-1988), as senior minister of Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation (c.1990-c.1996). He then came out of retirement, agedf 76, to serve as part-time minister of Portsmouth and Southsea Hebrew Congregation (1997-2004), commuting from hiis home in Bournemouth. Rev. Caplan died in Manchester. (Information from family, various JC reports, and JYB listings.)

Rev. Jacob Caplan (or Kaplan)
(c.1853 - 26 January 1924)

Rev. J. Caplan (m. Zisla (Celia) Gurevitch, d. 1920) was born in Vilna, Lithuania, and at one stage studied at the Hildesheimer rabbinical seminary in Berlin. He came to England in about 1899 and served as headmaster of the Talmud Torah at Sunderland Beth Hamedrash. From about 1910 he was reader of Gateshead United Hebrew Congregation, Prest Street, and as shochet, until his death in 1924. He is buried in the Ravensworth section of Hazelrigg Cemetery, Newcastle. (View image of gravestone). (JC reports; JYB listings.)

Rev. Yerachmiel (Robert) Caplan
(c.1876 - 1 February 1942)

Russian-born Rev. Caplan (m. Carrie - d.1928) came to Sheffield in the early twentieth century. He was described as a most learned and pious scholar and loyal official, and served as the shammas (beadle), second reader and teacher of the Sheffield Hebrew Congregation for some 35 years, initially at its North Church Street synagogue and, following its move, at the Wilson Road synagogue. He retirred in 1939 to be succeeded by his son-in-law, Rev. Cecil Donn. A portrait of Rev Caplan was unveiled at the Wilson Road synagogue in 1960. He amd his widow are buried at Ecclesfield Jewish cemetery (view images of his and her gravestone). (JC report 19 August 1960; gravestone inscription; the Sheffield Wilson Street Synagogue's Golden Jubilee Souvenir Brochure (1980), p.4; and Sheffield Jewry by Armin Krausz (1980).)

Rev. David Abraham Jessurun Cardoza
(29 March 1896 - 10 October 1969)

Amsterdam-born Rev. (later Rabbi) Cardoza studied at the Sephardi seminary "Ets Haim" in Amsterdam and at Amsterdam University. In 1920, he came to Britain, where he enrolled at the University of London and Jews' College, from which he obtained his BA in Hebrew, Aramaic and Syriac studies. He was awarded a Hollier Scholarship at University College and the Ouseley Memorial Scholarship in Arabic at the School of Oriental Studies. He trained in Sephardi chazanut under Rev. D. B. de Mesquita and officiated at Lauderdale Road Synagogue, Maida Vale, London. In December 1929, he, together with Rev. Benjamin Aron Rodrigues-Pereira, were jointly appointed chazanim/ministers at the Montefiore Synagogue, Ramsgate, Kent, where Rev Cardoza served until about 1936.  Rev. Cardozo then moved to the United States, where he served as assistant rabbi to the Shearith Israel Congregation (Spanish and Portuguese), Central Park West, New York (1936-1943) and then served at the Congregation Mikveh Israel, Philadelphia (1943-1949) and the Sephardi Jewish Centres of Bronx and Queens (1950-1953). During World War II, Rev. Cardozo was president of the Netherlands Jewish Society and helped many Dutch Jewish refugees arriving in the USA, for which he was later honoured by Queen Wilhelmina with the Officier Order of the Knights of Orange and Nassau (1947). In 1953, Rabbi Cardozo made history by conducting Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services in Madrid, the first such services to be held without any official restrictions since the 1492 Expulsion. He was co-author (with Paul Goodman) of Think and Thank, The Montefiore Synagogue and College, Ramsgate, 1833-1933. (JC obituary 22 September 1972; JYB listings; Jolles's Encyclopaedia; and online research.)

Rabbi Dr. Alexander Carlebach
(1908 - 1992)

Cologne-born Rabbi Carlebach (m. Marga Lowenstein), the son of Rabbi Emanuel Carlebach, studied at Slobodka Yeshiva, Lithuania and at Universities in Cologne, Leipzig, Paris and Strasbourg and enrolled as a student on the rabbinical course at Jews' College, London in 1933. He served as assistant minister at Golders Green Beth Hamedrash ("Munk's Shul"), London (1938-1947) and as principal of its Hebrew School. In about 1945, Carlebach served with the Jewish Relief Unit in Germany. By 1947 he was education officer at the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations (UOHC), London and served as minister of the then newly-formed North Hendon Adath Yisroel Synagogue, London (c.1947-c.1955). In 1954 he accepted the call to become rabbi to the Belfast Hebrew Congregation (1954-1965). In 1965, Rabbi Carlebach emigrated to Israel where he was actively involved in various religious and educational projects. He died in Jerusalem. In 1955. Carlebach was awarded a doctorate in law from the University of Strasbourg. He authored Adass Yeshuron of Cologne (Belfast, 1964) and Men and Ideas: Selected Writings 1935-80 (Jerusalem, 1982). (JYB listings and research by Steven Jaffe.)

Rabbi Professor Julius Carlebach
28 December 1922 - 16 April 2001

Hamburg born Professor Rabbi Carlebach (m Myrna Landau from Cape Town), son of Rabbi Dr Joseph Carlebach, senior rabbi of Hamburg. A refugee on the kindertransport, he was briefly interned on the Isle of Man before joining the Pioneer Corps and Royal Navy Intelligence. He was senior housemaster at the Norwood Orphanage (1948-1959) and later served as administrator and then rabbi to the Nairobi Hebrew Congregation, Kenya (1959-c.1962). Upon his return to Britain, he was engaged in educational activities at Bristol and Sussex Universities, obtaining a PhD from the latter. During 33 years residence in Sussex, he served at various dates as acting minister for each of the Orthodox synagogues in Brighton and Hove on a temporary basis as and when required, and was principal of Brighton and Hove Independent Talmud Torah, at which his wife Myrna was headmistress. He was appointed reader in Jewish Studies and in Sociology and served as Sub-Dean of the School of African and Asian Studies, London. Pusuing a distinguished academic career in Britain and, post-retirement, in Germany, in 1996, he was awarded the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for services to the Jewish community in Germany. He died in Brighton. His correspondence and research papers are held by the German-Jewish archive at Sussex University, which published "This is the story of my life, an interview with Julius Carlebach" in book form in 2020. (JC obituary 11 May 2001.)

Rev. Simon Caro
(c.1812 - 19 September 1870)

Rev. Caro from Posen (m1 Maria, d. 1862; m2 Caroline) served as minister and shochet of the Norwich Hebrew Congregation, Norfolk (1840-1870). He is buried in Norwich's Bowthorpe Cemetery (image of grave stone). (Paper on Norwich from Provincial Jewry in Victorian Britain.)

Rev. Jacob (or S.) Casimir

Rev. J. Casimir,  of the Strangeways Synagogue, Manchester in 1896, and having organised a choir there "which is giving satisfaction to the members", was listed (under the name Rev. S. Casimir) as temporary minister at Preston Synagogue, Lancashire, conducting services in 1897. By 1901 he was a Hebrew teacher in Spitalfields, east London. In 1902, he assisted Rev. Isaac Goldston with the South East London Synagogue choir. (JYB listing; JC reports.)

Rabbi (later Dayan) Moses Avigdor Chaikin
(1852 - June 1928)

Born at Shklow, then in the Government of Mohilev, Russia, (today the town of Shlow in Belarus), Rabbi Chaikin was the son of Rabbi Israel Chaikin, the chief shochet of St Petersburgh for some 50 years and the nephew of Simon Menas, Chief Rabbi of Hebron in Ottoman Palestine. He married the daughter of Zalman Pinsker, Chief Rabbi in Kherson. He studied for the Rabbinate in St Petersburgh and received semicha from Rabbi Abraham Samuel Diskin, of Volkovisk in 1877, and later from Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Spector, of Kovno, and from other senior Russian rabbis. In 1883 Rabbi Chaikin became rabbi of the congregation of Russian Jews of Paris, and was one of the founders of the Talmud Torah in Paris in 1887. In 1889 he was elected Rabbi of the Hebrew Congregation of Rostov on the Don, Russia. He came to England in 1891 and was communal rabbi in Sheffiled, Yorkshire, embracing both the Sheffield Hebrew Congregation and the Sheffield New Hebrew Congregation (1892-1901). In 1901 he took up the post of senior Rabbi to the Federation of Synagogues in London, and became a respected and influential spiritual leader working principally in the East End of London. For a time he combined the Federation post with being a Dayan on the United Synagogue's Beth Din, which gave rise to tensions between the lay leadership of both bodies. At one point the Federation withdrew Rabbi Chaikin from the Beth Din, but in 1911 he was restored as a United Synagogue Dayan. Rabbi Chaikin's workload prevented him from pursuing his scholarly interests, but while in Paris he wrote Apologie des Juif, and in Sheffield he published, The Celebrities of the Jews, an overview of Jewish history from the destruction of the Temple to his own day (re-published in 2017), and he later compiled a number of Hebrew works of reference. He taught for a while at Jews' College. In 1926 Dayan Chaikin retired to British Mandate of Palestine and he died in Tel Aviv. (JC profile 25 October 1901, obituary 22 June 1928.)

Rev. Henry Chait
(1948 - 7 May 2021)

Son of Rev. Abraham Chait, a shochet in London, Rev. H. Chait (m. Helena) was educated at Etz Chaim Yeshiva, London, and entered Jews' College in 1968. He was appointed chazan of the Southport Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire, (1973-1975) and from 1975 to 1998 he was chazan to Liverpool's Greenbank Drive Synagogue, during which period he undertook additional ministerial and administrative duties as the synagogue was without a rabbi. Rev. Chait retired in 1998 due to ill health. He was the father of Rev. Albert Sebastian Chait, minister of the United Hebrew Congregation, Leeds. (JC, various reports; recording of Rev. Chait)

Rabbi Isaac Chait (formerly Chaitowitz)
(1906 - October 1972)

Possibly the only rabbi to be born in Boston, Lincolnshire, Rev. I. Chaitowitz (later Rabbi Chait) (m. Sarah) was the son of Rev. Solomon Chaitowitz. He studied at Etz Chaim Yeshiva, Jews' College, London and obtained an MA from Oxford University in Semitic studies. As Rev Chaitowitz his first post was at the Brymawr Hebrew Congregation, Breconshire (now in Gwent), south Wales, in and about 1926. In October 1926 he accepted a call from neighbouring Pontypridd Hebrew Congregation where he served for ten years. He then became minister of Palmers Green and Southgate Synagogue, London from 1936 until 1951 (during which period he obtained semicha and also served as a chaplain to the Armed Forces during the war). In 1951, he moved to Sheffield and served initially as minister of the Sheffield Hebrew Congregation and from 1953 as minister of the newly-merged United Hebrew Congregation, Sheffield until his death in 1972 while on vacation in Portugal. He was the brother of Rabbi Avrom Chaitowitz (JC obituary 3 November 1972; JYB listings.)

Rev. Rachmiel Chait
(c.1885 - August 1941)

Born in Klymovitch Russia, Rev. Chait received Kabbalah at an early age from Rabbi Meir Schwartz. In 1906 he went to Ottoman Palestine and was appointed shochet to the community in Kiryat Sephir. From about 1923 until his death he was shochet to the Dublin community, and described as a pillar of the Orthodox community in the city. In 1930 Rev. Chait was the minister of the Lennox Street Synagogue in Dublin. Two sons served in British forces during World War II and took the surname Howitt. (JC obituary 15 Aigust 1941.)

Rabbi Avrom Simon Chaitowitz
(17 February 1921 - 1992)

Rabbi Chaitowitz, BA, (m. Judith in 1949), the son of Rev. Solomon Chaitowitz, was born in Notting Hill, London, and educated at Etz Chaim Yeshiva and at Jews College, London, from where he obtained semicha in 1956. He served as minister of St Albans Affiliated Synagogue (c.1949-1952), followed by Finsbury Park Synagogue (1952-1954). He was then appointed minister of Stanmore and Canons Park District Synagogue, London (1954-1986), a congregation that saw a four fold increase in its membership during his term of office, after which he retired to Jerusalem, where he died. He was the brother of Rabbi Isaac Chait (JYB listings and "Who's Who" entries; and various JC reports and obituary, 27 November 1992.)

Rev. Solomon Chaitowitz
(14 February 1880 - 15 May 1966)

Lithuanian-born, Rev. Chaitowitz (m. Jane Israelovitch in 1905 in London) settled in Boston, Lincolnshire, where he was minister from about 1906 to about 1908 of the small and short-lived Boston Hebrew Congregation. He subsequently emigrated to Argentina and served as a minister in Buenos Aires. Rev. Chaitowitz returned to Britain, taking a post with the London Board for Shechita. He continued to live in London after his retirement. He was the father of two ministers who served congregations in the United Kingdom, Rabbi Isaac Chait and Rabbi Avrom Simon Chaitowitz. (JC obituary May 20 1966 and internet research.)

Rabbi Mordechai Chalk

London-born Rabbi Chalk (m. Shira), who has a bachelor's degree in social psychology, spent eleven years in Israel during which he studied at Bais Yisroel Yeshiva, Mir and taught at Yeshivat Sha'arei Mevaseret Zion. He and Rebbetzen Shira returned to Britain in 2018 and have served as part-time rabbinic couple at Watford & District Synagogue from May 2020 to present (December 2022). (Watford congregation's website.)

Rev. John Chapman
(c.1845 - 13 April 1917)

Rev. Chapman (m. Annie) obtained a BA from the University of London. He was described as a former minister of the Western Synagogue St Albans Place, Haymarket (dates unknown). From 1869 to 1879 he and his wife were principal and matron at the Jewish home for children recently established at Norwood, south London (originally known as the Jewish Hospital, from 1876 as the Jewish Hospital and Orphan Asylum). He was then principal of the Great Ealing school at Ealing, west London, a long established private school which under Chapman's headmastership was exclusively or principally for Jewish boys and advertised regularly in The JC. He and his wife retired in 1909. In 1909 he also stepped down as hon. secretary to Jews' College, London, after many years' service. Rev. Chapman hosted at his home some of the earliest religious services in Golders Green prior to a synagogue being established there. He is buried at Willesden cemetery. (Various JC reports, including 26 June 1914 and 17 October 1947. Image courtesy Charles Goldsmith.)

Rev. Lewis Chapman
(c.1796 - 2 October 1877)

London-born Rev Chapman served as minister to a congregation in Jamaica, returning to England in the 1820s. He served the Birmingham Hebrew Congregation for nearly half a century as principal reader, from about 1830 until his retirement due to ill health in about 1874. (JC obituary 12 October 1877.)

Rabbi Alexander Chapper

Rabbi Chapper (m. Eva) studied at London School of Jewish Studies (obtaining semicha and a London University degree in Jewish Studies) and yeshivot Mir and Darchei Noam in Israel. He was the last minister of Hammersmith & West Kensington Synagogue, London (1998-c.1999) and then served as minister of Reading Hebrew Congregation (2001-2003) and Ilford Federation Synagogue, London (2002-2017). In 2017, he joined Borehamwood and Elstree Synagogue (BES), Hertfordshire, initially as community rabbi (and rabbi of the synagogue's Yavneh minyan), becoming senior rabbi in 2019 until present (February 2025). (JYB listings and Rabbi Chapper's profile on BES's website.)

Rabbi Aaron Reuvain Charney
(c.1889 - 28 March 1970)
Rabbi Charney (also referred to as Zeidel), from Sokoly in Poland, held a rabbinical position in London prior to World War I. During the war  he moved to Birmingham where he served as rabbi of the Birmingham New Synagogue from at least 1918 until about 1921. He subsequently  moved to the United States, where at first he served as rabbi in Revere Beach, Massachusetts, near Boston, (1921-1924) and later as rabbi in at the Congregation Beth Abraham in Bayonne, New Jersey (1928-1956). Rabbi Charney was also appointed as a chaplain in the American army. He was a prolific writer. He is buried at Baron Hirsh Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York. (JYB listings; online research.)

Rev. Simon Chassim (or Chassin)
(16 January 1871 - 1 March 1924)
(b. c.1871)

Rev. Chassim (also spelled Chassen and Chassin) (m. Tillet/Theresa), born in Turetz (today in Belarus), was appointed minister of the Blackburn Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire, in April 1897. In 1898 he left Blackburn to serve as reader, shochet and mohel of the Hull Central Synagogue, Yorkshire, until about 1901. Rev Chassen then spent some years as reader of the Birmingham Beth Hamedrash (c.1902-c.1913) before he emigrated to the USA in 1913. He was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Thomasville, Georgia. (Blackburn Hebrew Congregation and its ministers by Hilary Thomas; JYB listings.)

Rev. J. Chazan

Rev. Chazan served as minister at Ayr Hebrew Congregation, west of Scotland, from 1914 until about 1915, and the Falkirk Hebrew Congregation, central Scotland, in and about September 1916. (Caledonian Jews by Nathan Abrams; Jewish Chronical report of 14 January 1916.)

Rev. Philip Chazan
(c.1887 - 16 February 1961)

Rev. Chazan (m. 1920 Millie Levine of Glasgow, a singing artist who performed on local BBC radio in Scotland and the northeast of England) from Edinburgh, was elected reader and shochet of the newly-established Doncaster United Hebrew Congregation, Yorkshire, in March 1913 serving until about 1916. He was then minister to the West Hartlepool Hebrew Congregation, County Durham, for some 17 years (c.1917-c.1933). Rev. Chazan represented the community at a northern conference of the English Zionist Federation in 1923. There is no evidence that Rev. Chazan continued his ministerial career after leaving West Hartlepool. He died in Glasgow and is buried at Cathcart cemetery. (JYB listings; JC reports; and online research.)

Rev. Irving (or Israel) Chazen
(d. 17 February 1975)

Newcastle born Rev. Chazen, also spelled Chazan, (m. Rita Tomback - d.2003) studied at Manchester University and Etz Chaim Yeshiva, London. While a student he was second reader and baal koreh at the South Hackney Synagogue and then studied shechita in Leeds. He served as minister, reader and shochet of the Doncaster United Hebrew Congregation (1937-1942). He then served served, a few months only, in Northampton (1942), followed by Macclesfield United Synagogue Membership Group (1942-1946); Torquay and Paignton (c.1947/8); Grimsby Hebrew Congregation (February 1948-1949); and Oxford (from January 1950) where he was appointed officiating chaplain to the forces in Oxfordshire. Rev. Chazen was minister of the Tottenham Hebrew Congregation (from latest 1952). In early 1952 he was headmaster of the Hebrew classes at Palmers Green and Southgate Synagogue. In 1967 he became United Synagogue Visitation Committee chaplain for patients at mental hospitals, including Friern Hospital. After his death, the room for patients comfort at the Friern Hospital was named the Chazen Room in his memory. He was described as a dedicated worker for Israel and many Zionist causes and spoke extensively to non-Jewish audiences throughout his career. (JC obituary 21 February 1975, profile 13 January 1950 and various reports; JYB listings; Macclesfield's Jews in World War Two by Basil Jeuda.)

Rev. Louis Chinn
(1927 - 31 October 1991)

From Liverpool, Rev Chinn (m. Rosalind Ena) served a number of small Jewish communities. From 1962 until at latest 1980, he was minister-reader of the Hoylake Hebrew Congregation, Wirral, Merseyside. He is buried at Broadgreen cemetery, Liverpool. (JYB listings; and JC report 19 October 1962.)

Rev. Adolph Treitel Chodowski
(1862 - 1926)

Rev. Chodowski (m. Fanny Philips from London) was the son of Rabbi Isaac Jacob Chodowski of Berlin, brother of Rev. A.D. Chowdoski of Sheffield and Rabbi Dr. S. Chodowski of Oels, Germany (now in Poland). He was a graduate of Jews' College, London and was minister of Leicester Hebrew Congregation(1887-1889). From 1890 he served various communities in New Zealand and Australia: including Christchurch, New Zealand (1890-1896), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia (1896-1898), Dunedin New Zealand (1898-c.1910), Carlton, Victoria, Australia and Newtown, New South Wales, Australia. In 1922 he was the founder and first editor of the Sidney-based pro-Zionist Australian Jewish Chronicle, a position he held until his death (the newspaper folded in the early 1930s due to the depression). (JC reports and obituary of Fanny Chodowski, 20 October 1933.)

Rev. Dr. Joseph Chotzner
(11 May 1844 - 30 April 1914)

Krakow-born Rev. Chotzner (m. Helen Banasch of Breslau, 1872) was educated in Breslau Rabbinical Seminary and University of Breslau. He served as the first minister to the newly-formed Belfast Hebrew Congregation (1869-1880). He then left Belfast to become a Hebrew tutor and keeper of a house for Jewish pupils at Harrow School, Middlesex (known as Beeleigh House). In 1893, Rev. Chotzner returned to the Belfast Hebrew Congregation and served as its minister for a second term (1893-1897). In 1897, he became senior scholar in residence at the Judith Montefiore College, Ramsgate until 1905, when he retired to London. Died in Harrogate. A scholar and translator, he published books in Hebrew, German and English, particularly on the subject of humour in the Hebrew Bible. (Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History (2011) by W. Rubinstein (ed.) and M.A. Jolles and H. L. Rubinstein (ass. eds.), p.155; and Research by Steven Jaffe, including Joseph Chotzner in Men and Ideas: Selected Writings 1935-1980 by Rabbi Alexander Carlebach, Koren publishers, 1983 and JC articles.)

Rev. Jacob Mendes Chumaceiro
(c.1844 - 18 December 1912)

Amsterdam-born Rev. Chumaceiro (m. Henrietta de la Bella) came from a Dutch family of dayanim and rabbis, prominent in Sephardi communities both of Amsterdam and Curacao in the former Netherlands Antilles. He was described by the JC as of "a class which has by now almost disappeared in Anglo-Jewry, that of the Minister who combines a secular calling with his sacred vocation". A diamond broker, he served as the chazan of the private Sephardi Andrade Synagogue, Islington, London (from at least 1877 until its closure in 1884) and then of the Sephardi Mildmay Park Synagogue, Canonbury, London (from its opening in about 1885 until his death in late 1912), also officiating at the services held in a private home during the interim period. (JC tributes 3 January 1913 and internet research.)

Rabbi Abraham Citron
(b. 22 June 1976)

Los Angeles-born Rabbi Citron (m. Devorah Leah Kagan), the son of Rabbi Chaim Zev Citron, studied at yeshivot in Jerusalem, Melbourne, and New York, where he obtained semicha. He served as minister of the Belfast Jewish Community (2002- 2007) and subsequently as rabbi of Walford Road Synagogue, Stoke Newington, London (2007 to present - December 2020), a position he has combined with being a special needs teacher at Kisharon since 2010 and teacher of Jewish Studies at LSGS (Lubavitch Senior Girls School). (JYB listings; research by Steven Jaffe including Belfast Jewish Record; and data provided by Rabbi Citron.)

Rev. Moses Claff
(c.1847 - 28 October 1903)

Rev. Claff, born in Siauliai (Shavel), Lithuania (m. 1st Esther, died at Stoke on Trent in 1884; 2nd Miriam Neuman) was minister at Hanley Synagogue, Stoke-on-Trent, where in 1883 he conducted the service at the opening of the synagogue at Burslem described as the "minister of the United congregations". He then served as reader at the the Newcastle United Hebrew Congregation (Leazes Park Road Synagogue) (September 1884-1886). The remainder of Rev. Claff's career was spent in London: at Princes Street Synagogue (later known as Princelet Street Synagogue), Spitalfields (from 1886); elected reader of New Dalston Synagogue in February 1893; and at New Road Synagogue, Whitechapel (c.1889-1903), serving for over 14 years until his death. (JC various reports, "Service and Scandal" by Daniel Appleby, 2013, and internet research.)

Rev. S Clayman, B.A.

Rev. Clayman served as temporary minister of Hampstead Synagogue, north London, from 1939 to 1940, and subsequently served as the minister of the evacuee community, Guildford United Synagogue Membership Group, Surrey. (JYB listings; and online research.)

Rabbi Lionel (Mordechai Lev) Cofnas
(9 December 1943 - April 2020)

Birmingham-born Rabbi L. Cofnas (m. Rachel Scharb), the son of Rabbi Yerachmiel Cofnas, received semicha from Gateshead Yeshiva. He served as minister of Pinner Synagogue, northwest London (1966-1971), Sunderland Hebrew Congregation (1971-1975) and as senior minister of Cardiff United Synagogue (1975-1980). In 1980 he was appointed minister of Childwall Synagogue, Liverpool and served there until 2011. From 2011 he held the position of senior rabbi for Merseyside Jewry and was described as "the backbone of Liverpool's religious infrastructure for more than 30 years." He died after contracting the coronavirus (COVID-19). He was the father-in-law of Rabbi Moshe Boruch Katanka. (Jewish Telegraph report and JYB listings.)

Rabbi Yerachmiel Cofnas (or Tzofnas)
(1913 - 19 May 2010)

Rabbi Yerachmiel (or Jerachmiel) Cofnas (m. Bertha Sternberg in 1943), the son of Rabbi Kalman Cofnas (aka Freedman), was born in Deksnia (Shlo), Poland, shortly after his family had returned to Poland after living in Manchester for about ten years. He was the grandson of Rabbi Yehudah Leib Freedman and studied at a number of yeshivot in Poland and Lithuania and was one of the last living students of the famous Chofetz Chaim (Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan). Following his arrival in Britain, he went to Birmingham to assist his brother, Rabbi Levi Freedman, who served as minister of Birmingham New Synagogue, where he himself was to serve for approximately fifty years (1938-c.1988). He was a qualified shochet and mohel. He retired to Manchester in 1988, where he continued to lecture at strictly Orthodox yeshivot and schools, and died in Salford. Over 600 people attended the funeral. He was the father of Rabbi Lionel Cofnas. (JYB listings, JC obituary and press reports, Interview - accessed 5 January 2021.)

Rev. Dr. Abraham Cohen
(1887 - 28 May 1957)

Born in Reading and brought up in the East End of London, Rev. Cohen was educated at Jews' Free School and the Central Foundation School before going to Jews' College and then to Cambridge. University (where he was president of the Zionist society). Later in his career (in 1922) he obtained a Ph.D. at London University. Rev Cohen was minister at Higher Broughton Synagogue, Manchester (1909-1913), and senior minister of the Birmingham Hebrew Congregation from 1913. In 1949 he resigned and moved to London following his election as President of the Board of Deputies (the first minister of religion to become the "lay leader" of Anglo Jewry). He accepted the position of emeritus minister at Birmingham. He was editor of the Soncino Books of the Bible, author of a number of scholarly works, and a lecturer at Jews' College. Rev. Cohen retired to Brighton in 1955 and died there two years later. He is buried at Witton cemetery, Birmingham. A national memorial fund was launched to commemorate Rev Cohen's name at Jews' College and Bar Ilan University in Israel. (JC 31 May 1957 and various reports Photograph from September 1915.)

Rev. B. Cohen

Rev. B. Cohen served as minister of the Wrexham Hebrew Congregation, North Wales (c.1927-c.1929) and the Chester Hebrew Congregation, Cheshire (from c.1927 until about the 1960s), also acting as secretary of that congregation from about 1949 until about 1951. (JYB listings.)

Rabbi Barnett Isaac Cohen
(30 August 1880 - 12 August 1947)

Manchester-born Rabbi B.I. Cohen, the youngest son of Dayan Sussman Cohen and the grandson of Dayan Jacob Reinowitz, was educated at Manchester Jews' School and Jews' College London, of which he became the first Rabbi-Fellow. He won the Hollier Hebrew Scholarship in 1900 at the London University, and graduated with honours in Semitics four years later. He was hon. secretary and then president of the Jews' College Union Society. From 1903, he acted as assistant visiting minister at the London Hospital; and was an hon. teacher at the Free School Sabbath Classes (1900-1908) and during the same period teacher in the Religion Classes at St. Stephen's Schools. In 1908 he was awarded semicha from Jews' College and that year became minister of the Sheffield Hebrew Congregation. Rabbi Cohen (m. Hannah Harris, 1911) was to serve there for just under 40 years, until his retirement in 1947. He was President of the Talmud Torah Schools in Sheffield, and later Hon. Superintendent of the Hebrew Education Board, Secretary and Relieving Officer of the Board of Guardians for 38 years; Hon. President of the Sheffield Zionist Association, Young Zionists' and Students' Associations; Hon. President of the New Sheffield Jewish Centre; and an Executive Officer of the congregation's Chevra Kadisha. He was also a founder and Past Worshipful Master of the Hadassah Lodge of Freemasons and held other senior Masonic offices. Rabbi Cohen was a respected faith and civic leader in Sheffield, and helped develop Biblical studies at Sheffield University. He was the brother-in-law of Dayan H M Lazarus and the brother of Rev. Harris Cohen, who served in Nottingham and Stoke Newington. Rabbi Cohen died only three months after retiring, during a visit to London. (JC obituary 22 August 1947)

Rev. Benjamin Cohen
(d. by 1916)

Rev. B. Cohen, a graduate of Jews' College, London, was minister at Stockton-on-Tees Synagogue from at least 1886 until 1914. He participated at the consecration of the new synagogue in 1906 and his silver wedding anniversary was celebrated by the congregation in 1913. (JC press reports.)

Charles Yechezkel Cohen ("Reb Chatze")
(1843 - 1926)

Charles Yechezkel Cohen, the author of Yalkut Yechezkel and reverently and affectionately known as Reb Chatze, came to Sunderland from Krottingen (Kretinga), now in Klaipėda County, Lithuania, in 1888, having aleady obtained semicha. When he arrived in the town there were no weekday services nor any place when men of learning could assemble for study and discussion. He established the Chevra Gemara, of which he was the the honorary lecturer, which held nightly shiurim (study meetings) in Lawrence Street, Sunderland (the home of Mr. Charles Gillis). It was subsequently incorporated into the Chevra Torah, which in 1899 became the Sunderland Beth Hamedrash, of which Reb Chatze remained a respected and important member until his death. He married twice and was father of 22 children, and several of his descendants would became extremely influential members of the Sunderland Jewish community, as well as leaders of the town council. In 1935, the new building to house the congregation's Talmud Torah was named Beth Yecheskel Hacohen, as a memorial to Reb Chatze, having been purchased by one of his sons, Elias Cohen, and presented to the Beth Hamedrash.  (The Sunderland Jewish Community 1955-1955 (1956) by A. Levy and The Sunderland Beth Hamedresh 1889-1999 (2010) by D. Taylor and H. Davis.)

Emanuel Hyman Cohen

E.M. Cohen (m. Hannah Benjamin) from Niederweren, near Munich, Bavaria, came to Britain in 1872 and shortly thereafter settled in Brighton, Sussex. There he set up the town's first Jewish school or cheder. He had ten or twelve children, some of whom became significant figures in the history of Brighton and/or its Jewish community. He is considered the founder of the Brighton Hebrew Congregation, which was established in 1821, and was appointed as shochet to the community. (Cecil Roth's Rise of Provincial Jewry.)

Rev. Ephraim Cohen
(c.1830 - 23 September 1889)

Rev. Ephraim Cohen, born in Peisern (now Pyzdry, Poland), was the son of a lay leader of the Cardiff Jewish community, Lazarus Cohen. He served as minister of the Nottingham Hebrew Congregation in about 1849 and appears to have returned to Nottingham to conduct a marriage ceremony in September 1850, by which time he was serving at the Great Synagogue, Back Rockingham Street, Leeds (1849-1860) and then at  the Hull Hebrew Congregation, Robinson Row (from c.1861). In 1871 he was appointed second reader, shochet, teacher and mohel to the Newcastle Old Hebrew Congregation, Temple Street, where he served for serveral years. However, by 1881, he traded as a pawnbroker. He was the brother of Rev. Menasseh Cohen in Wolverhampton and Rev. Solomon Cohen in Coventry. He retired in about 1883 and moved to London. Rev Cohen collapsed conducting early morning selichot services at Dalston Synagogue and died later that day. He is buried at West Ham cemetery, London. He was the father of Laurence Cowen (d.1942), writer, theatre producer and promoter of Spiritualism. (Jolles's Encyclopaedia; JC reports; Jewish Directory of 1874; census results)

Rabbi Francis Lyon Cohen
(14 November 1862 - April 1934)

Born in Aldershot, Hampshire, Rabbi Cohen (m. 1886 Rose, daughter of Rev. M. Hast of the Great Synagogue), was educated at Sussex House School, Brighton, Jews' College and University College, London. He was superintendent of the classes of the Jewish Association for the Diffusion of Religious Knowledge, and became preacher, reader and teacher to the South Hackney Synagogue, London, (c.1880) and for a short time, on the retirement of the late Rev. M. Kaizer, assistant reader at the Great Synagogue, Duke Street, London. Briefly minister to the Dublin Hebrew Congregation (1885-1886), he returned to London and became preacher, reader and secretary of the Borough Synagogue, London (1886-1904). Here he came "more closely into touch with the problems of life in one of the poorest and most crowded boroughs of London", and took an increasingly active part in social and educational work: as chaplain at Brixton prison and to various asylums and hospitals in south London; chairman of the Education Committee and resident manager of the South London Jewish Schools; and examiner for the Jewish boys in Industrial Schools. Rabbi Cohen had long taken an interest in the welfare of Jewish servicemen, and in 1892 he was instrumental in initiating chaplaincy services to Jewish soldiers, and was officially appointed an Honorary Officiating Chaplain to the Forces. For several years he held regular services for the Jewish soldiers at Aldershot, and also organised many of the Chanucah military services. He retained his interest in this work until he emigrated to Australia Rabbi Cohen advocated setting up a Jewish Lads Brigade in the UK and served as the new organisation's chaplain. For some years a teacher at Jews College, he was a scholar of Jewish music and liturgy, and made popular new arrangements for traditional Hebrew songs. In 1904 Rabbi Cohen left England for Australia becoming chief minister of the Sydney Hebrew Congregation and he died in that office thirty years later having made a significant contribution to the development of the Jewish and wider community in Australia. Over 4,000 attended his funeral. (JC obituary 4 May 1934)

Rev. Harris Cohen*

Rev. Harris Cohen served as minister at Blackburn Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire, from 1896 to about 1897 and had the honour of welcoming the Chief Rabbi to the town. He was then resident in Manchester and was later appointed briefly as minister of the Bradford Hebrew Congregation, Yorkshire, in about 1900. He as reader of the Hull Western Synagogue from June 1902 until about 1906. ("From Poland To Paradise Lane and Other Journeys" - a history of the Jewish community of Blackburn, by Hilary Thomas, 2018; JYB listings.)
(*Not to be confused with the Rev. (later Rabbi) Harris Cohen (see below), who during the same period was serving at congregations in Nottingham and Stoke Newington, London.)

Rabbi Harris Cohen*
(1869 - 17 May 1949)

Rabbi Harris Cohen, who was born in Poland and came to Britain as a small child, was the son of the Dayan Susman Cohen and the grandson of Dayan Jacob Reinowitz. He was educated at the Manchester Jews' School and shortly after his bar mitzvah, he entered Jews' College, London. He served briefly as minister of the Merthyr Tydfil Hebrew Congregation (from c.1888/9, when he was only 19 years ols). He was then minister and teacher of the Nottingham Hebrew Congregation (1890-1903). Rev. Cohen was Lecturer in Semitics at the University College Nottingham, a much in demand speaker to non-Jewish audiences, and was visiting minister at Hanley Synagogue (later known as Stoke-on-Trent Hebrew Congregation) and Derby Hebrew Congregation. In 1895 he attended University of Leipzig, Germany, reading Arabic and Syriac. In 1903 the newly-founded Stoke Newington Synagogue, north London, appointed him minister and he served there for over 30 years, until his retirement due to ill health in 1934, when he became emeritus rabbi. He held a number of posts in youth and educational work in north London, was chairman of the Union of Anglo Jewish Preachers and president of the Sabbath Observance Bureau until 1939. He received semicha in 1914 from both the Chief Rabbi Dr. Hertz, and the Hacham, Dr. M. Gaster. He was the brother of Rabbi Barnet Isaac Cohen and the father-in-law of Rev. B.B. Lieberman. (JC profile 26 June 1903, obituary 20 May 1949, Nelson Fisher Eight Hundred Years. The Story of Nottingham's Jews pp.179.)
(*Not to be confused with the Rev. Harris Cohen (see above), who during the 1890s and 1900s was serving at a number of congregations in Lancashire and Yorkshire.)

Rabbi Dr. Isaac Cohen
(26 July 1914 - 30 November 2007)

Llanelli-born Rabbi Cohen (m. Fanny Weisfogel in 1939) was educated at Aria College, Southsea, Portsmouth, Jews' College and University College, London, graduating in 1935. His first posts were at Harrow and Kenton Synagogue (later Harrow District Synagogue), north London (1935-1939), and then Leeds United Hebrew Congregation, as additional minister with special responsibility for the Moortown district. During the war he deputised for the congregation's senior minister (who became a forces chaplain) and established an advisory service to assist evacuees. After the war, he obtained semicha in London, was elected rabbi to the Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation (c.1947-1959), and obtained a doctorate in 1956 from Edinburgh University. Having been born in Wales and served in England and Scotland, in 1959 Rabbi Cohen was appointed Chief Rabbi of Ireland, where, in addition to representing the Irish Jewish community in public life, he undertook more mundane congregational duties, and was prominent in the Conference of European Rabbis. He retired to Jerusalem in 1979, engaged in further rabbinic studies and completed a book, Acts of the Mind in Jewish Ritual Law: An Insight into Rabbinic Psychology, only weeks before he died. (JC obituary 25 January 2008.)

Rev. Isaac Jacob Cohen

(c.1818 - 22 December 1898)
Polish-born Rev. I.J. Cohen was a licensed shochet and a resident in Oxford from before 1851 where he traded as a jeweller. In 1858 he succeeded Rev. Nathan Jacobs in serving the Oxford Hebrew Congregation, and he described himself as "shochet and examiner here in Oxford." Rev. Cohen was a regular user of the Bodleian library and may have been working as a librarian of its Hebrew collections. He left Oxford for Aldershot in 1866, where he served as shochet until 1888. He died in Sunderland. (JC death notice and tribute 30 December 1898; The Jews of Oxford by D.M. Lewis pp. 12/13, 20.)

Rev. Israel Cohen
(4 April 1917 - 8 June 1999)

Leeds-born Rev. Cohen (m. Freda Hofstadter) was educated at Manchester yeshiva. He served as reader and shochet of the Darlington Hebrew Congregation (1947-1950), where he was active in Zionism, the JNF and as officiating chaplain to Jewish troops at the nearby Catterick Camp. In 1950 he was elected chazan, shochet and teacher of the Portsmouth & Southsea Hebrew Congregation and served there for 18 years. Rev Cohen moved along the south coast to the Bournemouth Hebrew Congregation in 1968 and after his retirement in 1985 he continued to conduct services as emeritus chazan. He was noted for his pastoral work and larger than life personality. (JC profile 17 August 1979, obituary 9 July 1999 and various other reports.)

Rabbi Dr. Jeffrey Cohen

Manchester-born Rabbi Dr. Cohen, BA, M.Phil, AJC, PhD, (m. Gloria Goldberg) studied at Gateshead Yeshivah and Jews' College, London. He served as assistant rabbi of Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue, London (1963-1967) and then as Director of Jewish Studies and Hebrew Education at the King David Schools, Manchester (1967-1970). He subsequently served as minister of Newton Mearns Synagogue, Glasgow (1970-c.1980), Kenton Synagogue, London (1980-1986) and finally Stanmore and Canons Park Synagogue, London (1986-2006), followed by semi-retirement in Israel. He is the author of a number of books including Torah for Teens: Growing up Spiritually with the Weekly Sidrah, Prayer and Penitence: A Commentary to the High Holy Day Machzor and a new poetic translation of the Book of Psalms (JYB listings and "Who's Who" entries and Rabbi Dr. Cohen's website.)

Rev. M. M. Cohen
(c.1856 - 12 October 1938)

Rev. M. M. Cohen (m. Juliet) was born in Kinsin, Poland, to a rabbinical family and was related to Dayan H M Lazarus (London), Rabbi B I Cohen (Sheffield), Rabbi Harris Cohen (London) and Rabbi Dr S M Lehrman (Liverpool). He served as minister with Manchester New Synagogue, Leicester Hebrew Congregation(1896-1903) and Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation. He later served the South Broughton Synagogue, Manchester, for 18 years and was described as an ardent Zionist. (JYB obituary, 21 October 1938.)

Rev. Menasseh Cohen
(1828 - 9 July 1884)

Born in Pyzdry, Poland, Rev. Cohen (m. 1st Harriette Moses, 2nd Mather Samuel) was the son of a lay leader of the Cardiff Jewish community, Lazarus Cohen. He was minister to the fledgling Wolverhampton Hebrew Congregation from about 1852 until 1859. He continued to live in Wolverhampton where he ran a jewellery business. In 1860 Lloyd's Newspaper reported: "The partner of Mr Menasseh Cohen, the rabbi at Wolverhampton, has absconded with a quantity of gold and silver watches, gold chains and jewellery to the value of £400. The fugitive is a Prussian". Despite this setback, Menasseh Cohen remained active in the Wolverhampton congregation and in 1873/4 he was elected its secretary and treasurer. In 1873 he conducted the high holy day services at Wolverhampton synagogue in a voluntary capacity. He died in Birmingham and is buried at Witton old cemetery. He was the brother of Rev. Ephraim Cohen in Newcastle and Rev. Solomon Cohen in Coventry (JC, various reports extracted by Harold Pollins 28 October 1859, 6 January 1860, internet research.)

Rev. (later Rabbi) Moses Cohen

Rev M. Cohen served the Margate Hebrew Congregation, Kent, from at least 1932 until 1940 when the congregation's activities were suspended because of the war emergency. Rev. Cohen and his wife then became Master and Matron of the Hostel for Refugee children in Brighton and Hove, having previously been active in a similar hostel for refugee boys in Margate. However from about 1941 to 1945, he was serving as the war time minister at the Northampton Hebrew Congregation. (JC reports and JYB listings.)

Rabbi Raphael Isaac Cohen
(c.1803 - 3 December 1865)

German born Rabbi or Rev. Cohen (m. Bloom) was the minister at Dover Synagogue, Kent for almost 30 years (c.1839-1865). He was the founder and principal of Sussex House Academy (previously the Victoria House Academy), a school for Jewish boys in Dover which in 1851 had over 50 scholars in residence, some coming from as far as Gibraltar and north Africa. In 1862 Rev. Cohen announced that after 25 years teaching he intended to reduce the number of his pupils. Prior to leaving Dover, and following his retirement from the ministry, he was president of the Dover congregation. He died in Liverpool at the home of his son-in-law and is buried in Liverpool's Deane Road cemetery. (Obituary Dover Telegraph, republished in the JC, 15 December 1865, other JC reports and on line research.)

Rev. Shalom Cohen
(c.1873 - 1928)

Rev. S. Cohen served as reader to the West Hartlepool Hebrew Congregation (c.1903-1909) and the Middlesbrough Hebrew Congregation (c.1909-1917) and was then elected chazan, teacher, and shochet of nearby Stockton-on-Tees Hebrew Congregation where he served for over ten years (1917-1927). He died in a London nursing home, leaving a wife and six children. A memorial service, led by Revs. J. Silverstone and S. Turtledove of Middlesbrough, was attended by the Mayor of Stockton-on-Tees. (JYB listings; JC obituary and tributes 10 February 1928, and press reports of the Stockton community.)

Rev. Solomon Cohen

Rev. S. Cohen was the son of a lay leader of the Cardiff Jewish community, Lazarus Cohen, and served as a minister of the Coventry Hebrew Congregation. In 1869 the Chief Rabbi urged the congregation to form Hebrew classes for the children rather than have Rev. Cohen teach at individual homes. By 1885 Rev. Cohen was still in office but was prohibited to act as a shochet because of his advanced age. This may be the same Rev. Cohen ("from Coventry") who took services at Finsbury Park Synagogue, London in 1890. He was the brother of Rev. Ephraim Cohen in Newcastle and Rev. Menasseh Cohen in Wolverhampton. A Rev. Solomon Cohen served as minister of the Penzance Jewish Congregation, Cornwall, from 1854 to 1857, although it is not known if he was the same person. (JC various reports, Harry Levine, "The Jews of Coventry" 1970 p.39; "The Lost Jews of Cornwall" by Kieth Pearce, Helen Fry and Godfrey Simmons.)

Rev. Stanley Cohen
(b. c.1938)

Liverpool-born Rev Cohen studied at the city's Hebrew schools and yeshiva before attending Gateshead Yeshiva for five years. He returned to Liverpool and conducted services at the Stapley Jewish residential home before serving as minister at the Wallasey Hebrew Congregation, Wirral, Cheshire (now Merseyside) from about 1963 until about 1967.  He served at Fairfield Synagogue, Liverpool, from 1967 and was assistant minister at Allerton Hebrew Congregation, Liverpool, from 1971 until 1996. Rev Cohen was minister of Liverpool's Princes Road Old Hebrew Congregation from 1996 until 1998. (JC reports of 13 October 1967, 19 January 1996 and 4 April 1999; JYB listings.)

Rabbi Zvi Cohen

London-born Rabbi Zvi Cohen and Rebbetzen Rivky Cohen have served as the (part-time) rabbinic couple at Kingsbury Synagogue, London from 2004 to present (May 2021). Rabbi Cohen studied at Gateshead Yeshiva from where he received his semicha in 1994. He moved back to London in 1997 and since 2002 has taught at local Jewish primary schools. (Congregation's website.)

Rabbi Asher (Arthur) Cohn
(b. c.1927)

Rabbi A. Cohn, the son of Rabbi Dr. Chaim Cohn of Berlin, came to Britain as a child after Kristallnacht, and studied at Gateshead Yeshiva where he obtained semicha. He was a teacher for the London Board of Jewish Education. From 1952 until 1957 he was minister of the Wallasey Hebrew Congregation, Wirral, Cheshire (now Merseyside). In the 1960s and 1970s Rabbi Cohn was minister of the small Hampstead Adath Yisroel Synagogue in West Hampstead, northwest London (walking to the synagogue from his home in Stamford Hill for a period of over 20 years). In the 1990s he served the Finsbury Park Synagogue, north London and was still serving there when the synagogue suffered antisemitic vandalism in 2002. (Various JC reports; JYB listings.)

Rabbi Dr. Chaim (Charles) or Heinrich Cohn
(22 January 1889 - 20 March 1966)

Rabbi Cohn (m. Lotte Calvary), son of Basel Rabbi Dr Arthur Cohn, studied at the universities of Neuchtal and Basel, and the yeshiva in Pressburg (today Bratislava, Slovakia). In 1913 he obtained a Doctorate from the University of Strasbourg. From 1918 he was rabbi of a Berlin synagogue which was destroyed on Kristallnacht. He and his family escaped to London via Switzerland. Interned for about a year on the Isle of Man, he later lived in Dorking, Surrey, for over 18 years where the family ran a boarding house at Windycroft, St Paul's Road. He is described as rav of the small Dorking Jewish community and his home hosted communal services and meetings of the Dorking Jewish Circle. Rabbi Cohn was said to have been "rooted in the rabbinical tradition of Basle and Berlin, but strongly inclined to Chasidism". He died in London and is buried at Enfield Adath Yisroel cemetery. Rabbi Cohn was the father of Rabbi Asher Cohn, the uncle of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach and father-in-law of Rabbi Moshe Eisemann of USA. (Article (Queen of Hearts) by granddaughter, Miriam Kosman, post on Sotheby's website regarding sale of 89 postcards from Rabbi Cohn written while a student at Pressburg; JC obituary 8 April 1966; and JYB listings.)

Rev. Edwin Hyman Simeon (Henry) Collins
(1858 - 8 June 1936)

London-born Rev. Collins (m. Ada Stanford, formerly of Northampton, 1892 in Brighton), whose family was amongst the founders of the Western Synagogue, London, was a Hollier Hebrew scholar at University College London. He later studied at the Universities of Marburg and Paris. He served as minister of the Belfast Hebrew Congregation (c.1882-c.1887) and briefly as minister of the Dublin Hebrew Congregation (c.1887-c.1888). In 1891, he described himself as author, journalist, Jewish clergyman, poet, teacher of Hebrew and of French, German and English literature. His work as literary collaborator with Sun Yat-sen, later first president of the Republic of China, in the late 1890s, has been the subject of academic research. He was prosecuted in 1906 for neglecting to send his children to school. Between 1911 to 1913, Rev. Collins was headmaster of Annandale House School, Bedford. He was an educational reformer, known widely as "the apostle of the simple life of children", who advocated teaching children informally and out of doors. In 1913 Rev. Collins probably founded the short-lived Bromley Hebrew Congregation in Kent, and served as its secretary and presumably its minister, until about 1915. He lived at various times in St John's Wood, Northampton, Wallasey and Richmond. Rev. Collins was a translator and scholar of rabbinic works and he popularised Jewish literature to a non-Jewish readership. He died while on a visit to Clayton, Staffordshire and is buried at the Stoke-on-Trent Jewish Cemetery. (Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History (2011), p.177; and Research by Steven Jaffe, including The Lost book of Sun Yatsen and Edwin Collins, Patrick Anderson, Routledge, 2017; JYB listings; and JC obituary of 12 June 1936.)

Hyman Content
(c.1887 - 5 July 1970)

Hyman Content BSc (m. Phyllis) was headmaster of the Bayswater Jewish schools, Notting Hill, west London, from about 1930 until 1936 when he was appointed headmaster to the Norwood Jewish Orphanage in south London. During World War II, the pupils were evacuated to Worthing and then to Hertford. He stepped down in 1945. He is presumed to be the same Hyman Content who was a warden of Hammersmith & West Kensington Synagogue in the 1930s and was subsequently a founder, senior warden and then life president of the Streatham Synagogue in south London. (Various JC reports.)

Dr. Edward Conway
(1911 - 2000)

Born Ephraim Cohen in Llanelli, south Wales, Dr. Conway (m. Lily) was educated at Swansea University. He was principal of the Norwood Jewish Orphanage, south London (1950-1958) and then headmaster of the Jewish Free School (1958-1976). He was the first headmaster of the Jewish Free School following the move from its historic home in the East End to Camden Town in 1958. He authored the book, Comprehending Comprehensives - The JFS Experience (1983). (JC obituary 12 October 1877.)

Rabbi Dr. Chaim Joshua Cooper
(9 August 1917 - December 1999)

London-born Rabbi Cooper, M.A., Ph.D., served as minister to Catford Synagogue, London (1937-45) before being appointed as principal of Aria College, Southsea, Portsmouth (1945-1951) and then served as minister of Kingsbury District Synagogue, London (1951-1957). He subsequently went to Australia and served as minister of Adelaide Hebrew Congregation (1958-1959). Returning to the UK, he moved to Hull, initially as the community's Communal Rabbi (from about 1960 until at least 1977 and possibly until 1981) and later as minister of the Hull Old Hebrew Congregation (from at least 1981 until about 1993). (JYB listings and "Who's Who" entries and "The History of Hull's Orthodox Synagogues" by E. Oppel, 2000.)

Rabbi Alby Copeland

Rabbi Copeland served as minister (and first ever rabbi) of Darlington Hebrew Congregation (1976-1980). He subsequently served as minister of Pollokshields Hebrew Congregation, Glasgow (1980-1984) and Queen's Park Synagogue, Glasgow (1984-1986), before being appointed as the executive director of a yeshiva in Manchester in 1986. (JYB listings and JC press reports.)

Rev. Philip Copperman
(1931 - 2010)

Dublin-born, Cantor Philip Copperman was educated at Gateshead Yeshiva and Jews' College, London, where he was a pupil of Chazan Salomo Pinkasowicz. At the age of 19 he served as chazan at the Great Synagogue, Dukes Place, London and while in London, he received voice training from the Italian maestro, Dino Borgioli. He served the Beth Hamedrash Hagadol Synagogue, Leeds (1951-1955); the Southport Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire (1955-1959), the Giffnock & Newlands Synagogue, Glasgow (1959-1963), the Western Synagogue, London (1963-1966). In 1966 Rev Copperman was appointed Reader at South Manchester Synagogue and four years later he moved to the nearby Sale & District Hebrew Congregation. From 1972 he took posts in Southern Africa and North America before returning to Glasgow he served at the Garnethill Synagogue and finally the Newton Mearns Synagogue (from 1990 until his retirement in 2003). He retired to Netanya and died in Israel. A number of Rev Copperman's recordings are on Youtube. (Profile by Rabbi Geoffrey Shisler.)

Rabbi Stanley Coten

Rabbi Coten (m. Rosalind), who has an MA in Hebrew & Jewish Studies; a First in Politics; and a Post Graduate Certificate in Education, studied at Sunderland and Ohr Sameach (Jerusalem) Yeshivot, and received semicha at Jews' College, London. He served as minister of Shepherd's Bush, Fulham & District Synagogue, London (c.1987-c.1988), Potters Bar and District Affiliated Synagogue, Hertfordshire (1988-1990), Kingston Surbiton & District Affiliated Synagogue, London (c.1990-2002) and Ruislip & District United Synagogue, London (from 2004 until 2024, when the congregation merged with a neighbouring congregation). (Profile on Ruislip Synagogue website; JC reports; and JYB listings.)

Rev. Shimon Craimer
(b.1978)

London-born, Cantor Craimer studied at London�s Trinity College of Music. He served as chazan of Edgware United Synagogue, London from about 2002 to about 2003. He conducted the Hendon Adath Yisroel Congregation choir and has served as a lay cantor at several orthodox synagogues in Greater London. He has performed in cantorial concerts throughout Great Britain and in Israel. (JYB listings.)

Rabbi Shlomo (Stanley) P. Cutler
(b. 21 December 1927)

Liverpool-born Rabbi Cutler studied at the Liverpool Yeshiva and subsequently under the private tutorship of Dayan Morris Swift and obtained semicha at Gateshead Yeshiva. In 1955, he married Judith, the daughter of Rev. Harry David Ritvo, the senior minister of Luton Hebrew Congregation, where he served as assistant minister and secretary (c.1952-1958) and as acting minister and secretary(1958-1959), following the death of Rev. Ritvo until a relacement was found. He then served as minister of Mill Hill Synagogue, London, for 34 years (1959-1993) and thereafter as emeritus rabbi. He was also rabbi of Kol Yaacov Beth Hamedrash, Edgware, London (1997-2001). He was the brother of Rev. Shimon B. Cutler of North Salford Synagogue, Manchester, and the nephew of Rev. Mendel Zeffert. (JYB listings and "Who's Who" entries.)

Rabbi Rafael Wolf Cymberg
(31 August 1921 - 6 May 1996)

Warsaw-born Rabbi Cymberg (m Mariette Merker, who survived the Nazi occupation of Belgium), the great-grandson of Rabbi Yoav Yehoshua Weingarten (d. 1923, one of the foremost halachic authorities of pre-war Poland), came to London as a refugee shortly before the outbreak of World War II. Rabbi Cymberg's large family in Poland was murdered in the Holocaust. He studied at Etz Chaim yeshiva and Jews' College, London, and served several congregations, including Ezras Chaim Synagogue, Heneage Street, in the London East End, Northwold Road Synagogue, Stoke Newington, and the Addiscombe and District Synagogue, Croydon (1951-1952). He was then minister of the Notting Hill Synagogue, West London (1952-1958), obtained semicha in 1958 from Jews' College, and then minister at Cockfosters and N Southgate Synagogue (1958-1987). Rabbi Cymberg served as chaplain to numerous hospitals, to Holloway prison and to the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women. From 1987 he provided temporary assistance to Brighton and Hove Hebrew Congregation which was without a minister. He died in London. In 1998, the Rafael Beit Hamidrash at the Cockfosters and N Southgate Synagogue was dedicated to his memory. (JC obituary 17 May 1996 and various reports.)

Rabbi Avinoam Czitron

Rabbi Czitron (m. Haddas) was raised in Israel and earned semicha from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, as well as other senior Israel rabbanim. He also holds a degree in law degree and briefly practiced as an lawyer in Israel while also serving as a rabbi in a synagogue in Netanya for two years. He also served as a chaplain at Ma'asiyahu prison. Rabbetzen Haddas has a degree in computer science and served as the shlicha for youth education for the WZO. Rabbi and Rabbetzen Czitron served as the senior rabbinic couple at Childwall Hebrew Congregation, Liverpool, (2019-2022), and as the rabbinic couple at the Yavneh Shul Minyan of the Borehamwood and Elstree Synagogue, Hertfordshire (2022-2024). They were then appointed as the rabbinic couple at Yeshurun Synagogue, Edgware, London, from 2024 to present (February 2025). (Yeshurun Synagogue website.)

Rabbi Ivan Wachmann
(10 December 1935 - 13 March 2013)

Dublin-born Ivan Wachmann was educated at Manchester and Gateshead yeshivas and later received semicha at Etz Chaim, London. He served initially as minister of the Wallasey Hebrew Congregation, Wirral, Cheshire (now Merseyside) (c. 1958-c.1962), then reader and secretary at Allerton Hebrew Congregation, Liverpool (1962-1964), and minister at Langside Synagogue, Glasgow (1964-1973). Rabbi Wachmann was minister of the Holy Law South Broughton Congregation, Manchester from 1973 but was dismissed in 1990 after a series of allegations about sexual misconduct. In 1993, Rabbi Wachmann moved to Florida and became rabbi of the Conservative Temple Shalom in Pompano Beach, Miami. He died in Eilat, Israel. (JYB listings; and JC various reports.)

Rev. (Haskell) Armin Wachsmann
(30 September 1917 - 4 November 2001)

Born in Munkacs, Czechoslovakia (now Mukachevo, Ukraine), Rev. Wachsmann came to Britain and was in 1941 placed in charge of Hebrew classes for the Jewish children evacuated to Bletchley, Edlesborough, Dunstable and Winslow run by the Joint Emergency Committee. In 1944 Rev. Wachsmann was appointed minister of the Blackburn Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire. He left in 1946 to became minister of the Torquay and Paignton Hebrew Congregation in Devon. In 1948 he was appointed to the Beth Jacob Synagogue at Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. ("From Poland To Paradise Lane and Other Journeys" - a history of the Jewish community of Blackburn, by Hilary Thomas, 2018; various JC reports; JYB listings; online research.)

Rabbi Shaul Siegfried Wagschal
(26 November 1924 - 14 June 2012)

Viennese born Rabbi Wagschal (m. Krayna Leah, d.1997) was educated at the Adass Yisrael School in Berlin, Germany and fled to Britain in 1939 to continued his education in Cardiff, Wales. He attended yeshivot in Manchester and Gateshead and joined the Gateshead Kolel in 1947, receiving semicha in 1950. In 1953, he was the founder of Gateshead Jewish Primary School, Gateshead, and served as its first principal. He died in New York City and is buried in the Old Gateshead section of the Hazelrigg Jewish cemetery, North Tyneside (view image of gravestone). ("The Jewish Communities of North-East England" by Lewis Olsover (1980); online research.)

Rev. David Wallach
(27 May 1890 - 20 October 1973)

Rev. Wallach was chief cantor of Utrecht Synagogue, Netherlands. From 1924 he served as minister and reader at the Wellington Road Synagogue, Stoke Newington, (which later became the West Hackney Synagogue), north London until about 1931. In 1935, he was reported as conducting a service at Beth Jacob Synagogue, Lambeth, London. (JYB listngs; JC reports; online research.)

Rabbi Isaac Waller
(d. 23 July 1956)

London-born Rev. Waller (m. Netta) first served at Margate Hebrew Congregation, Kent (1929-1931). He was then elected reader and shochet, as well as headmaster of the Hebrew School, at the United Hebrew Congregation and Beth Hamedrrash, Ravensworth Terrace, Newcastle-upon-Tyne (from about 1931 until, possibly, about 1945). He was a trained singer who on occasion performed with the BBC Northern Orchestra. In 1946 he became minister of West Ham District Synagogue, London, and he obtained semicha from Jews' College, London. He died in office. ("Earlham Grove Synagogue" by Howard Bloch; and various JC articles.)

Rabbi Zushne Waltner
(1918 - 6 December 2002)

Hungarian-born Rabbi Waltner (m. Amalie) moved to Switzerland in 1936 and to Britain shortly before that outbreak of World War II. He was a founding member of the Gateshead Kolel and later founded the Sunderland Yeshiva, serving as its first rosh yeshiva (principal) (1946-1952). He then left for Morocco where he lived for some 24 years, setting up the Yeshiva Etz Chayim in Tangier, again serving as its rosh yeshiva, and was later director of the large Otzar Hatorah network of Jewish institutions in Morocco. He died in Jerusalem and is buried on Har Hamenuchot. (Online orbituary; The Jewish Communities of North East England by Lewis Olsover, !980, pp. 284/5.)

Rev. Elias Warrentz
(d. 6 June 1951)

Rev. Warrentz (or Warrantz) (m. Chava Yoffey) was born in Mushnick, Russia and although he had obtained semicha, he preferred to use the title reverend. In 1907, he was appointed shochet of the Sunderland Beth Hamedrash, a position that also generally included his acting as reader and mohel for the congregation, and he served the congregation until his retirement in 1945. From 1911 until 1913, he also served as acting minister of the congregation and from August 1923 until February 1924, he was also temporary shochet of the Sunderland Hebrew Congregation. (A. Levy's "History of the Sunderland Jewish Community" (1955); JYB listings.)

Rabbi (Myer) Solomon Warshaw
(5 July 1917 - 24 September 1980)

Grimsby-born Rabbi Warshaw, BA, (m. "Queenie" Beatrice Landau) son of Rev. Morris Warshawsky, studied at Manchester yeshiva and was a graduate of Jews' College and University College London. During the war he served in Brighton (1941-1946) and later officiated at Bayswater Synagogue, London. In 1947 he was appointed minister at the Windsor Place synagogue of the Cardiff United Synagogue, but resigned to resume studies at Jews' College where he obtained the new rabbinic diploma in 1948. He was then appointed rabbi at Netherlee and Clarkson Hebrew Congregation, Glasgow (1948-1949) and was secretary of the city's Mizrachi Organisation. Rabbi Warshaw was minister of Stanmore and Canons Park Synagogue, London (c.1950-c.1951). In 1961 he was installed as the first rabbi of Pinner Synagogue, London (1961-c.1965). He later served at the Beth Hamidrash HaGadol, Leeds, (c.1965-1966). Rabbi Warshaw was Baal Koreh at the Yeshurun Synagogue, Edgware, when he died from injuries sustained from a road traffic accident. He is buried in Bushey United Synagogue cemetery (view image of gravestone). (JC various reports, JYB listing.)

Rev. Abraham Warshawsky
(15 April 1884 - October 1957)

Polish-born Rev. Warshawsky (m. Sarah) served as a chazan in Alsace Lorraine before arriving in Britain. He was minister/reader at the Pontypridd Hebrew Congregation, south Wales, (c.1917-c.1919) and from about 1919 he served as reader of Sheffield Central Hebrew Congregation until about 1927, when he left following the sudden death by heart attack of the communal rav, Rabbi Dr E.I. Epstein, whom he had recently violently criticised in public. He served as chazan, shochet, mohel and baal keriah at the Hull Old Hebrew Congregation from 1927 until 1931 and spent a period in Grimsby in the 1930s before leaving in 1939 for Manchester, where he served as scribe to the Beth Din. He is buried in Manchester's Blackley Jewish Cemetery. He was the brother of Morris (Moshe) Warshawsky. (JYB listings; "Sheffield Jewry" by Armin Krausz (1980), p.13; and Jolles's Encyclopaedia.)

Rev. Morris (Moshe) Warshawsky
(December 1891 - 1978)

Born in Poland, Rev. Warshawsky (also spelled Warshavski) came to Britain from Germany at the outbreak of World War I. His first appointment was in South Wales. In about 1915 he was appointed to the Grimsby Hebrew Congregation, serving for approximately a year as minister and subsequently as reader until 1923. He then moved to serve as second reader at Leazes Park Road Synagogue, Newcastle (c.1923-c.1926). He returned to Grimsby, and served there as reader in 1926/7 and from about 1929 to 1953. In 1953 he was appointed reader of the Beth Jacob Synagogue, Manchester and in 1963 he was appointed as first reader of North Manchester Synagogue. He retired in 1969 but returned in about 1972 as a part-time chazan at the Holy Law Synagogue, Prestwich, Manchester and retired again in 1976. He was the father of Rabbi S. Warshaw and the brother of Rev. Abraham Warshawsky. ("The Jewish Communities of North-East England" by Lewis Olsover (1980), p.204; JYB listings; and JC report 12 July 1963.)

Rev. Meir Warth
(b. 1924)

Born at Lwow, Poland (today Lviv in Ukraine), Rev Wrath came to Tel Aviv, British Mandate Palestine in about 1935 and he attended the Seminar Chazanut Selah in Tel Aviv. He officiated at a number of synagogues in Israel and was visiting chazan in Madrid in 1955. He served as reader/chazan of Hackney Synagogue, now the the Hackney & East London Synagogue (1955-c.1958), after which he returned to Israel. (JYB listings; JC report 4 November 1955.)

Rev. David Wasserzug
(28 October 1866 - 16 December 1918)

Vilna-born Rev. D. Wasserzug, the son of Rev. Chaim Wasserzug, earned a BA from the University of London and was a prize winning student of Jews' College, London, where he studied from 1877 to 1891. He served as minister of Cardiff Hebrew Congregation (1891-1895), forming there a Jewish Institute on the basis of the London Jewish Working Men's Club, a branch of the Anglo-Jewish Association, a Chevra Kadisha, the rules of which he framed, and an Adults' Evening Class "for the Anglicisation of foreign working-men." He then emigrated to South Africa where he served congregations in Port Elizabeth (1895-1897) and Johannesburg (1897-1899), before returning to London to be elected minister of Dalston Synagogue, Poet's Road, London (1903-1918), which he served until his death. In 1910, he published Dalston Synagogue: An Historical Sketch, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Poet's Road Synagogue. Rev. Wasserzug was chairman of the Ministers' Centre at Mulberry Street which provided practical advice to those in need and hon. secretary to the Chief Rabbi's London Committee of Ministers. He was described by his friends as a man of "genial and generous eccentricities". (JYB listings and JC obituary 20 December 1918.)

Hyman Wayne
(c.1904 - 1992)

Hyman (Chaim) Wayne was lay spiritual leader of Chatham Synagogue for more than 30 years. He led Shabbat morning services which were revived with the encouragement of Rev. Malcolm Weisman in around 1962 until his death. He was elected life president of the community. A stained glass window at the synagogue was dedicated to his memory in 1995. (JC obituary 27 March 1992, conversation with Dalia Halpern, January 2025.)

Rev. D. Weinbaum

Rev. D. Weinbaum, who served as minister / reader and shochet of the West Hartlepool Hebrew Congregation, County Durham, from 1915 until until about 1917 is believed to be David Weinbaum (m. Ettie Melinek) who was living in London as a shochet in 1912 and who died in Israel in 1967. (JC reports and JYB listings.)

Rev. Abraham Weinberg
(1869 - 19 December 1938)

Austrian-born Rev. Weinberg emigrated first to England and then in about 1893 to South Africa. He served as assistant chazan and then chazan in Johannesburg. He returned to England and served as chazan, mohel, shochet and teacher of the Blackpool Hebrew Congregation (1900-1902) and then at the short-lived breakaway United Hebrew Congregation, Regent Street, Belfast (1902-c.1903). After leaving Belfast he returned to South Africa to become minister to the Paarl Congregation, in the Western Cape in 1904. He was later chazan at the Great Synagogue, Cape Town where he served for eight years with the Rev. A P Bender. Rev. Weinberg died at Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe), having served as chazan of the synagogue there for 27 years. He was Life Vice President of the Bulawayo Chevra Kadisha and Life Member of the Bulawayo Jewish Guild. (JYB listing, JC reports and death notice, obituary Bulawayo Chronicle 24 December 1938.)

Rabbi Dr. Jacob (Jack) Weinberg, BA, JP
(c.1911 - 3 May 1989)

Born in Vilna (today Vilnius, Lithuania), Rev. Weinberg (m. Rachel - d.2001) was the son of Rabbi Hirsch Weinberg who served in London's East End. He was educated at King's College, London, and at Jews' College. From 1940 he ministered to the Jewish community and congregation in Oxford which was much expanded during the war by evacuee children, refugees and British and American servicemen. He helped establish Hebrew Classes; a Communal Centre; a Youth Club; a Ladies' Guild; Zionist Societies; arrangements for kosher meat; marriages and burials. After the war he instigated the formation of the community's Social Section. He received semicha in 1947. In 1948 Rabbi Weinberg became rabbi at Muizenberg, South Africa. He gained the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Cape Town University for a thesis entitled "Marriage in the Talmud." He later served the Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation from 1961 until his retirement in 1980, when he was appointed emeritus minister. Rabbi Weinberg was dayan on the Beth Dins of Cape Town and Glasgow. He was first co-chairman of the Edinburgh Council of Christians and Jews, was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1969 and was chaplain to student societies at a number of Scottish universities. He is buried at Piershill cemetery, Edinburgh (view image of gravestone). (JC obituary 12 May 1989, How Oxford rose to war time challenges by Walter Eytan JC 8 September 1989; article by Harold Pollins.)

Rabbi J. (or Y.) Weinberger
(b. 1922)

Czechoslovakian-born Rabbi Weinberger was educated in Budapest, where he attended both the Jewish Theological Seminary and the university. He survived the German occupation of Hungary in the Hungarian underground. He arrived in Britain in 1947, entering Jews' College. After teaching experience at the Hebrew classes of Dollis Hill Synagogue and Bayswater Synagogue, Rev. Weinberger was appointed youth minister at Cricklewood Synagogue and Hendon Synagogue and was minister at St Albans Affiliated Synagogue, Hertfordshire (1953-1955). In 1954 he obtained semicha from Jews' College. In 1955 he took up a post as a rabbi and principal at a seminary in Johannesburg, South Africa. (JC reports of 22 January 1954 and 13 May 1955.)

Rev. W. Weiner

Rev. Weiner was appointed as reader and shochet of Dundalk Hebrew Congregation, Ireland in March 1895 and of Cork Hebrew Congregation, Ireland, in 1900. (JC reports.)

Rabbi Chayim Yitzchok Weingarten
(1883 - 1970)

Born in Janov Russia (today probably the village of Yaniv, Ukraine, abandoned after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster) Rabbi Weingarten (m. 1st Chana, daughter of the Rav of Wishnovitz, 2nd Dvora Yita) founded a yeshiva in Wishnovitz (now Vyshnivchyk, Ukraine). He then became Rav to the Orthodox community of Liege, Belgium. Rabbi Weingarten came to England in 1939 where he established a small yeshiva which in 1941 he moved to Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, and shortly after to near Staines. His yeshiva was known as the Staines yeshiva or as the Law of Life College and Synagogue, Slough, later referred to as Slough Hebrew Congregation, or simply the Jewish Theological College. The yeshiva operated from at least 1945 until 1953. Ill health obliged Rabbi Weingarten to close the yeshiva and he established a Beth Hamidrash at his home in Stamford Hill, north London. He was the father of Rabbi David Weingarten and father in law of Rabbi Meisels who became Rav of the Beth Hamidrash on Rabbi Weingarten's death. (JC obituary 6 November 1970 and tribute 20 November 1970; JYB listings.)

Rabbi Abraham Weinstein
(1901 - 4 August 1975)

Born in Azhore, near Grodno, Rabbi Weinstein (m. Liba, daughter of Rabbi Aaron Joseph Schor) studied in the Yeshivot of Grodno and Slobodka. He was rabbi of Liskova, Lithuania. Coming to England in 1928, he was appointed rabbi of the Princelet Street Synagogue, in London's East End, and lectured at the Spitalfields Sinai Association, Brick Lane in the early 1930s. Rabbi Weinstein was Rosh Hashochetim (senior shochet) in London from 1940 until 1966. He was rabbi of the Montague Road Beth Hamedrash in Dalston, North London (c.1944-c.1951). Rabbi Weinstein authored Sefer Sharei Ha Mitzvos (London, 1953). He died in Leeds and is buried in the United Hebrew Congregation cemetery, Gildersome (view image of gravestone). He was the father-in-law of Rev. Joseph Shaw of Palmers Green and Southgate District Synagogue and of Rabbi Dr. Solomon Brown of Leeds. (Various JC reports, JYB listings and Jewish Miscellanies blog by Jeffrey Maynard.)

Rev. J. Weintrobe, BA

Rev. J. Weintrobe, who studied at Jews' College, London, was appointed minister to the Swansea Hebrew Congregation in 1930. In January 1941, he was temporarily released to became a chaplain to the British Armed Forces during World War II, in which capacity he served in and around Exeter, Devon, but returned to his Swansea post until 1946, when he was succeeded by his brother-in-law, Rev. Cecil Bloch. (1980 souvenir brochure of the Swansea congregation, pp.55/63; The Jews of Exeter by Helen Fry, 2013; and JYB listings.)

Sidney Weintroub, MBE
(c1909 - 1988)

Manchester-born S. Weintroub (m. Bertha), was educated at Manchester Grammar School and St John's College, Oxford. In 1935, he was appointed to the teaching staff at Southampton University. He was later to become Head of its Physics department. He served the Southampton Hebrew Congregation, for over 35 years as secretary and as president, treasurer, trustee and elder. He was also lay minister of the Southampton congregation, conducting synagogue services, and was its religious adviser over many years. In addition, for over 45 years, he regularly visited the Parkhurst Prison Synagogue, Isle of Wight, as well as Camp Hill and Winchester prisons and from 1967, also Albany Prison, Isle of Wight. He conducted Shabbat services at Parkhurst and was awarded the MBE for his prison chaplaincy work. (JC reports, including obituary of 4 March 1988.)

Rabbi Dr Pinkas Rudolf Weis

Rabbi Weis, from Manchester, was appointed minister in March 1941 of what became the Macclesfield United Synagogue Membership Group,, made up of evacuees from London and elsewhere, refugees, and some longer-standing residents of the town. He organised and held the religious services for the congregation's first year, and established a Talmud Torah for young people. He left Macclesfield by about spring 1942. He is presumed to be Rabbi Dr Pinkas Rudolf Weis, a noted scholar of semitics at Manchester University, editor of the Journal of Semitic studies who provided explanatory notes and commentary for a translation of Mishnah Horayoth. (published by Manchester University Press, 1952). (Basil Jeuda Macclesfield's Jews in World War Two; and internet research.)

Rev. Malcolm Weisman, OBE
(11 December 1930 - 1 March 2024)

London born Rev. Weisman, who was educated at Oxford and qualified as a barrister, became a chaplain in the Royal Air Force. He was appointed minister for small communities on the inception of the Office of Small Communities in 1963, travelling the breadth of Britain, visiting dozens of small, usually rural, communities. After over 40 years in the post, in 2009 he become emeritus minister for small communities, although he nevertheless continued to visit many of these small communities and congregations. He was also the vice-president of the Jewish Music Institute and trustee of the Council of Christians and Jews. In 2023, he published his autobiography, A Wing and a Prayer - My Life and Times. Rev. Bernard Louis Segal was his grandfather. (Internet research.)

Rev. Yehiel Weiss

Rev. Y. Weiss served the Luton Hebrew Congregation (c.1983-1985) and the Brighton and Hove Hebrew Congregation. (1985-c.1988) He may have been the Rev. Weiss who was assisting at Sandys Row Synagogue, east London in 1988. In August 1991 he was welcomed as the new chazan of the Fieldgate Street Great Synagogue, east London. (Various JC reports; JYB listings.)

Rabbi Eliezer Simcha Weisz

Manchester-born Rabbi E.L. Weisz served as minister of the Whitefield Hebrew Congregation, Manchester (c.1973-c.1981) before moving to Israel, where he served as rabbi of the Kfar Haroeh community for thirty years before stepping down in 2017. In 2018, he became the first former UK rabbi to be appointed to the Council of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate. He is a great-grandson of the renowned Rabbi Jacob Rabinowitz. (JYB listing and JC report of 30 September 2018.)

Rabbi Dr. Theodor Weisz
(13 September 1908 - 1987)

Born in Emden, Lower Saxony, in Germany, Rabbi T. Weisz (m. Ruth) studied at Berlin University and at Bonn University, where he gained his Ph.D degree. He studied also at the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin and was awarded semicha there, and later at the Yeshivot at Mir and Telz, Lithuania. He was Rabbi at Altona and Schleswig Holstein in northern Germany until late 1938 when the Nazis twice imprisoned him in concentration camps. He was released when he received a permit to enter Britain. Following his arrival in Britain he was interned in mid 1940 in Hutchison internment camp on the Isle of Man where he acted as camp rabbi until his release in January 1941. Rabbi Weisz served the Blackburn Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire, for two years (1941-1943), presenting the congregation with a sefer torah and other items from his former synagogue in Schleswig Holstein. He was also Liaison Officer for Clitheroe, Accrington, and other North Lancashire districts on behalf of the Joint Emergency Committee. He then taught at the Higher Rabbinical College (Kollel) at Gateshead. In 1947 he became rabbi of the Israelitische Religionsgesellschaft congregation, Zurich, Switzerland. He died in Zurich. He was the son of Rabbi Aron Weisz, formerly of Breslau, later Rabbi in Ottawa, and a brother, Rabbi Dr. Samson Raphael Weisz, was Dean of the Talmudical College, Detroit, U.S.A. ("From Poland To Paradise Lane and Other Journeys" - a history of the Jewish community of Blackburn, by Hilary Thomas, 2018; JC report 31 October 1941; and internet research.)

Rev. Louis Weiwow
(1892 - 4 August 1976)

Leeds-born Rev. Weiwow, BA, (m. Myra) studied at Jew's College and  London University. He served as acting minister of the Brighton Hebrew Congregation in 1917 (while Rev. B.B. Lieberman was serving in France as a chaplain to the British forces). He then served as minister of Blackpool United Hebrew Congregation (1918-c.1920), South Manchester Hebrew Congregation (1923-1946), Nairobi Hebrew Congregation, Kenya (1946-1949), where he had responsibility for organising Jewish life in Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika, and Torquay and Paignton Hebrew Congregation (1950-1957), after which he retired from the ministry. Rev. Weiwow is buried in the Jewish section of Paignton cemetery. (JYB Who's Who listing; JC reports and obituary 3 August 1976.)

Rabbi Yoni Wieder
(b. 21 January 1996)

Born and raised in London, Rabbi Wieder (m. Olivia Mann) studied for many years at Heichal HaTorah and the Mir Yeshiva and received semicha from Rabbi Tzvi Kushelevsky. He read history at Bar Ilan University, and his MA thesis analyses the reception and influence of the famous nineteenth century halachic code Mishnah Berurah. Rabbi Wieder studied for a further two years at the Rabbinic Training Academy in Temple Fortune, north-west London. He was appointed Chief Rabbi of Ireland in July 2023, and, in addition, he leads the the Dublin Hebrew Congregation, Terenure, is head of Jewish Studies at Stratford College, and oversees the Kashrus Commission of Ireland. Rabbi Wieder�s formal installation took place in May 2024. (Various online reports, including communication from Rabbi Wieder.)

Rabbi Dr Ephraim (Ernest) Yehudah Wiesenberg
(11 March 1909 - 21 January 2000)

Born in Kassa or Kaschau, a city in a border region then in Hungary (today Kosice in Slovakia), Rabbi Weisenberg (m. Leah Marx) studied in the yeshivot of Tirnau and Nitra, where he learned under Rabbi Shmuel David Ungar. He was then a student of Rabbi Joseph Horowitz from 1929 in Frankfurt, from whom he was awarded semicha. In 1935 he came to London and studied at Jews' College and University College, obtaining a doctorate in Semitics in 1942. He served as a congregational rabbi at Hammersmith & West Kensington Synagogue, London in a temporary wartime post, from 1942 to 1946. He was minister at the Windsor Place Synagogue of the  Cardiff United Synagogue from June 1946 until June 1947 and the Sheffield Hebrew Congregation (1947 to 1949). According to his JC obituary, he was a man who "would not brook religious compromise or seek assiduously to cultivate a popular public image", and he was "not temperamentally suited to the Anglo-Jewish rabbinate". He was an outstanding scholar and teacher, and having left the ministry he gave shiurim across London. From 1949 until 1976, Rabbi Weisenberg worked in the Hebrew department of University College, London, where he was promoted from lecturer to reader in 1963. He travelled almost daily to Cambridge to research in the Shechter-Taylor collection of the Cairo Genizah manuscripts. From 1983 to 1986 he acted as minister to the Machzike Hadath at its new synagogue in Golders Green, London. (JC obituary 17 March 2000; JYB listings.)

Rabbi Alan Wilkinson

Rabbi Wilkinson (m. Ruth) studied at a number of academic institutions, including Harvard University, University of Leicester, London School of Economics, the College of Law and the University of Greenwich and qualified and practised as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales. He was awarded rabbinic semicha in 2014, joined the chaplaincy team at Great Ormond Street Hospital in 2015 and North Middlesex Hospital in 2018. He has served as rabbinic leader of Ahavas Yisrael Synagogue, Edgware, from c.2019 to present (May 2020). (Congregation's website)

Rev. Eli Willencyk
(31 March 1909 - 3 February 1973)

Rev. Willencyk (or Wilenzyck) was born in Bialystok, Poland, and studied music and opera in Leipzig, Germany. He and his wife Fanny, whom he married in 1932, left Poland in 1933, initially to France, via Norway, and then after a short stay, to Britain. His cantorial skills were discovered while officiating as a guest chazan at a London synagogue and he was appointed first reader of the Cardiff Hebrew Congregation, Cathedral Road in 1933 and continued to serve as minister at the Cathedral Road synagogue after the congregation became a constituent of the Cardiff United Synagogue in 1942. He left in 1947 upon his appointment as first reader at the Sunderland Hebrew Congregation, serving until 1957. In 1957 he was appointed reader of the Hull Old Hebrew Congregation, where he died in office while taking the service. (JYB listings; Various JC reports.)

Rabbi Dr. Alfred Willman
(c.1895 - 1964)

Born in Czechoslovakia, Rabbi Willman came to Britain as a refugee from Nazi persecution before the outbreak of war. He had a doctorate in Semitic languages from the University of Vienna and had been a communal rabbi at Nikolsburg (today Mikulov in the Czech Republic). He took up a position as head of the languages department at the Henry Smith School in Hartlepool in the northeast of England. While there he acted as the last resident minister to the small West Hartlepool Hebrew Congregation (from at least 1956 and possibly somewhat earlier) until he was appointed minister of the Norwich Hebrew Congregation in 1959. He died in office. Dr. Willman wrote several books and contributed numerous articles on scholarly subjects. His son, George Willman, was chief executive of the United Synagogue (1999-2001). (JC reports and JYB listings.)

Rev. Bernard (Barnett) Leonard Wilner
(1895 - June 1976)

Born in Kovno, Lithuania, Rabbi Wilner (m. Rose) studied at the world famous Slobodka Yeshiva (Poland) and came to England in 1913. He was one of the founders of Mizrachi in Britain, the religious Zionist movement. Remembered as an "old school rav", on Yom Kippur he delivered his address in Yiddish and a former congregant recalls his "thunderous oratory". Following a brief term as rav of the New Road Synagogue, in London's East End, he was appointed minister to the Hove Hebrew Congregation, Holland Road, in 1934. Rabbi Wilner was instrumental in the establishment of the local mikva, Talmud Torah and other communal institutions. He retired to Netanya, Israel, in 1968 and acted as rabbi to a small synagogue there. He was the father of Rev. Isidore Wilner of Wolverhampton and Ruislip. (JC obituary, 2 July 1976.)

Rev. Isidor Wilner

Rev. I. Wilner was the son of Rabbi Bernard L. Wilner of Hove. He served as minister to the Wolverhampton Hebrew Congregation (1950-1952), where he was also hon chaplain to to HM Forces and to Shrewsbury prison. In 1952 he was appointed as the first mnister to Ruislip and District Affiliated Synagogue, Middlesex, where he directed the Hebrew classes for 50 children and performed the consecration service for the new prefabricated synagogue building in 1954. In 1962 Rev. Wilner left Ruislip and the ministry. (Various JC reports.)

Rabbi David Alexander Winter
(23 November 1878 - 13 October 1953)

Rabbi Winter (m. Amalie Wertheim) was born in Mönchengladbach, Germany. He initially studied at the yeshiva in Halberstadt and from 1899, he studied at both Berlin University and a yeshiva in Berlin. He received semicha in 1904 and a PhD from the University of Halle in 1906. He also qualified as a senior teacher. From 1907 to 1913 He served as a rabbi in Myslowice, Upper Silesia (1907-1913) and in Bad Homburg, Frankfurt (1912-1921). During World War I, he served as a field rabbi from 1916. He subsequently served as the last pre-war rabbi of the Jewish community in Lübeck (1921-1938), succeeded Rabbi Salomon Carlebach and his son Joseph. He also headed the rabbinate in Kiel and was state rabbi of Mecklenburg (1936-1938). He emigrated to Britain with his family in September 1938, prior to destruction of his Lübeck synagogue in the Kristallnacht pogrom. He was briefly interned in the Hutchinson Internment Camp on the Isle of Man from mid 1940 until September 1940. He died in London but was buried in the Sanhedria Cemetery in Jerusalem, Israel. (Simon Parkin's 'The Island of Extraordinary Captives", 2011; online research.)

Rev. Jacob Wittenberg
(b. c.1839)

German-born Rev. Wittenberg served as minister at Bath Synagogue, Somerset, from about 1875 until about 1881. ("The Jews of Bath" by M. Brown and J. Samuel; "Jews in Bath: a community and their Burial Ground, 1700-1945" by Christina Hilsenrath (2024); and 1881 census results.)

Rev. Joseph Wolf

Rev. Wolf was the son of Rabbi Mendel Wolf of north London, and served from at least 1942 as minister (and later also as secretary) of the Tilehurst United Synagogue Membership Group, Reading, Berkshire, until about 1945, when the group appears to have been wound up. He is believed to be the Joseph Wolf who after the war was a senior lecturer at Leeds University and in 1962 promoted the establishment of a yeshiva in Leeds. (JC reports; and JYB listings.)

Rev. Louis Wolfe
(1875 - 3 December 1966)

Rev. Wolfe (formerly Wolpe) (m. 1st Louise - d. 1908; 2nd Rachel Gluck - d.1961) was born in Lithuania and came to England as a young man. In 1898/9 he was in Armagh in what is today Northern Ireland. He served at the Greenock Hebrew Congregation, Scotland, in Dublin, Ireland (until at least 1908) and the Bridgend Hebrew Congregation, south Wales (until 1910) and Bolton Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire (1910-c.1912). His next appointment was as an army chaplain in Reading where he also held the position of minister, shochet and mohel to the Reading Hebrew Congregation (1914-1919). He then served in a similar capacity at Richmond Synagogue (1919-1922). Rev. Wolfe was then minister to the Eastbourne Hebrew Congregation, Sussex from 1922 until 1944. He remained in Eastbourne on retirement and enjoyed assisting conducting the services up to his 90th year. He died in Eastbourne. (JYB listings; Eastbourne congregation website; JC obituary 6 January 1967 and other reports; online research.)

Rev. Samuel Wolfe
(17 June 1883 - 8 August 1970)

Rev. Wolfe (m. Fanny) was born in Kovno. His first known post is believed to have been in Bradford where a Rev. S. Wolfe served as reader of the breakaway Bradford New Hebrew Orthodox Congregation from about 1909 to about 1910, possibly followed by a short stay in Leicester. He served as minister of the Northampton Hebrew Congregation (1910-1913), where he formed a Chevra Torah Society in 1913. He was later minister and joint secretary of the Derby Hebrew Congregation (c.1914-c.1918). In 1918 he was at the New Tredegar Hebrew Congregation and his post was described as minister of Rhymney Valley district (which also included Bargoed) and he was praised for his work on behalf of the forces stationed there. In 1919 he became minister, teacher and shochet to the Aberavon and Port Talbot Synagogue, Neath. South Wales. He subsequently served as the minister (and described as one of the founders) of the breakaway Westcliff and Leigh Congregation, Ceylon Road, Westcliff, Essex, (1923-c.1927) and as minister of Chatham Memorial Synagogue, Rochester, Kent (from 1930). In 1936 (while still at Chatham) he was additionally appointed honorary minister to the newly-built synagogue at Bexley Heath & District Hebrew Congregation, northwest Kent (now in London) (about 20 miles away). From 1941 Rev Wolfe served the Hitchin Hebrew Congregation, Hertfordshire, where he organised Hebrew and religion classes for evacuated children, conducted services and acted as secretary for this war time community. In October 1945 he returned to Westcliffe, well into retirement, he conducted services and study groups in an honorary capacity. He is buried in the Southend & Westcliff Jewish Cemetery, Stock Road (view image of gravestone). (JC obituary August 1970 and various reports.)

Rev. Solomon Wolfe
(1785 - 17 January 1866)

Rev. Solomon Wolfe (m. Phoebe Lyon), a native of Prussia, arrived in Bath about 1815. He served as reader and shochet at Bath Synagogue, Somerset, from about 1815 until 1866. (His headstone at the Bath Jewish burial ground states he was reader to the congregation for 50 years.) He has been referred to as that congregation's "First Minister" as, initially, he effectively performed all the functions of a minister and from 1856 was also described as 'second reader'. He also owned a general dealer's shop in Bath. In 1855 Rev. Wolfe's licence as a kosher butcher was withdrawn by the Chief Rabbi on account of his age. An appeal was made in The JC to support him. He was by then described as second reader to the Bath congregation. He was also recorded as shochet of the Cheltenham Hebrew Congregation, Gloucestershire (c.1835). ("The Jews of Bath" by M. Brown and J. Samuel (JHSE Transaction Vol. XXIX 1982/1986) p.161; Appendix to "The Hebrew Community of Cheltenham, Gloucester and Stroud" by Brian Torode (1989); JC reports.)

Rev. Philip Wolfers
(17 March 1859 - 26 April 1928)

London born Rev. Wolfers (m. Louisa) was superintendent at Settles Street Board School, Whitechapel, London and served on the management of Sandy's Row Synagogue, London. He began his ministerial career at Barberton, Transvaal, South Africa and then at the Johannesburg New Synagogue (1889-1891). Returning to the UK, Rev. Wolfers was briefly minister at Hanley Synagogue, Stoke-on-Trent, (1893) before moving to South Wales where he served the Swansea Hebrew Congregation (1893-1899) and later the Cardiff Hebrew Congregation, Cathedral Road, (1899-1902). In 1902 he founded and became principal of Margate Jewish College, at "Rostellan", Cliftonville, Kent. He was also hon. minister of a short-lived congregation which held services at the college for residents and visitors as well as for pupils, under the name Margate Hebrew Congregation (1902-1906). Following retirement in 1911, he was active in community affairs in London and acted as honorary minister to Walthamstow and Leyton Synagogues and religion classes. He also served on the Board of Management of West Ham Associate Synagogue. In 1923 he settled in Westcliff and acted in an honorary capacity as minister for Southend & Westcliff Synagogue, Essex, when the congregation was without a minister. At the time of his death he was honorary minister of breakaway Westcliff and Leigh Congregation, Ceylon Road, Westcliff. (JYB listings; 1975 JHSE conference paper on Swansea; and various JC reports  and obituary.)

Rev. Anthony Wolfson
(b. 1967)

Manchester born Rev. A. Wolfson was awarded a B.Ed. (Hons) degree from Jews' College, an MA in Hebrew and Jewish Studies from the University of London and a M.Ed from the University of Bath and has spent most of his adult life in involved with primary school education. In 1988, whilst still studying at Jews' College, he was appointed part-time chazan of Chelsea Affiliated Synagogue, central London. In April 1991, he was appointed part-time chazan of Wembley United Synagogue, a post he held until 2011, when he moved from the area, but continued to return to Wembley to officiate at high holy days and on various festivals until 2017. (JYB listings; profile accompanying YouTube video.)

Rev. David Wolfson
(5 November 1914 - 17 February 2010)

Liverpool-born Rev. D. Wolfson (m. Miriam Daviat of Liverpool) was educated at Gateshead yeshiva where he qualified as a shochet. He served as minister of the Bangor Hebrew Congregation (c.1938-c.1942) and then as minister, secretary and headmaster of the classes for the Colwyn Bay Hebrew Congregation (c.1942-c.1946), both in North Wales, where during the war he acted as chaplain to the forces in addition to his communal duties. With the community�s post-war decline, Rev. Wolfson moved to London, where he served the Chiswick & District Affiliated Synagogue, West London (c. 1961 until at latest 1968). Staying  within the United Synagogue movement, he briefly served at Upton Park District Synagogue, East London, and by 1969 he had moved to Brondesbury Synagogue in Northwest London. In 1975, aged 61, Rev Wolfson took up his last position at Ruislip & District Affiliated Synagogue, Middlesex. After retirement there in 2002, he was appointed emeritus minister and continued to lead services, read from the Torah and preach on Yom Kippur into his late 80s. He was the younger brother of Rev. Myer Wolfson and the brother-in-law Rabbi Dr. Shalom Coleman of Perth, Australia and formerly of Liverpool. (JYB listings; JC obituary of 9 April 2010; and other reports. Photograph courtesy David J. Wolfson, nephew of Rev. David Wolfson. Click on the image of Rev. Wolfson to view an enlarged image of Rev. and Mrs. Wolfson in a new window.)

Rev. Myer Wolfson
(22 February 1908 - 8 January 1994)

Liverpool-born Rev M. Wolfson (m. Sara Chmielnitzki) was educated at Liverpool yeshiva and later traveled to Shishlovitch, near Minsk (today in Belarus), to train as a shochet. He served as minister of Hastings and St Leonards Hebrew Congregation (1927-c.1928) and then moved to Aberdeen, where he was able to study at the university while serving as minister and shochet to the Aberdeen Hebrew Congregation (c.1929-c.1930). Returning to Liverpool, Rev Wolfson served both the Fountains Road Hebrew Congregation and the Fairfield Hebrew Congregation for 26 years and was later minister of Childwall Synagogue, from 1962 and he was appointed emeritus minister on his retirement. He was the elder brother of Rev. David Wolfson and the grandfather of Rabbi Eliezer Wolfson, former rabbi of Newton Mearns Hebrew Congregation, Glasgow. (National Jewish Heritage Trails website for Hastings, JC reports and JYB listings. Photograph courtesy David J. Wolfson, the son of Rev. Myer Wolfson.)

Rev. Samuel Wolfson
(c.1909 - 1990)

Tredegar-born Rev. S. Wolfson (m Fay Landsberg) learnt at Etz Chaim yeshiva, London. Aged 18 he was assistant reader at the Great Synagogue, Dukes Place, London, where he learnt chazanut under Revs. A. Katz and H. Mayerowitsch. Rev Wolfson served at Sefton Park Synagogue, Liverpool (1932-1937) and then as second reader and assistant minister at the new Greenbank Drive Hebrew Congregation, Liverpool, (which resulted from the merger of Sefton Park Synagogue with the old Hope Place Congregation). In February 1948, he accepted a call to become minister, reader and secretary to the North Finchley and Woodside Park District Synagogue, London, but in March, prior to his move south, he was re-appointed at the Greenbank Drive Hebrew Congregation, where he was also secretary and teacher. During over 40 years in Liverpool, Rev. Wolfson was hon. secretary of the Merseyside Council for Jewish Education, Liverpool Yeshiva, Home for Aged Jews, also Chaplain to H.M. Prison, Liverpool; Headquarters Chaplain to the Boys' Club Association; and a member of the Merseyside Hospitals Council Committee. He retired to Bournemouth and was shomer at the Green Park Hotel. Rev Wolfson was remembered in Liverpool as "Mr Greenbank" who had "a great sense of occasion and decorum and performed his duties with dignity and precision". He was a brilliant after-dinner speaker with a keen sense of humour. Grandfather of Lord Wolfson of Tredegar (JC obituary 17 August 1990, profile 6 February 1948, and various reports; JYB listings.)

Rev. Wilfred Wolfson
(10 October 1906 - c.December 1982)

Odessa-born Rev. W. Wolfson, who studied at Manchester yeshiva, served at least 10 congregations in Britain and overseas, serving as minister to the Wolverhampton Hebrew Congregation (1925-1928) and as senior minister of Plymouth Hebrew Congregation (1928-1944), where during World War II he was chaplain to the armed forces in Devon and Cornwall. He then served a number of communities, both overseas and in the UK, including at Edmonton, Canada (from 1950), Grimsby Hebrew Congregation, Lincolnshire (1953-1956), Bristol Hebrew Congregation (1956-1957), Swansea Hebrew Congregation (1957-1960), Kitwe, Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia (from 1960), Carletonville, South Africa, Darlington Hebrew Congregation (1973-1976) and briefly Cardiff United Synagogue's Cathedral Road Synagogue (about 1976). Rev. Wolfson, who married four times, retired to Bournemouth where he died. (JYB listings, JC obituary 7 January 1983 and other JC reports.) 

Rabbi Mordechai Wollenberg

Rabbi Wollenberg (m. Blima) was raised in Oxford, educated at Carmel College. He attended yeshivot in Israel and America and university in Birmingham where he gained a BSc in Computer Science. He was minister at the Cardiff United Synagogue for eight years from about 2003 until he became rabbi of Childwall Synagogue, Liverpool in June 2011. While in Liverpool, Rabbi Wollenberg spearheaded the initiative Shabbat across the Mersey which attracted over 900 participants. In 2015, he and California-born Rebbetzen Blima were appointed as the first rabbinic couple of Woodford Forest United Synagogue, the east London congregation then recently formed by the merger of Waltham Forest Hebrew Congregation and Wanstead and Woodford United Synagogue, and they continue to serve the congregation until the present (August 2024). (Woodford Forest synagogue website, and various JC reports.)

Rev. Moses Joseph (Joe) Wolman
(c.1900 - 1971)

Rev. Moses Joseph Wolman (known as Rev. "Joe" Wolman) (m. Reka) was the son of Rev. Solomon Wolman. He served as minister of the Cork Hebrew Congregation, Ireland, from 1926 until 1937, and subsequently left for Australia to become minister to the Brisbane Hebrew Congregation, Queensland. During the Second World War, Rev. Wolman was chaplain to the armed forces in addition to his ministerial duties in Brisbane. Following the war, in 1946, Rev. Wolman moved to New Zealand where he served Jewish communities initially in Wellington and then in Christ Church, where he died. Rev. Wolman was the uncle of Rabbi Philip Ginsbury, who served as minister of various congregations in South London. (JYB listings; JC Obituary 6 August 1971 and other reports; and A History of the Brisbane Hebrew Congregation by Morris Ochert, available on line. Photograph at right courtesy of his grandson, Gary Weinstein)

Rev. Solomon Wolman
(28 February 1868 - 13 May 1951)

Rev. S. Wolman (m. Bertha, daughter of Rev. Pinchas Zevulun Schulman) was born in Berdychiv, near Kiev, in the Russian Empire (today northern Ukraine). In 1892, he conducted services at the newly re-established Boston Hebrew Congregation, Lincolnshire, the first reported Jewish services in Boston for almost a century. For the High Holydays in 1893 The JC reported: "many persons who formerly went to Grimsby or Hull to attend service in synagogue preferred to pass the festivals in Boston. The services were conducted by the Rev. S. Wolman....A choir trained by the Rev. S. Wolman added to the solemnity of the service." In 1894 Rev. Wolman was appointed headmaster of a new school attached to the Central Synagogue, Hull, and as an assesor to Hull's new Board of Shechita. In the following year he married Bertha Schulman in Brynmawr, south Wales and served the Brynmawr Hebrew Congregation from about 1896 until about 1899. By 1899 he was teaching at the Hebrew classes of what was to become the East Ham and Manor Park Synagogue in east London and he assisted in conducting services there. Rev. Wolman died in East Ham and he and his wife are buried at East Ham cemetery (view image of gravestones). He was the father of Rev. Moses Joseph Wolman. (JC reports and online research. Photograph at right courtesy of his great grandsons, Danny Ginsbury and Gary Weinstein. Rev. Wolman's naturalisation certificate.)

Rev. Benjamin Woolf
(c. 1854 - 17 November 1922)

Rev. Woolf (m. Bertha) was assistant reader of the Birmingham Hebrew Congregation from the mid 1880s until earliest 1912, assisting for almost all that time the principal reader Rev. Jacob Fink. He died in London. Brother of Jacob Woolf, headmaster of the Westminster Jews' Free School. (JC extensive report of Rev. and Mrs Woolf's silver wedding anniversary presentation 3 January 1904, and obituary 24 November 1922.)

Rev. Moses Woolf
(1834 - 8 November 1865)

Rev. Woolf (or Wolf) from London was appointed "reader, teacher etc." of Sunderland Hebrew Congregation in February 1862 and assisted at the consecration by the Chief Rabbi of the Congregation's Moor Street synagogue in May 1862. He was commended for being a promoter of "peace and goodwill in the town". He died in office, aged only 31. The Sunderland community raised a subscription to help his widow who was otherwise "entirely unprovided for." He is buried in the Sunderland Bishopwearmouth Cemetery (view image of gravestone). (Arnold Levy, Sunderland Jewish Community; and various JC reports.)

Rabbi Gershon Wulwick
(c.1917 - 1 August 1972)

Hungarian-born Rev. (later Rabbi) G. Wulwick, was the son of the Rev. Mendel Wulwick, chazan of the Great Synagogue in Prague. He spent his early years in Czechoslovakia and was chazan in Prague before coming to England in 1935 (m. Sybil, 1938 - daughter of Rev. Abraham Snadow of Newport, Monmouthshire). Rev. Wulwick was first reader of the Middlesbrough Hebrew Congregation (April 1936-1946) where he commenced training as a shochet. He was also teacher at Hebrew Classes at Stockton and Bishop Auckland. He then served for two years as minister of the Netherlee and Clarkston Hebrew Congregation, Glasgow. In 1948 he was appointed minister, reader and secretary to the Heaton Park Synagogue, Manchester, where he served for just short of 25 years. He was actively involved in wider community work in Manchester, including as hon. secretary of the newly-formed Rabbinical Council of Manchester in 1964, as administrator, welfare officer and honorary director of Manchester's Hillel House from 1965 and was life president for the holidays and amenity fund for needy children. He died in office. He was brother of Mr Abraham Wulwick, headmaster North West London Jewish Day School, and cousin of Rev. S. Stern of Leeds.  (JC profile 3 April 1936, obituary 11 August 1972 and various reports.)

Rev. I. Wuman

Rabbi Wuman served as minister of the Kettering United Synagogue Members Group, Northamptonshire, from October 1941 until 1942 or 1943, serving also the surrounding villages and, to a lesser extent, Northampton. (JC reports.)

Rabbi Benjamin Bernard Wykansky
(c.1907 - 1993)

Hull-born Rabbi Wykansky, a son of Rev. Simon Wykansky, (m. Freda Lichtman) was educated at Aria College, Southsea, Portsmouth, London University* and Jews' College, London. From about 1928 to 1929 he was teacher at the newly-founded religious classes in Hendon, northwest London, the children coming from the then small Jewish outposts north of Golders Green, including Hendon and Edgware. He also served briefly as first minister at the newly-founded and then independent Hendon Synagogue. He then became the first minister and secretary to the neighbouring Finchley Synagogue, London (1929-c.1932). In 1937 he was appointed teacher and secretary to the Bournemouth Hebrew Congregation, but in 1938 he returned to London to become beadle and secretary at Brondesbury Synagogue, London where he also organised the youth groups. From 1941/2 until the end of World War II, Rev. Wykansky was a chaplain to the British Armed Forces. Based in north Devon, he was hon. minister, reader and hon secretary to the Ilfracombe Hebrew Congregation, a war-time community, comprised largely of evacuees and refugees together with members of the British and US Armed Forces, conducting the Sabbath services for sometime at the Capstone Hotel. In August 1945 Rev Wykansky returned to Brondesbury synagogue as assistant minister to Dayan Swift. He was acting minister following Dayan Swift's departure in 1949. In 1950 he was appointed chairman of the council of NW London Jewish day schools. In December 1950 Rev Wykansky accepted the call of the Alberta Jewish community, Canada, but en route took up appointment as minister at Temple Emanu-El, Staten Island, New York. He served that Conservative congregation as rabbi until his retirement in 1982. He was president of the rabbinical association of Staten Island. In 1982 he was kashrut supervisor on the luxury cruise liner, the QE2. He was the brother of Rev. Lewis Wykansky. (JC reports.)
*Other sources give Cambridge University, but there is no record in the University's Archives of him having attended Cambridge University.

Rev. Lewis (or Louis) Wykansky
(6 April 1913 - 27 April 2008)

Born in Wolverhampton and brought up in Plymouth, Rev. Lewis Wykansky (m. Dollie, d.1990), a son of Rev. Simon Wykansky, won a scholarship to Aria College, Southsea, Portsmouth. In 1932, he reportedly served briefly as reader of the Hull Old Hebrew Congregation (or possibly another congregation in the city). In 1933 he was appointed chazan and shochet at Wolverhampton Synagogue (where his father had also served). He was then second reader, teacher and shochet of Leazes Park Road Synagogue, Newcastle (c.1936-c.1949), also serving for a short period as acting minister (c.1946-c.1948). He was on a number of occasions the only acting minister of the congregation, either in between ministers (1936-1938 and 1946-1948) or during the war, when the senior minister was on chaplaincy duties to the forces. He was the brother Rev. Benjamin Wykansky. In 1949, he changed his name to Lewis Wyatt and left the ministry for a business career. He was synagogue warden at Leazes Park Synagogue for many years. In about 1973 he was appointed shomer at the Cumberland Hotel in Bournemouth. A resident of Nightingale House, he frequently conducted services at its synagogue. (JYB listings; "Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History" (2011), p.1051; JC obituary 11 July 2008 and other reports; and London Gazette 14 January 1949.)

Rev. Simon Wykansky
(c.1878 - 25 November 1939)

Russian-born Rev. Wykansky (m. Rosa - d.1948), who came to Britain in 1905. He served as chazan of Dublin Hebrew Congregation (c.1908) and was appointed as teacher of the free girls' school "for instruction in Hebrew and translation" established by the Cork congregation of 2 Union Street under Rev. Wykansky's direction in 1909. He later served as chazan and shochet of Wolverhampton Synagogue (1912-1920), then possibly as first reader of Blackpool United Hebrew Congregation (in 1920, although he may not have taken up such position) and finally, until his retirement, as chazan and shochet of Plymouth Hebrew Congregation (1920-1933). He was also trained as a mohel. He died in Newcastle upon Tyne and it buried in the Hazelrigg Jewish cemetery, North Tyneside (view image of gravestone) was the father of Rabbi Benjamin Wykansky and Rev. Lewis Wykansky and the father-in-law of Rev. Michael Isaacs. (JC reports, including report of 22 October 1909 and obituary of 1 December 1939; and "Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History" (2011), p.1051.)

Rev. Isaac Bernard Yaffey (or Jaffe)
(c.1863 - 29 January 1937)

Rev. Yaffey (m. Annie) was born in Kovno (today Kaunas, Lithuania), and lived in Glasgow before moving to Dublin, where he served as reader of Dublin's United Hebrew Congregation, Greenville Hall from about 1925 until 1937 (from about 1931 as second reader to Rev. Wolf Garbarz). He died in office and is buried at the Dolphin's Barn Cemetery in Dublin. (JYB listings, Patrick Comerford blog.)

Rev. Mendel (or Menachem) Yare
(c.1910 - 11 January 1998)

Polish-born Rev. Yare (m. Fay) served as reader and shochet at the Pontypridd Hebrew Congregation, south Wales (1948-c.1953) and as minister of Northampton Hebrew Congregation (c.1955-c.1966) and Elm Park Synagogue, Hornchurch London. (c.1966-c.1975). He is buried at Bushey cemetery, Hertfordshire. (JC reports; and JYB listing.)

Rev. Israel (or Isaac) Yellin
(d. 7 June 1927)

Born in Grodno (today in Belarus), Rev. Yellin (or Yelin) (m. Paulina) came to Britain in about 1889. He briefly acted as chazan and shochet to the congregation at Canterbury before serving as minister and reader of Grimsby Hebrew Congregation (1890-1891). He subsequently served as reader of the Central Synagogue, Manchester (1893-c.1894) and as first reader of Leazes Park Road Synagogue, Newcastle (1894-c.1901). He was one of the founders of the Bethnal Green Synagogue, London, where he acted as chazan for a number of years and was appointed the congregation's first marriage secretary in 1906 and in 1908 he was appointed reader of the Vine Court Synagogue in London's East End. Rev. Yellin was a well-known mohel based in Princelet Street in the East End. (His advertisements in The JYB stated his services were available "irrespective of age, creed or distance".) He is buried at East Ham cemetery (the United Synagogue online burial record is under the name Isaac Yellin). ("Service and Scandal" by Daniel Appleby, 2013 and The Jewish Communities of North-East England by Lewis Olsover (1980), p.204; and JC obituary 17 June 1927.)

Rabbi Abraham Aaron Yudelovitch
(10 July 1850 - 2 February 1930)

Rabbi A.A. Yudelovitch, from Russia, served as first rabbi of Newcastle Beth Hamedrash during the 1890s. He was the father of Rabbi Hyman Marim Yudelovitch. (The Jewish Communities of North-East England by Lewis Olsover (1980), p.37.)

Rabbi Hyman Marim Yudelovitch (later Yood)
(10 June 1876 - 29 August 1931)

Born in Grodno, Poland (today in Belarus) Rabbi H.M. Yudelovitch (also spelled Judelovitch) (m. Dinah Levin in 1900) was son of Rabbi Abraham Aaron Yudelovitch. In 1898 he was appointed minister of the Strangeways Synagogue, Manchester. He was the first minister to the Southend and Westcliff Hebrew Congregation (1906-1913) during which period the community grew from 14 families to 150 members. In 1913 he relocated with his family to the USA, where he served as a rabbi in several states. Rabbi Yudelovitch changed his name to Yood and obtained American citizenship. He is buried in Bayside Cemetery, New York. (Profile on the SWHC website researched and written by Anne Marcus; JC report 17 February 1913; JYB listings; and internet research.)

Rev. J.B. Zaccheim

Rev. Zaccheim served as a minister at the Oxford Hebrew Congregation in the early 1890s. By 1896 he was serving the Tredegar Hebrew Congregation, south Wales, until about 1898. (Ministers in Oxford by Harold Pollins; The Jews of Oxford (1992) by D.M. Lewis; JYB listings.)

Rev. Chaim Zack
(29 August 1916 - 22 February 2011)

Rev. Zack (m. Margaret, daughter of Rev. Jacob Koussevitzky) was born in Liverpool.�A qualified shochet, he was a visiting minister to the Jewish internees on the Isle of Man at the beginning of World War II. In 1946 Rev. Zack was appointed minister to the Eastbourne Hebrew Congregation, Sussex and served the congregation on a part-time basis for over 50 years. He also ran a watch and jewellery shop in the town. In 1997 he retired to London. He is buried at Bushey cemetery (find gravestone). (Remembering Rev Chaim Zack z�l by Ronnie Taylor, Chairman, Eastbourne Hebrew Congregation in Sussex Jewish News, April 2011.)

Rev. Gabriel Zacutta
(b. c. 1872)

Rev. G. Zacutta was born in Swisloch, Port Grodner (now Svislac, Belarus; 60 km south of Grodno) and was granted British nationality in 1900, when he was living in Liverpool. The 1901 census records him as a 29-year-old shochet living in Crown Street, West Derby, Liverpool. He served as minister of the Dundee Hebrew Congregation, Scotland, from 1902 until about 1905. By 1915, it appears he was minister at the Mishkan Yisroel Synagogue, Detroit, Michigan, USA. (JC report; JYB listings; Jolles's Encyclopaedia p.977; and Caledonian Jews by Natham Abrams.)

Rabbi Shammai Zahn
(6 July 1920 - 4 March 2001)

Born in Nuremberg but a Polish citizen, Rabbi Zahn was a student at Wurzburg teachers' seminary in Germany. He escaped to Britain in 1939 disguised as a farm boy. His parents and two sisters were murdered in the Holocaust. Other siblings escaped on the kindertransport. In 1944 he joined the new Kollel in Gateshead as its only unmarried student. In the following year he married fellow refugee Lotte Bergman originally from Frankfurt. In 1946 Rabbi Zahn helped out in the founding of the Sunderland Yeshiva and later became its rosh yeshiva (principal) (c.1949-c.2001). He visited Morocco annually from 1950 to 1967 to recruit students and over the years he educated future chief rabbis of Argentina and Venezuela, and dayanim and communal rabbis around the world. In 1966 he combined his yeshiva responsibilities with effectively becoming rav of the Sunderland Beth Hamedrash. In 1981, he became the first and only communal rav of Sunderland (and the town's only rabbi), which position he continued to hold after the incorporation of the Beth Hamedrash into the Sunderland Hebrew Congregation and until his death. Rabbi Zahn was joint president of Agudath Israel in the UK. He was author of two major works on talmudic literature. Rabbi Zahn retired to Gateshead in 1999. Sunderland Yeshiva (itself removed to Gateshead in June 1988) published a memorial brochure to its former head on the passing of Rabbi Zahn. A number of family members have continued to teach at the Sunderland Yeshiva in Gateshead. (Online biography; JC obituary 23 March 2001, Rabbi Zahn's account of the Nazi persecution at Wurzburg can be read here) .

Rev. Joseph Sinai Zalud (Zaludkowski)
(c.1892 - 19 November 1966 )

Rev. J.S Zalud (also known as Zaludkowski) was a son of Rabbi Noach Zaludkowski of Dvoretz. He studied at the Conservatoire in Berlin, where he also served as a synagogue reader, and came to Britain in 1927. He served as chazan of the New Central Synagogue, Glasgow (in and about 1927), and the Shaw Street Synagogue, Liverpool (c.1931-c.1936). He is later reported to have officiated at High Holy Day services in Leeds and Dublin. He died at Wallasey, Wirral, Cheshire (now Merseyside), where he served as hon. reader to the Wallasey Hebrew Congregation. He was the brother of Rev. Jacob Zalud and the uncle of Rabbi Norman Zalud. (JYB listings; JC obituary of 2 December 1966; and Jolles's Encyclopaedia.)

Rev. Mendel Zeffert
(20 November 1892 - 13 January 1958)

Born in Lubraniec, Poland, Rev. Zeffert (m. Allti - d.1982) came to the UK with his family aged about two, and was brought up in Liverpool. He was a student at Aria College, Southsea and Portsmouth Grammar school by 1912, and later studied at Jews' College, London. He was temporary minister at Central Synagogue, London in 1915. Over the High Holydays in 1918 he was temporary minister at the Old Hebrew Congregation, Newcastle upon Tyne. From 1918 Rev. Zeffert was principal minister of the Plymouth Hebrew Congregation, Devon, and served there until 1928. For nearly 30 years he was minister of the East London Synagogue in Stepney (1929-1958), succeeding the Rev. J.F. Stern. Rev. Zeffert was active in the Scouting movement, the Jewish Lads' Brigade and was chaplain to the London Jewish hospital, Stepney Green, and the nearby Stepney Jewish School. He also served the Jewish Orphanage in Norwood, South East London. Rev. Zeffert died in office and is buried at Willesden cemetery (find gravestone). (Profile and photograph provided by his son Michael Zeffert; JC obituary 17 January 1958, Peter Renton, Lost Synagogues of London (2000), p.94.)

Rev. A. Zeidenfeld

Rev. A Zeidenfeld served at the West Hartlepool Hebrew Congregation from before 1914 until February 1915 when he was appointed chazan and shochet at Croydon Hebrew Congregation, south London. A charity list published in The JC in 1919 includes Rev. Zeidenfeld of Croydon. He may be Abraham Zeidenfeld (m. Fanny) who ran a kosher grocery shop at 188 London Road, Croydon, in the 1930s and 1940s. The Zeidenfelds remained living over the shop until Abraham's death in 1945. He is buried at Edmonton cemetery, London. The kosher store on London Road (under new management) continued to serve the Jewish populations in Croydon, Purley, Carshalton, Coulsdon, Sutton etc. until the mid 1960s. (JC report 12 February 1915; article on the history of 188 London Road by Croydon historian Kake.)

Rabbi Avrohom Zeidman

Educated at Hasmonean Boys school in Hendon, Rabbi Zeidman (m. Rivka) studied in Israel where he received three semichot. In the UK he took on educational roles with Project Seed and the United Synagogue. He served as assistant minister of Edgware United Synagogue, London from about 2010 until about 2014. He designs and implements educational programmes for GIFT, a Jewish educational and volunteering charity based in north west London to help those in need. (JYB listings; website of GIFT.)

Rabbi Aharon Zerbib

Rabbi Zerbib (m. Yehudit) grew up in France and England and was the eleventh generation of rabbis in his family. He was a graduate of the Shehebar Sephardic Center (SSC) in Jerusalem, from where he received semicha, and was an assistant rabbi at the Vienna Synagogue in Tel Aviv. He served as the Chief Rabbi of Bulgaria from 2012 until 2015. In 2016, he and rebbetzen Yehudit were appointed the rabbinic couple at the Northwood United Synagogue, London, serving  until 2023, when he returned to Israel. (Internet research; Northwood Synagogue website.)

Rev. Orland Zicherman (Verrall)
(1916 - 1992)

Rev. Zicherman (later Verrall) was born in the village of Cerna in southern Bohemia, then in Austria-Hungary (later Czechoslovakia, now the Czech Republic). He studied at the Galante Yeshiva and later, for music and voice production, at Pressburg (today Bratislava, Slovakia), and was serving first reader at the Kehillas Yaakov Synagogue, Amsterdam, Holland when the Nazis invaded. He managed to escape to England where he was appointed first reader to the Southport Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire (1941-1943). He changed his name to Orland Verrall and travelled to Italy on a number of visits to study opera and learn Italian. Torn between a cantorial career and a love for opera, he became chazan at Palmers Green & Southgate Synagogue, London, (1947-1956). He then emigrated to Canada and served the Rosh Pina Synagogue in Winnipeg where he married Olga (nee Barsany), a child survivor of the Auspitz Labour camp in Nazi-occupied Hungary. ("Philanthropy, Consensus and Broiges...a history of the Southport Jewish Community" by John Cowell; Missing Pieces My Life as a Child Survivor of the Holocaust (2007) by Olga Verrall, then widow of Rev Verrall; JC report 27 December 1940.)

Rabbi Shraga Feivel Halevy Zimmerman

Rabbi Zimmerman (m. Chaya Reena) was born in New Jersey, USA and studied at Beer Shmuel yeshiva in Borough Park (a yeshiva founded by his grandfather, Rabbi Yosef Yonah Tzvi Horowitz) and Mirrer yeshiva in Flatbush. He served as a dayan for the Kehal Adass Yeshurun Kehilloh in Washington Heights, New York, and subsequently as rav of Khal Bnei Ashkenaz of Monsey, New York. In 2008, he was appointed rav at Gateshead Hebrew Congregation, as well as av beis din (head) of Gateshead Beit Din and communal rav of the Gateshead community. He served until January 2020, when he took up the post of av beis din of the Federation of Synagogues in London, a position still held by him (as of July 2024). (JYB listings; online research)

Rabbi Saul Zneimer

Rabbi Zneimer (m. Elizabeth) holds a degree in politics, philosophy and economics from the University of Oxford and was awarded semicha in 1990 from Yeshivat haMivtar. In the early 1990s Rabbi Zneimer was director of community services, then for rabbinic development and adult education with the United Synagogue and led the educational programmes at Yakar Synagogue, Hendon (c.1991-c.1993). He served as minister of Kenton Synagogue, London (1994-2000) and was Chief Executive of the United Synagogue (2001-2007) after which he held a number of senior positions in corporate finance, briefly returning to become temporary acting minister of Radlett United Synagogue, Hertfordshire (2010-2011). (Rabbi Zneimer's LinkedIn account.)

Rabbi Eliezer Zobin

Rabbi Zobin (m. Aviva) was raised in Golders Green, London, and studied at yeshivas in Israel for seventeen years, receiving semicha at Yeshiva Be�er Yaakov. He graduated with an MA in Jewish Education from London University. In 2015 he was appointed associate rabbi at the Ner Yisrael Community, Hendon, and was elected its senior rabbi in 2019, until present (February 2021). Rabbi Zobin is also the Principal at Immanuel College, Bushey, Hertfordshire, as well as head of the Beit HaMidrash at London School of Jewish Studies, Hendon. Rebbetzen Aviva Zobin has undertaken extensive Jewish education in London and Israel, has a degree in Humanities and undertakes individual teaching and pastoral work. (Congregation's website)

Rev. Abraham Zucker (originally Pryszucker)
(8 June 1896 - 9 December 1975)

Rev. Zucker was born in Kleczew, Poland, the son of Rev. Jacob Chaulom Przysuhker, chief chazan at Kletcheff for some forty years. He attended yeshivot in Poland and Germany and served as reader int Wreschen and Beuthen (now Bytom, Poland) before coming to Britain. His first wife died in 1935, and his second wife was Bianka (born 4 November 1898). In 1937 he was appointed reader, shochet, mohel and teacher of the Cardiff New Hebrew Congregation, Windsor Place, and continued to serve as minister at the Windsor Place synagogue after the congregation became a constituent of the Cardiff United Synagogue in 1942. He shortened his name from Pryszucker to Zucker in the late 1940s. He retired from Cardiff in 1958 and moved to Israel, where he died. He was buried at the Mount of Olives Cemetery, Jerusalem.  (Jolles's Encyclopaedia, p. 980.)

Rev. Isaac Woolf Zucker
(c.1890 - 22 January 1931)

Rev. Zucker (m. Yetta Kibel) had served as reader of the Great Synagogue in Hamburg. On coming to England he served as reader at the Central Synagogue, Islington, Liverpool. In about 1924 he was appointed second reader of the Birmingham Hebrew Congregation, Singers Hill. He was first reader following the retirement of Rev. Fink in December 1924 until his dismissal in 1927, an action which was heavily criticised. He was subsequently appointed as reader at the Central Hackney Synagogue, London, where he was held in high esteem until his sudden and untimely death at the age of 41. (JC reports; and JYB listings.)

Rabbi Samuel Zucker

German born Rev. (later Rabbi) S. Zucker (m. Queenie Moss of Ealing, London), the son of Rev. Bernard Zucker, served as minister/reader of Whitley Bay Hebrew Congregation (1930s-c.1937) and reader of Leicester Hebrew Congregation (c.1937-c.1947). By 1961 Rev. Zucker was serving the Bellville Hebrew Congregation, Cape Town, South Africa and in 1976 is described as Rabbi Zucker of Cape Town (The Jewish Communities of North-East England (1980) by L. Olsover; Portrait of a Community (1998) by A. Newman & P. Lidiker; and various JC reports.)

Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Henry Sacks
(8 March 1948 - 7 November 2020)

Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks (m. Elaine Taylor) was born in Lambeth, London. His mother ("Libby" nee Frumkin) was a granddaughter of Rav. Aryeh Leib Frumkin. He gained a first-class honours degree (MA) in Philosophy from Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, followed by postgraduate study at New College, Oxford and at King's College London, completing a PhD, which he received from the University of London 1982. Urged and encouraged by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, to seek rabbinic ordination and enter the rabbinate, he studied at London's Jews' College and Etz Chaim Yeshiva, from where he received semicha. Rabbi Sacks's first communal appointment was as head of the Hebrew and religious classes at Luton Synagogue in June 1977. His first rabbinic appointment was as minister of Golders Green Synagogue, northwest London (1978-1982). This was followed by his appointment as minister of the Western Marble Arch Synagogue, central London (1983-1990). He also served as Principal of Jews' College from 1984 to 1990. On 1 September 1991, he was appointed Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, serving until his retirement on 1 September 2013. He was bestowed a knighthood in 2005 "for services to the community and to inter-faith relations" and received a life peerage with a seat in the House of Lords in 2019, taking the title "Baron Sacks, of Aldgate in the City of London". At the time of his death, aged 72, he was the Emeritus Chief Rabbi. He is buried in the Bushey New Cemetery, Hertfordshire (view image of gravestone). In 2021, Lord Sacks was posthumously awarded the Genesis Prize Lifetime Achievement Award. (Online research.)

Rev. I. Sacofsky

Rev. I. Sacofsky of Leeds served as minister, reader and shochet of the Doncaster United Hebrew Congregation, Yorkshire, from about 1942 (when he was still resident in Leeds and sent new year greetings to the Doncaster community) until 1948. He is presumed to be related to Rev. Wolfe Sacofsky of Leeds. He may be Israel Chaim Sakofsky, born in Russia in 1898 who died in Leeds in 1991. (JYB listings; JC reports; and internet research.)

Rev. Wolfe Sacofsky
(16 March 1915 - 24 December 1989)

Leeds born Rev. W. Sacofsky (m. Betty Marcus) studied at Manchester Yeshiva, during which period he officiated at the High Holy Day services for the small Oldham Hebrew Congregation in 1935 and 1936. From 1937, he served as minister of Moortown Synagogue, Leeds (a constituent of the Leeds United Hebrew Congregation) for some 52 years until his death in 1989. He was also a poultry shochet of the Leeds Board of Shechita for some 40 years and chaplain to St James (University) Hospital in Leeds. He is buried in the Leeds UHC cemetery. (JC obituary of 12 January 1990; and online research.)

Rabbi Eli Salasnik
(c.1925 - 9 October 2015)

Rabbi Salasnik (m June Zipporah) was born in the Old City of Jerusalem in the British Mandate of Palestine, to a family which had resided in the city for centuries and was the grandson of a rosh yeshiva. He served in the Haganah in Israel's war of independence and  attended both Chevron yeshiva and Merkaz Ha Rav Kook where he first obtained semicha aged only 17. On moving to Britain, he was rabbi for over 35 years in Waltham Forest, serving from 1952 until about 1987 as minister of Walthamstow and Leyton Synagogue and its successor congregation, Waltham Forest Hebrew Congregation (the name adopted following ithe 1967 merger with neighbouring Queens Road Synagogue). Rabbi Salasnik pioneered the independent Walthamstow & Leyton Jewish Day School from 1960 (it closed in about 1985). He was for a time chairman of the Rabbinical Council of the United Synagogue, sat regularly on the Bet Din of the Federation of synagogues. Following retirement, he assisted other communities, including as acting minister to the Hove Hebrew Congregation, Holland Road, from 1989 until about 1993, and Chigwell and Hainault Synagogue, Essex. He continued working well into his 80s as a Rav with the Shechita Board. He is buried on the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem. He was the father of Rabbi Zorach Meir Salasnik. (Remembering Rav Eli Salasnik z'l, HaMaor April 2016 by his sons and JC various reports.)

Rev. Nathan Samuel Salasnik (or Salas)
(b. c.1891 - 31 May 1958)

Russian born Rev. N. Salasnik (also Salas, Salasnick and Salasmik) served as minister of the Great Yarmouth Hebrew Congregation, Norfolk, from 1911 until about 1914. In 1914 he was appointed as reader, teacher and shochet to the Aberavon and Port Talbot Hebrew Congregation, south Wales, probably serving only until about 1915, as he is believed to be the Rev. Samuel Nathan Salas who left for Australia in 1915 and served as a minister in Broken Hill, New South Wales and in Auckland and Christchurch, New Zealand and died in Israel on 31 May 1958. (JC reports; JYB listings; and Jolles's Encyclopaedia, p. 854.)

Rabbi Zorach Meir Salasnik

London-born Rabbi Salasnik (m. Judy), the son of Rabbi Eli Salasnik, was awarded a BA in history from Queen Mary College, University of London. He served as minister of Notting Hill Synagogue, London (1970-1974) and Leytonstone & Wanstead Synagogue, London (1974-1979) before being appointed as the first (and long-serving) minister of Bushey United Synagogue, Hertfordshire (1979-2016), receiving his semicha in 1986. He subsequently retired to Jerusalem. (JYB listings and profile formerly on Bushey Synagogue website.)

Rev. Bernard (Benjamin) Joshua Salomons
(7 November 1862 - 22 March 1938)

Polish-born Rev. Salomons (or Solomon) was educated at yeshiva in Poland and came to Britain with his parents in about 1878. At the age of twenty, he was appointed minister of the Oxford Hebrew Congregation (c.1882-c.1884). He was then briefly minister of the Stockton Jewish Community. In 1885 he became Minister and Secretary to the Magnus Memorial Synagogue, Chatham, Kent, where he served for twelve years. Rev. Salomons became a celebrated preacher and lecturer to Jewish and non Jewish audiences. He was active in local charitable and cultural societies, such as the Temperance Union, Vigilance Committee, the local auxiliary of the NSPCC and was a leading member of the Liberal party in Kent. He helped to establish in Chatham a branch of the Anglo-Jewish Association and was a prison chaplain. He retired as a minister in 1897 due to a severe throat illness and became a staff member of the Montefiore Academy at nearby Ramsgate. He was described as the doyen of the Judith Montefiore Theological College, Ramsgate at the time of his death. He is buried at Willesden Cemetery, London. (JC obituary 1 April 1938; The Jews of Oxford by D.M. Lewis.)

Rev. J.L. Salzedo
(d. 1983)

Rev. Salzedo served as chaplain to Friern Hospital, north London, from 1975 until his death in 1983. As he was unable to conduct the services on the Sabbath, these were conducted by members of the Palmers Green Synagogue Friern Barnet Committee, which formed a roster of voluntary officiants. (Article by Harry Balkin on the Friern Hospital Synagogue.)

Rev. Abraham Samet
(7 April 1878 - 29 September 1952)

Rev. Samet (m. Rosa Levy who died at Rochester, Kent in 1926) was the only son of Hirsc Samet of Lodz, Poland. His first known posts in Britain were as minister at the Falkirk Hebrew Congregation, Scotland (1917-c.1918) and at the Stockport Hebrew Congregation, then in Cheshire (prior to 1920). Rev. Samet served as minister at the Reading Hebrew Congregation, Berkshire (1919-1922) and was then minister of the Chatham Memorial Synagogue, Rochester, Kent (1923-1929). His last known post was as minister of the Walford Road Synagogue, Stoke Newington, London (c.1930-c.1931). (View image of wife's gravestone at Chatham Jewish cemetery.) (A Fitting Memorial, a brief history of Chatham Synagogue by Irina Fridman; JYB listings and various JC reports; Jolles's Encyclopaedia, p. 855; and JYB listings.)

Rev. Isaac Samuel
(9 March 1833 - 24 October 1914)

Born in the City of London, Rev Samuel (m. 1st Luisa Freideberg - d. 1888, 2nd Henrietta Joseph of Brighton) was educated privately by a Hebrew scholar, Mr Tempelburg. In 1854 he was engaged to conduct the choir of the new Great Portland Street Congregation, Central London In addition to synagogue duties and studying, he ran a tobacconist business in London's Fleet Street, which failed partly because he refused to open it on Sabbaths or festivals. He then served as minister of the Bristol Hebrew Congregation (1859-1864). For half a century he served as first reader* of Bayswater Synagogue, London, from 1864 until February 1914 when he retired. He also taught chazanut at Jews' College from 1888. According to his obituary, he owed his reputation as a minister more to his charitable works than for vocal ability, and he was known as the "king of the schnorrers", when it came to seeking donations for the Jews' Deaf and Dumb home. Rev Samuel had ten children, and he was father-in-law to ministers, Rev. Meldola de Sola and Rev. Barnett Elzas. (JC obituary 30 October 1914; Jews in Bristol by J. Samuel (1997); The Story of Bayswater Synagogue 1863-1938 by C. Roth; and JYB listings.)
[*From about 1903 until about 1911, both he and any person performing the function of second reader were described as "ministers", presumably as the description of the rabbi had been changed from "minister" to "preacher".]

Rev. Philip Samuel (Rev. Feival)

Warsaw-born Rev. P. Samuel was the son of the secretary of the Great Synagogue, Warsaw, and traded as a silk merchant, living in Moscow, Vilna and Danzig. He came to Britain (reportedly to escape bankruptcy and consequential imprisonment) and served for a short period (c.1810-c.1811) as reader of the Penzance Jewish Congregation. After a short spell as a government agent in Falmouth and a jeweller in St. Austell, Cornwall, he then left for Lisbon, Portugal, where he later died. ("The Lost Jews of Cornwall" by Kieth Pearce, Helen Fry and Godfrey Simmons.)

Rabbi Yochel Myer Sandelson
(c.1880 - 12 April 1935)

Rabbi Y.M. Sandelson (also spelled Sandleson, former family name Miskin) was born in Vilna, Lithuania. He was rabbi at the Newcastle Beth Hamedrash from the 1890s until about 1920, when he transferred his services to the Corporation Street Synagogue, Newcastle, with which the Beth Hamedrash had formally merged in 1916 (while still retaining its own administration and building). Four years later, he became minister of Newcastle United Hebrew Congregation and Beth Hamedrash, Ravensworth Terrace, (1924-1935), with its new purpose-built synagogue, which fully united both congregations in a single location. Rabbi Sandelson was grandfather to three UK Members of Parliament, Leslie Lever (later Lord Lever of Ardwick), Harold Lever (later Lord Lever of Manchester) and Neville Sandelson. ("The Jewish Communities of North-East England" by Lewis Olsover (1980) and JYB listings.)

Rev. Herbert J. Sandheim
(13 October 1882 - 23 June 1926)

Glasgow born Rev. Sandheim (m. Ida Neft), whose father, Isaac Sandheim, was a co-founder of the Hammersmith Synagogue, was educated at Jews' College, London. He served as minister at the Swansea Hebrew Congregation from January 1907 and also visited the Llanelly Hebrew Congregation in that capacity. His period at Swansea was marked by constant friction between the minister and members of the Management Committee and he had previously tendered his resignation on at least one occasion, in 1907, before ultimately leaving in 1912, under somewhat of a cloud, when it was discovered that he was heavily in debt. He then changed his name to Rev. H.J. Samuel and emigrated to Canada, obtaining a BA degree at the University of Manitoba, and served as minister in Winnipeg and Montreal. He died in Asheville, North Carolina, still in his early 40s, and his remains were repatriated to Wales, where he was buried in Swansea Townhill cemetery (view details and image of gravestone). He was the grandfson of Rev. Julius Sandheim. ("The Jews of South Wales" by Ursula R.Q. Henriques, pp. 96/98; Jolles's Encyclopaedia, p. 859; and JYB listings.)

Rev. Julius Sandheim
(c.1815 - 13 March 1888)

Prussian born Rev. Sandheim (m. Miriam, eldest daughter of his predecessor in Dublin, Rev. Isaac Davidson), served from about 1839 at Dublin Hebrew Congregation's Mary's Abbey Synagogue, initially as secretary and reader, shochet and mohel, but from 1855, only as shochet and mohel. However, he appears to have re-occupied the earlier posts as he is described as first reader and secretary of the congregation in the Jewish Directory of 1874.  During his time in Dublin, Rev. Sandheim maintained a register of Jewish births in Dublin and also Belfast, the last entry being in 1879. In August 1882 he retired to England due to ill health, and died in Hackney, London. He is buried at West Ham Jewish cemetery. He was the grandfather of Rev. Herbert J. Sandheim. (Louis Hyman's Jews of Ireland; Jewish Directory of 1874; and internet research.)

Rev. Dr. Louis Morris Sanker
(5 June 1909 - February 1985)

South Shields-born Rev. Sanker, BA, PhD, (m. Adele, divorced 1950) studied at Sunderland Kollel, Yeshiva Etz Chayim, Jews' College, London and UCL. He served as minister of Becontree & District Associate Synagogue, London (c.1932-c.1935) and Bristol Hebrew Congregation, (1935-1944), then becoming an RAF chaplain. He later served as minister of Leeds United Hebrew Congregation (1947-1951) and then left for the United States. In 1960 he was appointed rabbi of the Reform Temple Beth El at Midland, Michigan. (Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History (2011) by W. Rubinstein (ed.) and M.A. Jolles and H. L. Rubinstein (ass. eds.), p.861; JYB listings; JC various reports, Michigan Jewish History Fall 2003, available on line)

Rabbi Moshe Santhouse

Rabbi Santhouse (m. Mimy), who ran the Zev Hatorah learning programme in Manchester, travelled to Southport twice a week to serve as the part time minister of the Southport Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire (1999-2001). (JC report of 29 December 2000.)

Haham Rabbi Jacob (ben Aaron) Sasportas
(1610 - 15 April 1698)

Rabbi Sasportas was born in Oran, Algeria and served successively as rabbi of the Moroccan communities in Tlemçen (at the age of 24), Marrakesh, Fes, and Sali. He was a distinguised and erudite talmudist and was known as a fierce opponent of the Shabbathean movement. In about 1646, he was imprisoned by the King of Morocco, but escaped to Amsterdam with his family in about 1653. He was called back by the King and sent on a special mission to the Spanish court (c. 1659). In 1664, only seven years after the Resettlement of Jews in England and the founding of the Creechurch Lane (Spanish & Portuguese) Synagogue, he was appointed as the first Haham of the new community but left the following year to escape the Great Plague of London of 1665. He went initially to Hamburg until 1673, then to Amsterdam and in 1673 to Leghorn, Italy. In 1680 he returned to Amsterdam, ultimately being appointed to the rabbinate of that city (his lifetime ambition) in 1693 at the age of 83. He continued to hold such office until his death. Although he only spent a year in London, he nevertheless continued to be a source of advice and support to the London community and its spiritual and lay leaders until his death. (Jewish Encyclopedia article on "Sasportas" c.1906 and British Chief Rabbis 1664-2006 by Derek Taylor, 2007, Chapter 3, pp.26-45.)

Hacham Dr. Isaac (Haki) S.D. Sassoon
(b. 1946)

Hacham Sassoon was born in Hitchin (next to Letchworth), Hertfordshire, a son of Rabbi Solomon (Suleiman) David Sassoon, and grew up in Letchworth, where his father played a prominent part in the community. He studied under his father and at the Gateshead Yeshiva and various yeshivoth in Israel and received his semicha from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. He holds a Ph.D. in Literature from the University of Lisbon, Portugal. He one of the leading scholars in the Sephardic world and teaches at The Institute of Traditional Judaism (also known as The Metivta), New York. Hacham Sassoon is the author of a number of significant works including a commentary on the Chumash called Destination Torah (2001), The Status of Women in Jewish Tradition (2011) and was co-editor of the Siddur 'Alats Libbi (2020). He is the brother of Rabbi David Sasson. (Online research.)

Rabbi Solomon (Suleiman) David Sassoon
(14 August 1915 - 27 May 1985)

London born Rabbi Sassoon (m. Alice Benjamin) was the son of David Solomon Sassoon (1880-1942), the renowned bibliophile who assembled the Sassoon Library, which was one of the largest private collection of rare Jewish books and manusripts in the world. Rabbi Sassoon received semicha in 1936. In 1940, together with his father and the library he evacuated to Letchworth, Hertfordshire, where Rabbi Sassoon played a prominent part in the community and held a number of position in the Letchworth Hebrew Congregation, including president, vice chairman and headmaster of the Talmud Torah. There was also a separate Sephardi minyan, which held daily and Sabbath services in the synagogue at the Sassoon's Letchworth home from 1940 to 1957, of which Rabbi Sassoon was the spiritual leader. Rabbi Sassoon was the founder/president of the Eastern Jewry Community, of Stamford Hill and Golders Green, London, established in 1955. In 1964 a suggestion was made that Rabbi Sassoon be appointed Israel's first ever joint Sephardi and Ashkanazi Chief Rabbi (his mother was Ashkanazi), but Rabbi Sassoon rejected the feelers. The Sassoon Library remained in Letchworth until 1970, when the Sassoon family moved to Israel. Rabbi Sasson died in Jerusalem. He was the father of Rabbi David Sassoon and Hacham Yitzchak (Haki) S.D. Sassoon and his sister was married to Rabbi Asher (Oosher) Feuchtwanger. (Yanky Fachler's Jewish Letchworth.)

Rabbi Arnold Saunders
(b. 1958)

Manchester-born Rabbi Saunders, BA (m. Myrella) studied at Gateshead Yeshiva and Jews� College, London. He served as minister of Blackpool United Hebrew Congregation (1982-1985), Wanstead & Woodford Affiliated Synagogue, London, and Higher Crumpsall and Higher Broughton Synagogue, Manchester (1990-2005). In 2009, he was appointed as Jewish Civilian Chaplain to the Military and in 2017, in a by-election, he was elected as Conservative councillor for the Kersal ward of Salford. However, in the 2019 General Election, he unsuccessfully stood as Conservative candidate for the Worsley and Eccles South constituency (On line press reports and JYB listings)

Rev. Joseph Schachtel
(d. 16 June 1941)

Rev. Schachtel, from Kalisz, Poland, was appointed minister of Northampton Hebrew Congregation in 1908. He is believed to be the same Rev. J. Schachtel who served as minister and shochet at the Llandudno Hebrew Congregation, North Wales (c.1924-c.1925). In 1928 he conducted High Holy Day services for the United Synagogue Welfare Board in the East End of London. (A Short History of the Jews of Northampton by Michael Jolles; JYB listings; and JC reports.)

Rev. Solomon Schapero

Rev. Schapero served as reader at the Oxford Hebrew Congregation from 1881 to 1882, when he left to take up a post in Liverpool. (The Jews of Oxford (1992) by D.M. Lewis, pp. 30/1; Congregation's minutes; Oxford Times report of 31 December 1881.).

Rev. Abraham Isaac Scheff
(d.31 January 1901)

Born in the Russian Empire, Rev. Scheff served at the Nottingham Hebrew Congregation from no later than 1883 until at least 1888. He has then been described as chazan in Newcastle upon Tyne and a colleague of Rabbi Sandelson (of the Beth Hamedrash congregation). According to Kelly's Directory of Durham 1890, Rev. A.I. Scheff was the minister officiating at Sabbath services at the North Shields Synagogue in the North East of England (but he may have done so in a visiting capacity from Newcastle). He died at the home of his daughter in Newcastle upon Tyne. Rev. Scheff was the father-in-law of Rev. Aaron Miller, who also served as a chazan in Nottingham, and the maternal grandfather of Lady Lever of Ardwick, wife of Leslie Lever MP. (JC death notice 8 February 1902 and online research.)

Rabbi Benjamin Schewzik
(c.1853 - 1915)

Rabbi Schewzik has rabbi at Pskov, Russia, was elected a member of Judith Lady Montefiore's Theological College in Ramsgate, Kent. Noted as an orator and communal worker, he was known for running mass religious services for thousands of Jewish emigrants in London in the late nineteenth century. He was the proprietor of the Russian Ritual and Vapour baths in Brick Lane, Whitechapel (popularly known as Schewzik's). His son, Michael Sherbrooke, became a noted Shakespearean actor. (Online research.)

Rabbi David Tevele Schiff
(d. 17 December 1791)

Rabbi Schiff (m. Breinle Sinzheim) was the son of Rabbi Solomon Schiff of Frankfurt and the grandson of Rabbi Aberle. He studied under two great talmudists, Rab, Jacob Poper and Rab. Jacob Joshua Falk and by 1743 was haed of the prestgious Beth Hamedresh in Worms. He was a preacher in Vienna and returned to Frankfurt as a dayan.  He served as the rabbi of the Great Synagogue, London and Chief Rabbi of Great Britain from 1765 until his death. However, from his appointment until 1780, his position as Chief Rabbi was contested by Rabbi Meshullam Solomon, who had been appointed as Chief Rabbi by the other two Ashkenazi synagogues in the City of London, the Hambro' Synagogue and the New Synagogue. The matter was only resolved when Rabbi Solomon left London for Russia in 1780. Rabbi Schiff died in London and was buried in the Alderney Road cemetery in London's East End. (History of the Great Synagogue by Cecil Roth, 1950; British Chief Rabbis 1664-2006 by Derek Taylor, 2007; online research.)

Rev. A. Schlachter

Rev. A. Schlachter was the last minister of the Aberdare and Aberaman Hebrew Congregation, south Wales, serving for some twenty years until his retirement following the closure of the synagogue in 1957, at which he officiated. He continued to live in the district. (JYB listings; JC reports.)

Rev. Alexander Schloss
(d. February 1925)

Polish-born Rev. Alexander (also knwn as Sigismund) Schloss's first position in England was at Canterbury Synagogue, Kent. He then served the Nottingham Hebrew congregation as reader, shochet and/or teacher for nearly 32 years, from 1888 until 1919 (and for some of that time effectively as the congregation's sole minister). With the outbreak of war in 1914, he was appointed an additional military chaplain in Nottingham and ministered to prisoners of war at Kegworth in Leicestershire. He also assisted the Leicester Hebrew Congregation as a visiting mohel and occasional shochet. Subsequently, following a dispute with the congregation of a modest salaray increase, he left Nottingham to take up "less strenuous duties" as minister of Margate Hebrew Congregation, Kent (1919-1925). He died in Margate shortly following his retirement and is buried at the Hardy Street cemetery, Nottingham. His eldest son, Rev. D Schloss was minister of the Jewish community at Christchurch, New Zealand. Another son, Lionel Schloss, intended for the ministry, was killed in action during the Great War. (JC, various articles, obituary and tributes, 6 and 27 February 1925, Nelson Fisher Eight Hundred Years. The Story of Nottingham's Jews.)

Rabbi Eliezer Schneelbalg

Rabbi Schneelbalg has served as rabbi of Machzikei Hadass Edgware Beth Hamedrash London, from about 1995 until present - May 2021). Widely acknowledged as an expert in the field of kosher certification, Rabbi Schneelbalg is president of The International Kosher Organisation, a kosher certification agency. (JYB listings and Uniquely Edgware website.)

Rabbi Yitzchak Y. Schochet
(b. c.1965)

Toronto-born Rabbi Schochet, (m. Chani), son of Rabbi Jacob Immanuel Schochet, received semicha in 1988 and later gained a master�s degree in Jewish Studies from University College London. He served as part-time minister of Richmond Synagogue, southwest London (1991-1993) and taught Jewish studies at the Jewish Free School. Since 1993 to present (October 2021), he has been rabbi at Mill Hill Synagogue, northwest London. He is a regular columnist and writer principally in the UK Jewish press. Rabbi Schochet served on the Chief Rabbi's Cabinet with the portfolio of the family and as chairman of the Rabbinical Council of the United Synagogue. (JYB listings and Mill Hill congregation's website.)

Rev. Moses A. Schreiber

Rev. Schreiber served as chazan and shochet of the Sunderland Hebrew Congregation (1866-1869) and as chazan of the Cracow Chevra congregation, Manchester (from 1870). (Arnold Levy, Sunderland Jewish Community; various JC reports.)

Rev. Max Schulman

Rev. M. Schulman served as minister of the Oxford Synagogue in 1883 and 1884 and provided daily kosher meals for students during term time. He also served briefly as minister of the Norwich Hebrew Congregation, Norfolk, from 1893. (Henry Levine's The Norwich Hebrew Congregation 1940-1960 - A Short History; JC reports; and The Jews of Oxford (1992) by D.M. Lewis.)

Rev. Pinchas Zevulun Schulman
(c.1848 - 23 September 1934)

Rev. Schulman (m. Miriam Eidelson, 1863-1949), from Lithuania or Latvia, served as reader and shochet at the Brynmawr Hebrew Congregation, Breconshire (now in Gwent), South Wales, from April 1893 until February 1895, when he was compelled to give that up the position because of acute rheumatism. A fund was created to set him up as a provision dealer. He was the father-in-law of Rev. Solomon Wolman, who succeeded him at Brynmawr. He died in Johannesburg, South Africa. (JC reports.)

Rev. J. Schulsinger
(c.1870 - 16 January 1919)

Rev. Schulsinger was appointed reader at the Cardiff New Hebrew Congregation, Edward Place, in 1893. In July 1894, he was reportedly appointed chazan and baal koreh at Fashion Street synagogue, probably a reference to Chevra Bikkur Cholim, which was then in Fashion Street in London's East End. He died in London. (Jolles's Encyclopaedia, p. 867.)

Rev. Maurice Schwartz

Rev. Maurice Schwartz was born in Hungary where he studied at yeshiva and obtained semicha. He is believed to be the Rev. M. Schwartz who served as minister of the Pontypridd Hebrew Congregation, South Wales, from about 1925 until 1926. He then served as chazan to the Portsmouth and Southsea Hebrew Congregation from 1926 until 1946 (having served as a chaplain during the war). Rev. Schwartz was a kashrut supervisor for the Queen Mary and the Acquitania, and his name featured on all kosher menus issued by the White Star Line. From 1946, Rev. Schwartz pursued a career in the USA. He was Cantor, Baal Koreh shochet and mohel at the Shaarei Tefilah Congregation in Indianapolis and in 1949 he was in addition appointed the congregation's rabbi. In 1956 the Ner Israel Congregation, Los Angeles, retained the services of Rabbi Schwartz as their cantor. (He is not to be confused with Rev. Maurice Schwartz of Swansea and Luton.) (Jewish Post, Indianapolis 2 December 1949; Bnei Brith Messenger 10 August 1956, both reports available on line.)

Rev. Maurice (Marcus) Schwartz (or Schwarz)
(8 September 1909 - 19 April 2000)

Rev. Schwartz (or Schwarz) (m. Fay Shenderey in Liverpool - d. 1998) was for 15 years chazan to the Swansea Beth Hamedrash (from about 1932 to January 1945). He was then briefly minister at the Darlington Hebrew Congregation (1945-c.1946) and served as reader and shochet at the Nottingham Hebrew Congregation (1950-1959). In 1959, he was appointed minister at Hounslow and District Synagogue, west London, until 1964. Rev Schwartz returned to Swansea in May 1964 to become reader, shochet and teacher at the Swansea Hebrew Congregation, serving until 1975. Rev. Schwartz was then part-time reader at Luton Hebrew Congregation, Bedfordshire, and headmaster at its Hebrew classes from 1975 until his retirement in about 1989 (or possibly 1995). He was a resident of the Nightingale Care Home in London. (He is not to be confused with Rev. Maurice Schwartz of Portsmouth.) (JC press reports and JYB listings; and 1980 souvenir brochure of the Swansea congregation, p.67.)

Rev. Yossi Schwarz

Manchester-born Rev. Schwarz studied in Israel and has served as chazan (cantor) of Edgware United Synagogue, London from 2011 to the present October 2021). (Profile on the congregation's website.)

Rabbi Yosef (Yossi) Yitzchok Schwei

New York born Rabbi Y.Y. Schwei (m. Rivka), son of Rov Rabbi Aharon Yaacov Schwei (z"l) of Crown Heights, New York, was involved in outreach work and learning programmes for children and adults as a yeshiva student in Morristown, New Jersey and New Haven, Connecticut, as well as in Montreal, Canada and the former Soviet Union. He obtained semicha at Central Yeshivas Tomchei Temimim in New York in September 1988. He has served as rabbi of Luton Hebrew Congregation, Bedfordshire. (since 2011 known as Luton United Synagogue) , for over 30 years, from 1990 until present - December 2022. (Profile on United Synagogue website and online reports.)

Rev. Aron Secemski

Rev. Secemski, from Poland, was described as being of Burgess Hill, Sussex, in 1944, where he may have served a small Jewish community comprised of evacuees and local residents. He was writing to the Jewish press from Liverpool in 1947. From 1949 until 1955 Rev. A Secemski gave the address at the annual prize day at Hornsey and Wood Green Affiliated Synagogue religion classes, north London. He may be the Aron Secemski, born in Lodz in 1909, who was in June 1939 allowed to disembark in England from the refugee ship, the St Louis. An Aron Secemski is buried at the Adass Yisroel cemetery at Chesunt. (Various JC reports, naturalisation recorded in the London Gazette 21 June 1949; Holocaust encyclopedia website.)

Rabbi David Edgar Sèches
(30 October 1864 - 13 September 1942)

Rabbi Edgar Sèches (as he was generally referred to) was born in Bordeaux, France and studied at the Séminaire Théologique of Paris. He was appointed chazan / minister of the Montefiore Synagogue, Ramsgate, Kent, in 1886, the year following the death of Sir Moses Montefiore. Unfortunately, some months following his appointment in Ramsgate, he became ill and had to retire. He returned to France and obtained semicha in 1888 and a masters degree in 1890. He served as rabbi at Melia and Saint Etienne. In 1898, he declined the appointment as Chief Rabbi of Bulgaria on the ground that he could speak neither Bulgarian nor Ladino, the laguages spoken by most Jews in Sofia. He later served as Grand Rabbin of Lille and in 1916 as interim Grand Rabbin of Lyon. (Jolles's Encyclopaedia p. 868; and Kelly & Tripp's Ramsgate Jewish Cemetey 1872-2015.)

Bernard Louis Segal
(d. January 1962)

Lithuania born Rev. B. Segal (m. Fanny - d. 1945) held positions in Edinburgh and Leeds. In 1920 he became second reader and shochet to the Harrogate Hebrew Congregation, Yorkshire, serving with Rev. Eli Kahan for all but the last year of his 33 year term there. He retired in 1953. Rev. Segal was the brother of the Rev. Morris Segal of Dunfermline and Dundee and the grandfather of Rev. Malcolm Weisman, minister to small communities. (Rosalyn D. Livshin's The History of the Harrogate Jewish community, 1995; JC obituary 26 January 1962.)

Rev. Morris Symon Segal
(b. c.1888)

Lithuania born Rev. M. Segal (m. Millie Sclar, 1924) served as minister in Leven, Fife, eastern Scotland, and then as reader, shochet and teacher in Edinburgh. He was minister of Dunfermline Hebrew Congregation, eastern Scotland, from about 1924 until the synagogue closed in 1944. He served as the last minister at the Dundee Hebrew Congregation, Scotland, from 1945 until his retirement in 1963, and thereafter carried out shochet and teaching services for the community on a temporary basis one day a wek for several years.   In 2005, the city of Dunfirmline, named a street, "Segal Place", in his memory. He was the brother of Rev. Bernard Segal of Harrogate. (JYB listings; Caledonian Jews by Nathan Abrams 2009; and Scotland�s Jews - A Guide to the History and Community of the Jews in Scotland by Dr. K. Collins, 2008, p.48.)

Rabbi Moses Hirsch (Zvi) Segal
(23 September 1875 - 11 January 1968)

Rabbi Segal, M.A., was born in Maishad, Lithuania (then part of the Russian Empire) and moved to Britain in the 1890s, receiving semicha in 1902. He studied at the Universities of London and Oxford and gained a B.A. in 1906 and an M.A in 1910. He had joined the staff of a Yiddish newspaper in London and when he came to Oxford he is remembered as keeping a Hebrew-speaking house. He assisted at high holyday services at the Oxford Synagogue in 1900 and in the following year was appointed minister, serving until 1909. He then served as minister of the Newcastle United Hebrew Congregation (Leazes Park Road Synagogue) (c.1909-c.1918). He became very involved in the Zionist movement and in 1918, went to Palestine for a year at the request of Chaim Weizmann as a member of the Zionist Commission. He returned to England and served as minister of Swansea Hebrew Congregation (1921-c.1923) and Bristol Hebrew Congregation (c.1924-c.1925). In 1926, Rabbi Segal made aliya to Palestine, where he adopted the name Moshe Zvi Segal, joining the teaching staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and was appointed Professor of Mishnaic Hebrew in 1929. He was awarded the Bialik Prize in 1936 and the Israel Prize in 1954. He was the father of Prof. Judah Benzion Segal, who became one of the leaders of the Reform Judaism movement, and Lord Samuel Segal of Wytham, a politician and Jewish communal leader. ("Who's Who" entries and listings in JYBs; The Jews of Oxford (1992) by D.M. Lewis; 1980 souvenir brochure of the Swansea congregation, p.55; and Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History (2011) , pp.888/9.)

Rev. Pesach Segal
(b. 1938)

Manchester-born Rabbi Segal was born in Manchester and was the grandson of Rabbi Moshe Yitzchak Segalthe, distinguished head (from 1913) of Manchester Yeshiva and the nephew of Rev. Aaron Segal. He was studied at Manchester Yeshiva from the age of 11. He served as chazan of the Manchester Great Synagogue (1956-1958) and used to alternate services with Rev. Moshe Perlman between the older synagogue building (the "Great" - where Segal was based) and the newer Stenecourt synagogue. He went to Ponovezh Yeshivah at Bnei Brak, Israel, to study chazanut and voice production. In 1960, he was appointed reader to the Cardiff United Synagogue He studied at Guildhall School of Music in London, Trinity College of Music in London, and at Cardiff College of Music. From 1962, he served Hendon Adath Yisroel Synagogue, London, where he has officiated for at least forty-nine years. (Jolles's Encyclopaedia, p. 871.)

Rev. Shalom Segal
(d. 1983)

Rev. Shalom (or Scholom) Segal was born in Kharkov, Russia, the son of a rabbi there. He was assistant minister and headmaster of the Hebrew classes of the the Southport Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire (1936-1945) and then became senior minister and headmaster of the classes at the Childwall Hebrew Congregation, Liverpool (1945-69). He left Liverpool to become head of Jewish studies at Carmel College, Wallingford, Oxfordshire. In 1980 Rev. Segal retired to Netanya, Israel, and he died in Jerusalem in 1983. He was the grandson of Rev. Jacob Mendel Teitelman of Edinburgh and the nephew of the head of Manchester yeshiva, Rav Segal. ("Philanthropy, Consensus and Broiges...a history of the Southport Jewish Community by John Cowell", p.694; JC reports and obituary, 29 July 1983.)

Rev. Aaron Selig
(c.1781 - 18 July 1841)

Rev. A. Selig, from London, served briefly as minister of the Penzance Jewish Congregation in about 1808. He then returned to London but was back in Penzance in 1811, where he lived for a number of years. He was also a shochet and traded as a jeweller and on three occasions, between 1821 and 1829, was recorded as having disputes with the congregation, which he left. He was buried at Penzance Jewish cemetery. He was the father of Rev. Benjamin Aaron Selig, who served as minister in Melbourne, Australia, and shochet and reader in Wellington, New Zealand. ("The Lost Jews of Cornwall" by Kieth Pearce, Helen Fry and Godfrey Simmons.)

Rev. Hyman Selig

Rev. H. Selig from Copenhagen, Denmark, served as reader, shochet and teacher at the Penzance Jewish Congregation from November 1815 until about 1916. ("The Lost Jews of Cornwall" by Kieth Pearce, Helen Fry and Godfrey Simmons.)

Rev. Shachtel

Rev. Shachtel served probably as assistant minister or reader of the South Shields Synagogue from about 1908 for a short period and as minister of Newcastle Beth Hamedrash (c.1919-c.1921) ("The Jewish Communities of North-East England" by Lewis Olsover (1980), pp.256-260 and JYB listings.)

Rabbi Jacob Shachter
(1886 - 1971)

Romanian-born Rabbi Shachter (m. Henia), the son of Rabbi Abraham Shachter, obtained semicha in 1911. He initially served as rabbi in Galatz, Romania (1913-1920). In 1920, he emigrated to Britain to serve as rabbi to the New Rumanian Synagogue, Manchester. In 1926, he was appointed rabbi to the Belfast Hebrew Congregation (1926-1954), the longest serving rabbi in the history of the Belfast community. In 1936, he was awarded an honorary MA by Queen's University Belfast. During the Second World War he served as a non-commissioned chaplain to the Forces in Northern Ireland and was also responsible for the religious and general welfare of the Gibraltar Jewish evacuee community evacuated to Saintfield, County Down. Following his retirement from the Belfast post in 1954, he settled in Jerusalem, where he died. Rabbi Shachter published Ingathering (Jerusalem, 1966) and was the author and translator of several rabbinic works. (Ingathering by Jacob Shachter and JC obituary; "Saintfield' on the Northern Ireland Jewish Heritage Map.)

Rabbi Naftali Shakowitzky (or Sachs)
(1899 - 23 August 1963)

Rabbi N. Shakowitzky (m. Chaya Rochel Droshkovitz) was the son of the Minsker Maggid, Rav Binyomin HaKohen Shakowitzky. He was at the esteemed Kolel of Kovno, Lithuania, when appointed as the rav at Gateshead Hebrew Congregation, which he served from 1937 until his death in 1963, and was succeeded by his son-in-law, Rabbi Bezalel Rakow. He was the father of Rabbi Mordechai Shakowitzky. He is buried in Jerusalem. (JYB listings; The Jewish Communities of North-East England by Lewis Olsover (1980), p.242; and The Sunderland Beth Hamedresh 1889-1999 by Derek Taylor & Harold David (2010), p.138.)

Rev. Herman Shandel
(c. 1847 - 13 June 1924)

Polish-born Rev. Shandel briefly served the Jewish community in Liverpool and London before being appointed by Sir Moses Montefiore in 1876 as shochet/reader, and later minister, at the Montefiore Synagogue, Ramsgate, Kent, and worked there for forty-eight years until his death. He greatly admired Sir Moses Montefiore and built up an impressive collection of Montefioriana, as well as other Jewish manuscripts and articles of vertu, some of which were priceless and almost unique. He visited the Holy Land in 1911. During World War I, he served as Jewish chaplain to the British Forces in Eastern Command. He died in Ramsgate and is buried in the Ramsgate Jewish cemetery. His son, Lewis Shandel, secretary of the Ramsgate congregation and editor of the Thanet Advertiser, died unexpectedly the following yeat. (The East Kent Times obituary 18 June 1924; Kelly & Tripp's Ramsgate Jewish Cemetey 1872-2015; and Times obituary 26 October 1925.)

Rev. S. Shapira

Rev. Shapira served as reader and shochet of Grimsby Hebrew Congregation, Lincolnshire in about 1871. (The Story of the Grimsby Jewish Community by D. & L. Gerlis, 1986.)

Rev. J.M. Shatz

Rev. J.M. Shatz served as a minister of Limerick Synagogue (c.1919-c.1920) (See also Rev. M. Shatz, below, possibly the same person.) (JYB listings)

Rev. M. Shatz

Rev. M. (or N.) Shatz (also spelled Schatz) served as a minister of the Coventry Hebrew Congregation from at least 1896 until early 1900s and as temporary minister of Londonderry Hebrew Congregation, (Northern) Ireland (c.1915-c.1917). (See also Rev. J.M. Shatz, above, possibly the same person.) (JYB listings and JC reports.)

Rev. Dr. Alan Shaw

Rev. (later Dr.) Alan Shaw (m. Jacqueline) was the son of Rabbi Joseph Shaw. Although he served two terms as minister of Staines and District Synagogue (1979-1981 and 1986-1988), he spent most of his career in education, as head of Jewish studies and later headmaster of Ilford Jewish Primary School, headmaster of Moriah Jewish Day School and headmaster of Hasmonean Primary School, all in London. (On-line profile and Information provided by a former member of the Staines community.)

Rabbi Andrew Shaw

Rabbi Andrew Shaw (m. Gila) served as community development rabbi at Stanmore and Canons Park District Synagogue, London (2000-2015) and was founder of the United Synagogue TRIBE youth movement and served as director of the United Synagogue's Living & Learning department. He was subsequently appointed Chief Executive of Mizrachi UK (2015 to present - June 2020). (United Synagogue press reports.)

Rabbi Joseph Shaw
(b. 2 July 1922 - 7 March 2001)

London-born Rabbi Shaw (m. Fay), studied at Jews' College and was Hesther Rothschild and Hollier Hebrew scholar at University College London. He later studied at Etz Chaim yeshiva. He was briefly minister of Sutton and District Synagogue, London in 1948 and then for three years served as assistant minister of Hampstead Synagogue, London (c.1949-c.1952). The remainder of his career was at Palmers Green and Southgate District Synagogue, London (1952-1987). He obtained semicha at Jews' College in 1957. Rabbi Shaw was chaplain to the National Association of Jewish Friendship Clubs (1985-93). On retirement he was appointed emeritus minister and also worked for the marriage registration department at the London Bet Din. He was the father of Rev. Alan Shaw. (JYB Listings and Who's Who.)

Rabbi Moishe Shaw

North London born Rabbi Shaw (m. Sarah) was part-time minister of Edmonton and Tottenham Synagogue, and was responsible for publishing children's material for the United Synagogue's Board of Education. In 1990 he became assistant minister to the Brighton and Hove Hebrew Congregation, Sussex. In addition to youth and adult education work, and other congregational duties, each weekend Rabbi Shaw and his wife moved from their home in Hove to a flat on the Congregation's Middle Street synagogue premises, in central Brighton, to lead services and offer Shabbat hospitality. However, in 1992, according to media reports, the Congregation reluctantly felt obliged to dispense with the services of its assistant minister because of declining numbers and resources, although the JYB continues to list him a a minister until 1985. (JYB; various JC reports.)

Rabbi Pinchas Shebson
(c.1909 - 1985)

Polish-born Rabbi Shebson (formerly Pinchos Szebszynski) studied from childhood at Grodno and Bialystok yeshivot and at the Takhemoni Rabbinical Seminary in Warsaw, obtaining semicha from the Warsaw Beth Din at the age of 20. He came to England in 1930, entered Jews' College (m. Sarah Viner in Liverpool in 1933) and served as minister of the Grimsby Hebrew Congregation (1933-1947), Woolwich & Plumstead Synagogue, London (1947-1949), and Ohel Shem Synagogue, Willesden, London (1949-1951). Rabbi Shebson then served as senior minister to the Southend and Westcliff Hebrew Congregation (1951-1979), where he established the local Jewish youth club in its own new building, inspired the erection of a Talmud Torah and, despite opposition, secured the establishment of the Herzlia Day School. Following retirement to Finchley, north west London, he was an energetic and effective community activist, growing support for the Jewish Welfare Board by setting up local branches across London, served as a frequent Joint Israel Appeal speaker, and was active in the Mizrachi religious Zionist movement. Rabbi Shebson is buried in Bushey Cemetery and over 800 attended his memorial service at Southend synagogue. His daughter married Bernard Garbacz, the son of his colleague at Southend, Rev. Ayeh Garbacz. (Profile on the SWHC website by Anne Marcus; and JC obituary 6 September 1985 and various reports.)

Rev. Abraham Shechter
(c.1894 - 1958)

Warsaw-born Rev. Shechter (or Schechter) studied at Lomza yeshiva and trained in chazanut by (amongst others) Chazan Sirota. Prior to World War I, he was principal chazan at a synagogue in Bialystok. Rev. Shechter (m. Rebecca Rachel d. 1969) came to Britain in the 1920s and worked briefly at the Commercial Road Great Synagogue, east London, and served as reader of the then newly-established Newcastle United Hebrew Congregation and Beth Hamedrash - Ravensworth Terrace Synagogue (c.1924-c.1927). He subsequently served as chazan of Southend and Westcliff Hebrew Congregation (c.1927-1929) and then became chazan of the newly-opened Willesden Green and Cricklewood Hebrew Congregation (which became the Cricklewood Synagogue), north west London, where he served for 28 years (1929-1958). Sadly, Rev Shechter died the day before he was due to retire, collapsing while taking a service at the synagogue. (JYB listings and JC obituary of 11 July 1958.)

Rev. Mendel Sheinfield
(c.1876 - 24 June 1936)

Rev. Sheinfield (m. Leah, d. Southport, 1973) served as reader of the breakaway Bradford New Hebrew Orthodox Congregation, Yorkshire, from about 1910 to about 1911. He subsequently served as second reader and instructor in mishna at the Manchester Beth Hamidrash until about 1913. Leaving Manchester for Cardiff, he was appointed reader at the Cardiff New Hebrew Congregation, then in Edward Place, and in 1918 he assisted in the service to mark the building of the congregation's new synagogue in Windsor Place, serving until about 1919. It appears that he continued to reside in Cardiff although it is not sure as to in what capacity he served congregation. He died in Cardiff and is buried at the Cardiff Highfield Road cemetery (view image of gravestone). (JYB listings; and JC reports; photograph 1932, courtesy People's Collection of Wales - Jewish Historical Association of South Wales.)

Rev. Nathan Shenny
(1944 - 21 July 2001)

Liverpool born Rev. Shenny was the son of Joseph Shenny, beadle of the Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation for 26 years. He attended the Gateshead Jewish Boarding School, a yeshiva in London and studied for two years at a yeshiva at Bnei Brak, Israel. Rev. Shenny was briefly minister of Birkenhead Synagogue (1964-1965), aged only 20, while he was training to be a shochet. He was the brother of Rabbi Michael Shenny. He died in Manchester. (JC report 21 August 1964 and online research.)

Rev. Avrom Sherr
(b. 1949)

Rev. Sherr (m. Lorraine) was educated at Carmel College and was a graduate of the London School of Economics. He was appointed lecturer in law at Warwick University in 1974 and while teaching at the University (which is located in Coventry) he was for some time non-resident part-time minister of the Coventry Hebrew Congregation and also commuted regularly from London (c.1987). He is an emeritus professor at the Institute of Advanced Legal studies. (Various JC reports.)

Rev. Jacob (Jack) Sherman
(1914 - 19 March 2004)

Rev. Sherman, born in London's East End (m. Doris), served in his first post as choirmaster at the Mile End & Bow District Synagogue, London. Whilst he was working there, he attended the Guildhall School of Music where he studied music theory and harmony. In 1942, he was appointed to his first cantorial post at the United Synagogue, Manchester, where he remained for two years, and in 1944 he went to the Chassidishe Synagogue, Spencer Place, Leeds. After holding various positions in London, in 1951 he became the chazan of the Dalston Synagogue, Poet's Road, London (1951-1967). When the synagogue in Poet�s Road closed in 1967, Rev. Sherman assisted at other synagogues in London and taught at Jews' College. He served as secretary, and later as president, of the Chazanim Association of Great Britain. (Profile by Rabbi Geoffrey Shisler and JYB listings.)

Rabbi Cyril Israel Shine
(24 January 1923 - 16 October 2003)

London-born Rabbi Shine, BA (m. Marie, 1948) was educated at Etz Chaim yeshiva, Jews' College and London University. From 1942 to about 1944, he was minister and teacher at the Woking United Synagogue Membership Group, Surrey (having, as a student at Jews' College, conducted Shavuot services there in June 1941). He subsequently served as minister of Peterborough Hebrew Congregation, Cambridgeshire (about 1945), Walthamstow and Leyton Synagogue, London (1946-1949), North Finchley and Woodside Park District Synagogue, London (1949-1955) and Central Synagogue, London (1955-c.1988) and was appointed domestic chaplain to the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Bernard Waley-Cohen (1960-1961). This was the first time a Jewish chaplain had been appointed to London's Lord Mayor. (JYB listing and Who's Who entries; JC profile 20 September 1946.)

Rev. Ephraim Shine
(6 October 1916 - 1984)
Manchester born Rev. Shine (m Sadie daughter of Rabbi Meyer Berger of Hendon) studied a yeshivot in Gateshead and Manchester. He may have initially served at the South Shields Hebrew Congregation and was reader to the Adath Yisroel Synagogue in Manchester. In 1937 he was appointed as minister and secretary of the Wolverhampton Hebrew Congregation serving until about 1945. During World War II he provided care to soldiers stationed locally and he visited each week with kosher provisions elderly evacuees from the east end of London, who were housed at the Stafford Council Institute. Little is known of Rev. Shine's career after leaving Wolverhampton, but he was living in Hendon, north west London, from at least the mid 1960s. He was the brother of Rev. J Shine of Salford Synagogue. (Various JC reports and family notices; Jewish Year Book listings; and Jolles's Encyclopaedia, p. 880.)

Rev. Abraham Shinerock
(4 March 1859 - 17 June 1931)
Rev. Shinerock was born in Lenschitz, province of Karlish, Poland. He appears to have arrived in Hull in about 1898 and was living there in 1907. He was then already married with at least seven children. He served as reader, teacher and/or shochet at various congregations including Hull Western Synagogue; Aberavon and Port Talbot Hebrew Congregation, south Wales (c.1913-1914), where he appears to have initially served the separate Port Talbot congregation; Exeter Hebrew Congregation, Devon (1916-1917); Plymouth, Devon; and also reportedly at Maidenhead during World War I (which appears unlikely as the congregation was not established until World War II). He settled in the East End of London for the last 16 years of his life. (Jolles's Encyclopaedia, p. 881; JC reports.)

Rabbi Geoffrey L. Shisler

Rabbi Shisler (m. Anne) qualified as a state teacher, taught Jewish Studies at all levels and for eleven years taught cantorial music and Nusach Hatefillah (traditional prayer modes) at Jews' College, London. During this time, he held part-time positions as chazan at Finchley Central Synagogue and Ilford Federation Synagogue. He formally commenced his synagogue career as chazan at the New Synagogue, Stamford Hill, London (c.1970-1973). This was followed by a call to became chazan/minister at Kenton Synagogue, London, serving the congregation for twenty years (1973-1993), becoming its sole minister in 1992. In 1993, he continued his career with his appointment as minister of the Bournemouth Hebrew Congregation, serving until 2000, during which period he obtained semicha. He then served as minister of the New West End Synagogue, London (2000-2014). Rabbi Shisler has published musical arrangements and his website includes studies of chazanut and biographies of influential chazzonim. He served as an inspector for Pikuach, the organisation that inspects Jewish education in Jewish Schools. He is a Magistrate and an associate member of The Inner Magic Circle with Silver Star. (Profile on Rabbi Shisler's website; A Kenton Jubilee 1948-1998, edited by J. King, 1998; and JYB listings.)

Rev. Morris Shriberg
(4 June 1886 - 17 October 1963)

Russian-born Rev. M. Shriberg (or J. Shrieburg) (m. Minnie) officiated at the high holy day services in the Bolton Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire, in 1905 and may have served the congregation as reader and shochet for some years thereafter. He later served the Tonypandy Hebrew Congregation, south Wales (from 1910 until at least 1912 and possibly until 1919). He subsequently left the ministry to set up in business. He died in Cardiff. (JC reports and JYB listings.)

Cantor Alwyn Shulman

South African born Rev. Alwyn Shulman, first served Cape Town's New Hebrew Congregation as chazan, going on to the United Orthodox Hebrew Congregation, formed by the merger of the Cape Town New and the Cape Town Orthodox congregations. Appointed chazan in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, in 1991, his duties included teaching at the Stratford Jewish Schools and conducting services at the city's remaining two principle Orthodox synagogues - the Dublin Hebrew Congregation's Adelaide Road Synagogue and Terenure Hebrew Congregation, prior to their merger (finalised in 2004). Following the merger he conducted services at the merged congregation, which took the name Dublin Hebrew Congregation. He retired in 2020. (Internet research.)

Rev. Samuel Shynman

Rev. Shynman, who had officiated at Merthyr Tydfil Hebrew Congregation (in 1867 and 1871), was appointed as the first reader and shochet of the Tredegar Hebrew Congregation, south Wales, on the formation of that congregation in about 1872. It appears that he was the son of the congregation's president, Jacob G. Shynman, and was also teacher at the congregation's Hebrew classes. (JC reports; and Jolles's Encyclopaedia, p. 884.)

Rev. Leo Sichel
(31 October 1922 - 13 January 1998)

Born in Nuremberg, Germany, Rev. Sichel (m. Gertrude Hoffman in 1948 - d. 1989) was educated in Furth, Germany, where one of his classmates was Henry Kissinger. In 1938 he came to Britain and studied at Gateshead yeshiva (1938-1941). Living for a time in Manchester, he began his congregational career as second reader and teacher to the Swansea Hebrew Congregation (1952-1954). In 1954, Rev Sichel became minister at the Windsor Place (later Penylan) Synagogue of the Cardiff United Synagogue and headmaster of its cheder, until about 1957. He assisted Rabbi Alexander Carlebach as chazan, teacher and shochet to the Belfast Hebrew Congregation (c.1957-c.1958). He was then to serve for 29 years as minister of the Reading Hebrew Congregation (1959-1987). He was appointed chaplain to Reading prison, Broadmoor hospital, and the University of Reading. He was involved with the welfare of residents of nearby Ravenswood Village (a residential centre for people with learning difficulties) and made regular visits there on Friday mornings to help to prepare Shabbat. Rev. Sichel retired in 1988 and was a resident of the Sage nursing home in Golders Green where he died. (JC obituary 6 February 1988; Sue Krisman's Portrait of a Community - Reading Synagogue 1900-2000; and JYB listings.)

Rabbi Sidney Silberg, MA
(1935 - September 2014)

Leeds-born Rabbi Silberg (m. Isabelle Riff from Antwerp, Belgium) obtained a BA and a minister's diploma at Jews' College, where he was chairman of the students union. Between 1955 and 1957 he was assistant minister to Dayan M. Lew at Hampstead Garden Synagogue, while studying for semicha (obtained in 1962). Rabbi Silberg then accepted the call of Ealing and Acton District Synagogue. In June 1967 he took up the post of rabbi of Jesmond Hebrew Congregation, Newcastle upon Tyne, leaving in 1973, when that congregation merged into the Newcastle United Hebrew Congregation. In 1973, he became rabbi of Bournemouth Hebrew Congregation. He had responsibility for Soviet Jewish affairs in the Chief Rabbi's cabinet (1976-1980), and later for Israeli affairs. In 1977 be became the first ever Jewish mayoral chaplain in Bournemouth. His final ministerial appointment was as minister at Hendon United Synagogue, London (1981-1997). He set up the Shul's first Keilim Mikvah and its Chevra Kadisha and in his farewell address, he said he had conducted 950 funerals, the same number of stone-settings, and more than 300 weddings. He retired to Israel. He was a talented calligrapher and designer of Ketubot, Mezuzot and Megillot. He died in Jerusalem. (JYB listings, JC reports.)

Rabbi Shimshon D. Silkin

Rabbi Silkin learned in Yeshivas Shaarei Torah (Manchester) and Mir Yeshiva (Jerusalem) and received semicha at Yeshivas Haran in Ramot, Israel (as well as from Dayan Goldberg). He holds a diploma in psychology from the University of London and a degree in Rabbinic Education from the Jerusalem Leadership College. Rabbi Silkin served as rabbi of Aish Communal Synagogue, Hendon, London (c.2008-c.2010), senior interim rabbi of Borehamwood & Elstree Synagogue, Hertfordshire (2011-2013) and rabbi of Beis Yisrael - Ner Yisrael Borehamwood (2011-2013). He is the director of Chazon UK, a London-based organisation which provides classes, seminars and events for the Orthodox community. (JYB listings and on-line biography.)

Rev. Harold Silman, BA
(28 May 1920 - 27 January 2002)

London-born Harold Silman (m. Daphne), a metallurgist chemist by profession, was lay reader / minister of the Norwich Hebrew Congregation (1968-1970) and then full-time lay minister, kashrut supervisor, teacher and communal organiser for the Northampton Hebrew Congregation (1970-1993). He was largely self-taught and had little formal training as a minister. He was awarded a Sir Bernard Waley-Cohen scholarship for his services to small communities and published a comparative report on the organisation of small Jewish communities in USA. (JC obituary 24 May 2002.)

Rev. S. Silver

From London, Rev. S. Silver served the Chester Hebrew Congregation, Cheshire (1922-c.1924) and the Wrexham Hebrew Congregation, North Wales (1922-c.1927), having been elected minister of both congregation in January 1922 . (JC report and JYB listings.)

Rabbi Chananya Silverman

Liverpool-born Rev. (later Rabbi) Silverman, who has a BSc in management sciences and MA in educational management, studied at Aish HaTorah Yeshivah in Israel and received semichah from Jews' College, London. He served as minister of Enfield and Winchmore Hill�Synagogue, London (c.1993-c.1999). He was head of Sixth Form Studies at the Jewish Free School and Director of Operations at the Jewish Learning Exchange. He is Business Manager at Beis Yaakov Primary School, London. (JYB listings and on-line profile.)

Rabbi Vivian C. Silverman
(b. 1944)

Liverpool-born Rabbi Silverman (m Lynette Mirvis, sister of chief rabbi Ephraim Mirvis) was educated at Etz Chaim yeshiva, Jews' College and London University. As religious adviser to the Ilford Jewish youth centre at Redbridge, in 1970 he was inducted associate minister of Ilford (United) Synagogue by senior minister, Rev. S. Black, and tasked with setting up a community in the Clayhall district and became the first part-time minister of the Clayhill Synagogue. He was then minister of the United Orthodox Hebrew Congregation in Cape Town, South Africa, and part-time lecturer in the University of Cape Town's department of religious studies. Rabbi Silverman received semicha from Chief Rabbi of South Africa, Bernard Casper in 1979. In 1987 he returned to the UK to become minister to the Chigwell and Hainault Synagogue, Essex, and was subsequently minister at the Central Synagogue, London (1989-c.1995). In 1995 he was acting rabbi to the Dublin Hebrew Congregation, Adelaide Road, Dublin, and the Terenure Hebrew Congregation, Dublin. From 1996 until his retirement 20 years later he served the Hove Hebrew Congregation, Holland Road synagogue. (JYB listings; JC profile January 1996; and various reports.)

Rev. Jacob Moses Silverston
(c.1873 - 9 February 1936)

Rev. Silverston (formerly Silverstone) was born in Szczuczyn, Grajewo County, northern Poland (then within the Russian Empire, close the the Prussian border) (m. Wilhelmina or Mina Simberg, born 1874, Grajewo). He served the Middlesbrough Hebrew Congregation from 1 October 1897 until his death in 1936, initially as chazan, headmaster and shochet and later, from about 1923, as assistant minister, jointly with Rev. S. Turtledove. He was also assistant headmaster at the congregation's Jewish school / religious classes and, at least from 1930, the local mohel. He was the composer of many liturgical pieces including a special setting of Hallel. (JYB listings, JC obituary 6 March 1936, reports and internet research. See also family wedding photograph.)

Rabbi Dr Alec Eli Silverstone
(9 March 1897 - 27 June 1982)

Manchester-born, Rabbi Silverstone (m.1st Helena Amias (divorced 1943), 2nd Jessie Weitzman) was the son of Rabbi Simon Silverstone. He studied at the Manchester Yeshiva (where he obtained semicha in 1918) and the Manchester University (BA and MA and a Doctorate in 1924). He was minister of the Sunderland Hebrew Congregation (1924-1927) and of Southport Hebrew Congregation from 1927 until his retirement, aged 70, in March 1967 when he became emeritus minister of the congregation. President of the Southport Zionist Society and vice president of the Mizrachi Federation of Great Britain, Rabbi Silverstone was a scholar of Judaism, with a particular interest in the Jewish attitude to spiritualism. His sister was the wife of Rev. Benson Fertleman. His publications include The Great Beyond and Other Essays on Resurrection, Immortality, Spiritualism and Cognate Matters (1932). ("Philanthropy, Consensus and Broiges...a history of the Southport Jewish Community" by John Cowell, p.602; JC obituary 2 July 1982.)

Rabbi Gedaliah (George) Silverstone
(1871 - 1944)

Rabbi Silverstone (m. Rivka Baker, 1892 in Liverpool) was born Gedaliah Zylbersztejn in Jasionowka, Russian Empire, where his maternal grandfather was rabbi. When he was aged two, the family moved to Sakot, Kovno Governorate, where his father, Rabbi Yeshyahu Meir, was appointed rabbi. He studied at yeshivas in Ruzhany and Telz and in 1891 he and his family moved to Britain, settling initially in Liverpool. From 1901 to 1906, he served as a rabbi to the Belfast Hebrew Congregation, principally serving the immigrant community in North Belfast. He was a delegate to the sixth Zionist Congress. In about 1907, Rabbi Silverstone and his family left Britain for the USA and became the first Orthodox rabbi in Washington DC. He was appointed rabbi of Ohev Sholom Congregation, Washington DC and from 1911 simultaneously served the newly-founded Kesher Israel Congregation in Georgetown, Washington DC, until 1923. He died in Jerusalem and is buried on the Mount of Olives. He authored over 30 Hebrew books and pamphlets on religious subjects.  (Research by Steven Jaffe, including internet research and The A - Z DNA of Belfast and Northern Irish Jewry by Stuart Rosenblatt.)

Rev. Barnet Asher Simmons
(1784 - 19 November 1860)

Middlesex (now London) born Rev. Simmons (Avraham Issacher ben Asher) (m. Flora Jacob of Redruth) had been apprenticed for six years, from the age of 14, to a japanner and painter in Denmark Court, London. He may then have served a spell in the Navy. In December 1811 he was was engaged by Lemon Hart, president of the Penzance Jewish Congregation, to serve as minister, shochet and mohel of the congregation, serving initially from 1811, with a number of short breaks (during which periods others were employed), until 1854. Between 1854 and 1857, he stayed with a married daughter at Merthyr Tydfil, whilst Rev. Solomon Cohen served at Penzance. Rev. Simmons returned to Penzance and served there between 1857 and 1859. He was the longest standing minister in Cornwall, although his term of office was marred with a number of disputes and upsets, often relating to his role as shochet. He also ran a small huckster's shop in Market Jew Street, Penzance, selling crockery and other small household goods. He was buried at Penzance Jewish cemetery. He was the father-in-law of Rev. Joseph Benedict Rintel of Falmouth, who on occasions acted as locum in Penzance. ("The Lost Jews of Cornwall" by Kieth Pearce, Helen Fry and Godfrey Simmons.)

Rev. Marcus S. Simmons

Rabbi M.S. Simmons served as minister of the Cardiff New Hebrew Congregation, Windsor Place, from about 1924 until 1929 when he was appointed to Garnethill Synagogue, Glasgow. Here he served until 1932 when, following a dispute relating to liturgical changes, he was appointed to Pollokshields Synagogue, Glasgow. (JYB listings; and Jolles's Encyclopaedia, p. 890.)

Rabbi Hillel Simon

Rabbi H. Simon was born in West Lafayette, Indiana, and received semicha from Rabbi Yeruslavski of Kiryat Malachi, Israel and Rabbi Yisroel Piekarski of New York. After spending two years in advanced rabbinic studies and outreach with Lubavitch of Leeds, he served as minister of Bristol Hebrew Congregation (1992-2002). An Adjunct Teacher for the Montefiore Kollel Smicha Programme (2003-2004), he subsequently becomes a chief kashrut Inspector for KLBD (London Beth Din) from 2005. (JYB listings and on-line profile and LinkedIn profile.)

Rev. Isidore Simon
(1849 - 15 Apriil 1922)

Rev. Simon (m. Czisza or Kitty Avner on 10 April 1872 at the Great Synagogue, London) was from Serey (probably today Seirijai in southern Lithuania), the son of a Talmud teacher known as Rabbi Shimmelle der Melamed (see the JC report "Death of a Talmud teacher," 23 November 1900). He came to England in 1867. His first post was at Oxford Synagogue (1869-c.1870). He held a post at Manchester University from 1871 and , was minister of the Southampton Hebrew Congregation (c.1875-early 1884), and then returned to Manchester. For the next 38 years, Rev. Simon served South Manchester Synagogue (1884-1922), first as reader and then also as minister and was instrumental in the building of the congregation's new synanagogue (at Wilbraham Road, Fallowfield), consecrated in 1913. In the wider community he was hon. secretary of the Manchester Visitation Board and the Manchester Branch of the Jewish Protection Society, and a member of the board of management of the Victoria Memorial Jewish Hospital. Rev. Simon also frequently acted as visiting minister to Blackpool Hebrew Congregation (mainly 1898-1902), prior to that congregation appointing a minister of its own. He was the father of Sir Leon Simon CB, born 1881 in Southampton, who was a leading British Zionist and civil servant who took part in the drafting of the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and who served on the Zionist Commission with Chaim Weizmann and was later President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. (JC profile on the Golden Wedding anniversary of Rev and Mrs Simon 7 April 1922, various other JC reports; online research; and JYB listings.)

Rev. Samuel Simon
(c.1781 - 1866)

Rev. S. Simon, a vendor of spectacles, served as minister of the breakaway congregation at Parade Row Synagogue, Hull, Yorkshire, from 1809 until 1826, when the congregation merged into the united Hull Hebrew Congregation at Robinson Row, of which he became the full-time minister/reader and shochet until at least 1853. ("The History of Hull's Orthodox Synagogues" by Elliot Oppel, 2000.)

Rabbi Julian (Yedidya) Sinclair

Londoner Rabbi Sinclair (m. Yaffa Aranoff) studied at Yeshivat Hamivtar, Efrat, and obtined semicha. He was also awarded a BA from Oxford University and an MPA from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, Massachusetts. He served as chaplain for Jewish students at the University of Cambridge (1999-2003), where he also taught in the Divinity School. Before moving to Israel, he was an an economist for the British government and he now works in the Israeli clean tech world, is the senior rabbinic scholar at Hazon, a leading US Jewish environmental organization, and vice president of a Jerusalem-based solar energy company. (JYB listings and online research.)

Rabbi David Singer

Birmingham-born Rabbi Singer (m. Judith) obtained semicha in 1981 from Yeshivat HaNegev, Netivot, Israel and is also a qualified sofer, mohel and shochet. He returned to Birmingham and served as assistant rabbi and chazan to the Birmingham Hebrew Congregation (1992 to 1995) and as head of religious education at King David Primary School, Birmingham. He then went back to Israel and worked as a yeshiva teacher and was a medic and ambulance driver with Magen David Adom. Following his return to Britain, he was appointed minister of the Belfast Jewish Community (2013-2018). He left Belfast on his appointment as rabbi of Ilford Federation Synagogue, London (2018 to present - October 2020) (JC reports and Belfast Jewish Record 2013.)

Rev. E. Singer

Born in Czechoslovakia, Rev. Singer was principal reader at Brno. He was also reader in Alsace, France, and at the Segur Synagogue, Paris. During the war he served in the Czechoslovak Allied Army. He served as reader of the Beth Hamidrash Hagadol Synagogue, Leeds (c.1949-1951) and the Yeshurun Synagogue, Edgware, London (1951-c.1956). (JC profile 16 March 1951; and JYB listings.)

Rabbi Mordechai (Marcus) Singer
(12 January 1926 - 7 March 1998)

Vienna born Rabbi Singer (m. Alice, daughter of Dayan Krausz from Leeds) was brought to England in 1938, aged 12, on the Kindertransport, by Rabbi Solomon Schonfeld. From the Dovercourt reception camp, he ended up in the  village of Shefford, in Bedfordshire, where he came under the care of Dr Judith Grunfeld. He studied at Aria College, Portsmouth, and at yeshivot in Glasgow, London, and at Gateshead, from where he gained semicha (in about 1967), and obtained a BA in Oriental studies, Hebrew and Arabic from London University. As Rev. Singer, he served as chazan at the Bradford Hebrew Congregation, Yorkshire, (1951-c.1955), as minister at the Notting Hill Synagogue, west London (1961-1965), and was appointed minister of the Ohel Shem Synagogue, Willesden (1965-1969). For the next 25 years, Rabbi Singer was senior minister at Birmingham Central Synagogue (1969-1994). He was principal of the Talmud Torah and an inspector of Birmingham's shechitah board, and was instrumental in the building of a new mikveh in the city. He pioneered the introduction of the Project Seed learning programme to Birmingham. He retired to Gateshead where he died. (JC obituary 27 March 1998; JYB listings)

Rabbi Yaakov Singer

Rabbi J. Singer was born in Israel and received semicha in 2006 from The Shehebar Sephardic Center (SSC) in Jerusalem's Old City. An elementary school Kodesh teacher, he served briefly as the interim minister on the formation in 2015 of the east London congregation of Woodford Forest United Synagogue, formed by the merger of Waltham Forest Hebrew Congregation and Wanstead and Woodford United Synagogue. (Various JC report.)

Rev. Aaron K. Slavinsky
(c.1880 - 6 April 1961)

Rev. Slavinsky, born in Rogona (probably Ragana, now in Latvia) (m. Rachel, daughter of the Rev. Chaim Z. Maccoby of London), studied at Ponivezh Yeshiva in Lithuania. He was for nearly three years reader of the Greenfield Street Synagogue, east London (c.1900-1903). He was then first reader at the Old Central Synagogue, Leeds (c.1903-1907). It was described as an "unenviable position", given the synagogue's financial circumstances. In 1907, he was appointed reader (and, from about 1912, minister) of the Plymouth Hebrew Congregation, Devon, leaving in 1917 to serve the Notting Hill Synagogue, London, but returning to Plymouth in May 1918. Rev. Slavinsky was then reader of North London Synagogue, Islington, for over 30 years, from 1919 until he retired in 1950. He died in London and is buried at Willesden cemetery. (Details from headstone inscription, Willesden cemetery, JC obituary 14 April 1961, and reports 12 July and 9 August 1907, Helen Fry's The Jews of Plymouth (2015); and Jolles's Encyclopaedia, p. 896.)

Rev. Lazarus Jacob Slevansky
(c.1843 - 29 September 1909)

Polish-born Rev. Slevansky (m. Hannah) studied at yeshivot in Kovno and Vilna. He was a somewhat itinerant shochet and undertook other congregational duties at: Norwich Hebrew Congregation (1872-1874), Swansea Hebrew Congregation (1874-1876), Grimsby Hebrew Congregation (1876-1877), Nottingham Hebrew Congregation (1878-1880) and Leeds (1881). In 1884 he was resident for a time at West Hartlepool and was also described as "temporary minister" at the Middlesbrough Hebrew Congregation. From 1885 until 1897 Rev. Slevansky was shochet and reader at Brighton Hebrew Congregation, Sussex. From 1897 Rev. Slevansky was amongst the first stipendiary ministers to take up residence at the Judith Montefiore Yeshiva, Ramsgate, Kent (for retired ministers), where he died in 1909. (JC death notice 8 October 1909 and various JC reports.)

Rabbi Yitzak Sliw

Rabbi Sliw, a religious studies teacher, has taught at King David High School in Liverpool and as subject leader in Religious Studies at Hasmonean High School in Hendon, London. He served as the first minister of the newly-established Radlett Synagogue, Hertfordshire (1995-1997). (JYB listing; and congregation's website.)

Rev. E. Slotki

Rev. Slotki was the longest serving minister of the Barrow-in-Furness Hebrew Congregation (then in Lancashire) (c.1928-December 1945). At a farewell reception he was thanked for his 17 years service. During his term, Rev. Slotki assisted the small Jewish community in Whitehaven, some forty-five miles to the north of Barrow, and served as visiting minister of the Blackburn Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire, (c.1939-1945). Following Barrow, Rev. Slotki moved to Sunderland and acted as second reader of the Sunderland Hebrew Congregation from about 1946 to 1948. (JYB listings; various JC reports.)