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JCR-UK is a genealogical and historical website covering all Jewish communities and
congregations throughout the British Isles and Gibraltar, both past and present.
NOTE: We are not the official website of this congregation, which can be reached
by clicking on the congregation's logo below.
Congregation Data |
Name: |
The Liberal Jewish Synagogue (known as
the LJS)
|
Address: |
28 St. John's Wood Road, London NW8 7HA
(since 1925).
The synagogue is situated opposite the Lord's Cricket Ground ("not
on the Lord's side" of St. John's Wood Road).
The congregation moved here in 1925, into a new synagogue, designed by
architect Ernest M. Joseph. The
building was seriously damaged by enemy bombing on 1 November 1940, but repaired by 1950
(overseen by Ernest M. Joseph).
It was then extended in the 1960s. However, in part as a result of the
discovery of
serious structural defects, the building was demolished in 1988
(retaining only the original portico) and the present building was
constructed, and opened in 1991. The redevelopment also included the building
of private apartments around and above the synagogue.(i) |
Former Address: |
Hill Street, Dorset Square, Marylebone, London
NW1 (a converted chapel in use from 1911 to 1925).(ii) |
Current Status: |
Active |
Date Formed: |
The congregation, the first liberal synagogue in
the UK, was founded in 1910, holding its first service on 4 February
1911. It was established by the Jewish Religious Union for
the Advancement of
Liberal Judaism (JRU) (precursor to the the Union of Liberal and
Progressive Synagogues, now
Liberal Judaism), which
movement had been established in 1902 by Claude Montefiore and Lily
Montagu. These two individuals, together with Rabbi Dr. Israel
Mattuck, the congregation's first minister, were retrospectively known as
the "Three Ms", and guided the congregation through its early years.(iii)
For a brief history of the JRU, see
History. |
Ritual: |
Liberal Progressive. |
Affiliation: |
A constituent synagogue and founding member of
Liberal Judaism (formerly
the Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues - ULPS) - the
congregation is considered the flagship of Liberal Judaism. |
Website: |
http://ljs.org/ |
Senior Ministers:
(To view a short profile of a minister
who also served other UK congregations - name in blue - hold the curser over his
or her name.) |
Rabbi Dr. Israel Isidor Mattuck
- First Minister from 1912 until 1948 (and thereafter rabbi emeritus until 1954).(vi)
Rabbi Dr. Leslie I. Edgar
- Senior Minister from 1948 until 1961 (and thereafter rabbi emeritus until 1984), having previously served as an associate
minister (about 1931-1938) and assistant minister (1938-1948).(vii)
Rev. John Desmond Rayner
- Senior Minister from 1961 until 1989 (and thereafter rabbi emeritus until 2005), having served as an
associate minister from 1957.(viii)
Rabbi Dr. David J. Goldberg OBE
- Senior Rabbi from 1990 until 2004 (and thereafter rabbi emeritus until his death on 30 April 2019), having served as an
associate minister from 1975.(ix)
Rabbi Alexandra Wright
- Senior Rabbi from March 2004 until present (January 2021), having served earlier as an associate minister
from 1986 until 1989.(x) |
Associate Ministers
(other than those who subsequently served as
Senior Minister): |
Rev. Maurice L. Perlzweig, MA
- Second Minister from 1924 until 1938(xiii)
Rabbi Solomon E. Starrels
- Third Minister from 1928 until 1933(xiv)
Rabbi Raphael H. Levine, BA LLB
- an associate minister from 1938 until 1941(xv)
Rabbi Jakob Jankel Kokotek
- an associate minister from 1941 until 1945(xvi)
Rev. Philip Cohen, HCF, BA
- an associate minister from 1946 until 1958(xvii)
Rabbi Chaim (Herman) S. Stern
- associate minister from 1962 (becoming acting senior minister from
1963) until 1965(xviii)
Rabbi Sidney Brichto
- assistant minister from 1962 until 1964(xix)
Rabbi Dr. David Goldstein
- an associate minister from 1964 until 1975(xx)
Rabbi Roger Herst - an associate minister from 1965 until
1969(xxi)
Rabbi Alan Mann
- an associate minister from 1971 until 1975(xxii)
Rabbi Michael Feinberg
- an assistant rabbi from 1989 until 1990(xxiii)
Rabbi Helen Freeman
(née Horn) - an associate rabbi from 1990 until 1999(xxiv)
Rabbi Kathleen de Magtige-Middleton
- an assistant or associate minister from 2000 until 2007(xxv)
Rabbi Mark L. Solomon
- an assistant or associate minister from 2000 until 2009(xxvii)
Rabbi David Wilfond - an associate minister from 2010
until 2011(xxviii)
Rabbi Neil Janes
- an associate minister from November 2011 until May 2015(xxix)
Rabbi Dr. René Pfertzel
- an associate minister from
2015 until 2017(xxx)
Rabbi Rachel Benjamin
- an associate minister from 2015 until about November 2018(xxxi)
Rabbi Elana Dellal
- an associate minister from 2018 until 2020(xxxii)
Rabbi Igor Zinkov
- an associate minister from 2019 until present (January 2021)(xxxiii)
|
Early Officers(xxxiv) : |
Presidents Claude Joseph Goldsmid Montefiore, MA, DD, D.Litt
- from 1910 (founding of congregation) until 1938(xxxv)
Col. (later
Sir) Louis Halle Gluckstein - from about 1945 until
about 1954(xxxvi)
Secretaries or Hon. Secretaries
Mr. A.L. Henry - from 1910 until about 1912
Miss Lilian Wilson - from about 1912 until about 1913
Jack M. Duparc - from about 1913 until about 1917(xxxvii)
B.B. Halford (pro tem) - from about 1917 until
about 1919
Jack M. Duparc (second period) - from about 1919
until about 1961(xxxvii)
Treasurers (generally Joint Treasurers)
Harry R. Lewis - from 1910 until about 1918
Sidney Mendelssohn - from about 1913 until about 1918
J.H. Simon - from about 1918 until about 1946
Albert Holt - from about 1926 until about 1938
Ernest M. Joseph OBE - from about 1938 until at least 1958
(Major to about 1954) Ronald M. Simon
- from about 1946 until at least 1958 |
Membership Data: |
Jewish Year Books(xxxix)
1915 |
1917 |
1918 |
1919 |
1920 |
1921 |
1922 |
1923 |
1938 |
1945 |
1946 |
1996 |
1997 |
546 |
584 |
646 |
754 |
814 |
884 |
868 |
938 |
1,611 |
1,512 |
1,570 |
c.1,850 |
c.1,800 |
National Reports &
Surveys(xl)
1977 - 1,344 male members and an estimated 1,345 female members
1983 - 1,225 male members and an estimated 1,225 female members
1990 - 746 members (households)
1996 - 1,400 members (households)
2010 - listed as having 1,000 to 1,499 members (by household)
2016 - listed as having 750 to 999 members (by household)
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Legal & Charitable
Status(xli): |
The congregation is
now a registered private company, The Liberal Jewish Synagogue
(company no. 09113305), limited by guarantee without a
share capital (and with an exemption from use of the word 'Limited'),
incorporated on 2 July 2014.
It is
also a registered charity (no. 1159292), its current registration dating
from 20 November 2014. The governing documents are the company's Memorandum
& Articles Association.
(There
was an earlier charity registration (no. 235668), renamed The Liberal Jewish Synagogue
Foundation on 1 January 2015 which, on that date, transferred all its
assets to the new charity. The governing document was the congregation's
Constitution adopted 26 October 1994, as subsequently amended.)
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Local Government
District: |
Both
the present and former address of the congregation are
now in the
City of Westminster (a London Borough)and were previously (until 1965) in the
former
Metropolitan Borough of
St Marylebone.(xlii)
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Cemetery
Information: |
The congregation's cemetery is the Willesden (Liberal) Cemetery, Pound Lane, Willesden, London NW10, opened in
1914, for members and non-members of the congregation. It is one of the
few remaining cemeteries in inner London with spaces for burial. See
London Cemeteries of Liberal Judaism. |
Notes & Sources (↵ returns to text above)
|
Bibliography, On-line Articles and Other Material relating to this Congregation
on JCR-UK
-
Selected Bibliography:
-
A Place to Call My Jewish Home: Memories of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue 1911-2011
by Pam Fox (2011)
-
Israel Isidor Mattuck: Architect of Liberal Judaism by
Pam Fox (2016)
-
Claude Montefiore, Lily Montagu and the Origins of the Jewish Religious Union by S. Bayme (1982). Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England Vol XXVII pp. 71-72.
-
The Lost Synagogues of London by
P. Renton (2000) pp. 112/116.
-
The Synagogues of London
by P. Lindsay (1993) pp. 104-105.
-
150 years of progressive Judaism in Britain: 1840-1990 by
Anne J. Kershen (1990)
-
Jewish Heritage in Britain and Ireland by S. Kadish (2015)
p. 46.
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Other
City of Westminster sources
General
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Congregational Records |
Registration District (BMD): |
-
Westminster (since 1 January 1978) -
Link to Register Office website
-
Previous Registration District:
St Marylebone - from founding of the congregation until 1 January 1978.
(All records would now be held by the current office.)
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Marriage Registers: |
Marriage Registers (first entry 28 April 1935), other than register currently in use, deposited with Westminster Register Office.
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List of Liberal Judaism Congregations
List of Synagogues destroyed or damaged by German air raids during World War II
Jewish Congregations in the London Borough of the City of Westminster
Jewish Congregations in Greater London (other than East End)
Greater London home page
Page created: 23 July 2006
Data significantly expanded and notes first added: 25 October 2018
Page most recently amended: 10 May 2024
Research and formatting by David Shulman
Explanation of Terms |
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