JCR-UK

Walford Road Synagogue

Stoke Newington, London N16

 

 


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Walford Road Synagogue
Walford Road Synagogue
© David Newman 2017

Congregation Data

Name:

Walford Road Synagogue

Hebrew name: Shaare Mazal Tov (Gates of Good Luck)

Former Name:

New Dalston Synagogue, until 1921(iii)

(Not to be confused with the New Dalston Synagogue (1896-1901), which was the predecessor congregation to the Stoke Newington Synagogue)

Address:

99 Walford Road (corner Nevill Road), Stoke Newington, London N16 8EF, from 1921.(iv)

The synagogue building, formerly a Wesleyan Chapel, was built in 1865 and extensively rebuilt in 1932.(v) It was consecrated on Sunday, 25 September 1921, in a ceremony performed by Rabbi H. Block, assisted by the Rev. I. Shapiro.(vi)

Previous Address:

99 Belgrade Road, London N16 (previously known as Wiesbaden Road)(vii)

Date Founded:

1912(viii)

Status:

Active

Ritual:

Ashkenazi Orthodox

Affiliation:

Independent, although from late 1930s to early 1950s, the congregation appears to have had some affiliation with the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations (UOHC) or its burial fund.(ix)

Website:

https://walfordroadsynagogue.org/ 

Ministers and Readers:

(To view a short profile of a minister or reader whose name appears in blue - hold the cursor over his name.)

Rev. S. Khan - from at least 1918 until about 1921(xiii)

Rev. Morris Lubner - from about 1925 until about 1930(xiv)

Rev. Abraham Samet - from about 1930 until about 1931(xv)

Rev. Avraham Rosenfeld - from about 1934 until about 1941(xvi)

Rabbi L. (Eliezer) Spector - from about 1950 until about 1976(xvii)

Rabbi Emmanuel Morris - from 1976 until 1986(xviii)

Rabbi Herschel Gluck - from 1986 until about 2007(xix)

Rabbi Abraham Citron - from 2007 until present (December 2020)(xx)

Initial Trustees:

The following are the trustees to whom the premises at 99 Walford Road was transferred on behalf of the congregation in 1920 (leasehold) and 1922 (freehold):(xxiv)

Solomon Polinsky, James Rothenberg, Hyman Feather, Benjamin Tobin, Joseph Herzberg and Phillip Polinsky

Lay Officers

(from 1918):

The following has been taken from information appearing in Jewish Year Books. However, such information is somewhat patchy and accordingly dates here are only approximate.(xxv)

Presidents

1918-1947, 1950-1951 - L. Sherwin

1948-1950, 1951-1955 - M. Shachar

1955-1956 - L. Amdur

Treasurers

1918-1922 - N. Steinberg

1922-1924 - L. Kingsley

1924-1940 - L. Kingsley and P. Phillips

1940-1945 - war years (no data)

1950-1956 - P. Phillips

Vice Presidents

1918-1927 - H. Zeffert

1927-1940 - H. Fairston

Hon. Secretaries

1918-1921 - Rev. S. Khan

1921-1948 - M. Sklar

1950-1955 - L. Black

Membership Data:

National Reports & Survey(xxvi)

1983 - 182 male (or household) members and 151 female members

1990 - 300 members (households)

1996 - 239 members (comprising 59 households, 55 individual male and 125 individual female members)

2010 - listed as having 100 to 199 members (by household)

2016 - listed as having 50 to 99 members (by household)

Charitable Status:

The congregation is a registered charity (no. 1101200), registered on 16 December 2003. The governing document is the Declaration of Trust of 6 March 1963.(xxvii)

Local Government District:

Walford Road and Belgrade Road are both now in the London Borough of Hackney(xxviii) and were previously (until 1965) in the former Metropolitan Borough of Stoke Newington.

Registration District (BMD):

Hackney(xxix) - Link to Register Office website

Cemetery Information:

The congregation uses the cemetery of the Western Charitable Foundation in Edmonton(xxx)

Notes & Sources - These now appear towards the foot of this page, instead of the foot of this box. However, the note can also still be viewed in a pop-up box when the cursor is held over the note number.

 

Bibliography, On-line Articles and Other Material
relating to this Congregation

on JCR-UK

On third party websites

  • History of the congregation, on the Walford Road Synagogue website.

 

Notes and Sources:
( returns to text above)

  • (i) and (ii) Reserved.

  • (iii) This was the name under which the congregation was listed in Jewish Year Books 1918 (its first appearance) through 1922, before the move to Walford Road.

  • (iv) Walford Road runs for some 450 feet west from Stoke Newington Road (A10), approximately 0.7 miles south of Stoke Newington railway station.

  • (v) Jewish Heritage in Britain and Ireland by Sharman Kadish (2015) pp.36/7.

  • (vi) Jewish Chronicle report of 30 September 1921.

  • (vii) The address of the congregation as listed in Jewish Year Books 1918 (the first appearance of the congregation) and 1919 was 99 Weisbaden Road, The 99 Belgrade Road address first appearing in the 1920 edition. In Jewish Heritage in Britain and Ireland by Sharman Kadish (2015) pp.36/7, it states that the congregation "had begun life in a house at no. 99 Belgrade Road in 1912". Belgrade Road runs for some 450 feet west from Stoke Newington Road (A10), approximately 1,000 feet south of Walford Road.

  • (viii) Statement in Jewish Year Books from 1918.

  • (ix) In Jewish Year Books 1939 through 1948 and 1951, the congregation was listed under the UOHC.

  • (x) to (xii) Reserved.

  • (xiii) Based upon Rev. Khan's listing as minister, reader and secretary of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1919 through 1922. However, there is no reference to him in The Jewish Chronicle report of 30 September 1921 on the consecration of synagogue in Walford Road, and it is therefore assumed that he left the congregation prior to the consecration. There were no earlier listings of a minister or reader nor were any ministers or readers listed for the congregation in the editions from 1923 through 1925.

  • (xiv) Based upon Rev. Lubner's listing as reader of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1926 through 1930. Elsewhere he is described as minister of the congregation (in his obituary and a Jewish Chronicle report of the congregation's 1926 annual meeting) and it is believed that he effectively served as the congregation's minister.

  • (xv) Based upon Rev. Samet's listing as minister of the congregation solely in the Jewish Year Book 1931. There were no later year book listings of ministers for the congregation until 1951.

  • (xvi) Jewish Chronicle obituary.  Rev. (later Rabbi) Rosenfeld was listed as reader of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1935 through 1938.

  • (xvii) Based primarily upon Rabbi Spector's listing as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1951 through 1977. He was also listed as reader from 1951 through 1960.

  • (xviii) Jewish Chronicle report of 10 October 1986. Rabbi Morris was listed as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1978 through 1986.

  • (xix) Jewish Chronicle report of 12 December 1986 and Rabbi Gluck's listing as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1987 through 2008.

  • (xx) Communicated by Rabbi Citron, although he is incorrectly listed as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books only from 2012.

  • (xxi) to (xxiii) Reserved.

  • (xxiv) 99 Walford Road had been comprised in a lease dated 20 November 1865, which was purchased by trustees on behalf of the congregation on 20 November 1920 for £750. Later, on 13 July 1922, the same trustees purchased the freehold of the property from Herbert Henry Walford, for £255 (History on the Congregations website, accessed 29 December 2020).

  • (xxv) Where a person is first listed in a year book as holding a particular, it has been assumed that his term of office commenced in the year of publication of the relevant year book (which was generally towards the end of the year prior to year appearing the the title of the year book) and that he continued in office until the commencement of office of his successor, unless the office was vacant (e.g. if he is listed in Jewish Year Books 1935 through 1938, it is assumed that he commenced office in 1934 and continued in office until 1938). Jewish Year Books were not published during WWII subsequent to 1940. There were no Jewish Year Book listings of officers (other than secretary) subsequent to 1956.

  • (xxvi) Reports on synagogue membership in the United Kingdom, published by or on behalf of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and which can be viewed on the website of the Institute of Jewish Policy Research. Click HERE for links to the various reports.

  • (xxvii) Charity Commission's website, accessed 29 December 2020.

  • (xxviii) The London Borough of Hackney, an Inner London Borough within the Greater London administrative area, was created on 1 April 1965 upon the merger of the former Metropolitan Boroughs of Hackney, Stoke Newington and Shoreditch. These metropolitan boroughs (each established in 1900) had been within the (then abolished) County of London (established in 1899).

  • (xxix) The former Registration Districts were Stoke Newington, until 1 July 1979, and, prior thereto, Hackney, from the founding of the Congregation until 1 October 1930. All registers would now be held by current register office.

  • (xxx) Communicated by the congregation's rabbi, December 2019.

List of Independent London Congregations 

List of Present & Former UOHC Congregations

Street Directory of Congregations in Stamford Hill, Hackney and Neighbourhood

Jewish Congregations in the London Borough of Hackney

Jewish Congregations in Greater London (other than East End)

Greater London home page


Page created: 6 September 2006
Data significantly expanded: 28 December 2020
Page most recently amended: 28 June 2023

Research and formatting by David Shulman


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