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 a reader at Pontypridd Synagogue, south Wales, in 1917 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.)

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

Shortly after Rabbi Wieder (m. Olivia Mann) received semicha, he and his wife embarked upon a twelve month course with the Rabbinic Training Academy, London, graduating (cohort gimmel) in July 2022. He was appointed Chief Rabbi of Ireland in 2023 and, in addition, he and Rebbetzen Wieder serve as the rabbinic couple at the Dublin Hebrew Congregation, Terenure, and teach at Stratford National School and College. Rabbi Wiener's formal installation took place in May 2024. (Various online reports.)

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 at least 1878 to at least 1881. ("The Jews of Bath" by M. Brown and J. Samuel; 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), the Bridgend Hebrew Congregation, south Wales 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 - 28 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. (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. 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. Mendel (or Menachem) Yare
(c.1910 - 11 January 1998)

Polish-born Rev. Yare (m. Fay) served as reader and shochet of Pontypridd Synagogue, 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. (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.)

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 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 was associated with the synagogue and educational programmes at Yakar, Hendon. 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.)