West Hackney Synagogue

Selected Press Reports relating to the former West Hackney Synagogue
(formerly Rutzon Tov Synagogue and Wellington Road Synagogue)^1.
 

Jewish Chronicle, 10 July 1936 (extract)

Rabbi M. Smith has been inducted as minister at Wellington Road Synagogue.

Jewish Chronicle, 23 July 1948

LONDON RABBI FOR SOUTH AFRICA
Rabbi M. Smith, Minister of the Wellington Road Synagogue, has been appointed Minister of the Worcester Congregation, South Africa. He will preach his farewell sermon tomorrow at the Stoke Newington Synagogue, Shacklewell Lane, and will leave to take up his new position next month. Rabbi Smith, who was educated at the Manchester Jews' School and Talmudical College and the Slobodka Yeshiva, has served as headmaster of the Great Garden Street Talmud Torah and Superintendent of the Wellington Road Classes. He has occupied the Vice-Presidency of the Agudath Hashochtim V'Hashomrim.

Jewish Chronicle, 20 August 1954

Rabbi A. Kon has been appointed Rabbi of the Rutzon Tov Synagogue (Amhurst Road, E8), where for the past three years he has served the congregation in an honorary capacity. Rabbi Kon, who was born in Lodz, was a rabbi at Stettin, Germany, from 1924 to 1938. He had received Semicha in Poland in 1914. He came to Britain in 1939, and during the war he started a hostel in Cambridgeshire for refugee boys. A tribute to his work was paid by the City of Ely Urban District Council. During the war he also worked as an honorary chaplain to the Forces. He is Chairman of the Dalston Mizrachi Society. The synagogue, formerly known as the Wellington Road Synagogue, was destroyed by enemy action 1940. After a number of years the congregation, with the aid of the Federation of Synagogues, obtained a site at the corner of Amhurst Road and Wellington Road and a communal hall has already been built. Mr. P. Wein, a Warden, told me that it was intended to build the synagogue proper within the next 12 months at a cost of about £15,000. Other parts of the synagogue premises would be built at a later date. The congregation he stated has 350 members.

Jewish Chronicle, 2 March 1962

The Birkenhead Hebrew Congregation has appointed Rabbi M. Aaronberg as its minister. The position has been vacant since 1959, when the Rev. N. Zalud was appointed chazan to the Allerton Congregation, Liverpool. Rabbi Aaronberg, who is 27, is at present minister of the West Hackney Synagogue, London. He takes up his new office on April 1. He received his early education at the Hasmonean Grammar School, London, and subsequently studied at the Gateshead Yeshiva. He obtained the rabbinical diploma from the late Rabbi N. S. Greenspan, Principal of the Yeshiva Etz Chaim, London. In addition to his ministerial duties in Birkenhead, Rabbi Aaronberg is to join the religious instruction department of the King David School, Liverpool.

Jewish Chronicle, 30 July 1971

A large congregation attended a Sabbath kiddush in honour of the Rev J. Davidson on his appointment as emeritus minister of West Hackney Synagogue. Mr A. Marcovitch, president, mentioned the 40 years' service that Mr Davidson had given the synagogue, and a presentation was made. Mrs Marcovitch, chairman of the ladies' guild, presented the minister with a certificate for trees to be planted in Israel in his name.

Jewish Chronicle, 28 August 1981

An East London landmark is shortly to disappear. The Montague Road Beth Hamedrash in Dalston, which was founded in 1910, will cease to function before Rosh Hashana and its membership will merge with West Hackney Federation Synagogue. Montague Road was one of the Federation of Synagogues' proudest possessions. At one time, its membership was 400-strong. Now it numbers some 280 people, many of whom still live in East London. The pulpit at Montague Road has been graced by such eminent names as Rabbi Jacob Rabinowitz, father of Dr Louis Rabinowitz, a past Chief Rabbi of South Africa and Rabbi Eliahu Dessler, who founded the kollel at Gateshead Yeshiva. The last rabbi was Dayan P. Braceiner, now a member of the Federation Beth Din and rabbi of Finchley Central Federation Synagogue. For some time now, it has been difficult to find a minyan for services at Montague Road, as many of the members still living in the area are elderly. In addition, the synagogue building itself has been badly vandalised, and for some time the services have been held in the Abram Gottlieb Hall. Sale proceeds from the synagogue will go to British and Israeli charities.

Jewish Chronicle, 18 June 1982

"Rutzon Tov" (good will) was the theme of the address made by the minister, Rabbi Akiva Greenberg, at the reception following the service to commemorate the twenty fifth anniversary of the opening, on its present site, of West Hackney Synagogue (Rutzon Tov) West Hackney Synagogue was consecrated by Dayan Morris Swift on June 2, 1957. It replaced the former Rutzon Tov (Federation) Synagogue of Wellington Road which was bombed during the Second World War. In its 25 years it has witnessed the closure of three neighbouring synagogues: the Dalston Talmud Torah, Stoke Newington United and recently it has absorbed the membership of Montague Road Synagogue. West Hackney has a membership of 350.