Rabbi Israel Hayim Daiches
(1850 - 23 June 1937)

Rabbi Israel Hayim Daiches was born in Darshunishek, Lithuania, and studied at Lithuanian yeshivot. He was rabbi of the Beth Hamedrash Hagadol Synagogue in Leeds (1901-1937) and founded the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of England. He is buried in Leeds Hill Top Cemeteries. He was the father of Rabbi Dr. Samuel Daiches and Rabbi Dr Salis Daiches. (Daiches Family.)

Rabbi Dr. Salis Daiches
(1880 - 2 May 1945)

Born in Vilna (today Vilnius, Lithuania), Rabbi Daiches (m. Flora) was the son of Rabbi Israel Hayim Daiches. He studied under his father and at the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin. He obtained a doctorate from Leipzig University on the work of the Scottish philosopher, David Hume. He was minister and teacher of the Hull Old Hebrew Congregation (1904-1907). In 1905, he received semicha from his father and from Rabbi Solomon Cohen of Vilna. He was minister of the Sunderland Hebrew Congregation (1908-1918), replacing his older brother, Rabbi Dr. Samuel Daiches who took up a post at Jews' College. Having become rabbi to the Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation in 1918, Rabbi Salis Daiches became widely acknowledged as the spiritual leader and spokesman of Scottish Jewry. He wrote frequently to the press, published a volume of selected essays, Aspects of Judaism (1928), and was one of the translators of the Soncino Talmud. He died in office and is buried in Piershill cemetery. He was the father of David Daiches CBE, author and critic, whose childhood memoirs, Two Worlds (1957) provides an affectionate and critical account of his father's life and career. A road in south east Edinburgh called Daiches Brae is named after Rabbi Daiches as was a B'nei Brith lodge in the city and a forest in British Mandate Palestine. (JC obituary 4 May 1945; Daiches Family; Jewish Orthodoxy in Scotland: Rabbi Dr Salis Daiches and Religious Leadership by Hannah Holtschneider (2019); Salis Daiches - towards a portrait of a Scottish rabbi, article by Hannah Holtschneider, Jewish Culture and History Volume 16, 2015 - Issue 2. )

Rabbi Dr. Samuel Daiches
(1878 - 21 March 1949)

Born in Vilna (today Vilnius, Lithuania), Rabbi Daiches (m. Nora Kaiser in Hamburg in 1907) was the son of Rabbi Israel Hayim Daiches. He studied under his father and at the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin. He came to England in 1903 and served as minister of the Sunderland Hebrew Congregation (1905-1907), being succeeded by his brother, Rabbi Dr Salis Daiches. Rabbi Daiches then became a lecturer at Jews' College, London (1908-1945), although during World War II he was a resident of Oxford. He was the first rabbi to became a English barrister. He published a number of studies on the impact of the ancient Babylonian empire on Judaism. He also published books on Divorce in Jewish Law (1926) and a study of the Book of Psalms (1930). A collection of his Essays and Addresses were published posthumously in 1955. In addition to his scholarly work, Rabbi Daiches was president of B'nai B'rith in the UK, and active in the Anglo-Jewish Association, the Board of Deputies, the Jewish Agency, and Jewish relief organizations. (JC tributes 8 April 1949; Arnold Levy, Sunderland Jewish Community; Daiches Family.)

Rev. Hyam Jacob Dainow
(1865 - 7 May 1951)

Russian-born Rev. Hyam Dainow (2nd m. Deborah Cotton of Birmingham) was the son of Rabbi Israel Dainow. Although he was reported appointed as minister and chazan to the Cardiff Hebrew Congregation in 1885, it would appear that he (or another Rev. H. Dainow) served as minister to Bath Synagogue, Somerset, from 1885 until at least 1888. He was minister of Leicester Hebrew Congregation (1889-1896) prior to his appointment as second reader to the Birmingham Hebrew Congregation, Singers Hill (c.1896-c.1921), where he served for over 25 years, for much of the time as a colleague of the Rev. J. Fink. Deborah Dainow was a founder and first President of the Women's Zionist Association in Birmingham. (Portrait of a Community by A. Newman and P. Lidiker, JC obituary 11 May 1951 and other reports, and internet research.)

Rabbi Israel Dainow
(c.1834 - 13 May 1922)

Russian-born Rev. I. Dainow arrived in London in 1877 to preach at various East End Chevrot, eventually serving as rabbi of the Great Alie Street Synagogue (the "Kalischer Shul") for over 35 years. He was the brother of Rabbi Hirsch (Zvi) Dainow and the father of Rev. Hyam Jacob Dainow. (Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History (2011) by W. Rubinstein (ed.) and M.A. Jolles and H. L. Rubinstein (ass. eds.), p.194.)

Rabbi Mark Daniels

Dublin raised Rabbi Daniels, educated at Carmel College and Jews' College, London. He was part-time lay reader / minister at Norwich Hebrew Congregation (1993-1997) before obtaining semicha through the London Semicha Programme, based at the Lauderdale Road (Maida Vale) Synagogue of London's Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation. He served as minister at Croydon & District (Federation) Synagogue (2001-c.2009) and subsequently served as minister of Bristol Hebrew Congregation (2014-c.2016) and was also for a time course director of the Judith Lady Montefiore College, London. (JYB listings, JC reports and Bristol congregation's website.)

Haham Rabbi Joshua (Yehoshua) da Silva
(d.1679)

Amsterdam-born Rabbi da Silva (m. Sara) was the second Haham of the Spanish and Portugese Jewish Community in London and rabbi of the Creechurch Street Synagogue (1670-1679) and died in office. (British Chief Rabbis 1664-2006 by Derek Taylor, 2007, Chapter 4, pp.46-56.)

Rev. Hermann Davids
(25 October 1847 - 2 January 1920)

Warsaw-born, Rev. Davids (born Hermann David Sauermilch) was to be sent to Milan to study opera but at his parents' bidding went to Vienna to learn chazanut. He was chazan at Breslau (today Wroclaw, Poland) for five years, before coming to England. He was reader at the Sheffield Hebrew Congregation from 1877 until 1879 when he was appointed reader at the Western Synagogue, London. In 1919 the congregation made a presentation to Rev. Davids to mark the 40th anniversary of his service with them as chazan. The domestic life of the Davids family living on the floor above the synagogue at St Alban's Place, Haymarket, behind Her Majesty's Theatre, in the 1890s, was the subject of an interview in the JC in 1957, with Miss Amy Savage, their housekeeper from the age of 13. Miss Savage became the caretaker of the synagogue and despite not being Jewish was known as the Rebbetzin of the Haymarket for her fluent Yiddish and knowledge of Jewish practice. Rev. Davids composed synagogue music and also music for West End theatrical productions, including the Merchant of Venice and Joseph and his Brothers. He also wrote a Jewish funeral hymn on the passing of Queen Victoria which was accepted by Buckingham Palace and sold to the public. (JC report 31 October 1919, JC interview with Amy Savage 17 May 1957, obituary 9 January 1920, and correspondence with Jack Thorpe Baker, a great great grandson of Rev. Davids. Photoograph courtesy Jack Thorpe Baker - for full image, click on photograph.)

Rev. J. Davidson

Rev Davidson served from about 1935 as reader of the Wellington Road Synagogue, Stoke Newington, North London, remaining with the congregation on its move (in about 1951) to West Hackney, where it was initially known as the Rutzon Tov Synagogue until about 1957, when it became the West Hackney Synagogue. He retired in 1971 and was appointed emeritus minister. (JYBs and JC reports.)

Rev. Isaac Davidson
(d. 6 December 1844)

Rev. Davidson was born in Forden, Duchy of Posen and arrived in Britain in about 1820. He served as reader and shochet of congregations in Brighton and in Sunderland (either the Polish Synagogue or Adath Jeshurun), and as a private secretary in the household of Chief Rabbi Herschell in London. In 1829 he was appointed reader, mohel and shochet to the Stafford Street synagogue (predecessor to the Dublin Hebrew Congregation), which then had a membership of just eleven families. He supplemented his income by trading as a commission agent from premises close to the synagogue. Rev. Davidson served at the congregation's new synagogue at Mary's Abbey when it opened in 1836. He died suddenly in Dublin in late 1844 leaving a widow, Catherine, and nine children. He was the father-in-law of his successor, Rev. Julius Sandheim. (Voice of Jacob obituary, 3 January 1845, Louis Hyman Jews of Ireland.)

Rev. M. Davidson

Rev. M. Davidson officiated at High Holy Day services at the Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation in 1877. In 1879, he was appointed chazan at the Exeter Hebrew Congregation, Devon. (However, there was a Rev. S. Davidson, mentioned as a minister at Edinburgh from 1874 to 1878.) (Jolles's Encyclopaedia.)

Rev. Hyman (Hymie) Davies
(1913 - 21 September 1991)

Llanelli-born Rev. Davies (m. Bessie Wolfson, 1942) was educated at Manchester Yeshiva. He held a post in Birmingham and served the Ayr Hebrew Congregation, west of Scotland for some twelve years (c.1936-c.1948) before being appointed as reader (chazan) of the Hull Western Synagogue (from 1948 until his retirement in 1985), acting also as shochet, mohel and cheder teacher. Following his formal retirement, he continued to serve the Hull community, as well as the Grimsby Jewish community, until his death. (JC obituary of 8 November 1991 and JYB listings.)

Rev. Jacob D. Davis
(d. 16 November 1861)

Rev. J. Davis was employed as a Hebrew teacher in Portsmouth and later served as reader and preacher of Dublin Hebrew Congregation's Mary's Abbey synagogue and the teacher at the congregation's newly established religious classes (1855-1861), dying in office of a heart attack. (Louis Hyman's Jews of Ireland)

Rev. Marks Emanuel Davis
(d. June 1921)

London-born Rev. Davis (also referred to as Davies) was educated at University College London and Jews' College. He was a Hebrew teacher in Portsmouth and later served as minister of Middlesbrough Hebrew Congregation (1888-1912), conducting the service at the opening of the Brentnall Street synagogue and was head teacher of the children's classes which by 1908 had some 90 children. In 1991, he was also appointed as visiting minister to Darlington and to the West Hartlepool Hebrew Congregation, both in County Durham,  possibly until he left Middlesburgh. He later moved to London and is buried in Edmonton cemetery. (JYB listings; JC Reports; "The Jewish Communities of North East England" by L. Olsover, 1980.)

Daniel d'Azevedo (or Dazevedo)

Daniel d'Azevedo, the son of Haham Rabbi Moses Cohen d'Azevedo, was the chazan of the Bevis Marks Synagogue from 1782 to 1812.
(British Chief Rabbis 1664-2006 by Derek Taylor, 2007, Chapter 11, pp.150-164.)

Haham Rabbi Moses Cohen d'Azevedo (or Dazevedo)
(1720 - 1784)

Amsterdam-born Rabbi d'Azevedo was the son of Rabbi Daniel Cohen D'Azevedo, Haham of Amsterdam. He emigrated to London in his youth, joining the staff of tthe Bevis Marks Synagogue. In 1749, he married the daughter of the then Haham, Rabbi de Mesquita, succeeding him as Haham in 1761, ten years after his death, having earlier (in 1757) been appointed a Dayan in the London Beth Din. (This appointment precipitated the resignation from the Beth Din of a former Haham, Isaac Nieto.) He died in office in London in 1784. He was the father of Daniel d'Azevado. (Jewish Encyclopedia article on " Moses Cohen d'Azevedo" c.1906 and British Chief Rabbis 1664-2006 by Derek Taylor, 2007, Chapter 11, pp.150-164.)

Rabbi Leo Dee

London-born Rabbi Dee (m. Lucy) obtained a masters degree in engineering from Cambridge University (1994) and studied at Yeshivat HaMivtar (2004-2008). He served as assistant minister of Hendon United Synagogue, London (2009-2011) and minister of Radlett United Synagogue, Hertfordshire (2011-2014). He then moved to Israel, where he received a masters degree in public health from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2016). On 7 April 2023, the Dee family were struck by tragedy when two of Rabbi Dee's daughters, Maia (20) and Rina (15), were murdered by Palestinian Arab terrorists in a drive-by shooting in the Jordan Valley. Their 48 year old mother, Lucy, was critically wounded in the same attack and died of her wounds three days later. The terrorists caused the car to veer off the road and crash, before approaching the car and murderously firing at its occupants at close range. (Press reports and JYB listings.)

Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler
(1892 - 30 December 1953)

Rabbi Dessler (m. Bluma Sieff) was the son of Rabbi Reuben Dov and descended from Rabbi Salanter, founder of the Mussar movement. He was the youngest student at the Talmud Torah at Kelm (today in north west Lithuania). He arrived in Britain in about 1928 and served as rabbi of the Artillery Lane Synagogue, in London's East End, (c.1929-c.1935), before becoming Rabbi at the Montague Road Beth Hamedrash, Dalston, North London (from about 1935 to at least 1938 and possibly to 1941). He was private tutor to the Sassoon family. In 1941 Rabbi Dessler responded favourably to a proposal to establish the Gateshead Kollel for advanced learning by post yeshiva and mostly married students. He moved there for part of each week, lecturing and teaching as well as undertaking administrative work for the Kollel. For the remainder of the week he taught at Letchworth, London and Manchester - preparing his lessons on the train - and he fundraised for the Kollel. A central figure in the development of Gateshead as a centre of Jewish learning. In 1948 he became mashgiach - spiritual director - at the Ponivezh yeshiva in Bnei Brak, Israel. Collections of his writings were published posthumously. Chief Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits stated: "The future historian of Anglo-Jewry may well accord to Rabbi Dessler pride of place among its most powerful and distinguished religious pioneers." (JC tribute 8 January 1954; The Kelmer Talmud Torah article available online; Gateshead, its community, its personalities, its institutions, by Miriam Dansky, chapter on Rabbi Dessler pp.122-133.)

Rev. David Isaac Devons
(c.1882 - 13 December 1926)

Lithuanian-born Rev. Devons (whose name derives from his Lithuanian town of origin, Devoniske) (m. Edith nee Edelstein from Belfast) was educated at Yeshivot in Wilna and Eishishok, Russia and came to the UK in 1902. He served as minister of York Synagogue (1902-1909), Blackburn Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire (1909-1911), Bangor Hebrew Congregation, North Wales (1911-1918), Coventry Hebrew Congregation (1918-1922) and Hanley Synagogue (later known as Stoke-on-Trent Hebrew Congregation), Staffordshire, (1922-1926), where he died in office, aged 44. On his death Chief Rabbi Hertz launched an appeal on behalf of his widow and six children. He was a nephew of the eminent Rabbi Israel Chaiym Daiches of Leeds and the father of the distinguished physicist and science historian, Prof. Samuel Devons (1914-2006) and Eli Devons, professor of Commerce at the London School of Economics. ("From Poland To Paradise Lane and Other Journeys" - a history of the Jewish community of Blackburn, by Hilary Thomas, 2018, including biography, p.131; JYB listings; and JC reports.)

Rabbi Michael Moshe Dick

Rabbi Dick (m. Hannah Ferschko) obtained rabbinic ordination from Kollel Gur Aryeh and has an MA in Jewish philosophy from Jews' College, London. His rabbinical appointments include the Lisker Synagogue, Upper East Side, Manhattan; Congregation Shaarey Israel, Rockland County, New York; in Bern, Switzerland; in Berlin, Germany; and the Hove Hebrew Congregation, Holland Road, Hove, Sussex (in about 1993); and in Columbus, Ohio. Rabbi Dick was assistant dean at the Ayshel Avraham Institute, Monsey (1998-2000). In August 2017 he was appointed rabbi of the Congregation Sons of Israel in Spring Valley, New York State. (Internet research.)

Rabbi Yaakov Dimovitch

Rabbi Dimovitch served as the rabbi of Artillery Lane Synagogue (Ain Yaakov) in London’s East End from 1900. Rabbi Dimovitch and his wife went on aliyah to Palestine in 1919 and are buried on the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem. He was the father of Rev. Zechariah Dimson. (Communication from family member.)

Rev. L. Dimpson, BA

Rev. Dimpson was a student at Jews' College, London, prior to World War II. In 1940-1941, he undertook ministerial duties and conducted services for the evacuee Jewish community at Taunton, Somerset. From 1942 until 1945 he was minister to another Jewish evacuee community, the Gerrards Cross and District United Synagogue Membership Group, responsible for religious, educational and welfare activities in the Gerrards Cross, Denham, and Chalfont St Peter. His post war career is currently unknown. (JC, various reports; JYB listing.)

Rev. Zechariah Dimson (formerly Dimovitch)
(1884 - 2 January 1924)

Rev. Dimson, born Dimovitch (also spelled Dimovitz), the son of Rabbi Yaakov Dimovitch, was born in Schuchin, near Graivo, Poland. He studied at a yeshiva in Lomza, where he qualified as a shochet and received semicha and later studied at the Mir yeshiva, where it is understood that he also received semicha, although he never styled himself as a rabbi. He served as a shochet in Paris before moving to Britain, where he was appointed as minister of the Stroud Jewish Congregation, also having responsibility encompassing Cheltenham and Gloucester, from August 1904 until April 1905. In January 1907, he married Rachel Frumkin (d. 1954), daughter of Rav. Aryeh Leib Frumkin. Following his marriage, he worked in his wife's family wine merchants business in Commercial Road, in London's East End. From about 1907 he served as assistant minister of Artillery Lane Synagogue, also in the East End, in an honorary capacity, aiding his father, the rabbi of the congregation, for some nine years (see letter of reference), and then taking over in April 1916 as minister and preacher until at least 1918 (see letter of appointment). He was an active and ardent Zionist and was twice elected, on behalf of Mizrachi, to be a delegate at Zionist Congresses, in Marienbad in 1920 and Carlsbad in 1923. In December 1923 he was appointed as the representative on the Board of Deputies of the Cannon Street Road Synagogue, east London ((see letter of appointment)). However, during a visit to Palestine the following month, working as vice chairman of the Jewish National Fund on a survey of Jewish settlements and visiting his parents (who had emigrated there in 1919), he contracted a typhoid infection and died in Shaarei Zedek Hospital, Jerusalem, aged 39. He is buried on the Mount of Olives. ("The Hebrew Community of Cheltenham, Gloucester and Stroud", by Brian Torode, 1989, pp.62-63; "Palestine & Kosher Wine - The Story of Rachel Dimson", narrated by David Dimson (Rev. Dimson's son), 2004, pp.15-26; Haaretz article in Hebrew about Rev. Dimson by Shalva Weil dated 7 November 2023. Images courtesy Shalva Weil.)

Rev. Michael Dinerstein
(d. 17 January 1952)

Rev. Dinerstein or Dinnerstein (m. Miriam Leah Klein) was minister and secretary of the Derby Hebrew Congregation from 1907 until about 1912. He was subsequently a senior shochet in Manchester. (JYB listing and JC reports.)

Rev. Israel Dobkin
(1864 - 21 February 1941)

Russian-born Rev. Dobkin (m. Lena) is the only known minister of the Barnsley Synagogue (from when the congregation was established in 1903 until an unknown date). He is also considered to have been the only known minister of the very small Dewsbury Hebrew Congregation, about 15 miles from Barnsley. In April 1906, he first officiated to the Dewsbury congregation, which had only recently been established, delivering sermons on the last two days of the Passover festival. He appears to have become a resident of Dewsbury and later in the year conducted the Yom Kippur service there with a choir. In 1907 he was described as the secretary of the Hebrew Benevolent Fund in Dewsbury, and a son was born there. The 1911 census indicates Rev. Dobkin was living in Barnsley and was a picture framer in the town. Rev. Dobkin later moved to Leeds where he died and is buried at New Farnley Cemetery. (JHSE's History of the Jews of Barnsley - which includes a photograph of Rev. Dobkin's identity document; Harold Pollins history of the Jews of Dewsbury; JC reports and death notices.)

Rev. Isaac (or M.) Domnitz
(15 March 1881 - 18 October 1942)

Minsk-born Rev. Domnitz (m. Sophia Pearlman also from Minsk), after arriving in Britain, initially served a number of Jewish congregations in South Wales, including Tonypandy Synagogue (reader c.1907), Abertillery Hebrew Congregation (teacher, shochet and reader from 1908-c.1909), Bridgend Synagogue (minister c.1910-c.1912) and Aberdare Synagogue (minister c.1912-c.1914). He later moved to England and was appointed minister of Stockton-on-Tees Synagogue, (c.1915). Subsequently Rev. Domnitz moved to what is now Northern Ireland and was appointed minister to Londonderry Hebrew Congregation (c.1917-c.1933) becoming its longest-serving minister. He was the father of Myer Domnitz who was headmaster of Amhurst Park Day School, London, an educationalist and pioneer of inter-group relations. Rev Domnitz died in Stoke Newington, London. (Various JC reports, JYB listings and JC obituary 23 October 1942.)

Rev. Cecil Donn
(d. May 1970)

Rev. Donn was born in Kovno (today Kaunas, Lithuania) and studied at Slobodka Yeshiva. He qualified as a shochet when only nineteen and received semicha from the rabbinical authorities in Kovno (although he did not use the title rabbi in Britain). Rev. Donn, a fine Talmudist scholar and confirmed Zionist, came to Britain in 1938 and settled in Sheffield where he acted as second reader, shochet, mohel and teacher to the Sheffield Hebrew Congregation and its successor congregation (from 1953), the United Sheffield Hebrew Congregation, for over 30 years (1939-1970). He married Eva (d.1965), daughter of Rev. Yerachmiel (Robert) Caplan, the congregation's long serving beadle and second reader, whom he succeeded. He was the collector for the Jewish National Fund and a member of the Sheffield Zionist Council. (JC obituary 15 May 1970 and various reports; Sheffield Jewry by Armin Krausz, 1980, p.347.)

Rev. H. Dorfman

Rev. Dorfman served as reader of the Greenock Hebrew Congregation, Scotland, from about 1902 and subsequently assisted in the services at the newly established Bolton Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire, in 1904/5, before departing for America in 1905. (JC reports and JYB listings.)

Rev. Abraham Dove
(c.1873 - 15 January 1943)

Rev. Dove (m. Annie Isaacs of Glasgow in 1912) came to Britain in 1903. In 1904, he was appointed as the first minister at Ayr Hebrew Congregation, west of Scotland, and left Ayr in 1905. He was minister and Hebrew teacher at Stockport Hebrew Congregation, then in Cheshire, from about 1908 until 1918. He then moved to Manchester where he worked for the Shechita Board. He was for some years president of the Agudas Hashochetim in the city and warden of Higher Crumpsall Hebrew Congregation. He features colourfully, although is not named, as the minister and Hebrew teacher in the childhood memoirs of Harry Bernstein who grew up in Stockport before and during World War I. In Bernstein's memoirs (written when he was 96) the minister's son became a Communist, returned to Russia, was killed in the Russian revolution or civil war, and this resulted in the minister suffering a mental collapse and leaving the town - none of this has been verified from other sources and the memoirs have a definite stylized quality. (JYB listings; JC obituary 2 July 1943 and various other reports, "The Invisible Wall" by Harry Bernstein, 2007.)

Rev. Emmanuel Drukker, BA
(1888 - 6 April 1965)

Newcastle-born Rev. Drukker (m. Jessie Bueno de Mesquita) was appointed as the first minister of the newly-established Jesmond Hebrew Congregation, Newcastle upon Tyne in 1915.  During World War I, he served as chaplain to H.M. Forces, covering the four northern counties of England. He served the Jesmond congregation for over 40 years until he retired due to ill health in 1958, whereupon he was designated minister emeritus until his death. He was active on the Newcastle Board of Guardians (later called the Jewish Welfare Board) for over 50 years. He died two days after delivering the sermon at the Jesmond congregation's golden jubilee service in 1965. ("The Jewish Communities of North-East England" by Lewis Olsover (1980); JC obituary 16 April 1965; JYB listings.)

Rev. Dovid Dryan
(16 May 1889 - 4 July 1953)

Rev. Dryan, formerly Drojanski (m. Zlata, 1912) was born in Kryshyn, near Białystok (now in Poland). He studied at the famous Radin Yeshiva, where his uncle, Rabbi Moshe Landynski, was principal. He was skilled in shechita, which he learnt from his father-in-law, who was a shochet in Naishok (near Vilna). He came to Britain in 1921. In about 1922, he was appointed as shochet and reader at Aberavon and Port Talbot, south Wales, although this position did not suit his orthodox outlook. In 1927, he accepted the post of shochet, teacher and reader of Gateshead Hebrew Congregation, and immediately commenced working on the establishment of a yeshiva in the town, which was founded in 1929.  At the time, Gateshead Yeshiva was Britain's third yeshiva, after London and Manchester. He also instigated the founding of the Gateshead Kollel HaRabbonim in 1942, and actively encouraged the foundation of the Gateshead seminary for girls. He was the uncle of Rabbi Moses David Dryan of Glasgow. He is buried in the Gateshead Old section of the Hazelrigg Jewish cemetery, North Tyneside (view image of gravestone). (JYB listings; The Jewish Communities of North-East England by Lewis Olsover (1980).)

Rabbi Moses David Dryan
(1 July 1907 - 28 June 1978)

Rabbi M. Dryan (m. Annie Steinberg from Gateshead) was born in Radun (now in Belarus).  He served as minister at Crosshill Synagogue, Glasgow, and as head of the Glasgow Beth Din. He was a nephew of Rev. Dovid Dryan of Gateshead. He is buried in Bnei Brak, Israel.  (Jolles's Encyclopaedia, p.427; online research.)

Rev. Moshe (Maurice) J. Dubiner
(b.1940)

London-born Rev. Dubiner studied at Etz Chaim yeshiva and at Jews' College, London. From his teens he officiated at the Great Synagogue, Dukes Place, in the City of London and served as cantor for two years at the Great Garden Street Synagogue, in London's East End. He served as chazan of Bayswater Synagogue, London (c.1963-c.1967), Cricklewood Synagogue, London (c.1977-c.1979). From 1979 he was part-time chazan at the Western Synagogue, London until its merger with Marble Arch Synagogue in 1991. Subsequently, he has served in a part-time or honorary capacity as cantor for various communities in the United Kingdom (including Central Synagogue, London from c.1993 to c.1994), France, Israel and the United States. Rev Dubiner has also pursued a business career in London. (JYB listings, various JC reports and a profile on the Jewish Music Institute website.)

Rabbi Josef Hirsch Dunner
(4 January 1913 - 1 April 2007)

Cologne-born Rabbi Dunner (m. Ida Frayhan) studied at a number of yeshivot, most notably the famous Hildesheimer yeshiva in Berlin. Shortly after he obtained semicha, he was appointed in 1936, communal rabbi head in Konigsberg, East Prussia, Germany. Following the Kristallnacht pogroms of November 1938, he and his wife and son were able to obtain refuge in Britain, largely through the efforts of Rabbi Dr Solomon Schonfeld. He was initially appointed rabbi of the Westcliff Jewish Community, but in 1940, in common with many other refugees from Nazi-controlled Europe, he was interned on the Isle of Man. After he was released in about 1941, he moved to Leicester where he led the Leicester Beit Hamedrash, a group principally of more orthodox refugees and evacuees, who held services separately from main congregation. Rabbi Dunner moved to London in 1947 and worked closely with Rabbi Schonfeld within the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations. He was later appointed Rabbi of the Union from 1960 to 2007. He also served as the rabbi of the Adath Yisroel Synagogue, set up the London Beis Yaakov Seminary and was the European President of Agudath Yisroel. (Online profiles)

Rabbi Eliezar Durden

New Zealander, Rabbi Durden (m. Shulamis) spent eight years in Israel learning at yeshiva and received semicha there. He was appointed minister to the Cardiff United Synagogue in 1989. He left after three years to pursue a career in Jewish education. He was teacher or principal of various Jewish schools in north America, including at New Haven, Connecticut; Southfield, Michigan; Vancouver, British Columbia; and from 2016 he was principal of the newly-formed Torah Day school in Ottowa, Canada. He took an MA in educational leadership. (JC reports and internet research.)

Rabbi Michael Duschinsky

Israel-born Rabbi Duschinsky served as minister of the Belfast Hebrew Congregation (1977-1979). He subsequently moved to Praque, serving as a cantor, educator and performer. (JYB listings and online profile.)

Rev. Israel Dvorkin
(14 March 1909 - 8 May 2012)

London-born Rev. I. Dvorkin (m. Rachel Deborah Wilner, d. 1914) studied at yeshiva in Lithuania for three years and received semicha in 1934 from Chief Rabbi J.H. Hertz (although he does not appear to have used the title rabbi in the UK). He served as headmaster of the Ilford and Valentine's Park Synagogue, London, in the mid 1930s. He was minister, secretary and superintendent of Hebrew classes of the Reading Hebrew Congregation from at least 1938 until 1947. During the war he was an air raid warden and chaplain to locally stationed allied forces. In 1947 he left Reading to pursue his career first in South Africa, then from 1952 in Chicago, USA, and South Africa again between 1954 and 1957. In 1957 he returned to the United States, spent a year in Chicago, then took up posts in Elkhart, Indiana; Huntington, West Virginia; and Valdosta, Georgia. He then moved to Florida, where his last post was as rabbi of Congregation Beth Sholom, in Gulfport. Rabbi Dvorkin died aged 103 in Gulfport. (JYB listings; Online obituary with photograph; and writings by his son, David Dvorkin.)

Rev. J. Edelstein

Rev. Edelstein served as minister and shochet of the Aberdeen Hebrew Congregation, Scotland, (c.1930-c.1931) and the Doncaster United Hebrew Congregation, Yorkshire, (c.1931-1936). He then moved to Reading, Berkshire, where he served as minister and secretary of the Reading Hebrew Congregation (1936-1938). (JYB listings and JC reports.)

Rev. Abraham Isaac Edlin
(c.1876 - 21 December 1932)

Rev. Edlin (also spelled Eidlin) (m. Bertha - d. 1942) had served as chazan of Tiktin (today Tykocin, north eastern Poland) before coming to Britain. In 1905, he conducted High Holyday services for the Ayr Hebrew Congregation, west of Scotland, and is believed to have held ministerial office there. From 1906 until about 1908 he was minister to the Dundee Hebrew congregation and office holder and lecturer to the Dorshei Zion association. Rev. Edlin settled in Glasgow. He served the Chevra Kadisha Synagogue, Buchan Street, until 1920 when he was appointed chazan for the Poale Zedek Synagogue. At the time of his death he was described as officiating minister of the Chevra Kadisha Synagogue as well as the Poale Zedek Synagogue. He was a practising mohel. He is buried at Sandymount Cemetery, Glasgow. (JC report of death 13 January 1933.)

Rabbi Pesach Efune

South African born Rabbi Efune (m. Penina), studied in Lubavitch yeshivot in New York and Israel, obtaining semicha at United Lubavitcher Yeshiva in New York, and spent 18 months in Venezuela as a shaliach for Chabad. He was minister at Sale and District Hebrew Congregation, Greater Manchester (1983-1986). He and Rebbetzen Penina arrived in Brighton, Sussex, in January 1987 to establish Chabad Lubavitch Brighton, at a time when neither Orthodox synagogue in the town had permanent rabbis, and remain currently (March 2023) directors of the organisation. In 1988 the couple established a Torah Academy Primary school, initially with just six pupils. Penina is manager and head of the Torah Montessori Nursery. Rabbi Efune acted as the spiritual leader of the Brighton and Hove Hebrew Congregation (1995-2008) and directs Chabad Lubavitch activities and services for Brighton and Hove and the surrounding area. (Sussex Jewish Representative Council website; Chabad Lubavitch in Brighton and Hove website; and JC report of 18 November 1983 and various other reports.)

Rabbi Harris Ehrenberg (later Rosenberg)
(1878 - 29 December 1927)

Born in Strausberg, Brandenburg, to the east of Berlin, Rabbi Ehrenberg (m. Annie Maccoby, niece of Rav. C.Z. Maccoby, the "Kamenitzer Maggid") may have served the Blackpool Hebrew Congregation, where a son was born in 1899. In 1900 he was appointed reader, shochet and teacher to the North Shields Hebrew Congregation. By 1903 Rabbi Ehrenberg was serving the Newcastle upon Tyne Old Hebrew Congregation (but was back in North Shields to take the Shavuot services that year with the permission of the Newcastle congregation). The following year, Rabbi Ehrenberg had emigrated to the USA where he changed his name to Rosenberg, and married Bertha Schildhaus in New York. Rabbi Rosenberg served a congregation in Butler, Pennsylvania, and then the Beth Abraham congregation of Zanesville, Ohio for most of the 1910s until his death. His son, William Manners, a professional boxer and writer, published a warm memoir of his father entitled, Father and the Angels (1947). The rabbi's first wife, Annie Ehrenberg, remained a resident at the Newcastle upon Tyne City Lunatic Asylum (re-named St Nicholas Hospital), Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne from 1904 until her death in 1951. (JC reports; online presentation by Rabbi Pini Dunner (which charges rabbi Rosenberg with bigamy; and previously online article - History of Zanesville's Early Jewish community.)

Dayan Chanoch Ehrentreu
(b. 27 December 1932 - 24 November 2022)

Rabbi (later Dayan) Chanoch Ehrentreu, the son of Rabbi Yisroel Ehrentreu, was born in Frankfurt-am-Maine, Germany to a rabbinical family and attended school in Letchworth, Hertfordshire, and at the Hasmonean School, north London. He later studied at Gateshead Yeshiva. In 1960, he founded the Sunderland Kolel and served as its principal until 1979. He was then appointed head (av) of the Manchester Beth Din and the city's communal rabbi (1979-1984) and subsequently served as head (rosh) of the London Beth Din until his retirement (1984-2006), whereupon he was again appointed principal of the Sunderland Kolel, by then situated in Gateshead. He died in London. (JYB listings and Who's Who; and online reserach.)

Rabbi Dr. (Jona) Ernst Ehrentreu
(12 May 1896 - 11 November 1981)

Munich-born Rabbi Ehrentreu (also referred to Ernest Jonah Ehrentreu) (m. Jenny Heckscher), the son of the Gaon HaRav Chanoch (Heinrick) Ehrentreu, whom he succeeded as rav and head of the Munich and district Beth Din (1927-1939), before escaping to Britain. He was then interned by the British authorities in the early 1940s and sent to Australia. In Australia, he served as rav of Beth David Congregation, Carlton, Melbourne (1942-1943) and Machzikai Hatorah, St. Kilda, Melbourne (1943-1947) and was a member of the Melbourne Beth Din (1943-1947). He returned to Britain and became founder and rav of Adath Yeshurun Synagogue, Golders Green, London (1947-1970) and then of Kehal Adath Yeshurun, Golders Green (1970-1981). He was the brother of Rabbi Yisroel Julius Ehrentreu. (JYB Who's Who entry.)

Rabbi Yisroel (Israel) Julius Ehrentreu
(6 May 1900 - 10 April 1965)

Munich born Rabbi Yisroel Ehrentreu (m. Bertha Jung), the son of the Munich Rov, the Gaon HaRav Chanoch (Heinrick) Ehrentreu, served as minister of the evacuee community, Chesham Hebrew Congregation, Buckinghamshire, during the mid-1940s (until about 1946) and later became principal of Prestwich Jewish Day School, Manchester. He was the father of Dayan Chanoch Ehrentreu and Rabbi Meir Ehrentreu and brother of of Rabbi Ernst Jonah Ehrentreu. He died in Bnei Brak, Israel. (JYB listings, online reserach and communication from former congregant.)

Rabbi Dr. Arnost Zvi Ehrman
(22 April 1914 - December 1976)

Rabbi Dr. Ehrman was born in Kralovsky-Chlmec, Slovakia, and studied at Yeshivot in Kleinwardein, Hungary, and Baden, Germany and then at the University of Bern, Switzerland. He came to Britain after World War II and obtained semicha from Jews' College, London, in 1947. He then moved to Israel, where he qualified as a lawyer. He later served as minister of Nairobi Hebrew Congregation, Kenya (1953-59), Bristol Hebrew Congregation (1959-61), Streatham District Synagogue (1970-76) and Watford Affiliated Synagogue (1976). Rabbi Ehrman was a noted scholar, who published a pioneering English translation and commentary of various parts of the Talmud (Talmud El Am). (JYB listings and Who's Who.)

Rabbi Ephraim Ferdinand Einhorn
(c.1919 - 15 September 2021)

Viennese born Rev Einhorn (also known as Eisenhorn) (m. Ruth Weinberg in 1953) studied at the Yeshivot in Pressburg (now Bratislava, Slovakia), in Fiume, Italy (now Rijeka, Croatia), Heide (near Antwerp, Belgium) and at the Etz Chaim Yeshiva in London for about four years. During the Holocaust, both his parents were murdered at Sachsenhausen concentration camp. For five years he was lecturer and preacher to the Synagogue Council of the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland. He was founding minister to the largely evacuee community that became the Kettering United Synagogue Membership Group, Northamptonshire (1940-1941), residing in nearby Northampton, where he was teacher for the Joint Emergency Committee, lecturer for the Central Jewish Lecture Committee and was appointed liaison officer by the Central Evacuation Committee of the Board of Deputies. He was chairman of the Northampton Zionist Society, a founder of the Northampton Youth Club, and was in charge of Habonim in the county. He was minister at the Bishop Auckland Hebrew Congregation, County Durham from 1941. Rev. Einhorn became minister at West Ham District Synagogue, east London (1942-1945) and National Organiser of the World Jewish Congress. In 1948 he was appointed minister of Goel Tzedec Congregation in Toronto, Canada, which had previously transitioned from an Orthodox to a Reform congregation. He later served congregations in Pennsylvania, Detroit, and Los Angeles, as well as in North Africa and the Middle East. From 1975 he ministered to the small Jewish community in Taiwan and was associated with Taiwan's efforts to secure diplomatic relations with other countries. In 2009 the Austrian government awarded Rabbi Einhorn the Grand Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria. In February 2021, he was reported enjoying a Purim service with the Jewish community in Taipei, Taiwan - aged 102, and he died in Taiwan on Erev Yom Kippur 2021 - aged 103.  (JC reports 18 April 1941 and 31 December 1948 and online research.)

Rev. (later Rabbi) Meier S. Eisemann
(d. 2010)

Rev. Eisemann (m. Naomi Rokach of London in 1945) was the son of the noted book seller and collector Heinrich Eisemann of London, and as a young man was a promoter of Jewish and classical music in London. He served was headmaster of the religious classes at the Southport Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire (1951-1953). In 1953 he emigrated to the USA, serving the Jewish community at Bangor, Maine, and later Fargo, North Dakota, and became founder and principal of the Torah Academy day school of Minneapolis in 1955. In 1973 he moved to Netanya, Israel, where as Rabbi Eisemann he was a founder, director and fundraiser of the Laniado Hospital. ("Philanthropy, Consensus and Broiges...a history of the Southport Jewish Community" by John Cowell, p.634, and a family video tribute to Rev Eisemann.)

Rev. Abraham H. Eisenberg
(c.1836 - 1920)

Polish-born Rev. Eisenberg (m. Rebecca) served the Canterbury Jewish Community, Kent, and for a short time the Middlesbrough Hebrew Congregation (late 1870s or in 1880). He later served as minister of Bristol Hebrew Congregation from 1880 to 1893 and then joined the breakaway congregation, Bristol Bridge Street Hebrew Congregation, serving as its minister from 1893 until 1896. He subsequent served again as minister of Bristol Hebrew Congregation (1897-1902). Retiring to London, he was one of the founders and chief organisers of the Kilburn, Brondesbury and Hampstead Talmud Torah. (Jews in Bristol by J. Samuel, 1997 and various JC reports including obituary 21 May 1920.)

Rev. Abraham (or C.A.) Eker
(11 November 1885 - 15 November 1965)

Rev. Abraham Eker (probably the same person as Rev. C.A Eker), the son of Rev. Moses Eker, was headmaster of Hebrew classes at Nottingham Hebrew Congregation for five years (1907-1912) prior to his apointment as headmaster of the Hebrew and religious classes at Southampton Hebrew Congregation from 1912 until about 1926 (listed as C.A. Eker) and from about about 1931 until about 1947 (listed as A. Eker). (JYB listings; JC report of 21 January 1912.)

Rev. Moses Eker
(c.1865 - 1924)

Russian-born Rev. Eker (m. Sarah née Rosen, d.1940) came to England in 1888. He briefly served the Wigan Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire, (after 1888) and the Hull (Old) Hebrew Congregation, or possibly one of the minor congregations in the city (c.1892), followed by the York Hebrew Congregation. In November 1894 he was appointed minister of the Blackburn Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire, (1894-1895), and from the following year he was minister of the Chester Hebrew Congregation until about 1898. By 1901 Rev. Eker was a Hebrew teacher in Manchester and in 1911 his occupation was that of a Hebrew bookseller residing on the Cheetham Hill Road. He died in Salford. He was the father of Rev. Abraham Eker. ("From Poland To Paradise Lane and Other Journeys" - a history of the Jewish community of Blackburn, by Hilary Thomas, 2018, including biography, pp.132/3.)

Rev. Meyer Elkin
(b. 5 May 1839)

Rev. Elkin, the son of Rabbi H. A. Elkin, was born in Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland) and studied under Rabbi A. Tiktin in Breslau and Rabbi Meir Leibush in Kempen. He served as shochet/minister of the breakaway Hebrew New Congregation in Portsmouth from 1857 until about 1860. Assuming continuity of identity, he may also have served at the Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation, Scotland; Auckland, New Zealand (c.1864 and c.1879); Hull Hebrew Congregation, Robinson Row (c.1866); the Liverpool New Hebrew Congregation, Hope Place (c.1866-c.1872); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (c.1872); Denver, Colorado; and Evansville, Indiana. It appears that he was also the principal of West Hackney School, north London (1880). (Portsmouth Jewry - 1730's to 1980's by Dr. Aubrey Weinberg, 1985, chapter "Divisions Within the Congregation"; Jolles's Encyclopaedia.)

Rabbi Getzel Ellison
(c.1930 - November 1988)

Rabbi Ellison, who came from Gateshead, had served as youth rabbi at Golders Green Beth Hamedrash ("Munk's), London before his appointments as rabbi of the Yeshurun Synagogue, Edgware, London (1958-1964). After leaving Edgware, Rabbi Ellison moved to Israel and was killed in a road accident in Eilat in November 1988. (History of the Edgware Adath Yisroel Congregation, on the congregation's website, p.37; JC report of 30 December 1988)

Rabbi Michael Elton (Ehrnthal)
(10 September 1911 - 1986)

Budapest-born Rabbi Michael (also Emil) Elton (generally known as Ehrnthal or Ehrenthal until the mid-1940s) was the son of Rev. Benjamin (Beno) Ehrnthal and came to Britain in 1930 (m. Vera Wolff (b.1910) in 1940). He attended Jews’ College, London (attaining a BA in 1934 and semicha in 1937) and SOAS, London, and studied palaeography and epigraphy. He briefly served as minister of an evacuee congregation in Bognor Regis, Sussex, in 1940 and was later appointed temporary minister of Hammersmith & West Kensington Synagogue, London (1940-1942), resigning on his being appointed as minister to Upton Park Synagogue, London in February 1942. Later he served as minister at Finsbury Park Synagogue, London, (1943-1944). He became  a Jewish chaplain to the British Forces in England, Germany, Italy and Central Europe and was in charge of mass funerals in Bergen-Belsen. He also helped re-establish the Jewish congregation in Graz, Austria. He was an assistant librarian at Jews' College, London (1947-1954) and served as minister at the Victoria and Chelsea Synagogue, London (1948-1951).  In 1954 he moved to South Africa and served as minister to the United Progressive Jewish Congregation, Johannesburg. Returning to London in 1963, he served as minister of South London Liberal Jewish Synagogue (c.1964-c.1966) and Southend Progressive Synagogue (now Southend & District Reform Synagogue) (c.1966-c.1969) and also assisted the Dublin Jewish Progressive Congregation. (JC Reports; JYB Listings.)

Rev. Myer Elyan
(c.1844 - 4 February 1928)

Rev. Elyan (or Eljan) (m. Sarah) was born in Zodick (possibly today Zidikai in Lithuania) according to the 1911 census, but elsewhere is described as from Zhogger (Zagare in Lithuania), where he qualified as a shochet. He arrived in Cork, Ireland, in 1881 and, with the sanction of the Chief Rabbi, he was appointed reader, shochet and mohel (and effectively the first minister) of the newly-established Cork Hebrew Congregation, combining such communal service with door to door pedaling. At some stage (in or prior to 1903), based upon JYB listings, he joined the rival Cork congregation, the Remnant of Israel Synagogue, and served as its minister until the congregations were reunited in about 1913. Rev. Elyan died in Cork. He was the great grandfather of Rabbi Eddie Jackson. (JYB listings, The Jews of Ireland from Earliest Times to the Year 1910 by L. Hyman; and JC obituary 10 February 1928. Rev. Elyan is profiled by his grandson, Larry Elyan: From Zhogger to Cork. An Irish story, JC Colour Magazine, 26 September 1980. Census of Ireland returns, 1901 and 1911.)

Rev. Abraham Elzas
(c.1835 - c.1880)

Dutch-born Rev. E. Elzas arrived in England in 1867, living initially in Leeds. He was later appointed minister and teacher at Hull Hebrew Congregation, Robinson Row, Hull. He published several works, including translations. (Jolles's Encyclopaedia.)

Rev. Barnett Elzas, BA
(1867 - 1939)

German-born Rev. Elraz was educated at University College London and Jews' College London and while still a student at Jews' College served briefly as hon. minister of Hammersmith Synagogue, London (1889), prior to the opening of the congregation's synagogue in Brook Green. In 1890, he moved to Canada and served as minister in Toronto and in Sacramento, California. In 1894, he was appointed minister of (the Reform) Congregation Beth Elohim in Charleston, South Carolina. He moved to New York in 1910, serving as rabbi in a number of institutions in New York and New Jersey. (The History of the Hammersmith Synagogue by Rev. Michael Adler (1950) and internet research.)

Rev. George Joseph Emanuel, BA
(c.1837 - 8 August 1914)

London-born Rev Emanuel (popularly known as the Rev GJ) (m. Sarah van Morden, 1865) was educated at the Jews' Free School, Spitalfields, where he was later a senior master. He was elected minister of the Birmingham Hebrew Congregation in December 1863 and held the post for over 50 years, until retirement due to ill health in 1912, and then he was elected emeritus minister to the congregation. Active in the civic life of Birmingham, in politics he was a radical - described as fiery in his younger days, but in his own opinion, increasingly out of step with the growing Conservative and Unionist opinion within his congregation. In freemasonry, he was chaplain to the Lodge of Israel and to the Provincial Lodge of Warwickshire. President of the Conference of Jewish Ministers, according to his obituary, he was the anonymous author of a series of articles in the Jewish press advocating reforms within Judaism. He was father-in-law to the Rev. S. Friedeberg of Liverpool and Rev. A. Gouldstein. He died at Edgbaston, Birmingham. (JC obituary and tributes, 14 August 1914; personal review of his political experiences, JC 7 February 1913.)

Rev. Michael Engelman

Rev. Engelman served as minister, reader and secretary of Becontree & District Associate Synagogue, London (c.1935-c.1938) and as minister of South-West London District Synagogue, Wandsworth, London (1938 to at least c.1940). (JYB listings.)

Rabbi Yehoshua Engelman

London-born Rabbi Engelman, who moved to Israel at the age of 12, taught at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, at a yeshiva where Orthodox students study during military service, and in informal learning settings. He was appointed director of Yakar in Hendon, London, in 1997 and served as rabbi at the Yakar Synagogue. He returned to Israel in 1999 where he became director of the Yakar centre in Tel Aviv. (JC reports, JYB listings reports and online research.)

Enoch (Zundel ben Zvi)

Enoch (Zundel ben Zvi) served from 1811 or 1812 as shochet of the Dock Minyan, an offshoot of the Plymouth Hebrew Congregation in Plymouth Dock (also known as the Dock), then a separate town (now known as Devonport) to the west of Plymouth proper. He was required to live in the Dock area. From 1814, he also served as an additional reader of the Plymouth Hebrew Congregation at a salary of £40 per annum, exclusive of his fees as a shochet. (Helen Fry's The Jews of Plymouth, 2015, p.36.)

Rabbi Moses Ephraim
(1745 - 27 January 1815)

Rabbi Moses Ephraim, from Zelig,  was a private tutor to the Josephs family in Plymouth, Devon, and according to Rabbi Susser, held no rabbinical position. He is reputed to have obtained semicha at the preternatural age of eight years. Helen Fry in The Jews of Plymouth, refers to him as Plymouth's first rabbi, serving from the 1780s until 1815 and he heads her list of rabbis and ministers of Plymouth. He is believed to have been buried in the Plymouth Hoe Old Jews' Burial Ground. (Cecil Roth's The Rise of Provincial Jewry, 1950; Rabbi B. Susser's thesis, "The Jews of South-West England", Chapter 6 (text); Helen Fry's "The Jews of Plymouth". Image on right from the original by A. Daniel, part of the Susser Archives on JCR-UK.)

Rabbi Daniel Epstein

Hendon born and raised, Rabbi Epstein (m. Ilana) studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion in Israel and Imperial College London, where reeived a BSc (Hons) ARCS in Chemistry and Management Science. Following theiir marriage, he and Ilana made aliyah in 1998 and he worked in marketing and communications and was subsequently a fundraiser while studying for semicha in Jerusalem. Originally from America, Rebbetzin Ilana, a qualified pastry chef, wrote a regular Jerusalem Post cookery column. The couple have served as the rabbinic couple of Cockfosters and N Southgate Synagogue, north London (2014-2021) and the Western Marble Arch Synagogue, central London, since March 2021 to present (June 2023). (WMA's website; JC report 24 January 2014.)

Rabbi Dr Ezekiel Isidore Epstein
(1894 - 13 April 1962)

Rabbi Epstein was born in Kovno, Lithuania and came with his family to London in 1902 via Paris. Educated first at Old Castle street school and the Raines and Whitechapel foundations, London, he studied at yeshivot in Pressburg and Waitzen, Hungary. In 1914 he received his first semicha from Isaiah Silberstein, Gaon of Waitzen. In 1919 he graduated from Jews' College, London with a first-class B.A Honours Degree in Semitics. He obtained rabbinical diplomas from Rabbi Israel Daiches of Leeds and from Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Kook, Chief Rabbi of the Holy Land, then in London. Rabbi Epstein (m. 1st Jennie Hurwitz of Belfast in 1921 - she died Feb. 1924; m. 2nd Gertrude Joseph in 1925) was appointed minister of the the Middlesbrough Hebrew Congregation (1920-1928). In 1924, he rejected a call from the Liverpool New Hebrew Conhregation (Hope Street Synagogue), Liverpool. While at Middlesbrough, Rabbi Epstein was awarded the Ph.D. degree in 1923 and a D.Lit degree in 1926 (both from the University of London, dealing with Rabbinic responsa). In 1928 he was appointed as lecturer in Semitic languages and later also as librarian of Jews' College. During World War II, he evacuated to Letchworth, Hertfordshire, where he served as minister (and also initially chairman) of the Letchworth Hebrew Congregation from 1939 or 1940 until returining to London in late 1943 to resume his position at Jews' College, until 1945. He published both academic and popular books on Judaism, addressed to Jewish and wider audiences. Rabbi Dr Epstein's most substantial academic work was as editor of the first complete translation into English of the Babylonian Talmud, with notes, glossary and indices (35 volumes published between 1935 and 1952). In 1945 he was appointed director of studies at Jews' College and three years later he became its principal, a position he held until shortly before his death. (Profile by Jack Epstein, his son, on the Kehilla Middlesbrough website, JC reports and obituary of 20 April 1962.)

Rabbi Mordechai Isaac Levin Epstein
(c.1860 - 25 October 1925)

Born in Janover (today Jonava, Lithuania) where his father was rabbi, Rabbi Epstein (m. Cyrella (Ethel) Zilberman) obtained semicha at Kovno yeshiva, where he studied under Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Spector, and also from yeshivot in Tels and Slobodko. Before coming to England in about 1903 he was rabbi at Zeimi in Lithuania. From 1904 he served in Sheffield, initially as the rabbi of the Sheffield New Hebrew Congregation (later known as the Sheffield Central Hebrew Congregation). He then became the communal rabbi of Sheffield, embracing both that congregation as well as the Sheffield Hebrew Congregation (later also known as the Sheffield Great Synagogue), until his death in 1925. He is buried in Sheffield's Ecclesfield cemetery. (Sheffield Jewry by Armin Krauz; JC obituary 30 October 1925; and JYB listings. Image courtesy Patricia Alexandra Alznauer.)

Rev. J. Erlich

Rev. J. Erlich accepted the post of minister of the Magnus Memorial Synagogue, Chatham, Kent, in March 1919, but appears not to have taken up the post. Subsequently a Rev. Erlich (or Ehrlich) served as minister at Stockport Hebrew Congregation, then in Cheshire, from 1920 until 1924. (Letter in the Chatham congregation's archives; and Stockport Jewish Community by Claire Hilton (1999).)

Rabbi Max Eschelbacher
(14 January 1880 - 20 April 1964)

Rabbi Eschelbacher (m. Bertha, 1906, the daughter of Rabbi Ludwig Kahn) was born in Bruchsal, Germany and was the son of Rabbi Josef Eschelbacher (1876-1916). He studied law at the University of Munich and was awarded a doctorate in law. After completing his legal clerkship, he began his legal career at the Nauen district court, near Berlin. When forced to work on Shabbat, he decided to become a rabbi and resigned from his legal position. After training as a rabbi, he took up his first position in his birthplace of Bruchsal in 1906 and moved to Freiburg in 1910. In 1912 he succeeded Rabbi Leo Baeck at the Düsseldorf Jewish community. Arrested by the Nazi authorities in 1938, he managed to emigrate to Britain in January 1939. For a short period, from mid 1940 until August 1940 he was interned in the Hutchinson Internment Camp on the Isle of Man. After the war, he repeatedly visited Germany and held services on the high Jewish holidays in the revived Jewish communities in Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Berlin. He was the author of a large number of books, which often demonstrated a conservative point of view on important contemporary issues. He also wrote detailed accounts of his experiences. He died in London. (Online research.)

Rev Solomon Raphael Evans
(21 March 1913 - 12 April 2002)

Belfast-born Rev. Evans (m. Gladys Smith, 1938) was educated and taught at yeshiva in Manchester. Rev. Evans first post in a synagogue career that lasted over six decades, was as minister, reader, shochet and headmaster to the St. Annes Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire (1938-1942). In 1941 he took up a similar position with the Weston-Super-Mare Hebrew Congregation, North Somerset, where a number of Jewish evacuees had settled, and his responsibilities as a teacher to evacuee children extended from Bristol to Taunton. He was also officiating chaplain to HM forces. Rev. Evans served as minister, reader, shochet and head teacher to the West Hartlepool Hebrew Congregation (1945-1953). By 1953 he had moved to Leeds. Rev. Evans was described, towards the end of his career, as having "served in one capacity or another almost every synagogue in Leeds," and was also a shochet and Bar Mitzvah teacher, both privately and at Leeds Talmud Torah. He also served the Harrogate Hebrew Congregation, and was briefly appointed temporary minister there in 1976. In 1998, aged 85, he was minister of the Bradford Hebrew Congregation, Yorkshire.  He was the father of Rev. Carl Evans. He died in Leeds. (Research by Hilary Thomas; JC various reports and obituary to Gladys Evans, 1 March 2002 and to Rev. Solomon Evans, 7 June 2002 and JYB listings.)