Rev. Chaim (or Haim) L. Haber
(c.1917 - 27 August 1988)

Born in Gyongyos, Hungary, Rev. Haber (m. Nediva Ida - Duci) began studying music and chazanut when he was 20. He also studied at yeshivot in Hungary. During World War II he spent six months in a Russian labour camp. After the war Rev. Haber was chazan at the Great Synagogue, Ramat Gan, Israel. In 1957 he came to England to serve as reader at the Old Hebrew Congregation, Leazes Park Road, Newcastle (1957-1963). In 1963 he was inducted chazan at the Central Synagogue, Manchester, which he served for some 15 years. Rev. Haber died a few hours after conducting Shabbat services at that synagogue. He is buried at Holon in Israel. (JC report 7 June 1963 and obituary 2 September 1988.)

Rabbi Pinchas Hackenbroch

Rabbi Hackenbroch (m. Gila Elevitsky), who has a law degree from London Guildhall University, studied in Israel at several Yeshivot including Gush Etzion and Mir obtaining semicha as well graduating in practical rabbinics. He served as minister of Newton Mearns Synagogue Glasgow (2003-2008) and Woodside Park Synagogue, London (November 2008 to present - May 2021). (See Profile on Woodside Park congregation's website.)

Rev. Asher Hainowitz
(b.1939)

Jerusalem-born Rev. Hainovitz studied chazanut under Shelomo Zalman Rivlin and at the Jerusalem Rubin Academy of Music. He later received the Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music in London. He was cantor in Bulawayo, Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe), and for the Pretoria United Hebrew Congregation, South Africa. In about 1974 Rev. Hainowitz became chazan at Edgware United Synagogue, London, where he served until 1976 and became chazan at St John's Wood Synagogue, London. He then returned to Israel to become chazan at the Central Yeshurun Synagogue in Jerusalem. Chazan Hainowitz is a celebrated performer and recorder of liturgical and Yiddish songs in Israel and internationally. (JYB listings; profile oj encyclopedia.com.)

Rabbi Ilan Halberstadt

British-born Rabbi Halberstadt (m. Ruthie) holds a psychology degree from University College, London. He served as rabbi of the Nefesh Hatorah congregation, Edgware, London (2015-2018) andthen as rabbi of Machzike Hadath Synagogue, Golders Green, London (2018 until present - May 2020). (Uniquely Edgware website and Machzike Hadath website.)

Rev. David Lewis Halpern
(c.1885 - 18 June 1926)

Rev. Halpern's first known post is as minister of Ayr Hebrew Congregation, west of Scotland, from at least 1909 to 1911. In 1911 he became minister and secretary at the Aberdeen Hebrew Congregation (1911-1913) where he was Jewish visitor at the Convict Prison in Peterhead. Rev. Halpern then became minister and chazan to the Bournemouth Hebrew Congregation (1913-c.1926). During World War I, he provided services for Jewish prisoners at Dorchester camp (one of the largest prisoner of war camps in the country). Rev. Halpern died in a nursing home in Margate, Kent, aged only 41, leaving a widow and four young children, and is buried at Edmonton cemetery, London. (JC obituary of 25 June 1926; and JYB listings.)

Rev. Izak Halpert
(c.1920 - 1986)

Rev Halpert, was born in Hungary. After studying in Hungarian yeshivot till he was 20, he trained as a chazan in Uzhorod (today in western Ukraine) and later in Budapest. During the war he was a partisan who had a foot amputated, survived internment in a Nazi labour camp, and was eventually liberated by the Russians. From 1959 until 1964 he served as chazan-shochet in Zilina, Czechoslovakia (today in Slovakia). He came to Dublin in March 1964, via Vienna, bringing with him a sefer torah which he had rescued from Hungary. In October 1964 he was inducted as first reader of the Dublin Hebrew Congregation and served until 1980. He and his wife moved to Toronto, Canada, to be closer to their children, and where he died. A memorial service for Rev. Halpert was held at Adelaide Road synagogue, Dublin in September 1986. (JC various reports; JYB listings.)

Rev. Naphtali Halter
(22 April 1875 - 4 February 1950)

Rev. Halter, born at Przidecz (Przedecz), Poland, the son of Rabbi Chayam Solomon Haltrecht of Lodz, was a chazan in Stertsuf (Szczercow) and at Bikur Cholim Synagogue in Lodz. After coming to Britain, he served as chazan of Shaw Street Synagogue, Liverpool, (1908-c.1910), the Central Synagogue, Liverpool (1911-c.1917) and Notting Hill Synagogue, west London (1918-1919). In 1920, he was appointed chazan at Cannon Street Road Synagogue in London's east end, where he served until his death (possibly with a short break or two). He was an acclaimed chazan and served as president of the Federation of Synagogues’ Chazanim Association and president of the choral section of the Association of the Chazanim of Great Britain. (JYB listings; JC obituary of 10 February 1950; and Jolles's Encyclopaedia.)

Rev. Harris Hamburg
(c.1867 - 24 February 1941)

Rev. Hamburg (m. Bella, d. 1908; m. Sarah, d. 1921) was born in Lithuania and studied at various yeshivot. He was Baal Keriah at the Beth Hamedrash Hagadol at Telz (now Telsiai, Lithuania). He arrived at Cardiff at the age of 24 (c.1892) and served as reader, shochet, mohel and/or teacher at the Cardiff Hebrew Congregation, Cathedral Road, during his fifty years at that synagogue, acting as the congregation's minister in 1904/5. In 1900, he was a founder of the Chovevei Zion movement. He was also an authority on local history and shechita. His son, Lewis, was an important member of the Cathedral Road Synagogue. He died in Cardiff and was buried in the Cardiff Highfield Road cemetery (view image of gravestone). (JYB listings, Jolles's Encyclopaedia, pp. 543/4; photograph 1932, courtesy People's Collection of Wales - Jewish Historical Association of South Wales.)

Rabbi Yossi Hambling

Rabbi Hambling (m. Channah) grew up in Ilford, London and studied in Yeshivat Sha’alvim in Israel for two years. He then returned to London to study Hebrew and Jewish Studies at UCL. After graduating in 2018, Rabbi Yossi and Rebbetzen Channah moved to Israel on a Mizrachi UK Rabbinic Fellowship. Rabbi Yossi studied in Yeshivat Har Etzion, was a participant in Shalhevet, the leadership training programme of the World Mizrachi Movement, and completed his semicha through Mizrachi’s Musmachim programme. Rebbetzen Channah grew up in Finchley, London and studied at Midreshet Ye’ud in Israel for a year, where she combined Torah learning with volunteering work. Upon her return to Britain, she obtained a Foundation Diploma in Fashion Design from the University of the Arts, London, and a BA in Fashion from Heriot-Watt University, Scotland. Since July 2021, Rabbi and Rebbetzen Hambling have served as the rabbinic couple at the Birmingham Central Synagogue to the present (July 2022). (Congregation's website)

Rabbi Yaacov Hamer

Rabbi Hamer (m. Yael Deutsch), who grew up in the USA, studied at a number of Yeshivot in Israel, including ten years at Mir, and achieved Semicha under Rav Zalman Nechemia Goldberg. He and Canadian-born Rebbetzen Yael served as rabbinic couple at Finchley Central Synagogue, London (2007-2019) and the Bridge Lane Beth Hamedrash (BLBH), Golders Green, London (2019 to present - May 2021). (For additional background, see Profile on BLBH website.)

Rev. J.L. Hainau

Rev. Hainau served as minister in Jersey, Channel Islands, possibly prior to, but certainly following, the closure in about 1870 of the Jersey Old Hebrew Congregation's synagogue in St. Helier.  He continued to be associated with Jews in Jersey until at least 1902, when he officiated at the funeral in Jersey of a Jewish soldier who accidentally drowned off the Jersey coast. He was possibly the Jehiel Hanau, identified by Michael Jolles, as the "most eminent bass singer in the Great Synagogue choir", London, in about the 1830s. (JC reports; and Jolles's Encyclopaedia.)

Rev. Leslie Henry Hardman, MBE
(18 February 1913 - 7 October 2008)

Rev. Hardman (m. Josi, 1936), born in Glynneath, South Wales, studied at yeshivot in Liverpool and Manchester and the University of Leeds, where he earned an MA in Hebrew and Semitics. He began his career as second reader of Shaw Street Synagogue, Liverpool, and headmaster of the Bootle Synagogue Hebrew Classes before being appointed to serve as the minister (reader and shochet) of the St. Annes Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire (c.1934-1936). He was then appointed reader, later minister, of Chapeltown Hebrew Congregation, Leeds (1936-early 1940s) and served as chaplain of Wakefield Prison (1939-1941). In 1942, Rev. Hardman enlisted in the Army Chaplains' Department, being stationed initially in Hertfordshire and from autumn 1944 in the Netherlands, where he became aware of the atrocities perpetrated against the Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe, and subsequently in Germany, where he became the Senior Jewish Chaplain to the British Forces. In April 1945, Rev. Hardman entered the notorious Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, just two days after its liberation by the British Army, and was the first Jewish chaplain at the site. On arriving at the camp he tried to bring some comfort to the survivors and recited Kaddish over the dead. In all, he supervised the burial of an estimated 20,000 victims, "giving them the dignity in death of which they had been robbed in life". Following the war, Rev. Hardman served as the long serving minister of Hendon Synagogue, London (1946-1982), becoming emeritus minister on his retirement, committing himself to Holocaust education. In 1998 he was appointed MBE for his services to the Jewish community. (Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History (2011) by W. Rubinstein (ed.) and M.A. Jolles and H. L. Rubinstein (ass. eds.), p.395; obituaries in The Guardian and The Times; and JYB listings.)

Rev. David Harel
(b. 1942)

Born in Kutaisi, then in Soviet Georgia, Rev. Harel (m. Ruth) moved with his family to Germany in 1946 and to Israel three years later. After attending High School in Netanya, he served for two-and-a-half years in the Israeli army and also saw active service during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Having lived for a while in his wife's native Montreal, Canada, where he took a degree, Rev. Harel was honorary chazan on moshav Avihai, near Netanya, in Israel before taking the post of chazan at the Birmingham Hebrew Congregation, Singers Hill, from 1984 until 1986. He was subsequent chazan at the Garden Synagogue, Cape Town. (JC profile 6 April 1984.)

Rev. Abraham Harfield or Harfeld

Rev. A. Harfield served the Sheerness Hebrew Congregation, Kent (dates unknoown) and later served as shochet and reader at the Newport Hebrew Congregation, Monmouthshire (1860-c.1862) during which period he officiated at the wedding of his daughter, Isabella, assisted by his son, Rev. Lewis Harfield. He later served as minister in Edinburgh from 1864 to 1866.  A Rev. Harfield was listed amongst charitable subscribers in Plymouth, Devon, in 1859.  (JC reports; Jolles's Encyclopaedia.)

Rev. Lewis Harfield (or Louis) Harfield (or Harfeld)

Rev. L. Harfield (m. Rachel Cohen), the son of Rev. Abraham Harfield (or 'Harfeld'), served the Bath Hebrew Congregation, Somerset, in 1861 and 1862. In January 1862, he assisted his father in officiating at the wedding of his sister in Newport, Monmouthshire. He then served as reader/minister at Portsea (Portsmouth) Hebrew Congregation, Hampshire (1863), and later was minister at Newport Hebrew Congregation (1865 to at least 1867). A report in The JC in 1876 on the opening of the first purpose built synagogue in Toronto, Canada, refers to Rev. Louis Harfield as minister. In 1898, Rev. Lewis "Horfield" was recorded as having officiated at Bath, he was described as being formerly of Richmond, Virginia. It is assumed all these are references to the same person. (JC reports; "The Jews of Bath" by M. Brown and J. Samuel; Jolles's Encyclopaedia.)

Rabbi Cyril Kitchener Harris, OBE
(19 September 1936-13 September 2005)

Glasgow-born Rabbi Harris, BA, MPhil, (m. Ann) who studied at Jews' College, received his rabbinical semicha in c.1968. He served as minister of Kenton Synagogue, London (1958-72), National Director of the Hillel Foundation (1972-1975), minister of Edgware United Synagogue, London (1975-1979) and minister of St John's Wood Synagogue, London (1979-87), as well as senior chaplain to H.M. Armed Forces (1966-1971), before becoming Chief Rabbi of South Africa (1987-2004). He was awarded an OBE in 2005, shortly before his untimely death from cancer. Rabbi Harris was the author of For Heaven's Sake: The Chief Rabbi's Diary (2001). He was the father of Rabbi Michael Harris. (Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History (2011), p.396/7 and Obituary of Rabbi Harris on The Guardian website, 16 September 2005.)

Rev. Jacob (Jay) Simon Harris
(c.1916 - 13 July 1991)

Rev. J.S. Harris (m. Annie Pressman, 1939), the son of Rev. P. Harris of Liverpool, served as the minister (reader and shochet) of the St. Annes Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire (1936-1938). He later served as minister of the Pride of Israel Synagogue, Liverpool (1940s). He died in London but was buried in Allerton (Springwood) Jewish Cemetery, Liverpool (next to his wife, who died in 1980). (JYB listings and research by Hilary Thomas.)

Rev. Mark Louis Harris
(2 October 1853 - 11 July 1932)

London-born Rev. Harris (m. Esther Posner) was educated at Jews' College, London. He had served as reader and shochet, but effectively minister, of Hanley Synagogue (later known as Stoke-on-Trent Hebrew Congregation), Staffordshire. In 1874, he was appointed reader at Exeter Hebrew Congregation, Devon, but later that year was badly injured in a railway accident at Hornby Junction, near Sheffield, resulting in spinal injuries, for which he received £800 compensation. This forced him to leave his post in Exeter after only three months of service. In 1876, he was appointed reader at Portsea (Portsmouth) Hebrew Congregation, Hampshire, but he was back in Hanley by 1880 as chazan and secretary. He served as minister and teacher at Sunderland Hebrew Congregation from April 1883 and until August 1886 and while there he was also visiting minister to the Darlington and West Hartlepool congregations. In August 1886, he took up the post of minister at the new President Street Synagogue, Kimberley, South Africa. In 1888 Rev. Harris had moved to Johannesburg where he was minister to the Witwatersrand Old Hebrew Congregation and by 1890 he was Principal of Johannesburg Jewish School. In 1903 he was the founding minister of the Doorfontein Hebrew congregation in Johannesburg but by 1907 he had severed his connection with it. No record has been found of Rev. Harris continuing a communal career after this date. It is unclear whether there is any connection to the successful Mark Harris Manufacturing company (later known as The Rhodesian Milling and Manufacturing Co., Ltd) (in today Zimbabwe). He is believed to be the Mark Louis Harris who is buried at the Jewish cemetery in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. (Biographic Research on JCR-UK's Exeter Synagoge Archives; Arnold Levy, Sunderland Jewish Community; JC reports.)

Rabbi Dr. Michael Harris
(b. 1964)

London-born Rabbi Harris, the son of Rabbi Cyril Harris, studied at three yeshivot in Israel and holds semicha from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and from other prominent Israeli rabbis. Rabbi Harris obtained his first degree in philosophy from Cambridge University, a masters degree in philosophy from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and, in 2001, Ph.D. from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Rabbi Harris served as senior minister of Southend and Westcliff Hebrew Congregation (1992-1995) and Hampstead Synagogue (from 1995 to present - February 2021). Rabbi Harris's scholarly works includes Divine Command Ethics: Jewish and Christian Perspectives (2003) and he has taught on BA and MA programmes at King's College, London, and is an Affiliated Lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge (Profile on Hampstead Synagogue website and biography formerly on Cambridge University.)

Rev. Raphael Harris
(14 January 1835 - 6 June 1911)

London born Rev. Harris (m. 1st Julia Solomon d.c.1860s; 2nd Sarah Joseph of Plymouth d.1923) was educated at Jews' Free school, privately and also trained in chazanut. In 1860 he was appointed to Princess Road Synagogue, Liverpool. In 1863 Rev. Harris was appointed reader and secretary to the new Bayswater Synagogue, London, and served there for 47 years until his retirement in 1910 (he was second reader alongside first reader Rev. Isaac Samuel). During this period the synagogue also had a third official, first Dr Hermann Adler, and then Rabbi Dr Professor Hermann Gollancz, whose duties were that of Lecturer or preacher. Rev. Harris acted for many years as Hon. Secretary of the Bayswater Jewish Schools and was one of the Jewish Visitors to the London Hospital. He was the father of Rev. John Harris, who also served at the Princess Road Synagogue, Liverpool. He is buried at Willesden cemetery. (JC obituary and tributes 9 June 1911, various reports and internet research.)

Rev. S.H. Harris
(d. 1907)

Rev. Harris was minister (preacher), first reader and headmaster at the Newcastle Old Hebrew Congregation, Temple Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, from 1871 to 1879 and officiated at the consecration of the synagogue of the short-lived united North and South Shield Hebrew Congregation in 1876. He served as headmaster of the Jewish Orphanage and Asylum at Norwood in South London from 1879 to 1890 and his wife served as matron. After 1890 he was founder and principal of Townley Castle school, Ramsgate, Kent, a "high class" boarding school for young Jewish gentlemen. Rev. Harris was a prominent Freemason and council member of the Anglo Jewish Association. Following his death in Ramsgate his son-in-law, Rev. Samuel Levine, became principal of the Townley Castle school. (The Jewish Communities of North-East England by Lewis Olsover (1980); various JC reports.)

Rabbi Simon Harris

Rabbi Harris read Hebrew at SOAS, University of London, followed by six years studying in Jerusalem, Israel, where he received semicha, He subsequently obtained an MA in Oriental Studies from Oxford University. Rabbi Harris served as minister of the Bournemouth Hebrew Congregation (1990-1993), Chief Rabbi of Ireland (1993-1994), rabbi and director of education at Yakar, Hendon (1994-1996), rabbi at Western Marble Arch Synagogue (to June 1998) and six years as senior minister at the Great Synagogue, Cape Town. He subsequently became minister of Wembley United Synagogue (2007-2022). Rabbi Harris worked as a Honorary Research Fellow on "Literary & Linguistic Analysis of Zoharic Aramaic" based at University College London and undertakes post graduate research on the Redaction of the Babylonian Talmud. (United Synagogue profile, various JCreports.)

Rabbi Louis (Aryeh Leib) Harrison
(c.1900 - 6 January 1933)

Born in Leeds and educated at Manchester Yeshiva, Rabbi Harrison received semicha from Rabbi Unterman in Liverpool. He was minister to the Grimsby Hebrew Congregation, Lincolnshire from 1923 (and minister of the Grimsby Beit Hamedresh from at leadt 1929) until his death, aged only 32, in 1933. He was secretary to Grimsby Zionist society and was critical of Chaim Weizmann's leadership of the movement. Rabbi Harrison was a noted Talmud scholar. He is buried in Grimsby Jewish cemetery  (JC obituary 13 January 1933, and various reports and letters to the press)

Chief Rabbi Aaron Hart
(1670-1756)

Regarded as Britain's first Chief Rabbi. Rabbi Hart (born Uri Phoebus in Breslau, Germany) was the son of Hartwig (Naphtali Hertz) Moses, formerly of Hamburg. He studied at a yeshiva in Poland and married the daughter of Rev. Samuel ben Phoebus of Furth. Aaron's younger brother, Moses Hart, came to England in 1697, where a wealthy close relative, Benjamin Levy, had founded what became known as London's Great Synagogue. Rabbi Hart joined his brother in London, who had amassed a fortune as a broker, partly through the assistance of Benjamin Levy, and was also now very influential in the synagogue. Largely due to the influence of Moses, Rabbi Hart was appointed rabbi of the synagogue (1705-1756). As his authority grew, he was gradually recognised by Ashkanazi congregations that were springing up in provincial towns throughout Britain and is regarded as the nation's first Chief Rabbi. He died in office in London. ("History of the Great Synagogue", by Cecil Roth (1950); "British Chief Rabbis 1664-2006" by Derek Taylor, 2007, "Jewish Encyclopedia" online articles on Aaron Hart and Moses Hart.)

Rabbi Abraham Hart (Solomon Lazarus)
(d. 3 July 1784)

Rabbi Abraham Hart (also known locally by his trading name, Solomon Lazarus), son of Rabbi Asher Hart (Altstadter), was born in Weinheim in the Rhineland, Germany, and came to Britain as a child in about 1720. He is considered to be a founder of the Jewish community in Penzance, Cornwall, and to have served as its spiritual leader (mid-1700s), although the title rabbi was probably a courtesy title. Centred in Penzance, he had begun importing and trading in rums sourced from the Caribbean, which business was continued and developed by his son, Lazarus Hart. In 1790, his grandson, Lemon Hart, took over the family business and successfully expanded it, giving his name to Lemon Hart Rum^©, one of the most well known brands of rum. ("The Lost Jews of Cornwall" by Kieth Pearce, Helen Fry and Godfrey Simmons.)

Rabbi Asher Hart
(d. c.1745-1752)

Rabbi Asher Hart (originally known as Asher Altstadter), son of Rabbi Abraham Altstadter, was born in Weinheim in the Rhineland, Germany. He is considered as the patriarch of the Hart family of Penzance, Cornwall. Although it is by no means certain, he is believed to have come to Britain in about 1720 and served as the spiritual leader of the nascent Jewish community in Penzance (c.1720s-c1740s), although the title rabbi was probably a courtesy title. He was the father of Rabbi Abraham Hart (also known as Solomon Lazaus).  ("The Lost Jews of Cornwall" by Kieth Pearce, Helen Fry and Godfrey Simmons.)

Rev. Isaac Hart

Rev. Hart served as reader/minister of Portsea (Portsmouth) Hebrew Congregation, Hampshire (1864-1865) and minister of Sunderland Hebrew Congregation (1866-1870). (Arnold Levy, Sunderland Jewish Community, JYB various reports.)

Rev. Moshe Haschel

Argentina-born Cantor Moshe Haschel made aliyah with his family in 1969. He learnt at yeshivot in Israel and is a graduate of the Israeli Institute for Cantorial Art in Jerusalem. He was chazan in Givataim, Israel and then at the Green & Sea Point Hebrew Congregation in Capetown, South Africa. In 1988 Moshe Haschel came to London as chazan of Finchley Synagogue (1988-1993). In 1997 he became chazan of St John's Wood Synagogue, London, and for a time he commuted regularly between Israel and London but he retired on health grounds in 2015. There are a number of videos on Youtube of Rev Haschel singing in London with the Neimah Singers. (JC reports and internet research.)

Rev. Benjamin Hass
(6 July 1931 - 2010)

Rev. B. Hass (m. Rivka Gittleson) was born in Jaroslaw, Poland. Having been exiled to Siberia during World War II, he subsequently made his way to Israel and studied at Ponevetz Yeshiva, Bnri Brak and studied music in Tel Aviv and Dublin. He served as first reader of Dublin's United Hebrew Congregation, Greenville Hall (1957-1961) and of Liverpool's Greenbank Drive Synagogue (1961-1965). He was then appointed as chazan to the Adath Israel Congregation, Montreal, Canada (1965-1987). He retired to Israel in 1987 and died in Jerusalem. Twin brother of Rev. David Hass of Bat Yam, Israel and brother of Rev. Jacob Hass and Rev. Simon Hass (all chazanim). (Jolles's Encyclopaedia; JYB listings.)

Rev. Simon Hass
(1925 - 15 October 2022)

Rev. Hass (m Elaine) was born in Yaroslav Poland, and is considered one of the leading exponents of cantoral, Yiddish and Hebrew folk-music. Following Nazi occupation of Poland, the family fled east and was deported by the Soviet authorities to a Siberian labour camp, where a sister died in the harsh conditions. Following a short period as a temporary chazan at the Hendon Synagogue, London in 1949 or 1950, Rev. Hass was appointed chazan at Central Synagogue, London in February 1951. From 1963 he and a choir led annual midnight selichot services which attracted support from across London. Rev. Hass made a number of LP recordings. He retired in 1993. Brother of Rev. Benjamin Hass, Rev. David Hass (twins) and Rev. Jacob Hass (all chazanim). Recording (JYB listings, JC profile 5 March 1993; Central Synagogue's website; and "The History of the Hendon Synagogue" by Geoffrey Alderman, p.9.)

Rev. Bernard Hast
(b. December 1845)

Warsaw-born Rev. B. Hast (m. Fannie) was reader at the Maiden Lane Synagogue, Covent Garden, London, and then first reader of the Birmingham Hebrew Congregation from 1875 until he resigned in 1887. He subsequently emigrated to the United States. He was a brother of the Rev. Marcus Hast of the Great Synagogue, London. The Hast family came from Praga near Warsaw. (JC report 29 May 1874.)

Rev. Myer J. Heilbron
(c.1848-November 1935)

Rev. Heilbron (m. Diana) served as reader and secretary of South Hackney Synagogue, now the Hackney & East London Synagogue (1883-1899). He was for many years a master at his former school, Jews' Free School, with which he was associated for approximately 50 years as a pupil, teacher and senior master. Rev. Heilbron retired to Hove in around 1914 and in 1920 with his brother Solomon J Heilborn (former headmaster of the Bayswater Jewish Schools), he conducted Rosh Hashana services at the Town Hall, Hove. At the age of 81 he was elected President of the Brighton and Hove Hebrew Congregation. Rev. Heilborn acted as a guide to Southdown College in Hove, a boarding school for girls, which was owned and directed by his daughters. He died in Hove. (The History of the Hackney Synagogue appearing in its 50th Jubilee Commemorative Booklet; JC obituary 1 November 1935.)

Rabbi Chaim Leib Heilpern
(1901 - August 1974)

From a rabbinical dynasty, Rabbi Heilpern's father was Rabbi Samuel Pesach Halperin of Gateshead. As minister of the Bournemouth Hebrew Congregation (c.1928-1946), during the World War II he extended hospitality to American Jewish servicemen who were stationed in the area. An ardent Zionist, he was sent by Chief Rabbi Hertz to Cyprus in 1946 to investigate the plight of Jewish refugees, Holocaust victims hoping to reach Palestine by boat but who had been stopped and interned in camps in Cyprus by the British Government. He emigrated to the United States and in 1950 took up up a post in Florida and was later in North Carolina. Fom 1956 to 1957 he was at the Tifereth Israel Temple in Newcastle, Pennsylvania and became the first rabbi of a conservative congregation in Palo Alto, California. He is buried in San Diego, California. (Profile by his nephew David Romney; JC reports; and JYB listings.)

Rabbi Samuel Pesach Heilpern (or Halperin)

Rabbi S.P. Heilprin served as minister of the Austrian Synagogue, Manchester, from 1903 to 1908. He was then the rav of Gateshead Hebrew Congregation from 1908 until about 1914, when, as an Austrian national, he was obliged to leave, but he returned in 1927 remaining until 1937. He was the father of Rabbi Chaim Leib Heilpern. (JC reports; and JYB listings.)

Rabbi Leibush Heller

United States-born Rabbi Heller (m. Dini, 1999) was educated in New York, France and Israel. He served as the attendant rabbi at the Finchley Persian Sephardi Minyan at Finchley Synagogue, Kinloss Gardens, northwest London, from at least 2010 until  present (May 2023). (Congregation's website.)

Rabbi Aaron Fischel Herling
(24 July 1912 - 19 January 1990)

Born in Romania, where his parents and two of his brothers were murdered during the war, Rabbi Herling (m. Betty - d.1985) studied at yeshivot there and at the Vishnitzer and Lublin yeshivot in Poland. He also studied for a while in Israel and taught at the Central Universal Yeshiva in Jerusalem (founded by Rav Kook). Rabbi Herling came to London in the early 1950s and was minister of the Chevra Shass Synagogue in London's East End. He later served the Chevra Tehillim Synagogue, Lombard Street, Dublin, for nine years until that synagogue closed. He was minister of the Grimsby Hebrew Congregation, Lincolnshire (1960-1964), then of the Chevra Kadisha-Beth Jacob Synagogue in Glasgow (1964-1972) and Whitley Bay Synagogue, northeast England, (1972-1979). By 1979 Rabbi Herling was back in the East End of London, serving the East London Central Synagogue, Nelson Street. In 1981 he was interviewed by journalist Monty Modlyn for the JC about life in the East End of London where he was one of the last remaining resident rabbis. He died in office in 1990 and is buried at Rainham cemetery. He was the author of a Talmudic work, Beis Yisroel. (JC article, 31 March 1972; interview by Monty Modlyn 3 April 1981. The Jewish Communities of North-East England by Lewis Olsover (1980), p.262.)

Rev. Joseph Herman
(c.1899 - 24 April 1967)

Leeds-born Rev. Herman (m Lieba Lipschitz) was educated at Manchester yeshiva under Rabbi M.I. Segal and at Etz Chaim yeshiva, London. His first post was at Chester Hebrew Congregation (c.1919/20). He served at Wolverhampton Synagogue (1920-1925) and was minister to Margate Hebrew Congregation, Kent (1925-1929). Rev. Herman then became supervisor of Hebrew classes and minister at what was then called the Hendon Hebrew Congregation, London at its Brent Street synagogue, for seven years. Together with Dayan Dr. Asher Feldman, he conducted the consecration service in 1935 of the growing community's new synagogue at Raleigh Close, Hendon. From 1936 he was Welfare Minister in charge of the Jewish Institute (Free Advisory Centre), at Mulberry Street, London and the United Synagogue's Welfare Minister in the 1940s - directing and overseeing a wide range of social welfare activities and dealing with individual cases of hardship and need. Rev. Herman also served the Poplar Associate Synagogue in a part-time capacity. In 1940 Rev. Herman founded Zekeinim, a pioneering friendship club for the elderly in London. From 1953 to 1964 he served as the United Synagogue's Kabronim minister, whose duties included taking funerals and stone settings when required, and checking headstone inscriptions. Later he also served as part-time reader at Cockfosters and N. Southgate District Synagogue until his retirement in 1964. (JC articles and obituary dated 5 June 1967.)

Rabbi Samuel Herman (or Hermon)
(c.1802 - 27 February 1879)

Rev. Herman (1st m. Frances Hoch - d.1860 in Bath) was born in Kronin, Poland and served as reader/minister of the Falmouth Hebrew Congregation, Cornwall, from 1851 until later about 1860. However, it was reported that in 1852, his son, Rev. Abraham David Herman, was briefly described as the "rabbi' in Falmouth with Samuel described as "clergy". He is recorded (under the surname Hermon) as the reader at Bath Synagogue in 1856, but it is likely he was just visiting Bath for the marriage of his son, David, although in 1858/9 he is listed in the Bath City Directory as minister of the Bath congregation and teacher of Hebrew and German. However, in about 1860 he he left Falmouth to take up a position he had secured in Sheffield, although it is not certain that he actually took up such position. Arriving in Australia in 1864 with second wife Sarah Jacob, Rabbi Herman was minister at Ballarat for five years and then Geelong for ten, both in Victoria. According to a tribute: "The study of the Talmud was his principal occupation, for his duties were not onerous in a congregation of eight families". The tribute states he died in his 90th year but according to online genealogical sources he was 74 or 77, which seems more likely given the birth years of his children. He is buried at Geelong. (1851 census; JC tribute 16 May 1879, The Lost Jews of Cornwall by K. Pearce and H. Fry; website of the Bath Jewish Burial ground, online research).

Dayan Dr. Simon Hermon
(1920 - 28 May 2011)

London-born Rabbi Hermon, also known as Herman, (m. Johanna or Hannah Nelkin, a refugee from Germany) obtained a BA from University College London. His first known post is as headmaster, second reader and ba'al koreh at the Southport Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire (1950-1951). He was then minister at Harrow District Synagogue, northwest London, for some ten years (much of the 1950s). Having received semicha, he spent three years as rabbi at the St Kilda Congregation, Melbourne, Australia (1959-1961). After his return to the UK he was briefly at the West End Great Synagogue, London and became director of Jewish studies at the King David Schools, Liverpool. He was minister of the Giffnock and Newlands Synagogue, Glasgow (1965-1967) during which time he became the father to triplets. He was subsequently briefly at the Whitefield Hebrew Congregation, Manchester and at New Central Vilna Synagogue, Leeds (c.1972). He returned to London to become the minister at Barking & Becontree Affiliated Synagogue, northeast London (1973-1975) and then served the Ahavath Shalom Synagogue, Neasden, northwest London. He was appointed a Dayan to the Federation Bet Din and in 1981 was director of education at the London Talmud Torah. He was the father of Rabbi Michael Herman of the Whitefield kolel. (JYB listings; JC report of 9 May 1975; Profile by Rabbi Raymond Apple.)

Rev. Maurice David Hershman
(c.1862 - 1931)

Warsaw born Rev. Hershman (also Hirschman or Herschman) (m. Clara) served the Middlesbrough Hebrew Congregation, Yorkshire, (at least 1891 to 1897), Pontypridd (c.1900) and Newport Synagogue, Monmouthshire (at least 1899 to 1906). He was minister of Blackburn Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire, (1911-1912) and served the Birkenhead Hebrew Congregation, Merseyside (c.1912) before his apparent appointment as chazan, teacher and mohel of the Durham Hebrew Congregation, where he is known to have officiated at services by, at least, December 1912. He was also temporary reader at the Nottingham Hebrew Congregation in 1915, possibly just for the high holy days services. In 1915, Rev. Hershman went to Ireland to become chazan, shochet and teacher to the short-lived "Cork Hebrew Congregation" which worshipped at 15 Union Quay, Cork, a break-away from the established congregation of the same name. He also served the Doncaster Hebrew Congregation, Yorkshire in about 1918. By at least 1919 he was serving the Sheffield Hebrew Congregation and was minister of Derby Hebrew Congregation (c.1919-c.1920). In 1920 he was conducting services at the Woolwich and Plumstead Synagogue, London. (Various JC reports; Jolles Encyclopaedia.)

Rev. Naftali Herstik
(24 March 1947 - 1 September 2024)

Rev. Herstik was born in Salgotarjan, Hungary, and was aged 3 when his family moved to Israel. At the age of 19, he was appointed chazan (cantor) at Bilu Synagogue, Tel Aviv. He served as chazan of Finchley Synagogue (Kinloss), London (c.1972-c.1978) and graduated from the Royal College of Music, London, in 1981. He was to become one of the world's leading and best-known chazanim and served as chief chazan of Jerusalem's Great Synagogue (1981-2008). He became the Tel Aviv Cantorial Institute's artistic director and was a founder supporter and patron of the European Cantors Association. He enjoyed many visits to the United Kingdom, such as when he performed at the 50th Anniversary Kristalnacht commemoration in London in 1988 and he appeared with the London Festival Orchestra, London Mozart Players, and recorded with the London Jewish Male Voice Choir. In February 2010, he led a Shabbat service at Yeshurun Synagogue, Edgware. He died in Ra'anana, Israel, and is buried in the city's Kfar Nachman cemetery.  Recording of Rev. Herstik in London in 1977. (JYB listings; Jewish Chronicle reports; and online profiles.)

Chief Rabbi Joseph Herman Hertz
(25 September 1872 - 14 January 1946)

Rabbi Hertz was born in Rebrin, Hungary (now in Slokavia) and moved to the United States in 1884. He received a BA from New York City College and a PhD from Columbia University. In 1894, he became the first person to graduate from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America with semicha. His first ministerial post was at the Temple Adath Yeshurun in Syracuse, New York. He then moved to South Africa to take up the position of rabbi of the Witwatersrand Old Hebrew Congregation, Johannesburg (1898-1911) and also served as Professor of Philosophy at Transvaal University College (later the University of the Witwatersrand) (1906-1908). He was rabbi of the Orach Chayim Congregation, New York, from 1911 until 1913, when he was elected Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Empire, holding such post until his death. (History of the Great Synagogue by Cecil Roth, 1950; British Chief Rabbis 1664-2006 by Derek Taylor, 2007; online research.)

Chief Rabbi Isaac Halevi Herzog
(3 December 1888 - 25 June 1959)

Rabbi I. Herzog was born in Lomza, Poland, the son of Rabbi Joel Leib Herzog, the family settling in Leeds, England, in 1898. He studied at the Sorbonne University, Paris and University College London, where he was awarded a Doctorate (DLitt). His wife, Sarah Hillman, whom he married in London in 1917, was the daughter of Rabbi Shmuel Yitzchak Hillman. Rabbi Herzog served as minister of the Belfast Hebrew Congregation (1916-1919), moving to Dublin in 1919 to take up the position of chief rabbi of Dublin, a newly created post of which he was the first and only occupant, generally embrassing six congregations in the city. In 1922, he was also appointed as the first Chief Rabbi of Ireland (with jurisdiction solely throughout the then recently established Irish Free State). He held both posts until 1936, when he left for the British Mandate in Palestine having been appointed Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Palestine. Following Israel's independence in 1948, he became the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel. His many books include Main Institutions of Jewish Law. In 1958, he was awarded the Israel Prize in Rabbinical Literature. He died in office in Jerusalem and is buried in Jerusalem's Sanhedria Cemetery. His Belfast-born son, Chaim Herzog (1918-1997), became the sixth President of the State of Israel (1983-1993) and in June 2021, his grandson, Isaac Herzog, was elected as Israel's eleventh President. (Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History (2011), pp.422/3; online research.)

Rabbi Joel Leib Herzog
(6 September 1865 - 4 October 1934)

Rabbi J. Herzog was born in Lomza, Poland, and studied in Slobadk, Eishishok and Kovno. In 1898, after leaving Poland, he served for a short period as rabbi in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA and then settled with his family in Leeds, England, becoming the communal rabbi and accordingly spiritual leader of four congregations - New Briggate Synagogue, Byron Street Congregation (later known as Louise Street Synagogue), Regent Street Beth Hamedrash and Chevra Tehillim). In 1911, he moved to Paris and headed the Union of Orthodox Synagogues (Agudas Hakehillos) (1911-1934). He was the father of Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog. (Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History (2011), pp.422/3.)

Rabbi Jacob (Yaacov) Heshel
(18 March 1903 - 31 December 1970)

Minsk-born Rabbi Heshel (m. 1st Sarah a daughter of the Czortkover Rebbe, d. 1965; 2nd Lusia d. 1970) was the son of Rabbi Moses Mordecai, rabbi of Pelcovizna, Warsaw. He came to London as a refugee in 1939 and became an education officer with the Board of Orthodox Jewish Education and head of the yeshiva college of the Jewish Secondary Schools Movement. Rabbi Heshel served as rabbi of Edgware Adath Yisroel Congregation, London from 1947 until his death in 1970, and he was a district inspector to the London shechita board. Both he and his first wife Sarah claimed direct descent from the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Chasidism. His brother was Rabbi Dr Abraham Joshua Heschel, who became the leading philosopher and theologian of Conservative Judaism in USA. (JC obituary for Sarah Heshel 29 October 1965 and Jacob Heshel 8 January 1971, History of the Edgware Adath Yisroel Congregation on its website.)

Rabbi Adam S. Hill
(b. 1967)

Rabbi Hill (m. Shoshana) studied at Jews' College, London (being awarded semicha and a BA (hons) in Jewish Studies) and Yeshiva HaMivta. He served as associate minister of Borehamwood and Elstree Synagogue, Hertfordshire (1991-1993) and as minister of Leicester Hebrew Congregation (1993-1998), Birmingham Central Synagogue (1998-2005) and Potters Bar and Brookmans Park United Synagogue, Hertfordshire (2005 to present - July 2020). (JYB listings and Rabbi Hill's LinkedIn profile.)

Rabbi David Hillman
(1894 - 14 May 1974)

David Hillman (m. Annie Rabinowitz), the son of Dayan Shmuel Yitzchak Hillman, was born in Riga, Latvia and came to Britain with his family in 1908. He grew up in Glasgow and was among the first students at the Glasgow School of Art. In compliance with his father's wishes, he engaged in rabbinical studies and graduated as a rabbi, receiving semicha from the Sephardi Chief Rabbi, Moses Gaster. He was then appointed minister at the Sandys Row Synagogue in London's East End. However, his first love was art and he became a renowned portraitist and Britain's most prolific designer and maker of synagogue stained glass windows. (Online research.)

Dayan Shmuel Yitzchak Hillman
(2 July 1868 - 1 June 1953)

Dayan Shmuel Yitzchak Hillman, also known as Dayan Samuel Isaac Hillman, (m. Chaya Shaina Pokempner), who was born in Kovno province in the Russian Empire, was educated by his uncles in Lithuania and received semicha from several leading East European rabbis. He served as rabbi in Beresino in the Minsk district before emigrating to Britain. He was communal rabbi for Glasgow (1908-1914), based at Glasgow's South Portland Street Synagogue. In 1914, he was appointed Dayan at the London Beth Din and became president of Yeshivah Etz Chaim. Upon his retirement in 1934, he moved to Jerusalem, where he co-founded the Ohel Torah yeshiva and acted as its rosh yeshiva. He died and is buried in Jerusalem. He was the author of many scholarly rabbinic works and collections of sermons. He was the father of David Hillman, the portraitist and stained glass artist. His daughter, Sarah, married Rabbi Isaac Halevy Herzog and his grandson Chaim Herzog and great grandson Isaac Herzog served as Presidents of the State of Israel. (Online research; photograph From the album Shmulik by Shmuel Ben-Tovim, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.)

Rev. David Hirsch
(c.1885 - 17 January 1950)

London-born Rev. Hirsch, BA, JP, HCF, the son Professor Samuel Abraham Hirsch, tutor in Theology at Jews' College, London, studied at that College and took a BA degree from the University of London. In 1913 he was appointed Assistant Visiting Minister in East London. in 1916, he was the visiting minister at the Aldershot Military Synagogue, Hampshire and in 1917 to 1919 served in France and Germany as Chaplain to the Forces. In 1919 he returned to London as principal East London Visiting Minister. He was minister of the Adelaide Synagogue, Australia (1924-1931) and was appointed chaplain to Commonwealth forces. He returned to England in 1931 to become minister at Hull Western Synagogue where he served until his death in 1950. He was President of the Duveen Section of the British Legion; Hon. President of the Zionist Society; Chairman of the Hull Jewish Clergy; and Treasurer of the Hull Board of Guardians. He published scholarly works on, for example, the Pesach Haggadah and the Apocrypha. He was the brother of Rev. Julius Hirsch. (JC obituary 20 January 1950; "Who's Who" entries and listings in JYBs; The History of Hull's Orthodox Synagogues (2000) by Elliot Oppel, p. 12.)

Rev. Julius M Hirsch

Rev. Hirsch was the son of Professor Samuel Abraham Hirsch, tutor in Theology at Jews' College, London. He officiated at the overflow services at the Hampstead Synagogue, preached at several other London synagogues and he and his wife (whose maiden name was Groenwould) taught at the classes at St Johns Wood and Hampstead synagogues, respectively. However, his only known ministerial position was his subsequent appointment as minister of the Bournemouth Hebrew Congregation (August 1924-1927). Rev Hirsch's departure from Bournemouth resulted in a Beth Din hearing, his Rosh Hashana sermon reportedly split the congregation when he described Judaism in Bournemouth as near bankrupt and decried Shabbat desecration. At a subsequent service the congregation's president endeavoured to prevent the minister from participating in the service. In 1937, he was organising secretary of the Joint British Committee for Ort-Oze, which provided training and educational facilities to Jewish communities. He was the brother of Rev. David Hirsch. (JC report of Bet Din judgment 21 January 1927; various other reports; and JYB listings.)

Rabbi Woolf Hirsch (formerly Hirschowitz)
(c.1884 - 1976)

Rev. (later Rabbi) Hirsch (formerly known as Hirschowitz, also spelled Hirshowitz, until about 1915) (m. Masha Zilva) was born in Ponovezh, Lithuania and came to Britain in about 1893. Prior to continuing his religious and secular studies in Britain, he is believed to have served as the reader/minister of the Wigan Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire (now Greater Manchester), (1903-c.1905) and Dudley Hebrew Congregation, Worcestershire, (1906), although these could have been different individuals with a similar name. He graduated from London University in 1918, taking first-class honours in Oriental Languages. He served as minister of the Middlesbrough Hebrew Congregation (1913-1920) and visiting minister to the West Hartlepool Hebrew Congregation during that period or part thereof. In 1920 he obtained semicha at Jews' College, and went out to help organise the new Ohel Rachel Synagogue that had been built in Shanghai, of which he was rabbi in 1921 until about 1924. He founded several institutions in Shanghai, including the Jewish library, a Young Men's Hebrew Association and a girls' club. He edited a local magazine, the Jewish Recorder, and wrote regularly for the North China Daily News on Jewish subjects. In 1924 Rabbi Hirsch took up the post of rabbi of the Pretoria Hebrew Congregation, South Africa, where he served for some twenty years. He obtained a Doctorate from the University of London in 1946 and was the author of Rabbinic Psychology (1947) and Selected Sermons and Addresses (1948). He died in Haifa, Israel. (JYB listings; JC interview with Rabbi Hirsch on Jews in the Far East, 14 March 1924, profile 4 October 1946.)

Chief Rabbi Solomon Hirschell
(12 February 1762 - 31 October 1842)

London born Rabbi Hirschell (m. Rebecca Koenigsberg in 1778) was the youngest son of Britain's second Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Hart Lyon. He was brought up in Halberstadt, Mannheim and Berlin, where his father served successively as rabbi. By 1794, he was serving as a rabbi in Prenzlaw, near Berlin. He was elected Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom in 1802, holding such post until his death. He was buried in the Brady Street Cemetery in London's East End. (History of the Great Synagogue by Cecil Roth, 1950; British Chief Rabbis 1664-2006 by Derek Taylor, 2007; online research.)

Rev. A.E. Hirshovitz

Rev. Hirshovitz served as reader and shochet for the Aberdeen Hebrew Congregation (c.1904-c.1907). He subsequently moved to South Africa and was minister in Benoni, Transvaal. (JYB listings and JC reports.)

Rabbi Zusman Hodes
(5 May 1868 - 17 January 1961)

Lithuanian-born Rabbi Hodes (m. Sifre Yidelson, 1901 in Dublin) lived in Baltimore, Maryland from 1889 to 1896. He was resident in Dublin from about 1901 to about 1906 and described himself as a commercial agent. In 1906, he was appointed as a rabbi to the Belfast Hebrew Congregation (1906-1916) principally serving the immigrant community in north Belfast. While in Belfast he published Studies in Sidoor: A History of the Jewish Ritual and Liturgy in the Ancient Temple and Modern Synagogues (1911). In 1916, he was appointed as rabbi to Birmingham Beth Hamidrash (which became Birmingham Central Synagogue in 1928), serving there until 1942 and for over 30 years he was Kashrut supervisor at Rakusens Matzo factory in Leeds, Yorkshire where he died. (Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History (2011), p.432; and Research by Steven Jaffe, including JC reports and The A - Z DNA of Belfast and Northern Irish Jewry by Stuart Rosenblatt.)

Rev. Samuel Hoffnung
(c.1805 - 18 December 1878)

Rev. Hoffnung was born in Kalisz, Poland, and migrated to England in 1836 with his family. He first served as shochet and reader of the then small Jewish community in Newcastle upon Tyne, which met in the recently-acquired Temple Street Synagogue (c.1836-1840) and then held the post of reader/minister at the Exeter Synagogue, Devon (1841-1853), which was overshadowed by disputes and financial problems. He was reader at the Cheltenham Hebrew Congregation, Gloucestershire, (1855-1857) where his wife, Caroline died in her 44th year. In 1863 the English German and Polish Congregation of Montreal made a presentation to Rev. Hoffnung on his return to Europe, in recognition of his contribution to the foundation of their congregation and building of their synagogue. In 1866 he was living in Melbourne, Australia, from where he sent a donation of two guineas to his former congregation in Cheltenham. (JC reports and online research; Jolles's Encyclopaedia; The Jews of Exeter by Helen Fry (2013); The Hebrew Community of Cheltenham, Gloucester and Stroud by Brian Torode (1989), p.40 and Appendix; and the online Australian Dictionary  of Biography - entry for Sigmond Hoffnung (Samuel's son).)

Rev. Armin Hofstadter

Budapest born Rev. A. Hofstadter was the last resident minister at Stockton-on-Tees Hebrew Congregation (1948-1951). He left for Canada in 1951 and pursued a career as a cantor in Toronto. It is unclear whether he was related to Rev. Morris Hofstadter. (JYB listings and JC report 10 December 1948 and 23 June 1972)

Rev. Morris Hofstadter

Rev. M. Hofstadter came to Britain from Czechoslovakia shortly before World War II, and served congregations in and around Leeds. It is unclear whether he was related to Rev. Armin Hofstadter. (JC reports.)

Rev. Solomon Holburg
(c.1811 - 27 March 1891)

Rev. Holburg (also spelled Holberg) (m. Annie) was minister or reader of the Sheffield New Hebrew Congregation (later known as the Sheffield Central Hebrew Congregation) in the 1870s and or 1880s and it is claimed that he was "the first Rabbi" of the congregation. (Sheffield Jewry by Armin Krausz (1980), p.35.)

Rev. Hyman Holdinsky

Rev. Hyman Huldinsky served as minister of Stroud Synagogue, Gloucestershire (c. 1898-c.1900) and is believed to be the same person as the Rev. H. Holdinsky (also spelled Haldinsky and Holonisky), who served as minister of Southampton Hebrew Congregation (c.1900-c.1908). (JYB listings.)

Rev. Bernard Hollander

Rev. Hollander (m. Gertrude Croner) was from Bobowa, in Austrian Galicia. From 1920 he studied at Breslau, Germany. Rev. Hollander took up posts as a chazan in Gladbeck and Berlin. From 1935 to 1936 he served the community at Schneidemuhl, a German town close to the Polish border but was forced to resign due to Nazi persecution. He escaped to London and was supported by Irish lay leader, Robert Briscoe TD, to apply for the post of first reader at Lennox Street Synagogue, Dublin. A minute in the Irish government's files accuses the Jews of using the post of reader at Lennox Street "as an excuse for introducing aliens who would take up some other employment when established here." He took high festival services at Lennox Street in 1937, but was unable to take up his post until December because of government opposition to his status. Rev. Hollander served the Lennox Road congregation until 1950 when he left for Israel. Not to be confused with Rev. Bernard Hollander who served as shochet and teacher in Cardiff and London at a slightly later date. (An Irish Sanctuary. German-speaking refugees in Ireland, 1933-1945, Gisela Holfter, Horst Dickel; see also Yankie Fachler, Kaleidoscope, p.95; JYB listings.)

Rev. Bernard Hollander

Rev. Bernard Hollander served as shochet and teacher in Cardiff and variously held the of junior minister, assistant minister and assistant reader at the Cathedral Road Synagogue of the Cardiff United Synagogue) from about 1960 until about 1967. Not to be confused with Rev. Bernard Hollander who served the Dublin Jewish community in the 1930s and 1940s. (JYB listings.)

Rev. Moses Hirsch Hollander
(c.1809 - 11 August 1899)

Russian-born Rev. Hollander is the first known minister and chazan to the Coventry Hebrew Congregation (c.1854-1856). In 1856 he was appointed second reader to the Birmingham Hebrew Congregation at its new Singers Hill synagogue, and he served that community for about 30 years (until he retired in 1885). He died in Birmingham in his 90th year and is buried at Witton cemetery. Over 400 people attended a memorial service for Rev. Hollander. Both his son, David Hollander, and grandson, E.P. Hollander JP, were presidents of the Birmingham Hebrew Congregation, and a great grandson, J.M. Hollander, was a synagogue council member. (JC various reports; Harry Levine, The Jews of Coventry 1970 p.44.)

Rabbi Dr. Paul Holzer
(18 December 1892 - 2 November 1975)

Rabbi Dr. Paul Holzer (m1. Gretel Cohn 1889-1959; m2. Else Levi d.1990) was born in Krotoschin, Posen, and studied at Breslau Yeshiva, and obtained a doctorate from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. He served at the Neue Dammtor congregation in Hamburg. Rabbi Holzer was arrested in November 1938 and deported to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Germany. Following persistent protests by his wife, he was ultimately released on condition that he leave Germany within ten days amd he and his wife managed to flee to Britain, his wife having earlier sent their three daughters to England on Kindertransport. For a short period, from mid 1940 until December 1940, he was interned in the Hutchinson Internment Camp on the Isle of Man. He served as minister to the Epsom and District Synagogue, Surrey (c.1945-c.1950). He was later appointed Chief Rabbi of the Western Zone of Berlin and was chief rabbi of Westphalia until 1958. He died in London. (JC death notice of 7 November 1975 and obituary of 28 November 1975; Spirolevy family website; German Rabbis in British Exile by Astrid Zajdband; JYB listing.)

Rabbi Matityahu Mattus Honig
(17 December 1921 - 7 January 1997)

Rev. (later Rabbi) Honig obtained a ministers diploma from Jews' College in 1969 and served Ruislip and District Affiliated Synagogue, Middlesex from about 1966 until about 1970. As Rabbi Honig he served the East Melbourne Synagogue, Victoria, for many years and was considered one of the last traditional Anglo style rabbis in Australia, who dressed for services in long black clerical robes. He led the centenary services for the synagogue building in 1977. Rabbi Honig died in Melbourne but is buried in Jerusalem. (JYB listings; JC reports; and internet research.)

Rabbi Maurice Hool
(b. c.1927)

Dublin-born Rabbi Hool was a student at Dublin Talmud Torah, Trinity College, Dublin, and Gateshead Yeshiva, and he studied for a year at the Hebron Yeshiva in Jerusalem. He obtained semicha in Israel in 1952. He undertook postgraduate Bible studies at Manchester University. In 1955 he was appointed rabbi at Portsmouth and Southsea Hebrew Congregation, serving until 1959. Rabbi Hool then served as minister of Kingsbury Synagogue, London for some 45 years (1959-2004). He helped establish the United Synagogue mikvah on the synagogue premises and hosted the first SEED educational programme at a UK synagogue (which pairs community members with yeshiva graduates for one to one learning). Following his retirement, the short close leading to Kingsbury synagogue (previously known as Woodland Close) was renamed Hool Close in his honour and a Rabbi Hool Bursary Fund was established to assist young people to attend yeshiva or seminary. (JYB listings, JC various reports and Kingsbury congregation's website.)

Rabbi David (Dov Zvi) Hoppenstein
(c.1864 - 8 September 1944)

Lithuanian born Rev. Hoppenstein (m. Sophia Wittenberg) son of Rabbi Aaron Hoppenstein, arrived in Edinburgh in the early 1880s. Although a qualified rabbi he initially worked as a pedlar. By 1894 he was described as both a Hebrew teacher and hawker of jewellery, and was president of Dalry Road Synagogue, Edinburgh. He assisted services at the Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation, Graham Street, in 1900, and by 1907 he was preaching and conducting services at the Leith Central Synagogue, Edinburgh. He later served briefly the Dundee Hebrew Congregation (1911-1912) and the Ayr Hebrew Congregation, west of Scotland, (c.1912-1913). In 1913 he was headmaster of the Govanhill Hebrew classes, Glasgow, and was also a private teacher. In 1938 he retired from the Glasgow Board of Shechita. Rabbi Hoppenstein died in Glasgow and is buried at Glenduffhill cemetery. His headstone describes him as a rabbinical scholar, preacher and teacher. The family of Rabbi Hoppenstein and his wife and their descendants over five generations are the subject of a doctoral thesis in oral history by Flora Frank, University of Strathclyde, 2012. (Paper based on the thesis, available online, is entitled 'My solemn desire is not to burden themselves with religious duties: Researching 100 Years of a Scottish Jewish Family Through the Archives', and appeared in Scottish Archives 2016, Volume 22; other sources - various JC reports.)

Rev. D. Hornstein
(b. c.1864)

Rev. Hornstein was born in or near Kiev. He was a teacher of languages and music and was resident in Newcastle upon Tyne in the early 1900s. In 1910, he was appointed reader, shochet, and teacher at Abertillery Hebrew Congregation, South Wales serving until no later than 1912. (JC reports; and Jolles's Encyclopaedia.)

Rabbi Joseph Jonah (Yosef Yona) Horowitz
(5 March 1892 - 9 April 1970)

Rabbi Horowitz (m. Chava, daughter of Rabbi Yeshaya Silberstein) was born in Unsdorf, Slovakia and served as rabbi of the Adath Jeshurun congregation in Frankfurt, Germany. On Kristallnacht in November 1938, he was arrested by the Nazis and barely escaped with his life, half his beard being reputed ripped off by the Nazi thugs. He managed to obtain refuge in Britain with the assistance of Abba Bornstein, the founder of the Jewish community in Letchworth, Hertfordshire. He evacuated to Letchworth early in World War II and initially, from at least 1940, acted as an unofficial communal rabbi within the community, although his exact status was uncertain. From September 1941 until February 1944, he was the rav of the breakaway Yeshurun Congregation in Letchworth, whose members considered the main congregation to be "too English", being inducted by Dayan Yehezkel Abramsky, head of the London Beth Din, in September 1941. In 1944, he became communal rabbi of the Letchworth Hebrew Congregation, when the two Letchworth congregations reunited. He was president of World Aguda, in which capacity he reportedly wrote to Pope Pius XII requesting him to intercede of behalf Europe's beleaguered Jews, but received an ice-cold response. Rabbi Horowitz served in Letchworth until 1950, when he left for the United States. He was the father of Rabbi Meir Horovitz. (Yanky Fachler's Jewish Letchworth and online research.)

Rev. Samuel Joshua Hovsha
(d. 14 August 1946)

Rev. Hovsha (m. Rebecca) was the son of Rabbi Yechiel Michael of Shkud (now Skuodas, Lithuania). He served as minister at North Manchester Synagogue and was then appointed minister at Shaw Street Synagogue, Liverpool, (c.1915-c.1936), where he helped found the Liverpool yeshiva, of which he became the founding principal. Rev Hovsha died in Southport where he maintained a small synagogue at his home. (JYB listings; JC obituary of 30 August 1946; and Jolles's Encyclopaedia.)

Rabbi Jonathan Hughes

Reading-born Rabbi Hughes (m. Chana) holds a law degree from University College London and was awarded semicha following eight years of study at Midrash Shmuel, Jerusalem. He has served as associate rabbi of Hendon United Synagogue, London (2011-2013), minister of Richmond Synagogue (2013-2015), London, and minister of Radlett United Synagogue, Hertfordshire (2015-2023), when he left the rabbinate to become head of an organisation that works with UK schools to support Jewish students. (Rabbi Hughes's profile formerly on United Synagogue website and JC reports.)

Rabbi Hirsch Hurwitz
(c.1863 - 25 May 1946)

Born in Vilna (Vilnius, Lithuania), Rabbi Hurwitz (m. Hannah Lilly) was a community rabbi at Yesna (probably Jasna, today in northern Poland) aged 21, and then at Koshodara or Kashdery (not yet identified). In 1903 Rabbi Hurwitz came to England to become rabbi at the Sunderland Beth Hamedresh. Under his guidance, the first British yeshiva was established in Sunderland in 1905 but which unfortunately ceased to function after he left the town in 1911. It would be some years before a yeshiva was again established in Sunderland. In 1911, Rabbi Hurwitz was then brought to Leeds on the initiative of the New Briggate Synagogue to be elected rabbi of the Federation of Synagogues, Leeds. He was Av Beth Din of Leeds and a member of the Chief Rabbi's Rabbinical Commission. He was particularly associated with the Psalms of David Congregation (Chevra Tehillim), Leeds. He was an outspoken advocate for Zionism and a pioneer of teaching modern Hebrew in the Leeds Talmud Torah. Rabbi Hurwitz was the author of The Well of Purification, a work on the laws and importance of the Mikvah (published by the Leeds Jewish Ritual Baths Committee in 1921). He was still working in his 83rd year and died in a nursing home in Bradford after a short illness. He is buried in the Chevra Tehillim section of the Leeds New Farnley Cemeteries. In 1964 a room at Sunderland Yeshiva was dedicated in Rabbi Hurwitz's memory. (JC obituary 31 May 1946 and 7 June 1946.)

Alexander Hyams, BA

Alexander Hyams was appointed preacher and headmaster of the Hebrew school of the Newport Hebrew Congregation, Monmouthshire  in 1905 and served the community for 40 years until his retirement in 1945.    (JYB listings; online reserach.)

Rev. Bernard Hyams
(c.1868 - 16 March 1949)

Rev. Hyams served as minister of the Darlington Hebrew Congregation (1914-1931). He continued to live in Darlington after his retirement and died there. The Bernard Hyams Lodge of Bnei Brit in Darlington was named after him. A Rev. Hyams also served the Barrow-in-Furness Hebrew Congregation, leaving in February 1914, and it is uncertain whether this is the same person. (JC report of his retirement 25 March 1932. See photograph of the kiddush cup presented to Rev. Hyams on his retirement (courtesy Ian Rubinstein of Calgary.)

Rabbi Dr. Moses Hyamson
(3 September 1862 - 9 June 1949)

Rabbi Hyamson (m. Sara Gordon, 1892), the son of Rabbi Nathan Haimsohn, was born in Suwalk, Russian Poland, and came with his family to Britain in 1864. He earned a BA, an LLB and LLD from University College London. He studied with his father and Dayan Jacob Reinowitz and at at Jews' College, London. In 1882 the Council of University College London awarded him the Hollier Hebrew Scholarship and in 1899, he was one of the first two individuals to receive semicha in England. He served briefly as preacher, secretary and teacher of the recently-established South Hackney Synagogue, now Hackney & East London Synagogue (c.1883) and later as minister of Swansea Hebrew Congregation (1884-1888), Bristol Hebrew Congregation (1890-1892) and Dalston Synagogue, London (1892-1902). In 1902 he was appointed as a dayan of the London Beth Din and from 1911 to 1913, as senior dayan, he served as acting Chief Rabbi, but was beaten in the contest for that permanent post by Rabbi Hertz. In 1913, he left Britain for the USA, being elected rabbi of Congregation Orach Chaim in New York (1913-1944), continuing to serve that congregation as emeritus rabbi until his death. (Jewish Chronicle reports; 1975 JHSE conference paper on Swansea; and Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History (2011), p.445.)

Rabbi Israel Geoffrey Hyman

Belfast-born Rabbi Hyman, BA (Hons) (second wife: Michelle) studied at Chaye Olam Yeshiva, Gateshead Yeshiva and Jews' College, London, where he received semicha in about 1982. He served as assistant minister of Belfast Hebrew Congregation (1974-1976), part-time minister of Streatham Synagogue (1980-1982), London, minister of Sutton Affiliated Synagogue, London (1982-1986), minister of Woodside Park Synagogue, London (1986-1992), minister of the Belmont Synagogue, London (1992-1996), part-time minister of Welwyn Garden City Synagogue, Hertfordshire (1998-2006); minister of Ilford Synagogue, London (2006-2018) and minister of Southend and Westcliff Hebrew Congregation - SWHC (2019 to present - December 2022). (Profiles on former Ilford United Synagogue and SWHC websites.)

Jacob Koppel Hyman

Jacob Koppel Hyman was the earliest recorded officiant of the Cheltenham Hebrew Congregation, Gloucestershire, (c.1825) and received his authorisation as a shochet from Chief Rabbi Solomon Hirschell in the spring of 1825. (Section on "Cheltenham" from The Rise of Provincial Jewry by Cecil Roth (1950).)

Rev. Moses Hyman ("Rev. Moses ben Hayyim" or "Rabbi Mowsha")
(c.1765 - 10 September 1830)

Rev. M. Hyman (also referred to as Moses ben Hayyim or "Rabbi Mowsha") served as reader at the Falmouth Hebrew Congregation, Cornwall, for many years (possibly from about 1813 or 1814, or even earlier, until 1830). He was buried at Falmouth Jewish cemetery and the term "chazan" was inscribed on his gravestone. Shortly following his death, a dispute and contoversity broke out in his family and the Falmouth community regarding the intention his daughter, Harriet, to convert to Christianity, which she ultimately did.  ("The Lost Jews of Cornwall" edited by Keith Pearce and Helen Fry.)