Rabbi Aviad Tabory

Rabbi A. Tabory, (also spelled Tavory) (m. Debra) studied for seven years at yeshivot Ohr Etzion and Har Etzion (Gush) in Israel. He obtained a degree in Jewish education from Herzog College, and is a graduate of the rabbinical training programme of Ohr Torah. In 2005 Rabbi Tavory came to London and was the founding rabbi of Alei Tzion Synagogue, Hendon, London (2005-2007), being succeeded by his father Rabbi Benyamin Tabory. He also served as the Jewish Agency's Rav Shaliach to Bnei Akiva in the United Kingdom. Rabbi Tabory returned to Israel and teaches in Jerusalem. (On-line profile, Torah in motion website.)

Rabbi Benyamin Tabory

Rabbi B. Tabory served as rabbi of Alei Tzion Synagogue, Hendon, London (2007-2008), succeeding his son Rabbi Aviad Tabory. (Article formerly on "Something Jewish" website.)

Rabbi Laurence Leonard Tann
(20 April (or August) 1945 - 12 November 2007)

London-born Rabbi Tann (m. Irene), B.A., M.A., served as youth and assistant minister at Hendon Synagogue, northwest London. He then became minister of Sutton and District Synagogue, Surrey (1972-1982) and subsequently minister at Hale & District Hebrew Congregation, South Manchester (1982-1986). For over 20 years Rabbi Tann was chief minister of Birmingham Hebrew Congregation, Singers Hill (1986-2007). In 2005 he was awarded an honorary Doctorate (D Litt) from Aston University in recognition of his interfaith and community work. For a number of years he taught Hebrew at St Mary's College in Oscot, a Catholic seminary. He died in office. An annual Rabbi Tann memorial lecture is hosted by the Department of Theology and Religion at Birmingham University. ("Who's Who" entries, listings and obituary in JYBs, JC report 16 November 2007 and online research.)

Rabbi Yakov Tatz
(b. 1991)

Rabbi Tatz (m. Eliana) was born in Johannesburg and grew up in both Israel and in London. He returned to Israel to study and received semicha from Rabbi Y Berkovitz at the Jerusalem Kollel. He spent a number of years teaching in various institutions in Jerusalem, taking a special interest in troubled youth. 2018 Rabbi Tatz and Rebbetzen Eliana Tatz have served as rabbinic couple of the Welwyn Garden City Synagogue, Hertfordshire, from 2018 to present (June 2022). (United Synagogue and congregation's website)

Rev. Samuel Baruch Taub (or Bernhard Taub)
(1 March 1915 - 19 September 2008)

Polish-born Rev. Taub, a survivor of the Auschwitz death camp, served as the chazan of the Dalston Synagogue, Poet's Road, London (c.1948-c.1950) and Hendon Synagogue, London (1950-1958) (JYB listings and JC reports.)

Rabbi M. Taubman

Rabbi Taubman served as minister of Enfield and Winchmore Hill Synagogue, London (c.1999). In a career teaching Jewish studies, Rabbi Taubman has taught at Jewish Free School, Hasmonean High School and Pardes House, all in northwest London. (JYB listings and online research.)

Rabbi Sam Taylor

Rabbi Taylor (m. Emma) graduated from the Cass Business School with a BSc in Management before attending Yeshiva University where he received semicha and an MA in Jewish Education. He served as the Assistant Rabbi at East Hill Synagogue in Englewood, New Jersey (2011-2014). Rabbi and Rebbetzen Taylor then served as community rabbi and rebbetzen of the Western Marble Arch Synagogue Synagogue, London (2014-2020) and of the Borehamwood and Elstree Synagogue (BES) (2020-2022), Hertfordshire, and lead the Yavneh community in the south side of Borehamwood. From 1 September 2022 Rabbi Taylor has served as the senior rabbi at the Shaarei Shomayim Congregation in Toronto, Canada. (Rabbi & Rebbetzen Taylor's profile formerly on BES's website; Linked-In.)

Rev. Eugen Teichmann
(1903 - January 1973)

Czechoslovakian-bprn Rev. Teichmann, had studied at Miskolc, Galanta, and other yeshivot. He was a survivor of the concentration camps, who had lost his family during the war, but had remarried. He came to Britain followinh World War II and served as reader, shochet and teacher of Leicester Hebrew Congregation from about 1949 to 1968, and thereafter emeritus (although there are conflicting reports as regards these dates). (JC reports and JYB listing.)

Rabbi Avraham Yaakov (Jacob) Teitelbaum
(d. 8 November 1968)

Rabbi A.Y. Teitelbaum (m. Freda), the son of Rabbi Yisrael Mordechai Teitelbaum, served during World War II (until about 1946) as rav of the Bletchley Hebrew Congregation, the strictly orthodox evacuee congregation in north Buckinghamshire. In 1948 he was appointed as President of Zeire Agudas in the United Kingdom, the youth wing of the Aguda Israel movement. He later emigrated to the United States, where he served as rav of Kahal Adas Yeraim, in Queens, New York. He was the father of Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum, Rabbi Eli Teitelbaum, Rabbi Shlomo Teitelbaum (Hadas Yerayim), Rabbi Yisrael Mordechai Teitelbaum Jnr. (Morristown, New Jersey), Rabbi Yitzchok Meir Teitelbaum (Miami Beach, Florida) and Rabbi Yosef Teitelbaum (Lakewood, New Jersey). He is buried at Beth Israel Cemetery, Woodbridge, New Jersey. (UOHC Shuls of Yesteryear - Addendum to UOHC Hakohol Madrich HaKashrus 2015; JC reports; JYB listing; online research.)

Rabbi Yisrael Mordechai Teitelbaum
(15 December 1853 - 10 November 1944)

Ukrainian born Rabbi Yisrael Mordechai Teitelbaum (m. Tzipora Faige Fish), Talmudist and former gabbai of the Rebbe of Kopitshenitz, was a resident of Bletchley, north Buckinghamshire, during World War II, a strictly orthodox evacuee community, where he died. He was the father of Rabbi Avraham Yaakov (Jacob) Teitelbaum. He is buried in UOHC's Carterhatch Lane Cemetery, Enfield, London. (UOHC Shuls of Yesteryear - Addendum to UOHC Hakohol Madrich HaKashrus 2015; online research.)

Rev. Jacob Mendel Teitelman
(c.1859 - 23 June 1926)

Rev. Teitelman (or Tutelman) (m. Balie or Bella - d. 1927) was reader of the Richmond Street Synagogue, Edinburgh (c.1902-1911) and in 1911 accepted a call from the Leith Central Synagogue, Livingstone Hall, Edinburgh. Rev. Teitelman was a founder member and treasurer of the Edinburgh Zionist Association and chairman of the Edinburgh Commission of the Jewish National Fund. Following a long illness he died in Edinburgh and is buried at Piershill cemetery. He was the grandfather of Rev. Shalom Segal. (JC report 6 October 1911, and tribute 19 August 1927; and JYB listings.)

Rabbi Zvi Hersch Telsner
(May 1911 - 18 July 1997)

Rabbi Telsner served as rabbi of Finchley Central Synagogue, London (c.1984-2007) and then as senior rabbi of the Melbourne Yeshivah Centre from 2007 until his resignation in 2015, although he continued to be associated with the centre until 2019. (JYB listings and press reports.)

Rev. I. Temple

Rev. I. Temple officiated as chief chazan in synagogues in Germany and Austria. Following hi smove to Britain, he was appointed chazan at the Cardiff Hebrew Congregation, Cathedral Road, Cardiff, Wales, in July 1908, seving until about 1910. He then appears to have moved to Belgium, as he was referred to as "Rev. I. Temple of Antwerp" in an announcemen of a marriage at which he officiated in 1912. He also served as reader at the Philpot Street Sphardish Synagogue, east London. A Rev. M. Temple served was reader-minister of the Sheffield New Hebrew Congregation (later known as the Sheffield Central Hebrew Congregation) from about 1915 to about 1919, and this may have been the same person. (JYB listings; Jolles's Encyclopaedia, pp. 923/4.)

Rev. Alexander Tertis
(d. 25 June 1918))

Polish-born Rev. Tertis (m. Phoebe Hermann) was resident minister or chazan/shochet at the West Hartlepool Hebrew Congregation, County Durham (c. 1876-1877). In 1880 the Princes Street Synagogue in London's East End appointed him reader. Rev. Tertis advertised his services as a mohel in The JC almost every week for over six decades. At one stage he claimed to have performed 500 circumcisions in a year and over 16,000 in all. By the late 1880s he appears to have devoted himself full time as a mohel and to be conducting services at various synagogues in London in an honorary capacity. By 1902 he was living in Dalston, north London, where he regularly helped out at Wellington Road Synagogue. He advertised himself as a "surgeon mohel and chief practitioner" and "the inventor of the well-known Borama surgical dressing". In 1900 he published a book in Hebrew, Dam Berit or Blood of the Covenant. His son, Lionel Tertis, CBE (1876-1975), born in West Hartlepool, was the celebrated pioneer of the viola as a solo instrument. Rev. Tertis is buried at Edmonton cemetery, London. (Various JC reports.)

Rev. Bernhard Tessler

From Budapest, Rev. B. Tessler was in 1923 conducting service at New Synagogue, Birmingham. He later served as minister of the Grimsby Hebrew Congregation, Lincolshire, from 1924 until 1926. In the 1920s a Rev. B. Tessler was proprietor of a "Strictly Orthodox Boarding House" at Waterloo Road, Halliwell Lane, Manchester. He was the brother of Rev. Emanuel Tessler. ("Story of the Grimsby Jewish community" by D and L Gerlis; JC reports; JYB listings.)

Rev. Emanuel Tessler

Rev. E. Tessler was appointed as reader, shochet and mohel to the Swansea Hebrew Congregation, Wales, in about 1922, serving for only a year. The position had originally been offered to his brother Rev. Bernard Tessler, who at the last minutes could not accept it but suggsted his brother in his place. In 1937, an advertisement for the strictly orthodox Hotel Central and restaurant in Aldgate, east London, recorded that he would be conducting the Seder service. (1980 souvenir brochure of the Swansea congregation, p.55; Jolles's Encyclopaedia, p.925.)

Rev Isaiah Ticktin

Rev. Ticktin (or Tiktin) served as reader, shochet and teacher of the Boston Hebrew Congregation, Lincolnshire and was the last resident minister to serve the Inverness Hebrew Congregation (1916-1919), Scotland before becoming minister of Waterford Hebrew Congregation, Ireland (c.1919-c.1927). A Mr. Ticktin also served as minister of Bangor Hebrew Congregation, North Wales (c.1920-c.1921) and although the dates appear to be in conflict, they may be the same person. (JYB listings, JC report 14 March 1919 and Nathan Abrams, Caledonian Jews: A study of seven small communities in Scotland, p.149.)

Rev. Israel Isek Tiemianka
(30 May 1880 - c.1955)

Polish-born Rev. Tiemianka (m. Faiga Hildabrand) served briefly as minister of Fieldgate Street Synagogue, east London and Leicester Hebrew Congregation (1904). He was later minister (and initially secretary) to the Greenock Hebrew Congregation, Scotland, from about 1905 until 1908, when he was appointed assistant teacher to the religious classes at the Queen's Park Synagogue, Glasgow. The family subsequently moved to Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Rev. Tiemienka, a gifted singer and musician, was father of Henri Temianka (note slightly different spelling) (1906-1992), a world-renowned violinist, conductor, author and educator. Henri is credited with having his parents released from Nazi detention in France and brought to the United States. (JYB listings, JC reports and on-line profiles of the musician, Henri Temianka.)

Rev. Isaac Titterman
(1731 - 29 May 1818)

Netherlands born Rev. Titterman, the son of Sarah nee Lyons of Ipswich (1703-1808), was shochet for the Ipswich Jewish Community, Suffolk (1780s). The image on the right is reputedly a portrait of Rev (Rabbi) Titterman painted by John Constable. (The Rise of Provincial Jewry by Cecil Roth, 1950; and Jewish Historical Studies, Vol. 33 (1992-1994), pp. 137-139.)

Rev. Alexander Tobias

Birmingham-born Rev. Tobias served as temporary minister of Edgware Synagogue, northwest London from 1941 until 1946 (as the incumbent Rev. Amias was serving as an army chaplain) and as minister of Brixton Synagogue, south London (1946-1951) (JYB listings; and JC reports.)

Rev. Joshua Toledano
(22 November 1940 - 2 September 2009)

Rev. Toledano was born in Meknes, Morocco, and was the grandson of Rabbi Baruch Avraham Toledano, the Chief Rabbi of Meknes, Morocco. He was educated at Aix-les-Bains, France, and headed a Jewish Day School in Casablanca. He then emigrated to Britain, and studied at Gateshead Yeshiva, and at Jews' College, London. He married Esther Slonimsky. He was appointed reader at Jesmond Synagogue, Newcastle upon Tyne, and taught in Gateshead and Newcastle. In September 1965, at the age of 24, he was appointed reader at the Penylan Synagogue of the Cardiff United Synagogue, where he served until about 1967. In September 1967, he was inducted reader at Garnethill Synagogue, Glasgow, and in 1970 left Britain to become headmaster of a Jewish day school in Saskatchewan, Canada. (JYB listings; and Jolles's Encyclopaedia, p. 927.)

Rabbi Shlomo Pesach Toperoff
(14 December 1906 - 6 January 2006)

Rabbi Toperoff (m. Lilly daughter of Rabbi Z.H. Ferber of the West End Talmud Torah Synagogue) was born in Whitechapel in London's East End. He received semicha from Yeshiva Etz Chaim and graduated from Jews' College and the University of London. He served as minister of the Sunderland Hebrew Congregation, Ryhope Road (June 1934-1951) before moving to Newcastle upon Tyne. In Newcastle, in addition to serving as minister of the Newcastle Old Hebrew Congregation (Leazes Park Road Synagogue) (1951-1973), he served as the Newcastle Regional Minister covering both the Old Hebrew Congregation and Gosforth and Kenton Hebrew Congregation, although the latter congregation also appointed its own minister in 1969. Later, on the merger of the Newcastle Orthodox synagogues, he served briefly as minister of the Newcastle United Hebrew Congregation (in 1973) before retiring to live in Israel.  While in retirement Rabbi Toperoff published Lev Avot, a commentary on the Ethics of the Fathers. ("Who's Who" entries and listings in JYBs; Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History (2011) by W. Rubinstein (ed.) and M.A. Jolles and H. L. Rubinstein (ass. eds.), p.985.)

Rev. Benjamin Topp

Rev. Benjamin (or Ben) Topp (m. Martine) grew up in Leeds and is a graduate of Huddersfield University. He served as full-time reader to the Bradford Hebrew Congregation, Yorkshire, from about 1986 until February 1987. Later, based in Leeds, he visited Middlesbrough in the early 1990s once a month to lead the then fortnightly services (either sharing a rota with another visiting minister or the alternate services were conducted by lay members of the congregation). In 2002 he was appointed temporary minister at the Southport Hebrew Congregation and was still assisting the congregation in 2009. (JYB listings; and various JC reports.)

Rev. Ze'ev Toren
(b. 1936)

Jerusalem-born, Rev Toren, son of well-known Israeli chazan Mendel Tirnover, was chazan at the Hechal Shlomo synagogue in Jerusalem. He came to Britain in the late 1960s and was chazan at London's Western Synagogue for over a decade until February 1979 when he became chazan at Edgware United Synagogue, London (1979-1983). Rev Toren left Britain in 1983 to become chazan at the Chevra Kadisha B'nei Jacob congregation, Montreal, Canada and later served at Sha'are Zedek, in the same city. He retired to Israel. (JC report 15 July 1983 and featured in this online article.)

Rev. Joseph Trabinovitz
(b. 16 November 1917)

Rev. Trabinovitz, who was born in Kishinev (today capital of Moldova), emigrated to British Mandate Palestine with his parents and was educated at the Yeshiva Etz Chaim and the Israel Cantorial Institute, both in Jerusalem. As a touring child cantor he sang at synagogues in Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt. He served in the Haganah (and later in the Israeli army). His first permanent appointment was to the Geulat Israel Synagogue, Tel Aviv, in 1945 and he was later chazan at several other synagogues in Israel. Coming to the UK, he served as chazan to the Southport Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire (1959-1962) and then for a time at Birmingham Central Synagogue. (1962-c.1970). He returned to Israel in about 1970. ("Philanthropy, Consensus and Broiges...a history of the Southport Jewish Community" by John Cowell, p.707.)

Rev. Reuben A. Tribich (later known as Reuben Lincoln)
(6 February 1881 - 8 October 1957)

Rev. Tribich (m. 1907 Fanny Fredman of Plymouth) was a student at Jews' College, London from 1898 to 1902 and conducted Rosh Hashana services at the Jewish Seaside Convalescent Home, Brighton (1898-1899), served as an army chaplain during the Boer War and acted as a visiting minister to the Aldershot Synagogue, Hampshire (c.1902). From March to October 1902, he served the Reading Hebrew Congregation as visiting minister (funded partly by the Chief Rabbi's office and the provincial minister's fund). Rev. Tribich accepted a "sudden call" from the Bradford Hebrew Congregation in October 1902. He served as minister and secretary. He was a key fundraiser for the building of the new synagogue at Spring Gardens. Rev. Tribrich resigned from his post in 1908. The resignation was reported initially in very conventional terms. But it gave rise to much heated correspondence in The JC over a number of months between the Rev. A. A. Green and other supporters of Rev. Tribich and leaders of the Bradford congregation. As well as the individual circumstances of the case, the controversy extended more generally to the situation of Jewish clergy in provincial synagogues. The "Affair Tribich" as some called it, even reached the American Jewish press. Amongst matters raised were the provincial minister's meagre salary, lack of opportunity for progression and allegations of petty humiliations inflicted on the minister by lay leaders, or alternatively the difficulty for lay leaders in managing an allegedly self aggrandising and divisive minister. Rev. Tribich served briefly as minister of Merthyr Tydfil Hebrew Congregation and as rabbi of several U.S. congregations (Star of Israel Congregation, New Jersey; Temple Emanuel, Paterson, New Jersey; Fort Tyron Jewish Centre, New York City; and the "Y" Synagogue, New York City) before leaving the ministry and moving to Plymouth. The JC carried many reports of his public speaking engagements there to non Jewish audiences up to about World War I. Changing his name to Reuben Lincoln, he qualified as a solicitor and lived in Golders Green. He became a leading communal worker, public speaker, teacher and philanthropist. In late 1939, Reuben Lincoln was resident in Minehead, Somerset, where he organised religious services in his home for a largely evacuee community and was referred to as the hon. minister. Later in World War II he undertook a propaganda mission on behalf of the Allies in North America and delivered 1,281 lectures. Back in London, he became Chairman of the Jewish Secondary Schools movement, chair of the Kashrut Commission, and in 1954 together with his wife, he endowed the Lincoln Institute in Golders Green (which originally comprised the synagogue for the Golders Green Beth Hamidrash, a library and classrooms). He also gave a significant gift to benefit his former congregants in Bradford on the jubilee of the synagogue. Reuben Lincoln is buried at Willesden United Cemetery. He was the father of Ashe Lincoln, a distinquished naval officer, barrister and Jewish communal leader, and the grandfather of Rabbi David Lincoln. (Various JC reports, including 1908 and 1909 correspondence and commentary regarding Rev. Tribich's departure from the Bradford congregation, JYB Who's Who, obituary to Reuben Lincoln 18 October 1957.)

Rev. Solomon Trotsky
(b. c.1856)

Rev. Trotsky served as reader for the Chester Hebrew Congregation, Cheshire, from 1900 until about 1906. (JC report; JYB listings; and 1901 census returns.)

Rev. Joseph Tuchman
(c.1833 - 23 July 1893)

Rev. Tuchman (m.1. Sarah - d. 1882; m.2. Sarah Stephany of Bishopsgate in 1883) was born in Plotsk, Poland. After serving as a shochet in Glasgow, he was appointed shochet, teacher and reader at Swansea Hebrew Congregation from 1859 until 1874. In 1876 he conducted the marriage of his daughter at Sheffield synagogue, and according to at least one source he served at the Sheffield Hebrew Congregation from 1875 until 1878. Subsequently, Rev. Tuchman served as second minister to the Portsea (Portsmouth) Hebrew Congregation, Hampshire, from about 1878 until his death in 1893. His senior colleague, Rev. Isaac Philips described him as "reserved and cautious, of few words, he endeavoured to steer clear of all bickerings and dispute." (JC letter 31 October 1873, tribute 4 August 1893 and internet research; Jolles's Encyclopaedia.)

Rabbi Dovid Tugendhaft

Rabbi Tugendhaft (m. Shoshana) studied under the late Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel at Yeshiva Mir and is one of only two people to have received semicha from the Rosh Yeshiva. He was the founding rabbi of Ohr Yisrael Synagogue, Borehamwood & Elstree, Hertfordshire, where he and Rebbetzen Shoshana served as rabbinic couple (1999-2005), subsequently taking up the position of rabbinic couple at Beis Hamedrash Nishmas Yisroel, Hendon, London (2009 to present - April 2021). (For additional background, see Profile on Nishmas Yisroel's website.)

Geoffrey Turetsky
(b. 14 January 1959)

Sunderland-born Geoffrey Turetsky, the son of Rabbi Dr. Moshe Turetsky, was educated at Hasmonean Grammar School in Hendon, and studied at the Kerem B'Yavneh Yeshiva in Israel. He also obtained a BSc in estate management from the Polytechnic of Central London. He served as part-time minister of Watford Affiliated Synagogue (c.1988-c.1990) and practised as a surveyor in north London. (JYB listings; and JC reports.)

Rabbi Leslie (Eliezer) S. Turetsky
(1919 - 29 October 1949)

Swansea-born Rabbi Turetsky, the son of Rabbi Moshe Shimon Turetsky, was educated at Manchester yeshiva. He served as minister of the war-time St Albans United Synagogue Membership Group, (mid-1940s-c.1946). He later served as minister of Chapeltown Hebrew Congregation, Leeds (c.1947-c.1948) and the Newcastle Old Hebrew Congregation, Leazes Park Road (1948-1949). At Newcastle he reorganised the Hebrew classes, was rav of the Board of Shechita and was instrumental in establishing a cultural section at the city's Maccabi. One Shabbat morning he collapsed on arrival at the synagogue and died at home shortly after the termination of Shabbat, aged only 29. He was the uncle of Rabbi Dr Moshe Turetsky and the nephew of Rabbi S. M. Turetsky of Pinsk, the author of Toldoth Shaas. (JC reports including 6 June 1947 and 4 November 1949; reports of "Who's Who" entries and listings in JYBs; and Geni report.)

Rabbi Morris (Moshe) Shimon Turetsky
(b. c.1876 - 1919)

Russian-born Rabbi M.S. Turetsky, the son of Rabbi J. Turetsky of Poland, served as minister in Swansea, Wales, possibly at the Swansea Beth Hamedrash, probably shortly before his death, although the exact dates are uncertain. He was the father of Rabbi Leslie Samuel Turetsky and Rev. J.B. Turetsky. (Jolles's Encyclopaedia, p. 930.)

Rabbi Dr. Moshe Turetsky
(22 January 1926 - 13 September 1993)

Manchester-born Rabbi Turetsky (m. Rachel), who was awarded an MA from Manchester University in Oriental Studies and a PhD from Leeds University, received semicha in 1949 from Dayan Yitzchok Yaakov Weiss (then head of Manchester Beis Din, and subsequently head of Eidah Chareidit, Jerusalem, author of sefer 'Minchas Yitzchok') and also from Rabbi Yoseph Rabinov as well as from Rabbi Nachman Shlomo Greenspan, Rosh Yeshiva, Etz Chaim, London. His earliest ministerial post was at the Telzer and Kovno Synagogue, Manchester, where he served for a number of years prior to his appointment as minister of the Sunderland Hebrew Congregation (1952-1959) and was subsequently appointed minister of the New Central Vilna Synagogue, Leeds (1959-1970) and also served as a Dayan on the Leeds Beis Din. He then left Leeds to become minister of the Western Synagogue, London (1970-1984) followed by his appointment as minister of the New West End Synagogue, St Petersburgh Place, London (1984-1991) until his retirement. He also taught advanced rabbinics at Jews' College, London for 10 years from 1983. He is buried in the Willesden (United Synagogue) cemetery. He was the nephew of Rabbi Leslie Turetsky, the brother-in-law of Rev. Harold Z. Greenberg and the father of Geoffrey Turetsky. (JC report of 14 December 1951 and data provided by Rabbi Turetsky's daughter, Sorrel Vogel.)

Rev. Jonathan (Jonny) Adrian Turgel
(b. 4 October 1984)

London-born Rev. Turgel holds a BA (hons) from University College London in Hebrew and Jewish Studies and an MSc in Speech and Language Therapy. He served as chazan (cantor) at Mill Hill Synagogue, London (part-time c.2005-c.2007), Edgware United Synagogue, London (c.2007- c.2011) and Stanmore and Canons Park District Synagogue, London (2011 to present - May 2021). (Cantor Turgel's website.)

Rev. Salem (or Solomon) Turtledove
(c. 1878 - November 1958)

Polish-born Rev. S. Turtledove (m. Annie, daughter of Rabbi M.A. Sukmanski of Liverpool) arrived in the UK in 1905 and served the Pontypridd community, South Wales (dates unknown). He then served as reader, shochet and teacher of Waterford Hebrew Congregation, Ireland (c.1913-c.1914), as reader of Lurgan Hebrew Congregation, in what is now Northern Ireland (c.1914-c.1918), as minister of Aberdare Synagogue (c.1919) and as assistant minister (and later reader) of Middlesbrough Hebrew Congregation (c.1920-c.1948) where he also served as the teacher and shochet. At Middlesbrough he was noted for his teaching Hebrew as a modern language and for his staunch support of Mizrachi Zionism. He died and was buried in Middlesbrough. (JC obituaries, 21 November and 26 December 1958, various reports, JYB listings and "The Jewish Communities of North East England" by L. Olsover, 1980.)

Rabbi Dr Julius Unsdorfer
(10 May 1919 - 29 November 1978)

Born in Pressburg (today Bratislava, Slovakia), Rabbi Unsdorfer (m. Ada Jaffe in 1940) son of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Unsdorfer, studied at the local yeshiva and became minister of the city's Beth Yaakov Synagogue, aged 20. He came to England as a refugee in 1939 with his brother Shmuel (later a rabbi in Montreal and Israel). In 1940 he became minister of the Kahal Chassidim Synagogue, Manchester and then minister at near-by Holy Law Hebrew Congregation (1950-1972). He served on the Lancashire Education Board, was honorary religious director of King David Schools, and chaplain to the Jewish Lads' and Girls' Brigade. He gained his M.A. at Manchester University in 1953 and a Ph.D. degree from Leeds University in 1962. Appointed rabbi of the Brighton and Hove Hebrew Congregation, Sussex, in 1972 he was the driving force behind the establishment of a local Jewish day school and nursery. He was Vice President of the religious Zionist Mizrachi Association. Rabbi Unsdorfer died in office and his body was taken to Israel for burial. A young person's library at Congregation's West Hove synagogue was named in his memory. (JC obituary 8 December 1978 and profile by his daughter, Malka Edreyi, in Sussex Jewish News, December 2009 - available on line.)

Rabbi Dr. Alan Unterman
(b. 1941)

Watford-born Rabbi Dr. A. Unterman, the son of Rabbi Joseph Dov Unterman, taught comparative religion at the University of Manchester. He served as minister of Yeshurun Hebrew Congregation, Gatley, Greater Manchester (1981-2003). His many books include The Kabbalistic Tradition (2008) and Historical Dictionary of the Jews (2010). (Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History (2011), p.996 and JC reports.)

Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Unterman
(1910 - 1997)

Lithuanian-born Rabbi A.Y. Unterman, was a son of Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman. He studied at Slobodka Yeshiva, where he received semicha. He served as minister of Childwall Synagogue, Liverpool (c.1938-c.1958) and Boreham Wood, Elstree & District Affiliated Synagogue, Hertfordshire (c.1963-c.1977), having spent much of the interim period in Israel. He was the brother of Rabbi Bernard Unterman, Rabbi Elkan Unterman and Rabbi Maurice Unterman. (Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History (2011), p.996.)

Rabbi Bernard Unterman, MA

Liverpool-born Rev. (later Rabbi) B. Unterman was a son of Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman. He studied at Liverpool Talmudical college and at the Rabbinical seminary of Berlin and at the University of Berlin. He obtained an MA from the University of Liverpool in 1937. Rev. Unterman served at Central Synagogue, Liverpool until 1939 and then as minister to the Leicester Hebrew Congregation (1939-1946). He emigrated to Israel, obtained semicha and worked in government service. He was the brother of Rabbis Abraham, Elkan and Maurice Unterman. (JYB listings, JC reports and profile of 4 April 1939 and internet research.)

Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman
(19 April 1886 - 26 January 1976)

Rabbi I.Y. Unterman, who was born in Brest Litovsk, studied at various prestigious yeshivot, including Mir and Volozhin, and received semicha from Gaon Raphael Shapiro. He seved a number communities in Eastern Europe and was known as the Brisker Illui (or Illui of Brest), before becoming communal rabbi for Liverpool (1924-1926). A passionate Zionist, he later moved to Israel and became Ashkanazi Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv (1946-1964) and subsequently Ashkanazi Chief Rabbi of Israel (1964-1972). He is buried in Jerusalem. He was the brother of Rabbi Joseph Dov Unterman and the father of Rabbis Abraham, Elkan and Maurice Unterman and Rev. Bernard Unterman. (Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History (2011), pp.995/6.)

Rabbi Joseph Dov Unterman
(c.1892 - February 1972)

Polish-born Rabbi J.D. Unterman, as well as being a student in yeshivot in Poland, was a commissioned officer in the Polish army. After obtaining semicha, he became a journalist in Kovno and later Antwerp, before going into business. However, he was ruined in the Great Depression and moved to Ireland in 1931. There he became headmaster of the Jewish day school and successively minister of two Dublin congregations. From about 1939, Rabbi Unterman became minister of South Tottenham Synagogue, Crowland Road, north London and served there for over 25 years. A lifelong and passionate Zionist, he retired to Israel in about 1964 and lived in Jerusalem. He was the brother of Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman and the father of Rabbi Dr. Alan Unterman. (Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History (2011), pp.996; and JC obituary 25 February and 3 March 1972.)

Rabbi Maurice Mordechai Unterman
(18 March 1917 - 31 October 2000)

Born in Porzow (possibly Gorzow) Poland, Rabbi M. Unterman (m. Ruth), was a son of Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman. He was educated at Liverpool, Mir and Radom yeshivot and Jews' College, London. He served briefly at Rathmines Hebrew Congregation in Dublin (c.1937) and in 1937 was appointed minister of the Cardiff New Hebrew Congregation, Windsor Place, and continued to serve as minister at the Windsor Place synagogue after the congregation became a constituent of the Cardiff United Synagogue in 1942. He left in 1946 to work for Palwin Wines, first as religious superintendent, and later executive director. In the early 1950s, he lived in Sussex and assisted at the Hove Hebrew Congregation, where he also served as a warden and the congregation's president, and was involved in an unsuccessful effort to establish a Jewish school in Sussex. Rabbi Unterman was development director for the European office of Bar-Ilan University (1956-1961). He was also active as vice-chairman and hon. chaplain of the Ravenswood Foundation and was the hon. chaplain to the Home for Aged Jews at Nightingale House. In 1961 he was appointed inaugural rabbi of Marble Arch Synagogue, London, and served there until 1982. In 1972, he became head of the newly created department of applied rabbinics at Jews' College. He was the brother of Rabbi Abraham Unterman, Rabbi Elkan Unterman and Rev. Bernard Unterman. (Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History (2011); and JC obituary 24 November 2000.)

Rev. Isaac Falk Valentine
(c.1785 - c.27 November 1811)

Rev. Valentine (Yehoshua Falk ben Yitzchak), from Breslau, was engaged on 18 August 1811 to serve as shochet of the Dock Minyan of the Plymouth Hebrew Congregation, Devon, serving as the third shochet of the Plymouth Hebrew Congregation. He also acted as an agent for a London money changer, travelling through Devon and Cornwall buying up gold for paper money. In November 1811 (just three month after his appointment as shochet), Rev. Valentine was enticed by an innkeeper, Wyatt, to bring £260 in banknotes to his inn in Fowey, south Cornwall, purportedly for the purchase of golden guineas. There he was brutally murdered by Wyatt and dumped into water. The perpetrator, in whose stable was found a roll of wet bank notes, was found guilty of premeditated murder and hanged at Bodmin.  Rev. Valentine is buried at the Plymouth Hoe Old Jews' Burial Ground and his grave stone includes the inscription: "He was slain in the place of Fowey by the uncircumcised and impure man Wyatt and drowned in the waters."  (Rabbi B. Susser's thesis, "The Jews of South-West England", Chapter 6; Helen Fry's "The Jews of Plymouth", pp.35, 55, 142.)

Rev. Judah Henriques Valentine
(8 December 1846 - 26 October 1917)

London-born Rev. J.H. Valentine (m. Augusta Zallewsky, 1900) was minister of the private Sephardi Andrade Synagogue, Islington, London, in and about 1869/1870. In 1878, he was appointed reader of Manchester's Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue and remained there until at least 1906. He was the brother of Chazan Moss Henriques Valentine of the Manchester Reform Synagogue. It has been asserted that Rev. J.A. Valentine, who served the Nottingham community in the early 1880s, left to become a long-serving minister at Manchester's Spanish and Portuguese congregation. However, unless the dates of service are incorrect, this does not appear to be the case. (JC reports and online reserach.)

Rabbi Martin H. van den Bergh

Born in Holland, brought up in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Rabbi van den Bergh (m. Anna Leon) came to London in 1969 to study at the Judith, Lady Montefiore College. He has a PhD from Leeds Beckett University, on patient centred spiritual care. He was the first to receive semicha from the Shehebar Sephardic Center in the Old City of Jerusalem. He served as rabbi at Withington Congregation of Spanish and Portuguese Jews, south Manchester (1983-1994) and Wembley United Synagogue , north west London (1994-2006) during which time he had responsibility for welfare in the Chief Rabbi's cabinet. He was communal rabbi in Ohel Leah synagogue and community centre in Hong Kong from 2006 and consultant rabbi to Bevis Marks Synagogue in the City of London (c.2011-2012). Making aliyah, Rabbi van den Bergh acts as a consultant in Jewish community development and Diaspora Israel relations. He returned to England to serve the Childwall Synagogue, Liverpool (2016-2019). (Website of Rabbi van den Bergh)

Dayan Elimelech Vanzetta

Dayan Vanzetta (m. Rochel) learnt at leading Yeshivot in Israel and received rabbinic semicha through the Supreme Rabbinical Court of Israel. He served as Deputy Chief Rabbi and Rosh Beth Din of the Orthodox Jewish Community of Chile (2008-2014) and was secretary general of the Conference of European Rabbis.  In 2016, he was one of the founders of Ahavas Yisrael Synagogue, the second United Synagogue congregation in Edgware, where he served as rabbinic leader from January 2016 until 30 June 2019, and was appointed to the London Beth Din in 2017. (Congregation's website, accessed 2018 and news reports.)

Rabbi Claude Vecht-Wolf

Rabbi Vecht-Wolf (m. Stephnie), an ICT teacher, has served as part-time minister of Staines and District Synagogue from 2018 until present (March 2023). (Information provided by a former member of the Staines community and congregation's website.)

Rabbi Nathan Vengroff
(c.1916 - 5 July 2012)

Liverpool-born Rabbi N. Vengroff (also spelled Wengroff) (m. Esther daughter of Rebbe Beresh Finklestein) studied at Gateshead yeshiva for five years under Rabbi Landynski and Rabbi Kahn and continued his studies at Manchester yeshiva under Rabbi Segal and Rabbi Golditch. He later returned to Gateshead, where he obtained semicha. He was also a graduate of the University of Durham. From 1937 to the early 1940s, he served as minister, head teacher, and shochet to the Whitley Bay Hebrew Congregation, northeast England, and in 1938 conducted the consecration service for the congregation's new synagogue. In 1941 he was founding president of the Whitley Bay Zionist Association. He was temporary war-time minister at Brondesbury Synagogue, London (1944-1946). He later left the rabbinate, qualified in law at the University of London, and pursued a career as a solicitor in London's West End. In 1963 he was elected warden of the Borehamwood and Elstree Synagogue in Hertfordshire. A chair of the UK Mizrachi movement, in 1983 Rabbi Vengroff was elected chair of the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland. He is buried at Bushey Cemetery. (Various JC reports; The Jewish Communities of North-East England by Lewis Olsover (1980), p.261.)

Rev. Sam Venitt, BA
(5 September 1910 - 24 December 1994)

Rev. Venitt (m. 1939 Rifka, daughter of Rev. Gottlieb Rosenberg and sister of Rev. Lew Rosenberg) studied at Etz Chaim Yeshiva and Jews' College in London. His initial work was with Youth and Boys' Clubs in London, and assisting the East End social reformer, Miriam Moses, with welfare work. After a period as student minister at Hampstead Synagogue, London, he was minister of Finsbury Park Synagogue, London (1938-1940) and then acting minister of Wembley Synagogue, London (1940-1946, while Rev. Myer Berman served as army chaplain). During the war he taught English to over 200 refugees, in classes at Finsbury. In 1946 Rev. Venitt was appointed minister at Hammersmith & West Kensington Synagogue in west London where he served until his retirement in 1988, when he became emeritus minister. In 1947, he instigated the synagogue's magazine, "The Brook", of which he remained editor. He also oversaw the western area regional classes at the synagogue (until their closure in 1965), served as chaplain to Wormwood Scrubs prison for over 40 years, and was a foundation governor of Solomon Wolfson Primary School in Notting Hill Gate. He retired to Israel and died in Netanya. Click HERE for photographs. (JC obituary 6 January 1995, various reports and internet research.)