Machzikei Hadass Synagogue

Dublin, Ireland

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Congregation Data
Name	Machzikei Hadass Synagogue
Address:	18 Rathmore Villas, at the rear of 77 Terenure Road North, Dublin 6.⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾ Previously at 22 Terenure Road North, from 1968 until about 1994.^(iv)
Current Status:	Active, although it is understood that the congregation holds services only once a week, on Saturday morning.
Date Formed:	Opened in 1968,^(v) as the successor to St. Kevin's Parade Synagogue, following the closure of the synagogue in St. Kevin's Parade. The congregation can be considered as the relocated continuation of the St. Kevin's Parade congregation. A marble plaque commemorating the move to Terenure can be seen at the entrance, beside the original foundation plaque. The aron kodesh is the original one from the St. Kevin’s Parade synagogue. On 10 December 1983, the congregation celebrated the centenary of the founding of the St. Kevin's Parade Synagogue with the Chief Rabbi of Ireland, Dr David Rosen, and the late Judge Wine in the attendance and over 100 people in the synagogue.^(vi)
Ritual:	Ashkenazi Orthodox, historically with a more strictly observant membership.
Membership:	Membership and synagogue attendance is low, with the congregation often barely able to obtain the necessary minyan (quotum) for services. However, on the closure of the Greenville Hall synagogue in 1984, many of its former members joined Machzikei Hadass, which offered comparatively low membership fees and a warm welcome.^(vii)
Ministers or Readers:	None known, although the congregation was able to rely upon the services of the various Chief Rabbis of Ireland, who occupied by rotation the pulpits of the various orthodox congregations in Dublin, as well as the services of Dublin's Communal Rabbis.
Lay Officers:	The following data relating to the congregation's hon. secretaries has been extracted from Jewish Year Books which, subsequent to 1956, generally ceased to provide details of lay officers other than the secretary.^(xi) The source of data on the congregation's presidents in given in the relevant footnote.
	Hon. Secretaries 1968-1973 - J.B. Gafson^(xii) 1973-1975 - S. Masar 1975-1981 - N. Gross 1981-1997 - J. Gafson^(xiii) 1997-2006 - David Ross 2006-2008 - David Golding 2008-2010 - R. Godfrey	Presidents prior to 1980 - Louis Steinberg^(xiv) 1983-1987 - Jack (Yankele) Steinberg^(xv) 2006-2010 - M. Milovsky^(xvi)
Cemetery Data:	See Dublin Jewish Cemeteries Information on the Dublin home page.
Notes & Sources (↵ returns to text above) (i) and (ii) Reserved. (iii) The current address of the congregation and the listed address in Jewish Year Books from 1995. The synagogue is just to the north of Dublin's principal orthodox synagogue, the Dublin Hebrew Congregation in Rathfarnham Road, Terenure. ↵ (iv) The listed address in Jewish Year Books 1969 through 1994. ↵ (v) Listed in Jewish Year Books from 1969. ↵ (v) Blog by Patrick Comerford of 17 October 2019. See foot of page. ↵ (v) Ray Rivlin's Jewish Ireland - a Social History (2011), p.67. ↵ (viii) to (x) Reserved. ↵ (xi) Where a person is first listed in a year book as holding a particular office, it has been assumed that his term of office commenced in the year of publication of the relevant year book and that he continued in office until the commencement of office of his successor, unless the office was vacant. Jewish Year Books were published towards the end of the year prior to the year appearing in the title of the year book. For example, if an officer is listed in the editions 1970 through 1974, it is assumed that he commenced office in 1969 and continued in office until 1974. However, it should be noted that this is only an assumption and, accordingly, his actual years of office may differ from those shown here. No details of officers of this congregation were provided after 2010. ↵ (xii) J.B. Gafson also served as hon. secretary of St. Kevin's Parade Synagogue from about 1952. ↵ (xiii) It is uncertain as to whether this is the same person as J.B. Gafson who served previously. His name is spelled "Gafason" in the 1995 through 1997, editions of the Jewish Year Book, bit this is assumed to be an error. ↵ (xiv) Died 1980, a son of Aharon Steinberg who presided over the move from St. Kevin's Parade - blog by Patrick Comerford of 17 October 2019. See foot of page. ↵ (xiv) Also a son of Aharon Steinberg - blog by Patrick Comerford of 17 October 2019. See foot of page. ↵ (xvi) Listed as president in Jewish Year Books 2007 through 2010. ↵

Online Articles and Other Material
relating to the Congregation

On Third Party websites

Blogs by Patrick Comerford, from his Synagogues of Dublin series (full list):
- 6. Saint Kevin’s Parade Synagogue, 3 October 2019.
- 18. Machzikei Hadass Synagogue, Rathmore Villas, Terenure, 17 October 2019.

Dublin Jewish Community home page

JCR-UK Ireland home page

Page created: 13 June 2006
Data significantly expanded and notes first added: 9 November 2022
Page most recently amended: 10 November 2022

Research and formatting by David Shulman

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