Bevis Marks Synagogue

Name:

Bevis Marks Synagogue

Official Name:

S&P Sephardi Community
(until about 2015 the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation)

Address:

Bevis Marks, London EC3A 5DQ⁽ⁱ⁾

The synagogue was designated a Grade I Listed Building (number 1064745) on 4 January 1950 (most recent amendment 10 November 1977). View description on Historic England website.

Current Status:

Active

Date Founded:

1701 (although was successor to Synagogue in Creechurch Lane, founded in 1657)

Ritual:

Orthodox Sephardi, following Spanish & Portuguese rites, now often referred to as Western Sephardi.

Affiliation:

Bevis Marks Synagogue is a constituent and the premier synagogue of the S&P Sephardi Community (formerly the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation)

The other current constituent synagogues of the S&P Sephardi Community are:
    the Lauderdale Road Synagogue;
    the Wembley Sephardi Synagogue;
    the Montefiore Synagogue, Ramsgate.

In addition, the Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue, Holland Park, was established under a Deed of Association with the then Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation.

The former Sephardi Synagogue in Bryanston Street, formerly in Wigmore Street, W1, was a branch congregation of Bevis Marks.

For additional information, see the section on Sephardi congregations

Listed Building:

The synagogue building (built 1699-99 - architect Joseph Avis) is a Grade 1 Listed Building.

Website:

https://www.sephardi.org.uk/

Rabbis & Ministers (to 1751)⁽ⁱⁱ⁾:

For the period prior to the construction of the synagogue in Bevis Marks, see list of rabbis of Creechurch Lane Synagogue.

• Haham Rabbi David Nieto - from 1702 to 1728

• Haham Rabbi Isaac Nieto - from 1733 to 1741

• Haham Rabbi Moses Gomez de Mesquita from 1744 to 1751

• Haham Rabbi Moses Cohen d'Azevedo - 1761 to 1784

• Haham Rabbi Raphael Meldola - 1805 to 1828

• Haham Rabbi Benjamin Artom - 1866 to 1879

• Haham Rabbi Moses Gaster - 1887 to 1917

• Rabbi Shem Tob Gaguine - 1920 to 1953 - "Ecclesiastical Chief" of the Congregation

• Haham Rabbi Solomon Gaon - 1947 to 1977

• Rabbi Abraham Levy - 1995 to 2012 - "Communal Rabbi and Spiritual Head" of the Congregation

• Rabbi Joseph Dweck - 2013 to present (July 2017) "Senior Rabbi" of the S&P Sephardi Community"

List of Hahamin

Membership Data:

1800 - 242 members (out of estimated 2,000 to 4,000 Sephardi Jews in England)⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾

1841 - 193 members^(iv)

Local Government Districts:

Bevis Marks is in the Aldgate Ward of the City of London, within the administrative area of Greater London.

Until the abolition in 1908 of civil parishes in the City, it was in the parish of St. Katherine Cree.

Registration District:

City of London (since 1 July 1837) - register office website (for Islington & City of London)