Congregation Data

Sinai Synagogue

Roman Avenue, Street Lane, Leeds LS8 2AN
Purpose-built for the Synagogue in 1960. (The plot had been purchased n 1950.)⁽ⁱⁱ⁾

Former Addresses:

21 Leopold Street, Leeds 7, from about 1951 to 1960 (purchased from the defunct Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue for £700)⁽ⁱⁱ⁾

Prior thereto, services held in Newton Park Union Church Schoolroom, Spencer Place, Chapeltown Town Road, and before that in Friends' Meeting House in Street Lane.⁽ⁱⁱ⁾

Current Status:

Active

Established in January 1944 by a small group, mostly refugees from the Nazis.

Reform

A constituent of the Movement for Reform Judaism (formerly known as the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain), having been a member, since 1944, of its predecessor organisation, Associated British Synagogues (later known as Associated Synagogues of Great Britain).

The congregation is also a member of the European Union of Progressive Judaism and the World Union of Progressive Judaism.

https://www.sinaileeds.uk

Sinai Chronicle

Rabbi L. Gerhard Graf - about 1948 until 1949 (previously acting minister from about 1947)^(vi)

Rabbi Dr. Gustav Pfingst - from 1952 until 1956^(vii)

Rev. H.G. Brandt, B.Sc - from about 1963 until about 1971^(viii)

Rabbi Uri Themal - from about 1971 until about 1973^(ix)

Rabbi Douglas Charing - from about 1973 until 1977^(x)

Rabbi Charles Emanuel - from about 1980 until about 1983^(xi)

Rabbi Dr. Walter M.A. Rothschild - from 1984 until 1995^(xii)

Rabbi Ian Morris - from 1996 until 2017^(xiii)

Rabbi Paul Moses Strasko - from July 2019 until April 2021^(xiv)

Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz - from 2013 until 2017^(xvii)

Chairmen

c.1944-c.1947 - Rabbi L. Gerhard Graf^(xxv)

c.1948-c.1949 - A. Levene^(xxvi)

c.1949-c.1951 - M.D. Featherman^(xxvii)

c.1951-c.1956 - E.C. Sterne^(xxviii)

c.1958-c.1959 - M.D. Featherman^(xxvii)

Treasurers

c.1945-c.1947 - Robert M. Druiff^(xxx)

c.1948-c.1949 - J.B. Rosenblum^(xxxi)

c.1949-c.1952 - W. Keene^(xxxii)

c.1952-c.1956 - M. Rosenblum^(xxxiii)

c.1958-c.1959 - H.G. Lennard^(xxxiv)

Vice Chairmen

c.1948-c.1949 - E. Wilks^(xxxvi)

c.1949-c.1950 - S. Freeman^(xxxvii)

c.1950-c.1951 - H.N. Roan^(xxxviii)

c.1951-c.1956 - S. Davis^(xxxix)

Hon. Secretaries

c.1945-c.1946 - Mrs. M. Elkan^(xli)

c.1946-c.1947 - S. Taylor^(xlii)

c.1947-c.1950 - I. Newman^(xliii)

c.1950-c.1951 - Mrs. S. Raon^(xliv)

c.1951-c.1956 - M.D. Featherman^(xlv)

c.1956-c.1957 - Miss J. Metzger^(xlvi)

c.1957-c.1959 - E.C. Sterne^(xlvii)

Congregation's Website^(li)

1947 - over 100 members

2019 - over 400 households

National Reports and Surveys^(lii)

1977 - 305 male (or household) members and 34 female members

1983 - 375 male (or household) members and an estimated 350 female members

1990 - 413 members (comprising 261 households, 59 individual male and 93 individual female members)

1996 - 396 members (comprising 269 households, 60 individual male and 127 individual female members)

2010 & 2016 - listed as having 300 to 399 members (by household)

On 10 October 2012, the congregation was incorporated as a registered (non-profit) company, Sinai Synagogue, Leeds (company no. 08248096), a private company limited by guarantee without a share capital (and with an exemption from use of the word 'Limited').^(liii)

The congregation is a also registered charity (registered charity no. 1149738), registered on 13 November 2012.^(liv)

Registration District (BMD):

Leeds (since formation of congregation)

Link to Register Office website

Group for Marriage Certification: West London Synagogue

Cemetery
Information:

The Congregation's uses a section, acquired in 1960, of the Harehill's Cemetery, which is managed by Leeds City Council.^(lv) The congregation is also a member synagogue of the Jewish Joint Burial Society (JJBS), through which the congregation's members participate in a burial scheme.

For details see Cemetery Information on Leeds Jewish Community home page.

See also Database below

Notes & Sources (↵ returns to text above)

• (i) Reserved.

• (ii) The congregation's website, accesssed 11 September 2019. ↵

• (iii) and (v) Reserved.

• (vi) Based upon Rabbi (later Rabbi Dr.) Graf's listing as acting minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Book 1948 and as minister in the 1949 edition. He was also Chairman of the congregation from 1944 until about 1947. There were no ministers listed in the editions for 1950 through 1952. ↵

• (vii) Based upon the listing of  P Fingst(sic) listing as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books from 1954 through 1956 and his Jewish Chronicle obituary . There were no ministers listed in the editions for 1957 through 1963. ↵

• (viii) Based upon Rev. Brandt's listing as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books from 1964 through 1971. ↵

• (ix) Based upon Rabbi Themal's listing as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books from 1992 through 1994. He received ordination in 1968 from Leo Baeck College, London. ↵

• (x) Based upon Rabbi Charing's listing as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1974 through 1977. There were no ministers listed in the editions 1978 and 1979. ↵

• (xi) Based upon Rabbi Emanuel's listing as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1980 through 1983. ↵

• (xii) Based upon Rabbi Rothschild's listing as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1985 through 1995, and Jewish Chronicle press report of 18 July 2017. There was no minister listed in the edition for 1996. ↵

• (xiii) Congregation's website, accessed 11 September 2019, including interview with Rabbi Morris. Rabbi Morris was born and grew up in Melbourne, Australia. After studies at Monash University (Melbourne) and the University of New South Wales (Sydney), he attended the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, in Jerusalem and New York and was ordained in 1984. He served congregations in Perth and Adelaide before joining Sinai. ↵

• (xiv) Congregation's website, press reports on Rabbi Strasko's appointment and communication from a congregant . Rabbi Strasko was ordained at Abraham Geiger college, Berlin and previously served as rabbi of Congregation Kol Shalom, Bainbridge Island, near Seattle, as well as communities in Germany and Switzerland. ↵

• (xv) and (xvi) Reserved.

• (xvii) Congregation's website, accessed 11 September 2019 and profile of Rabbi Hugenholtz. Amsterdam-born Rabbi Hugenholtz was ordained at Leo Baeck College, London in 2013. She left Leeds to take up a position in Iowa City, USA. ↵

• (xviii) and (xxiv) Reserved.

• (xxv) Based upon Rabbi Graf's listing as chairman of the congregation in Jewish Year Books from 1945/6 and 1947. There was no chairman listed in 1948. ↵

• (xxvi) Based upon Mr. Levene's listing as chairman of the congregation in Jewish Year Book 1949. ↵

• (xxvii) Based upon Mr. Featherman's listing as chairman of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1950, 1951 and 1959. There was no chairman listed after 1959. ↵

• (xxviii) Based upon Mr. Sterne's listing as chairman of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1952 through 1956. ↵

• (xxix) Reserved.

• (xxx) Based upon Mr. Druiff's listing as treasurer of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1945/46 and 1947. There was no treasurer listed in 1948. ↵

• (xxxi) Based upon Mr. J.B. Rosenblum's listing as treasurer of the congregation in Jewish Year Book 1949. ↵

• (xxxii) Based upon Mr. Keene's listing as treasurer of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1950 through 1952. ↵

• (xxxiii) Based upon Mr. M. Rosenblum's listing as treasurer of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1953 through 1956. There were no treasurers listed in 1957 and 1958. ↵

• (xxxiv) Based upon Mr. Lennard's listing as treasurer of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1959. There was no treasurer listed after 1959. ↵

• (xxxv) Reserved.

• (xxxvi) Based upon Mr. Wilks's listing as vice chairman of the congregation in Jewish Year Book 1949. ↵

• (xxxvii) Based upon Mr. Freeman's listing as vice chairman of the congregation in Jewish Year Book 1950. ↵

• (xxxviii) Based upon Mr. Roan's listing as vice chairman of the congregation in Jewish Year Book 1951. ↵

• (xxxviii) Based upon Mr. Davis's listing as vice chairman of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1952 through 1956. There was no vice chairman listed after 1956. ↵

• (xl) Reserved.

• (xli) Based upon Mrs. Elkan's listing as hon. secretary of the congregation in Jewish Year Book 1945/46. ↵

• (xlii) Based upon S. Taylor's listing as hon. secretary of the congregation in Jewish Year Book 1947. ↵

• (xliii) Based upon I. Newman's listing as hon. secretary of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1948 through 1950. ↵

• (xliv) Based upon Mrs. Raon's listing as hon. secretary of the congregation in Jewish Year Book 1951. ↵

• (xlv) Based upon Mr. Featherman's listing as hon. secretary of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1952 through 1956. Mr. Featherman also served two terms as chairman of the congregation. ↵

• (xlvi) Based upon Miss Metzger's listing as hon. secretary of the congregation in Jewish Year Book 1957. ↵

• (xlvii) Based upon Mr. Sterne's listing as hon. secretary of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1958 and 1959. Mr. Sterne also served previously as chairman of the congregation. ↵

• (xlviii) to (l) Reserved.

• (li) Accessed 11 September 2019. ↵

• (lii) Reports on synagogue membership in the United Kingdom, published by or on behalf of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and which can be viewed on the website of the Institute of Jewish Policy Research. Click HERE for links to the various reports. ↵

• (liii) Companies House website, accessed 11 September 2019. ↵

• (liv) Charities Commission's website (in beta trial stage) and open charities website, both accessed 11 September 2019. ↵

• (lv) Congregation's website, accessed 11 September 2019. ↵