the former

Edgware and District Reform Synagogue

Edgware, Middx.

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Congregation Data
Name:	Edgware and District Reform Synagogue
Address:	(Sidbury Lodge,) 118 Stonegrove, Edgware, Middx. HA8 8AB from mid-1950s. (Previously 14 Grove Road, Edgware, with services sometimes held in Congregational Hall, Grove Road.)⁽ⁱ⁾
Date Founded:	On 1 November 1934, 13 dissatisfied members of the then recently established Edgware United Synagogue decided to form a breakaway group, which shortly thereafter adopted the name “Edgware and District Progressive Jewish Fellowship”. The new group received assistance from the West London Synagogue (one of only two Reform synagogues in London at the time) and on 12 February 1935, it was formally decided to replace the group with the establishment of a synagogue to be called “Edgware and District Reform Synagogue”.⁽ⁱⁱ⁾ In 1939, the congregation disbanded because of wartime disruption and did not resume activities until 1945.⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾
Current Status:	No longer independently active. Merged on 15 July 2017 with Hendon Reform Synagogue, to form Edgware and Hendon Reform Synagogue
Ritual:	Reform
Affiliation:	Until the merger, a constituent synagogue of the Movement for Reform Judaism (formerly the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain). It was not one of the six synagogues who in 1942 joined together to form the Associated British Synagogues (the forerunner of the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain), as it had disbanded in 1939 and only resumed activities in 1945, when it joined the association.⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾
Senior Ministers: (To view a short profile of a minister - hold the cursor over his or her name.)	Rabbi Dr. Ignaz Maybaum - from 1947 until 1963.^(iv) Rabbi Dr. Michael Leigh - from 1963 until 1993.^(v) Rabbi Amnon Daniel Smith - Senior Minister from 1993, remaining in office following merger.^(vi)
Associate & Assistant Ministers:	Rabbi Simon J. Franses - Associate Minister from 1971 until 1974.^(vii) Rabbi Robert (Reuven) Malcolm Silverman - Associate Minister from 1974 until 1977.^(viii) Rabbi Rodney John Mariner - Associate Minister from 1979 until 1982.^(ix) Rabbi Jeremy Collick - Associate Minister in about 1984.^(x) Rabbi Larry Alan Tabick - Associate Minister from 1986 to 1990.^(xi) Rabbi Maurice Arnold Michaels - Associate Minister from about 1997 until about 2001.^(xiv) Rabbi Neil S. Kraft - Associate Minister from 2002, remaining in office following merger.^(xv) Rabbi Emily Yael Jurman - Assistant Minister from 2015, remaining in office following merger.^(xvi)
Membership Data:	National Reports & Surveys^(xvii) 1977 - 1,365 male (or household) members and an estimated 1,365 female members 1983 - !,624 male (or household) members and an estimated 1,623 female members 1990 - 2,067 members (comprising 1,420 households, 40 individual male and 607 individual female members) 1996 - 2,106 members (comprising 1,311 households, 289 individual male and 506 individual female members) 2010 & 2016 - listed as having 1,500 - 1,900 members (by household), and accordingly one of the three (in 2010) or two (in 2016) largest synagogues (in terms of membership) in the UK.
Charitable Status:	The congregation was a registered unincorporated charity (no. 1038116), registered on 26 May 1994. The governing document was the congregation's laws approved on 8 March 1954, as subsequently amended.^(xviii)
Local Government District:	Edgware, a residential suburb in Northwest London, has a substantial Jewish minority. Most of Edgware (including the locality in which the synagogue is situated) is in the London Borough of Barnet and was (until 1965) in the former Municipal Borough of Hendon (incorporated as a borough in 1932).^(xix) Bibliography - Barnet
Registration District (BMD):	Barnet^(xx) - Link to Register Office website.
Cemetery Information:	Since 1969, Membership included burial rights through the Jewish Joint Burial Society (JJBS) at the Western Cemetery, Cheshunt or cremation at Golders Green Crematorium. There was also the option (through the JJBS) of a Woodland Burial in Cheshunt at additional cost or of mixed faith burial in a separate area at Cheshunt.^(xxi) In addition, for a brief period in the 1990s, members of this congregation had an option to join a scheme, at an additional annual fee, for burial at Edgwarebury Lane Cemetery.^(xxii) See also London Cemeteries of the Movement for Reform Judaism.
Notes & Sources (↵ returns to text above) (i) 14 Grove Road was the address given in the Jewish Year Books from 1947 (the first time the congregation was listed) through 1952, and 118 Stonegrove was the address given from the 1953 edition. ↵ (ii) Website of the Edgware & Hendon Reform Synagogue, http://www.ehrs.uk, accessed in August 2017, which includes a brief history of the establishment of Edgware & District Reform Synagogue. The Congregation was not listed in Jewish Year Books until 1947. ↵ (iii) Tradition and Change by A.J. Kershen & J.A, Romain, 1995, p.168. The congregation first appeared in the Jewish Year Book 1945-6, p.65, listed as a constituent of the Associated British Synagogues. ↵ (iv) "Who's Who" entries in Jewish Year Books (latest c.1976). Rabbi Maybaum continued to be listed as Emeritus Minister of the congregation until his death. ↵ (v) Based upon listing in Jewish Year Books 1964 through 1994 and "Who's Who" entries in Jewish Year Books (latest 2000). Rabbi Leigh continued to be listed as Emeritus Minister after the appointment of his succcesor. ↵ (vi) Website of the Edgware & Hendon Reform Synagogue, last accessed in 10 February 2019 - see also Note (iii). It was announced that Rabbi Smith is to retire in Summer 2019. ↵ (vii) Rabbi Franses's "Who's Who" entries in Jewish Year Books (latest 2009). ↵ (viii) Based upon the listing of Rabbi Silverman in Jewish Year Books 1976 and 1977, "Who's Who" entries in Jewish Year Books and biography. ↵ (ix) "Who's Who" entries in Jewish Year Books and biography. ↵ (x) Based upon the listing of Rabbi Collick in Jewish Year Book 1986. ↵ (xi) Rabbi Tabick's "Who's Who" entries in Jewish Year Books (latest 2015). ↵ (xii) and (xiii) Reserved. (xiv) Based upon Rabbi Michael's listings in Jewish Year Books 1997 through 2001, "Who's Who" entries in Jewish Year Books (latest 2015) and biography. ↵ (xv) Profile of Rabbi Kraft on website of the Edgware & Hendon Reform Synagogue, last accessed 10 February 2019. ↵ (xvi) A report dated 21 November 2015, which appeared on the Congregation's now-defunct website, referred to the upcoming induction of Rabbi Emily Jurman. ↵ (xvii) 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. ↵ (xviii) Charities Commissioners website (in beta trial stage) and Open Charities website, both last accessed 25 March 2018. ↵ (xix) The London Borough of Barnet, an Outer London Borough within the Greater London administrative area, was created on 1 April 1965 upon the merger of the the Municipal Boroughs of Hendon and Finchley and Urban District of Friern Barnet (all of which had been in the former county of Middlesex) with the Urban Districts of Barnet and East Barnet (both of which had been part of the county of Hertfordshire). ↵ (xx) The former Registration District was Hendon, from the formation of Congregation until 1 April 1999. All registers would now be held by current register office. ↵ (xxi) Website of the Edgware & Hendon Reform Synagogue, accessed in August 2017. See Note (iii). ↵ (xxii) Ibid. ↵

On-line Articles and Other Material
relating to this Congregation

Annual Reports filed with the Charities Commission (pdf):
- For years ended 31 December 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Bibliography:
- Towards The Golden Year: The Half Century of Edgware and District Reform Synagogue 1935-1985 by Sidney Budd, 1985
- Tradition and Change - A History of Reform Judaism in Britain 1840-1995, by Anne J. Kershen & Jonathan A Romain, 1995.
- Other London Borough of Barnet bibliography.

List of Reform Judaism Congregations

Jewish Congregations in Edgware (London Borough of Barnet)

Jewish Congregations in Greater London (other than East End)

Greater London home page

Page created: 16 November 2006
Data significantly expanded and notes added: 1 August 2017
Latest revision or update: 9 July 2020

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