North Western Reform Synagogue

Congregation Data

North Western Reform Synagogue⁽ⁱ⁾

(often referred to as Alyth Gardens Synagogue)

Alyth Gardens, Temple Fortune, Golders Green, London NW11 7EN.

The site on which the synagogue was built was previously part of the West London Synagogue's section of the Hoop Lane Cemetery, which backs on to the synagogue (a private members bill needed to be pass in Parliament to release the land for building purposes).⁽ⁱⁱ⁾

The synagogue was designed by architect Fritz Landauer.⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾ The foundation stone was laid in January 1936 and the synagogue was consecrated on 12 July 1936.^(iv)

Prior to 1936, the congregation generally held services (particularly its Sabbath morning services) in Hawthorn Hall, 44 Bridge Lane, London NW11. Earlier services and Friday night services had been held in private homes, the first service being held in the home of Henri Silbert at 2 The Meadway). High Holyday services took place in a hall in Hampstead Garden Suburb.⁽ⁱⁱ⁾

Active

Largely through the efforts of three "founding fathers", E.L. (Len) Mendel, Ralph Nordon and Henri Silbert, the initial meeting of the congregation was held on 24 May 1933 and the first services were held on 16 June 1933.⁽ⁱⁱ⁾

Reform

A constituent synagogue of the Movement for Reform Judaism, having been a founding member of that organisation (initially known as Associated British Synagogues) in 1942. The congregation was the first reform synagogue to be formed in London since the founding in 1840 of the West London Synagogue, which acted as the "parent" synagogue to the new congregation.

https://www.alyth.org.uk/

Rabbi Solomon Elihu Starrels - Minister from 1933 until 1938^(v)

Rev. Maurice L. Perlzweig - Minister from 1938 until 1942^(vi)

Rev. Vivian Simmons - Interim Minister from 1942 until 1943^(vii)

Rabbi Dr. Werner Van der Zyl - Senior Minister from 1943 until 1958^(viii)

Rabbi Erwin S. Rosenblum - Assistant Minister from 1955 until 1956^(ix)

Rev. Philip Cohen - Senior Minister from 1958 until 1972^(xi)

Rabbi Dow Marmur - Minister from about 1969 until 1983 (as Senior Minister from 1972)^(xii)

Rabbi Rodney John Mariner -  Assistant Minister from 1976 until 1979^(xiii)

Rabbi Charles Emanuel - Senior Minister from 1983 until 2006, thereafter emeritus^(xiv)

Rabbi Laura Naomi Janner-Klausner - Associate Rabbi from about 2004 until about 2013^(xv)

Rabbi Mark Goldsmith - Rabbinic Partner from 2006 until 2019^(xvi)

Rabbi Josh Levy - Rabbinic Partner from 2008 until 2019, then Senior Rabbi until 2023, thereafter emeritus^(xvii)

Rabbi Maurice Arnold Michaels - Part time Assistant Rabbi from 2011 until 2018^(xviii)

Rabbi Colin Eimer - Part time Assistant Minister from 2015 until present (June 2025)^(xix)

Rabbi Hannah Kingston - Member of Rabbinic Team from 2017 until present (June 2025)^(xx)

Rabbi Elliott Karstadt - Member of Rabbinic Team from 2020 until present (June 2025)^(xxi)

Cantor Cheryl Wunch^(xxv) - from January 2014 until August 2015

Cantor Tamara Wolfson - from 2020 until 2024^(xxvi)

Jewish Year Books^(xxxii)

National Reports & Surveys^(xxxiii)

1977 - 989 male members and an estimated 989 female members

1983 - 1,105 male members and an estimated 1,104 female members

1990 - 1,450 members households)

1996 - 1,440 members (households)

2010 & 2016 - listed as having 1,000 to 1,499 members (by household)

The congregation is a registered unincorporated charity (no. 247081), registered on 21 February 1966. The governing documents are the congregation's Rules revised April 1965, as amended.^(xxxiv)

Golders Green, a residential suburb in Northwest London with a substantial Jewish minority, is in the London Borough of Barnet^(xxxv) and was (until 1965) in the former Municipal Borough of Hendon (incorporated as a borough in 1932.

Barnet^(xxxvi) - Link to Register Office website.

Cemetery Information:

Membership includes burial rights through the Jewish Joint Burial Society (JJBS) at the Western Cemetery, Cheshunt or cremation at Golders Green Crematorium. There is 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.

Notes & Sources (↵ returns to text above)

• (i) The name of the congregation was initially written with a hyphen between the words "North" and "Western". Based upon listing in Jewish Year Books, the hyphen was dropped in about 1971 (briefly reappearing just in the 1979 edition). ↵

• (ii) The Golders Green Jewish Community by Pam Fox (2016), pp.84/5. ↵

• (iii) Carol Herselle Krinsky - Synagogues of Europe - Architecture, History, Meaning, 1996, Appendix I, p. 430. To view a description of the Jewish architectural works by F. Landauer, hold your cursor over his name. ↵

• (iv) The Golders Green Jewish Community by Pam Fox (2016), pp.84/5. ↵

• (v) Based upon Rabbi Starrels listing in Jewish Year Books 1935 (the first appearance of the congregation) through 1938 (the congregation was inexplicably omitted from the 1939 edition) and A Place to Call Home by Pam Fox (2011). ↵

• (vi) Based upon the Profile of Rev. Perlzweig and his listing as minister of the congregation in the Jewish Year Book 1940. ↵

• (vii) Hampstead Garden Suburb Heritage website - https://hgsheritage.org.uk/Detail/entities/id%3A27. Rev. Simmons was on secondment from West London Synagogue, at which he was assistant minister from 1913 to 1942. ↵

• (viii) The Golders Green Jewish Community by Pam Fox (2016), pp.89, 93. ↵

• (ix) Rabbi Rosenblum's entry in the Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History. ↵

• (x) Reserved. 

• (xi) The Golders Green Jewish Community by Pam Fox (2016), pp.93, 96 and Rev. Cohen's listing as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1959 through 1972.  ↵

• (xii) Based upon Rabbi Marmur's listing as minister of this congregation in Jewish Year Books from 1970 through 1983 and his "Who's Who" entries in Jewish Year Books, latest 2015.  ↵

• (xiii) Rabbi Mariner's biography on Belsize Square Synagogue's website. ↵

• (xiv) The Golders Green Jewish Community by Pam Fox (2016), pp.99, 101 and Rabbi Emanuel's listing as minister of this congregation in Jewish Year Books 1984 through 2006. ↵

• (xv) Rabbi Janner-Klausner's profile formerly on Reform Judaism's website and her listing as a minister of this congregation in Jewish Year Books from 2005 through 2014. ↵

• (xvi) Based upon "Who's Who" entries in Jewish Year Books (latest 2015), Jewish Chronicle Report of 1 December 2006 of Rabbi Goldsmith's appointment at Alyth and Jewish News Report of 19 November 2018 of his upcoming move to Edgware & Hendon Reform Synagogue in Summer of 2019. ↵

• (xvii) Congregation's website, accessed June 2025. Rabbi Levy was listed as a minister of this congregation in Jewish Year Books from 2009 and continues to serve the congregation as reported on the congregation's website, last accessed 5 January 2020.  ↵

• (xviii) Rabbi Michael's "Who's Who" entries in Jewish Year Books (latest 2015) and biography formerly on the congregation's website, accessed 14 May 2018. ↵

• (xix) Congregation's website, accessed January 2021 and June 2025 and "Who's Who" entries in Jewish Year Books, latest 2015. Following his retirement in 2015 Rabbi Eimer held various offices in the Reform movement and education, including part-time minister of several congregations (including Alyth). ↵

• (xx) Congregation's website, last accessed June 2025. Rabbi Kingston was ordained in 2017. ↵

• (xxi) Rabbi Karstadt profile on the congregation's website, lar accessed June 2025. ↵

• (xxi) to (xxiv) Reserved.

• (xxv) Cantor Wunch's LinkedIn profile, accessed 21 December 2018 and her listing in the Jewish Year Book 2015. She previously served as cantor of Congregation Beth Am, Buffalo Grove (2011-2013) and subsequently moved to Canada. ↵

• (xxi) Cantor Wolfson's profile on the congregation's website, accessed January 2021 and EHRS's website, accessed June 2025. ↵

• (xxvii) to (xxxi) Reserved.

• (xxxii) Membership numbers extracted from Jewish Year Books. In each case, the date given here is the year prior to the year of the Year Book. ↵

• (xxxiii) 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. ↵

• (xxxiv) Charities Commission website, last accessed June 2025. Clicking on the charity number of this will take you to the charity's registration on the Charities Commission website. ↵

• (xxxv) 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). ↵

• (xxxvi) The former Registration District was Hendon, from the formation of the congregation until 1 April 1999. All registers would now be held by current register office. ↵