the former

Ilford Synagogue

Ilford, Essex

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Ilford Synagogue
(courtesy Jeff Rosen)

Congregation Data

Name:

Ilford Synagogue

(formerly known as Ilford District Synagogue until about 1976)⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾

Address:

22 Beehive Lane, Ilford, IG1 3RT.^(iv)

Formation:

The congregation was established in 1936.^(v)

Status:

Merged on 21 May 2019 with Redbridge United Synagogue to form Cranbrook United Synagogue.^(vi) The newly merged congregation continued to use the Beehive Lane synagogue and facility, which underwent refurbishing in 2018/19.

Ritual:

Ashkenazi Orthodox

Affiliation:

Joined the United Synagogue as an affiliated synagogue in 1936, becoming a district synagogue in 1937.^(vii) In about 1976, it became a constituent synagogue, when the district synagogue category was discontinued.

Ministers:
(To view a short profile of a minister or cantor whose name appears in blue - hold the cursor over his name.)

Rev. Morris Bernard Smeditsky - minister from 1939 until 1948.^(xi)

Rev. Dr. Harry Rabinowicz - minister from 1949 until 1951.^(xii)

Rev. Sidney Black, BA - minister from 1952 until 1980,^(xiii) and thereafter emeritus minister

Rev. Vivian C. Silverman, BA - associate minister from 1970 until about 1978.^(xiv)

Rabbi Simon S. Silas - minister from about 1980 until about 1983.^(xv)

Rabbi Z. Unsdorfer - associate minister from about 1979 until about 1983.^(xviii)

Rabbi Irvin Broder - minister from about 1963 until 1996.^(xix)

Rabbi Chaim Rapoport - minister from about 1997 until 2005.^(xx)

Rabbi Israel Geoffrey Hyman - last minister, from 2006 until 2019.^(xxi)

Cantors / Readers:

Rev. Berel Braunstein - reader from about 1946 until 1948.^(xxiv)

Rev. Joseph Skaletzy - reader from 1952 until 1974.^(xxv)

Rev. Aubrey Levin - reader from 1975 until 2005.^(xxvi)

Cantor David Rome - reader from about 2004 until 2012.^(xxvii)

Lay Officers:

All data on lay officers has been extracted from listings in Jewish Year Books.^(xxx)

Wardens

1938-1940 - A. Goldberg & A. Gabriel

1940-1945 - no data

1945-1947 - S. Diamond & M.A. Rosenbaum

1947-1948 - D. Harman & A.I. Gabriel

1948-1949 - D. Harman & S. Diamond

1949-1952 - D. Harman & M. Lewis

1952-1956 - M. Lewis & R.L. Games

from 1956 - no data

Financial Representatives

1938-1939 - A. Lebetkin

1939-1940 - A. Lemberger

1940-1946 - no data

1946-1951 - P. Kaye, ALAA

1951-1953 - M.J. Marks

1953-1956 - J. Piatkus, BA

from 1956 - no data

Secretaries & Hon Secretaries

1939-1940 - J.N. Jackson

1940-1945 - no data

1945-1946 - Rev. M.B. Smeditsky

1946-1947 - R. Goldberg

1947-1949 - Michael Bass

1949-1960 - G. Freundlich

1960-1977 - H. Simon

1977-1980 - S. Gordon

1980-1991 - M. Howard

Administrators

1991-2004 - Mrs. H.R. Michaels

2004-2013 - A. Miller

Membership Data:

United Synagogue^(xxxi) (male seat-holders)

1936

1940

1950

1960

1970

70

192

683

1,092

1,937

National Reports & Surveys^(xxxii)

1977 - 2,057 male (or household) members and 625 female members

1983 - 1,872 male (or household) members and 663 female members

1990 - 2,210 members (comprising 2,104 households, 43 individual male and 63 individual female members)

1996 - 1,350 members (comprising 1,224 households, 47 individual male and 79 individual female members)

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

2016 - listed as having 500 to 749 members (by household)

Charitable Status:

As a constituent of the United Synagogue, the congregation operated within that organisation's registered charity status (registered charity no. 242552).

Local Government Districts:

Ilford, a neighbourhood with a significant Jewish population, in northeast London, is in the London Borough of Redbridge.^(xxxiii)

Prior to 1965, Ilford was in the former Municipal Borough of Ilford (which was an urban district until 1926) in the county of Essex.

Registration District (BMD):

Redbridge from 1 April 1965^(xxxiv) - Link to Register Office website

Worship Registration:

The synagogue in Beehive Lane was registered as a Place of Worship - Worship Register Number 68749 - under the Places of Worship Registration Act 1855, and the Children's synagogue at Beehive Lane was separately registered under Number 58167.^(xxxv)

Cemetery
Information:

For United Synagogue cemeteries, see Cemeteries of the United Synagogue.

Online Articles, Bibliography and Other Material
relating to this Congregation

on Third Party Websites

The Old Beehive Lane Synagogue by Jaclyn Chernett on the Masorti Judaism website.

Other Organisations & Institutions
connected to this congregation

Educational

Hebrew & Religious Classes - founded in 1938.^(xxxviii)

Other Institutions

Ladies Guild - founded by 1938.^(xxxix)

Notes & Sources
(↵ returns to text above)

(i) and (ii) Reserved.
(iii) The congregation appeared under this name from its first appearance in Jewish Year Books (1939) through 1976. ↵
(iv) Beehive Lane was the only address ever listed for the congregation in Jewish Year Books from 1939. ↵
(v) Note in Jewish Year Books from 1952. ↵
(vi) Cranbrook Synagogue website, accessed August 2025. ↵
(vii) The United Synagogue 1870-1970 by Aubrey Newman (1977), pages 221/2. However, it was listed solely as a District Synagogues in Jewish Year Books from its first listing in 1939. ↵
(viii) to (x) Reserved.
(xi) Rev. M.B. Smeditsky was listed as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1939, 1940 and 1945/6 through 1949. Publication had been suspended during the war years 1941 to 1945. ↵
(xii) Rev. H. Rabinowicz, BA, PhD, was listed as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1950 through 1952. He was inducted as minister on 13 June 1949. ↵
(xiii) Rev. S. Black, BA, was listed as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1953 through 1980 (1971 through 1978, jointly with Rev. V. Silverman). He was inducted as minister on 18 January 1953. ↵
(xiv) Rev. V. Silverman, BA, was listed (second to Rev. Black) as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1971 through 1978. ↵
(xv) Based upon Rabbi S. Silas's listing as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1981 through 1983. ↵
(xvi) and (xvii) Reserved.
(xviii) Based upon Rabbi Z. Undorfer's listing as second minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1980 through 1983. ↵
(xix) Rabbi I. Broder was listed as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1984 through 1997. He served in his next post (St. Annes) from 1996. ↵
(xx) Rabbi C. Rapoport was listed as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1999 through 2005. ↵
(xxi) Jewish Chronicle of 10 May 2019 reported that Rabbi Hyman had previously served as minister of Ilford United Synagogue for 12 year and had announced in February that he was no longer employed by that congregation “due to the merger between Ilford and Redbridge synagogues”. Rabbi G. Hyman was listed as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books from 2007 until the final edition (2015). ↵
(xxii) and (xxiii)
(xxiv) Rev. B. Braustein was listed as reader of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1947 through 1949. He served in his next post (Brighton) from 1948. ↵
(xxv) Rev. J. Skaletsky was listed as reader of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1953 through 1975. The Jewish Chronicle of 29 November 1974 reported on his farewell concert at the synagogue (on 23 November 1974). ↵
(xxvi) Rev. A. Levin was listed as reader of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1976 through 2005. ↵
(xxvii) Website of the London Cantorial Singers, accessed August 2025. However, Rev. Cantor Rome's Linkin account (accessed August 2025) gives the commencement date with the United Synagogue as June 2005. ↵
(xxviii) to (xxix) Reserved.
(xxx) 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 (which was generally towards the end of the year prior to the year appearing in the title of the year book) and that he continued in office until the commencement of office of his successor, unless the office was vacant (e.g. if he is listed in Jewish Year Books 1951 through 1955, it is assumed that he commenced office in 1950 and continued in office until 1955). However, it should be noted that this is only an assumption and accordingly his actual years of office may differ slightly from those shown here. Jewish Year Books were not published during WWII subsequent to 1940. There were no Jewish Year Book listings of officers (other than secretary) subsequent to 1956. ↵
(xxxi) The United Synagogue 1870-1970 by Aubrey Newman (1977), pages 218/9. ↵
(xxxii) 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. ↵
(xxxiii) The London Borough of Redbridge, an Outer London Borough within the Greater London administrative area, was created on 1 April 1965 upon the merger of the former municipal boroughs of Ilford and Wanstead and Woodford, plus smaller areas from the municipal borough of Dagenham and Chigwell urban district. All these municipalities had been within the county of Essex. ↵
(xxxiv) The former Registration Districts were: Romford, from 1 July 1837 until 1 July 1939; and Ilford, from 1 July 1939 until 1 April 1965. All registers would now be held by the current register office. ↵
(xxxv) Respectively, pages 1153 and 1152 of the 2010 List of Places of Worship ↵
(xxxvi) and (xxxvii) Reserved.
(xxxviii) First listed in the Jewish Year Book 1939 ↵
(xxxix) First listed in the Jewish Year Book 1939 ↵

List of United Synagogue Congregations

Jewish Congregations in the London Borough of Redbridge

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Page created: 16 November 2006
Data significantly expanded and notes first added: 12 August 2025
Page most recently amended: 19 August 2025

Research and formatting by David Shulman

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