This 40 page booklet is the record of an event that took place 60 years ago. The West End Great Synagogue qt 21 Dean Street, Soho was the successor to the West End Talmud Torah and Bikkur Cholim Synagogue, which was at 14 Manette Street, off Charing Cross Road until 1941. It is an independent … Continue reading Order of Service at the Consecration of the West End Great Synagogue and Cultural Centre and Induction of Rabbi Maurice Lew, London, 1964.
The Jacobs Affair – Statement by Chief Rabbi Dr. Israel Brodie, May 1964.
Sixty years ago, in 1964, the issue that shook and divided a large segment of Anglo-Jewry and the middle-of-the-road orthodox United Synagogue was known as the Jacobs affair. It pitted the Chief Rabbi, Dr. Israel Brodie, against the young and influential Rabbi and writer, Dr. Louis Jacobs, and it pitted the old, patrician leadership of … Continue reading The Jacobs Affair – Statement by Chief Rabbi Dr. Israel Brodie, May 1964.
Sefer Zichron Avraham Hashalem, by Rabbi Avraham Yitzchok Dziubas, Pietrokov / Warsaw, 1924.
I have written before about the author of this book, Rabbi Abram Icyk Dziubas, who was born in Czestochowa in 1885 and died in England in 1947. He was a prolific writer of extraordinary talents. When he was just ten years old, he was already studying Talmud with Toisefos (medieval commentaries on the Talmud) and … Continue reading Sefer Zichron Avraham Hashalem, by Rabbi Avraham Yitzchok Dziubas, Pietrokov / Warsaw, 1924.
Tzavat (The Ethical Will of) Rabbi Ezekiel Katzenellenbogen, Second Edition, Vilna 1871. With Eulogies for Rabbi Katzenellenbogen and the Vilna Gaon.
My ancestor, Rabbi Ezekiel Katzenellenbogen, was born in 1667, the son of Rabbi Avraham Katzenellenbogen, in the city of Brisk Lithuania. There he studied and was educated by Rabbi Mordechai Ziskind. He married the daughter of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Sirkis of Brisk, whose wife was a grand-daughter of the Tosephos Yom Tov, Rabbi Yom Tov … Continue reading Tzavat (The Ethical Will of) Rabbi Ezekiel Katzenellenbogen, Second Edition, Vilna 1871. With Eulogies for Rabbi Katzenellenbogen and the Vilna Gaon.
Sefer Lev Aryeh HaChadash, by Rabbi Yehuda Arieh Perlow,
This book, a commentary on Torah (the five books of Moses) was written by the uncle (by marriage) of the Biala Rebbe of London, Rabbi Nathan David Rabinowicz. On 15th Kislev 1918, Rabbi Nathan David married Sheindel Bracha, the eldest daughter of Rabbi Alter Yisrael Shimon Perlow of Novominsk, known as the "Tiferes Ish". Rabbi … Continue reading Sefer Lev Aryeh HaChadash, by Rabbi Yehuda Arieh Perlow,
United Synagogue Funeral Expenses Scheme, London 1946.
I found this booklet in my late Father - Stanley Maynard's papers. He joined Hendon Synagogue (Raleigh Close) in 1946 and switched to Kingsbury Synagogue in 1948. In 1946 you could contribute just four pence a week and when the time came (ad mea ve'esrim - until a hundred and twenty years) you were entitled … Continue reading United Synagogue Funeral Expenses Scheme, London 1946.
The New West End Synagogue, London – Simchat Torah Service 1967, and Centenary Thanksgiving Service 1979.
Here are two interesting pieces of ephemera from the New West End Synagogue in St. Petersburgh Place, Bayswater. In 1967 Simchat Torah was advertised as a choral service, and the Choson Torah and Choson Bereishis (Bridegrooms of the Law - a ceremonial honour) were the Chazan (Cantor) Rev. Raphael Levy and his son, Mr. Elkan … Continue reading The New West End Synagogue, London – Simchat Torah Service 1967, and Centenary Thanksgiving Service 1979.
St. John’s Wood Synagogue, London, Orders of Service 1964 and 1976.
St. John's Wood Synagogue was originally in Abbey Road, NW8. It was the first new synagogue to be created under the new United Synagogue, which was formed by an amalgamation of the City Synagogues in 1870, and was founded in 1876 to serve the Jewish population in Hampstead, Kilburn and St. John's Wood. The building … Continue reading St. John’s Wood Synagogue, London, Orders of Service 1964 and 1976.
The Talmud, Brochoth, by Rabbi Joseph Shapotshnick, London 1936.
This is an interesting booklet in English by Rabbi Joseph Shapotshnick, about whom I have written before. It is from the same period as his book "The Jews Among the Nations", which is also in my library. This 32 page book is written in English, at a time of rising anti-semitism in Germany. Most of … Continue reading The Talmud, Brochoth, by Rabbi Joseph Shapotshnick, London 1936.
The Gates of Zion (Quarterly Magazine of the Synagogue Council of the Zionist Federation (UK), October 1949.
This was a quarterly magazine, and in 1949 there is a certain euphoria that the young State of Israel has completed a full year, together with a world survey and an obituary about Paul Goodman, the former Chairman of the Synagogue Council and editor of the Gates of Zion, as well as other articles in … Continue reading The Gates of Zion (Quarterly Magazine of the Synagogue Council of the Zionist Federation (UK), October 1949.
Jewish Miscellanies 