Izak Goller had two careers – he was both a British Rabbi and a poet and artist. He was born in Plungian, Lithuania and brought up in Manchester. He gained a scholarship to the Manchester Central School and then studied in a yeshiva.
His first ministerial appointment was at the Kovno synagogue in Manchester, and he then taught at the Talmud Torah in Leeds. Between 1922 and 1925 he served as minister at the Walthamstow and Leyton Synagogue in London, and then at the Hope Place Synagogue in Liverpool. He then moved back to London and established his own Young Israel Synagogue.
This was his second book. I have written previously about the first, The Passionate Jew, which was published in 1923. The Passionate Jew got a number of serious reviews. The Times Literary Supplement said “Mr. Goller apparently believes in “letting himself go” … Slashing at a number of things occupies him largely, perhaps in a slightly more humorous mood than at first is clear… sometimes of the most grotesque .. daring speculations … bold… The Daily News said, “Mr. Goller is defiant, but the reality of his emotions is altogether beyond doubt… carries conviction. The Jewish Chronicle said simply “An authentic poet”.
Jewish Miscellanies 