North Western Reform Synagogue
The North Western Reform Synagogue, commonly known as Alyth, is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at Temple Fortune, Golders Green, in the Borough of Barnet, north-west London, England, in the United Kingdom.
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1f/Alyth_logo.jpg)
Logo of the congregation
Overview
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1f/Alyth_logo.jpg)
The congregation was founded in 1933, and its building was built in Alyth Gardens in 1936, on land carved out from the West London Synagogue’s cemetery in Hoop Lane. In 1942, the congregation became a founding member of Associated British Synagogue, now known as the Movement for Reform Judaism. With approximately 2,500 adult and 1,000 child members, the congregation is one of the largest Reform synagogues in the United Kingdom.
In 1958, the (Leo Baeck Centre was completed and in 2004 social spaces were expanded and a kindergarten completed.
In 2021 its members approved a £6 million upgrade to the synagogue building.
Clergy
The following individuals have served as rabbi of the congregation:
Ordinal | Officeholder | Term start | Term end | Time in office | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Solomon Starrels | 1933 | 1938 | 4–5 years | |
2 | Maurice Perlzweig | 1938 | 1942 | 13–14 years | Also chair of the World Union of Jewish Students in 1933 and had helped to create the World Jewish Congress |
− | Vivian Simmons | 1942 | 1943 | 0–1 years | Acting, on secondment from West London Synagogue |
3 | Dr Werner van der Zyl | 1943 | 1958 | 14–15 years | Also founder and president of Leo Baeck College |
4 | Philip Cohen | 1958 | 1972 | 13–14 years | |
5 | Dow Marmur | 1972 | 1983 | 10–11 years | |
6 | Charles Emanuel | 1983 | 2003 | 19–20 years | |
7 | Laura Janner-Klausner | 2003 | 2011 | 7–8 years | Later Senior Rabbi at the Movement for Reform Judaism |
8 | Mark Goldsmith | 2006 | 2019 | 12–13 years | Later Senior Rabbi at Edgware & Hendon Reform Synagogue in 2019 |
9 | Josh Levy | 2008 | 2023 | 14–15 years | Emeritus; later Chief Executive of the Movement for Reform Judaism in 2023 |
10 | Colin Eimer | 2015 | incumbent | 8–9 years | |
11 | Hannah Kingston | 2017 | incumbent | 6–7 years | |
12 | Elliott Karstadt | 2020 | incumbent | 3–4 years | |
13 | Golan Ben-Chorin | 2024 | incumbent | 0 years |
Notable members
- Leo Baeck, a German rabbi, scholar and theologian who served as president of the congregation from 1947 to 1956
- Norman Bentwich, a barrister and legal academic, who served as president of the congregation from 1958 to 1971
See also
- History of the Jews in England
- List of Jewish communities in the United Kingdom
- List of synagogues in the United Kingdom