New London Synagogue

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New London Synagogue
The synagogue in 2015
Religion
AffiliationConservative Judaism
Rite
Ecclesiastical or organizational statusSynagogue
Leadership
StatusActive
Location
Location33 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England NW8 0AT
CountryUnited Kingdom
New London Synagogue is located in City of Westminster
New London Synagogue
Location of the synagogue in the
City of Westminster
Geographic coordinates51°32′09″N 0°10′44″W / 51.5357°N 0.1790°W / 51.5357; -0.1790
Architecture
Architect(s)H. H. Collins
TypeSynagogue architecture
StyleItalianate
FounderRabbi Dr Louis Jacobs
(as New London)
Date establishedAs congregations:
  • 1880 (St John's Wood)
  • 1964 (New London)
Completed1882 (as St John's Wood Synagogue)
MaterialsBrick
Website
newlondon.org.uk
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameNew London Synagogue
Designated7 September 1989
Reference no.1247665

New London Synagogue is a Masorti Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in St John's Wood, in the City of Westminster, London, England, in the United Kingdom.

The congregation was founded in 1964 by followers of Rabbi Dr Louis Jacobs, following the "Jacobs Affair" in which Rabbi Jacobs was refused employment in the United Synagogue due to alleged heresy. It is the founding synagogue of the Masorti movement in the United Kingdom, which was established in 1985. Its congregation is made up of approximately 500 households and worships in the Ashkenazi rite.

The current rabbinic leaders are Rabbi Jeremy Gordon and Rabbi Natasha Mann.

History[edit]

Rabbi Louis Jacobs was an Orthodox pulpit rabbi at New West End Synagogue, when he was offered an appointment as Principal of Jews' College in 1961. However, the then Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom, Israel Brodie, interdicted the appointment "because of his [Jacobs's] published views". This was a reference to We Have Reason to Believe, a book Jacobs had published in 1954 in which he questioned the doctrine of Torah min hashamayim. The British newspaper, The Jewish Chronicle, took up the issue and turned it into a cause célèbre which was reported in the national press, including The Times.

[It was] an event that threatened to become the biggest schism in Anglo-Jewish history. The events in 1964 that came to be known as "the Jacobs Affair" dominated not just the Jewish media but the whole of Fleet Street and the newsrooms of both the BBC and ITN.[1]

When Jacobs wished to return to his pulpit at the New West End Synagogue, Brodie vetoed his appointment. A number of members then left the New West End Synagogue to found the New London Synagogue.

The building at 33 Abbey Road had formerly belonged to the United Synagogue as an Orthodox synagogue. However, the congregation had closed and the building was being sold off for demolition and redevelopment. Supporters of Louis Jacobs secretly set up a shell company and purchased it from the United Synagogue without disclosing they intended to establish a congregation with Louis Jacobs as its rabbi. This congregation, the New London Synagogue, became the "parent" of the Masorti movement in the United Kingdom, which now numbers several congregations.[2]

While holding the position of rabbi at the New London Synagogue, Dr Jacobs was also for many years Lecturer in Talmud and Zohar at the Leo Baeck College, a rabbinical college preparing students to serve as Masorti, Reform and Liberal rabbis in the UK and Europe. Rabbi Jacobs served as Chairman of the Academic Committee for some years.

Architecture[edit]

H. H. Collin, the architect of the original building, also designed the Walworth Road Synagogue (1867), the Assembly Rooms in Yarmouth, Norfolk (1867), and the City Liberal Club, London (1875). New London Synagogue makes use of the structural cast-iron ‘railway station’ style, in the supporting columns, spandrels to the arches and gallery fronts; original pendant light fittings and a deep coved cornice.

The décor was redesigned in beige and brown by Misha Black, who also retained the classical timber Ark, now misleadingly painted white like stone, under a semi-circular archway. In the courtyard is a bronze Holocaust memorial by Naomi Black.[3]

The building was listed Grade II by Historic England in 1989.

Ritual and practices[edit]

Services at New London Synagogue follow the traditional Koren Sacks siddur.[4] Weekly egalitarian services were introduced in 2005.[5] Men and women sit together during services (within a tripartite seating structure), and play equal parts in leading them. Male worshippers are required to wear a kippah; females can wear one if they wish to do so.

Rabbi Jeremy Gordon has been a strong proponent of LGBTQ inclusion, and New London Synagogue offers same-sex couples marriages. Rabbi Natasha Mann, hired as a co-rabbi in 2019, is the first openly queer rabbi in a traditional Jewish denomination in Europe.[6] Mann originally converted to Judaism through New London's conversion programme.[6] She was ordained at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, which is affiliated to Conservative Judaism.

Services have a strong musical element, with "traditional choral classics by Lewandowski, Sulzer, Alman and Naumberg with more modern compositions by Shlomo Carlebach, Meir Finkelstein, Debbie Friedman and others as well as compositions created by Synagogue member, the composer Julian Dawes".[7] Cantorial leadership is provided by David Djemal and Yoav Oved.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, New London Synagogue began to provide a "set and forget" livestream of services, including High Holy Days.[8]

Clergy[edit]

The following individuals have served as rabbi of the congregation:

Ordinal Officeholder Term started Term ended Time in office Notes
1 Dr Louis Jacobs 1964 2000 35–36 years
2 Chaim Weiner 2000 2005 4–5 years
− Reuven Hammer 2005 2007 1–2 years Interim rabbi
3 Jeremy Gordon 2008 incumbent 15–16 years
4 Natasha Mann 2019 incumbent 4–5 years

Membership data[edit]

In 1977, there were 514 male (or household) members and 136 female members of the congregation. By 1990, the number of members had increased to 714, comprising 410 households, 115 individual male and 189 individual female members. Since then, the number of members declined by 1996, to 604 members and to 500 members in 2010. In 2016, the congregation claimed to have 749 members (by household).[2]

Notable members[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Freedland, Michael; Romain, Jonathan (5 July 2006). "Obituary: Rabbi Dr Louis Jacobs". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  2. ^ a b "New London Synagogue". JCR-UK. 9 June 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  3. ^ Kadish, Sharman (2006). Jewish Heritage in England: An Architectural Guide. English Heritage.
  4. ^ Secret Shulgoer, Secret Shul-Goer No 14: New London Synagogue, The Jewish Chronicle, 19 December 2017.
  5. ^ Jackman, Josh, Masorti shul increases its egalitarian services, The Jewish Chronicle, 9 July 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  6. ^ a b Doherty, Rosa, It wasn't rational, it was love for Judaism that made me convert and become a rabbi, Jewish Chronicle, 29 August 2019.
  7. ^ New London Synagogue, Pray with Us
  8. ^ Gordon, Jeremy (20 September 2020). "Why our Masorti shul is streaming services". Jewish Chronicle.
  9. ^ "Shul's Beatles recording". The JC. 6 November 2014.

Further reading[edit]

  • Freedman, Harry (2020). Reason to Believe: The Controversial Life of Louis Jacobs. London: Bloomsbury Continuum. ISBN 978-1-4729-7938-4.
  • Jacobs, Louis (2000). Four Rabbinic Positions in Anglo-Jewry – The New London Synagogue. Jewish Year Book. p. 80.
  • Lindsay, P. (1993). The Synagogues of London. London: Vallentine Mitchell. p. 101.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to New London Synagogue.
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