JCR-UK

Bushey United Synagogue

& Bushey Jewish Community

Bushey, Hertsmere, Hertfordshire

 

 

 

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congregations throughout the British Isles and Gibraltar, both past and present.
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Town of Bushey

Bushey is in the borough of Hertsmere, a local government district of the county of Hertfordshire, formed in 1974 and granted borough status in 1977. Prior to 1974, it formed the urban district of Bushey in the county of Hertfordshire, until its incorporation into Hertsmere. It is situated immediately to the north of the administrative boundary of Greater London.
 


Bushey Synagogue, June 2018
© David Shulman 2018

Bushey Jewish Community

Although there are records of Jewish families living in Bushey from the early part of the nineteenth century, there was no formal Jewish congregation until the establishment of an Orthodox congregation in the 1960s (apart from a short-lived World War II congregation that met in a Bushey house in the early 1940s). (There was also Reform synagogue in Bushey from 1971 until it moved to Radlett in the early 1980s.)

Bushey Synagogue logo
Congregation Data

Name:

Bushey United Synagogue

Former Names:

Bushey & District Synagogue

Bushey & District Affiliated Synagogue

Address:

177-189 Sparrows Herne, Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire WD23 1AJ from 1984

Previously the synagogue was in a converted church hall in Police Station Lane, Bushey, from 1969 (although such synagogue was not actually formally consecrated until 9 December 1979, at the same time as the induction of the congregation's first minister).(i)

Prior to 1969, meetings took place in congregants' homes, using a scout house for the high holy days services. 

See also the brief history of the congregation on the synagogue's website.

Current Status:

Active

Date Founded:

The congregation was founded in 1968

Ritual:

Orthodox - Ashkenazi

Affiliation:

Initially an affiliated synagogue from joining the United Synagogue in 1970(ii), becoming a constituent (full member) in about 1984.(iii)

Website:

http://www.busheyus.org 

Senior Ministers & Rebbetzens:(To view a short profile of a minister - hold the cursor over his name.

Rabbi Z. Meir Salasnik (& Rebbetzen Judy Salasnick) - from June 1979 to 12 September 2016 (the first person appointed as minister of the congregation)(v)

Rabbi Elchonon Feldman (& Rebbetzen Jacqueline Feldman) - from 1 December 2016 to present (August 2023)(vi) 

Assistant Rabbis and Rebbetzens:

Rabbi Nick Kett (& Rebbetzen Shira Kett) - assistant rabbi from October 2017 to October 2020, and then community rabbi to present (August 2023)(vii)

Rabbi Moshe Chaim Lister (& Rebbetzen Miri Lister) - assistant rabbi from January 2022 to present (August 2023)(viii)

Hon. Officers
(to 1982):

In about 1968, the first formal committeee was formed which consisted of:

President: Dr. Dennis Friedman; Chairman: Johnny Back; Treasurer: Brian Silverman.(ix)

From 1970, the Hon. Officers were as follows:(x)

Date

Wardens

Financial Representative

1970-1974

1974-1976

1976-1978

1978-1979

1979-1980

1980-1982

 Johnny Back & Brian Silverman

 Johnny Back & Ronald Cole

 Ronald Cole & David Shulman

 Ronald Cole & Philip Skelker

 John Blank & Philip Skelker

 John Blank & Colin Fink

Brian Atkins

David Shulman

Lionel Finkelstein

Lionel Finkelstein

Lionel Finkelstein

Lionel Finkelstein

Mrs. Devina Buckwald was Hon. Secretary in 1970,(xi) followed shortly thereafter by Lionel Arden who served until the employment of a Secretary by the congregation (Mrs. Susan Sperber) in September 1974.

Membership Data:

United Synagogue

1970 -  48 male seatholders(xvi)

Report of Congregation's AGM

1973 -  125 male and 7 individual female members(xvii)

1974 -  162 male and 7 individual female members(xviii)

National Reports & Survey(xix)

1977 - 218 male (or household) members and 12 female members

1983 - 308 male (or household) members and 44 female members

1990 - 728 members (comprising 714 households, 5 individual male and 9 individual female members)

1996 - 889 members (comprising 855 households, 12 individual male and 22 individual female members)

2010 and 2016 - listed as having 1,000 to 1,499 members (by household)

Congregation's Website(xx)

1989 -  600 members

2013 -  nearly 2,000 members

Charitable Status:

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

WWII Congregation:

In 1941 and possibly 1942, Jewish religious services were held at "The Gables", Heathfield Road, Bushey, the home of a Mr. Ben Bard, under the name Watford & Bushey Hebrew Congregation.(xxiii) (Note: this congregation should not be confused with the Watford & Bushey Hebrew Congregation, which existed for several years from 1918 and held services in Watford.)

Registration District:

Hertfordshire(xxiv) - Link to Register Office website.

Cemetery Information:

One of the principal cemeteries of the United Synagogue, the Bushey Jewish Cemetery, is situated in Bushey (Little Bushey Lane, Bushey, WA23 3TP), and serves a wide area of Northwest London and beyond. The Cemetery was founded in 1947, predating the founding of the local synagogue by some two decades.

(See Cemeteries of the United Synagogue.)

Notes & Sources ( returns to text above)

  • (i) Primarily the congregation's Forum magazine  no. 15 (25 year anniversary edition, Pesach 1993).

  • (ii) The United Synagogue 1870-1970 by Aubrey Newman (1977), page 222.

  • (iii) Based upon congregation's first listing as a Constituent Synagogue in the Jewish Year Book 1985.

  • (iv) Reserved.

  • (v) Rabbi (Rev until 1986) Salasnik's profile on the congregation's website, accessed 25 December 2018.

  • (vi) Profile on the congregation's website, last accessed August 2023.

  • (vi) Congregation's website, last accessed August.

  • (vii) Congregation's website, last accessed August 2023 and Jerusalem Kollel website.

  • (ix) The congregation's Forum magazine no. 15 (25 year anniversary edition, Pesach 1993).

  • (x) The congregation's Newsletters and the webmaster's recollections.

  • (xi) Jewish Year Book 1971.

  • (xi) to (xv) Reserved.

  • (xvi) The United Synagogue 1870-1970 by Aubrey Newman (1977), page 221.

  • (xvii) Congregation's Newsletter No. 8 of May/June 1973, p.2.

  • (xviii) Congregation's Newsletter No. 13 of May 1974, p.2.

  • (xix) 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.

  • (xx) Congregation's website, accessed November 2017.

  • (xx) and (xxi) Reserved.

  • (xxiii) Jewish Chronicle press reports of 30 May 1941, 27 June 1941, 12 September 1941 and 15 May 1942.

  • (xxiv) The former Registration District was Watford, from the formation of Congregation until 1 April 2008. All registers would now be held by current register office.

 


Bushey Synagogue - the Aron Kodesh (Holy Ark), September 2014
© David Shulman 2014


Search the All-UK Database

The records in the database associated with Bushey include:

1851 Anglo Jewry Database (updated 2016)

Individuals in the 1851 Anglo Jewry Database who were living in Bushey during the 1820s (2 records), 1830s (5 records), 1840s (7 records), 1850s (7 records), 1860s (5 records), 1870s (6 records), 1880s (5 records), 1890s (5 records), 1900s (5 records) and 1910s (2 records).
 

 

 
© David Shulman 2014


© David Shulman 2014

Two views (taken in September 2014) of the building in Police Station Lane
that had been the Bushey Synagogue from 1969 to 1984. 

On-line Articles and Other Material
relating to this congregation

on JCR-UK


Hertsmere Jewish Communities home page


List of United Synagogue Congregations

Jewish Congregations in Hertfordshire

Jewish Congregations in Greater London and its Outskirts

Jewish Communities of England home page


Page initially created: 19 May 2006 (but contents lost)
Page recreated: 20 January 2013
Latest revision or update: 1 September 2023


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