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NOTE: We are not the official website of this congregation.

Cockfosters & N Southgate Synagogue - interior
(courtesy Jeff Rosen)
Congregation Data |
Name: |
Cockfosters and N Southgate Synagogue(iii)
(sometimes referred to simply as Southgate Synagogue) |
Former Names: |
Cockfosters and N Southgate Hebrew Congregation (until about 1952)(iv)
Cockfosters and N Southgate District Synagogue (from 1952
until 1976)(v) |
Address: |
Old Farm Avenue,
Nursery Road, Southgate, London N14 5QR.
The site
(which consisted of two old cottages) was acquired in 1949 for £1,000.
However, due to a number of reasons, including, initially post-war
austerity conditions, it took some time before the building could be
constructed. The foundation stone was laid in September 1953 and on
19 December 1954 the synagogue was consecrated by Chief Rabbi Dr. Israel Brodie.(vi)
By 1959 the building was too small for the growing congregation
and it was rebuilt, following extremely heated negotiations with the
United Synagogue, in 1965. In October 1978, structural defects caused the roof
of the hall to collapse.(vii) The building has since been
restored.
Members of the congregation also held services in Cockfosters and
also used to hold services in
Hadley Wood.
|
Date Formed: |
The Congregation commenced life as an
offshoot of
Palmers Green and Southgate Synagogue
in 1944, when Jewish inhabitants of the Oakwood/Cockfosters area formed
themselves into a "Southgate Committee" and began renting "The
Hollies", the British Legion Hall, Nursery Road, Southgate, for the
holding of Shabbat services, with High Festival services being held for
the first time in the area at Church House (later a Masonic Hall) in
September 1945.(x) It become a separate congregation
in 1948.(xi) |
Current Status: |
Active |
Ritual: |
Ashkenazi Orthodox |
Affiliation: |
Joined the
United Synagogue
as an affiliated synagogue on 1 April 1948, becoming a district synagogue
in 1952.(xii)
In about 1976, it became a constituent synagogue, when the district synagogue category
was discontinued.(xiii) |
Satellite Congregation: |
From the mid 1990s until it became an
independent congregation in 2012, the
Hadley Wood Jewish Community was a satellite congregation of this
congregation. |
Website: |
http://www.ourshul.co.uk/ (July 2025, not functioning) |
Magazine: |
Ha-Kol.
|
Ministers:
(To view a short profile of a minister
or cantor - hold the cursor over his name.) |
Rev. Ronald Lubofsky - minister from 1954 until
1956(xvii)
Rabbi Rafael Wolf Cymberg - minister from 1958
until 1987(xviii)
Rabbi Yisroel Fine - minister from about 1987 until
December 2013.(xix)
Rabbi Daniel Epstein & Rebbetzen Ilana Epstein
- rabbinic couple from January 2014 until 2021(xx)
Rabbi Meir Shindler & Rebbetzen Rina Shindler
- rabbinic couple from 2021 until present
(June 2025)(xxi)
|
Cantors (Chazanim) / Readers and Others: |
Rev. M. Szydlo
- part-time chazan from at least 1949 until about 1952(xxv)
Rev. Joseph Herman
- part-time chazan from 1956 or 1957 (initially minister-reader until August
1958) until 1964(xxvi)
Rev. Aaron Segal
- chazan from 1966 until 1990(xxvii)
Rev. Dov Samuel Speier
- part-time chazan from 1990 until about 2002(xxviii)
|
Early Lay Officers: |
Unless otherwise stated, all data on lay officers has been extracted from listings in
Jewish Year Books.(xxxii) |
Chairman
1948-1955 - Maurice Tilloff
Wardens
1953-1955 - H. Joe Osterley & L.B. Sigler
1955-1956 - D. Lawrence & T. Zinkin
Treasurers/Financial Representatives(xxxiii)
1948-1955 - I.L. Zinkin
1955-1956 - William Hayes
|
Secretaries, Hon. Secretaries
&
Administrators(xxxiv)
1948-1952 - William Hayes
1952-1953 - Lionel Watson
1953-1977 - Michael Sherbourne
1977-1991 - Martin Wechsler
1991-1995 - M. Howard
1995-1999 - Mrs. R. Graye
|
Membership Data: |
United Synagogue
(male seat-holders)(xxxvii)
1948 |
1950 |
1960 |
1970 |
146 |
199 |
661 |
984 |
Other Sources
1951 - 200 members(xxxviii)
1952 - 230 members(xxxix)
National Reports & Surveys(xl)
1977 - 1,076 male (or household) members and 192 female members
1983 - 1,113 male (or household) members and
251 female members
1990 - 1,381 members (comprising
1,336 households, 16 individual male and 29 individual female members)
1996 - 1,216 members (comprising
1,133 households, 37 individual male and 46 individual female members)
2010 - listed as having 750 to 999 members (by household)
2016 - listed as having 500 to 749 members (by household)
|
Charitable Status: |
As a constituent of the United Synagogue, the
congregation operates within that organisation's registered charity
status (registered charity no. 242552).
|
Local Government Districts: |
The North London suburb of Southgate is the western section of the London Borough of Enfield and was previously (until 1965) in the former Municipal Borough of Southgate
in the former county of Middlesex,(xliii)
whereas the suburb of Cockfosters is partly in the London Borough of Enfield and partly in the London Borough of Barnet,
which part, until 1965, was in the former Urban District of East Barnet in the
county of Hertfordshire.(xliv) |
Registration District (BMD): |
Enfield
from 1 April 1965(xlv)
-
Link to Register Office website |
Worship Registration:
|
The synagogue in
Old Farm Avenue, Nursery Road, is registered as a Place of Worship -
Worship Register Number 64913 - under the Places of Worship Registration Act 1855.(xlvi)
|
Cemetery
Information: |
For
United Synagogue cemeteries, see Cemeteries of the United Synagogue. |
Bibliography, Online Articles and Other
Material relating to this Congregation
on JCR-UK
-
Bibliography, including:
-
"Our First 25 Years - The Origins of Cockfosters
and North Southgate Synagogue" by H.J. Osterley
-
"The History of the Cockfosters and N Southgate Synagogue"
by Joseph Frayman, Heritage No 1,
Jewish Research Group of the Edmonton Hundred
Historical Society, 1982.
-
"Swell Southgate" London Extra, Jewish Chronicle 17 February 1989 - 40th anniversary feature article
-
Other
London Borough of Enfield bibliography.
Notable Jewish
Residents of Cockfosters
(For Notable Residents of Southgate, see
HERE on
the
Palmers Green and Southgate congregation page)
-
Ian Jacobs (b.1957), born in London's East End, academic, medical doctor and vice chancellor
of the University of New South Wales (2015-2022), was raised in Cockfosters.
|
Notes & Sources
(↵
returns to text above)
|
List of United Synagogue Congregations
Jewish Congregations in the London Borough of Enfield
Jewish Congregations in Greater London
Greater London home page
Page created: 3 September 2003
Data expanded and notes first added: 14 February 2018
Page reformatted and data significantly expanded: 13 July 2025
Page most recently amended: 18 July 2025
Research by David Shulman, assisted by Steven Jaffe (rabbinic
profiles) Formatting by David Shulman
Explanation of Terms |
About JCR-UK |
JCR-UK home page
Contact JCR-UK Webmaster:
jcr-ukwebmaster@jgsgb.org.uk
(Note: This is to contact JCR-UK, not the above Congregation)

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