Finchley Reform Synagogue

North Finchley, London N12

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Congregation Data
Name:	Finchley Reform Synagogue
Former Name:	Woodside Park & District Reform Synagogue, until about 1963.⁽ⁱ⁾
Address:	299/101 Fallow Court Avenue, North Finchley, London N12 0BE
Previous Address:	Previously (until about 1969⁽ⁱⁱ⁾) at Granville Hall, Granville Road, Finchley, London N12, and prior to then (until about 1963⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾) in Unitarian Church, Woodside Park, N.12
Current Status:	Active
Date Founded:	1960^(iv)
Ritual:	Reform
Affiliation:	A constituent synagogue of the Movement for Reform Judaism (formerly the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain), having joined the movement in 1962.^(v)
Website:	http://www.frsonline.org
Senior Ministers and Rabbinical Team: (To view a short profile of a rabbi - hold the cursor over his or her name.)	Rabbi Henry Goldstein - Rabbi from 1968 until 1973.^(vi) Rabbi Jeffrey Newman ^(vii) - Senior Rabbi from 1973 until 2000, and thereafter emeritus rabbi. Rabbi Lee Wax - Rabbi from about 2002 until about 2005.^(viii) Rabbi Roderick Young - Senior Rabbi from about 2006 until about 2008.^(ix) Rabbi Miriam Berger (née Bayfield) - Initially Associate Rabbi (from 2006) then Principal Rabbi from 2008 until 2024.^(x) Cantor Zöe Jacobs - Senior Clergy from 2004 until present (December 2025), previously Ordained Cantor, from 2009.^(xi)
Associate or Assistant Rabbis:	Rabbi Sheila Shulman - Rabbi from about 2000 until about 2005, initially part-time, then for a number of years as half-time associate rabbi, then part-time again.^(xiv) Rabbi Colin Eimer (part-time) - Senior Rabbi from 2001 until 2005.^(xv) Rabbi Howard Cooper - Rabbi from at least 2010, and probably much earlier until present (June 2021).^(xvi) Rabbi Danny Newman - from August 2017 until about 2018^(xvii)
Membership Data:	Congregation's Website 1960 - about 20 families^(xxii) National Reports & Surveys^(xxiii) 1977 - 315 male (or household) members and 33 female members 1983 - 350 male (or household) members and 71 female members 1990 - 528 members (comprising 387 households, 53 individual male and 88 individual female members) 1996 - 639 members (comprising 527 households, 39 individual male and 73 individual female members) 2010 - listed as having 500 to 749 members (by household) 2016 - listed as having 750 to 999 members (by household)
Congregation's Magazine:	Newsletter, first published 1961, which subsequently became the *Tree of Life*.
Legal & Charitable Status:	Finchley Reform Synagogue is a private (non-profit) company limited by guarantee without share capital and with use of 'Limited' exemption (company number: 07321494), incorporated on 21 July 2010.^(xxiv) It is also a registered charity, its current registration dating from 20 August 2010 (registered charity number: 1137557). The governing documents are the Company's Memorandum & Articles Association.^(xxv) (The congregation's previous registration as a registered charity was from 25 July 1996 until 19 June 2012 (registered charity number: 1057953).The governing document was the Congregation's Constitution adopted 28 September 2005, as subsequently amended.)^(xxvi)
Local Government District:	NorthFinchley and neighbouring Woodside Park, residential suburbs in Northwest London, are in the London Borough of Barnet^(xxvii) and were (until 1965) in the former Municipal Borough of Finchley.
Registration District (BMD):	Barnet^(xxviii) - Link to Register Office website.
Worship Registration:	The synagogue in Fallow Court Avenue is registered as a Place of Worship - Worship Register Number 73812 - under the Places of Worship Registration Act 1855.^(xxix)
Cemetery Information:	The congregation has "London Synagogue" membership of the Jewish Joint Burial Society (JJBS), which includes rights of burial at one of the Society's cemeteries, in particular the Western Cemetery, Bulls Cross Ride, Cheshunt. There is also generally the option (through the JJBS) of a Woodland Burial in Cheshunt or cremation at Golders Green Crematorium.
Notes & Sources (↵ returns to text above) (i) Based on listing under this name until Jewish Year Book 1963. ↵ (ii) This was the address given in the Jewish Year Books until 1969. ↵ (iii) The move from Woodside Park would have coincided with the change of name of the Congregation- see above. ↵ (iv) Congregation's website, accessed 8 February 2018. ↵ (v) Congregation's website, accessed 8 February 2018. ↵ (vi) "Who's Who" entries in Jewish Year Books, latest 2008. Congregation' website refers to Rabbi Goldstein's appointment in 1968, as its first rabbi. ↵ (vii) Congregation's website, last accessed 8 June 2021. Rabbi Newman continues to be listed as Emeritus Minister until present (June 2021). ↵ (viii) Based upon Rabbi Wax's listing in Jewish Year Books 2003 through 2006. ↵ (ix) Based upon Rabbi Young's listing in Jewish Year Books 2007 and 2008. ↵ (x) Congregation's website, and Jewish Chronicle reports. ↵ (xi) Jewish Chronicle reports. Listed as Cantor in Jewish Year Books 2011. ↵ (xii) and (xiii) Reserved. (xiv) Based upon Rabbi Shulman's listing in Jewish Year Books 2001 through 2006, initially shown as associate rabbi. ↵ (xv) Rabbi Eimer's "Who's Who" entries in Jewish Year Books, latest 2015. ↵ (xvi) Although Rabbi Cooper's first listing with regard to this congregation was in the Jewish Year Book 2011, the Congregation's website, last accessed 8 June 2021, includes a biography of Rabbi Cooper and refers to his first involvement with the Congregation since 1983. ↵ (xvii) Based upon a report issued by the congregation on 11 August 2017 that Rabbi Newman had (on 3 August) taken up a full-time rabbinical position with the congregation after his receiving rabbinic ordination in July 2017, although by March 2018, Rabbi Newman was no longer a member of the congregation's rabbinical team. ↵ (xviii) to (xxi) Reserved. (xxii) Congregation's website, accessed 8 February 2018. ↵ (xxiii) 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. ↵ (xxiv) Companies House website accessed December 2025. Clicking on the company number of this will take you to the registration on the Companies House website.. ↵ (xxv) Charities Commission website, accessed December 2025. Clicking on the charity number of this will take you to the charity's registration on the Charities Commission website.. ↵ (xxvi) On the former Open Charities website, accessed March 2018. ↵ (xxvii) The London Borough of Barnet, an Outer London Borough within the Greater London administrative area, was created on 1 April 1965 upon the merger of the the Municipal Boroughs of Finchley and Hendon and Urban District of Friern Barnet (all of which had been in the former county of Middlesex) with the Urban Districts of Barnet and East Barnet (both of which had been part of the county of Hertfordshire). ↵ (xxviii) The former Registration District was Hendon, from the formation of Congregation until 1 April 1999. All registers would now be held by current register office. ↵ (xxix) Page 18 of the 2010 List of Places of Worship ↵

On-line Articles and Other Material
relating to this Congregation

Annual Reports filed with the Charities Commission (pdf):
- For the year ended 30 September 2013;
- For years ended 31 August 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Bibliography:
- Tree of Life Silver Jubilee Issue: Finchley Reform Synagogue 1960-1985 [1985, the Congregation]
- other London Borough of Barnet bibliography.

Notable Members of this Congregation
(courtesy by Steven Jaffe)

John Bercow (b.1963), former Speaker of the House of Commons from 2009 to 2019, and MP for Buckingham between 1997 and 2019, representing the Conservative party until his election as Speaker.
Dame Melinda Simmons, diplomat, United Kingdom Ambassador to Ukraine (2019-2023) and to Poland (from 2025).

List of Reform Judaism Congregations

Jewish Congregations in Finchley (London Borough of Barnet)

List of Member Synagogues of the Jewish Joint Burial Society

Jewish Congregations in Greater London (other than East End)

Greater London home page

Page created: 16 November 2006
Data significantly expanded and notes first added: 8 February 2018
Page most recently amended: 30 December 2025

Research and formatting by David Shulman

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