New Essex Masorti Synagogue

Congregation Data

New Essex Masorti Synagogue (generally used from December 2005 until about 2011, and again from January 2018)⁽ⁱ⁾

Buckhurst Hill Masorti Synagogue (used from 2010 until 2018)⁽ⁱ⁾

New Essex Masorti Congregation (name until December 2005)⁽ⁱⁱ⁾

8 Oaks Lane, Newbury Park, Ilford, Essex IG2 7PL (from January 2018)
These are the premises of the Oaks Lane Reform Synagogue (formerly known as South West Essex and Settlement Reform Synagogue - SWESRS)⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾

The Woollard Centre, 50 Loughton Way, Buckhurst Hill, Essex IG9 4AB (until 2018)⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾

Roding Valley Hall, Station Way, Buckhurst Park, Essex IG9 6LN (until 2011)^(iv)

Services held at Prince Regent Hotel, Woodford Bridge, Essex (until about 1998)^(v)

Previously at 3 Beechcroft Road, South Woodford, Essex (until about 1991)^(vi)

Active

Masorti / Conservative

The congregation was founded at a meeting in South Woodford in August 1986.^(vii)

The congregation is a constituent synagogue of Masorti Judaism (known as the Assembly of Masorti Synagogues until 2012).^(viii)

https://nemsynagogue.co.uk/

Rabbi Michael Foulds - from 2007 until about 2019.^(ix)

Rabbi Zahavit Shalev - Part-time minister from September 2019 until December 2024.^(x)  

National Reports & Surveys^(xii)

1990 - 32 members (comprising 26 households and 6 individual male members)

1996 - 56 members (comprising 50 households and 5 individual male members)

2010 & 2016 - listed as having 50 to 99 members (by household)

Annual Reports of Masorti Judaism^(xiii) - number of members as of 1 January:

2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
152	149	169	169	169	155	89	89	150

2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
139	102	92	97	120	120	123	130	122

Buckhurst Hill, in northeast London, is in the London Borough of Redbridge, an outer London borough created on 1 April 1965, within the administrative area of Greater London.

Redbridge (since formation of congregation) - Link to Register Office website

Notes & Sources (↵ returns to text above)

• (i) This current name was listed in Jewish Year Books 2007 through 2011. As reported in the Jewish Chronicle on 19 August 2010, the congregation adopted the name Buckhurst Hill Masorti Synagogue in 2010. However, on the congregation move from its Buckhurst Hill synagogue to the premises leased from SWESRS, as reported on SWESRS website on 16 January 2018, the congregation had reverted to its previous name (which had also been an alternative name in the intervening period). ↵

• (ii) Masorti Olami's webpage for New Essex Masorti Synagogue, accessed 22 May 2018, the congregation was also listed under this name in Jewish Year Books to 2006. ↵

• (iii) The Buckhurst Hill premises were listed in Jewish Year Books from 2012. However, the Jewish Chronicle on 16 January 2018 reported that the congregation was moving from its Buckhurst Hill synagogue, to the premises leased from SWESRS (now Oaks Lane Reform Synagogue). ↵

• (iv) Jewish Year Books from 1999 through 2011. ↵

• (v) Jewish Year Books from 1993 through 1998. ↵

• (vi) Jewish Year Books from 1987 through 1991. The congregation was not listed in the 1992 edition. ↵

• (vii) Masorti Olami's webpage for New Essex Masorti Synagogue, accessed 22 May 2018. ↵

• (viii) From its first appearance in Jewish Year Books in 1987, the congregation was listed as a constituent of the Assembly of Masorti Synagogues (AMS). It has been classified as a constituent synagogue in AMS's annual reports from the filing of the first annual report in 2007 (which followed AMS's incorporation - it had previously been an unincorporated association) until the latest annual report, filed for 2017 (see note (xiii) below). ↵

• (ix) Although Masorti Olami's webpage for the congregation, accessed 28 February 2019, referred to Rabbi Foulds as minister of the congregation, there are other reports of him retiring somewhat earlier (some as early as 2014). ↵

• (x) In Rabbi Shalev's LinkedIn profile, accessed January 2020, she refers to herself serving the congregation as "sole, part-time rabbi" and, as last accessed February 2026, she served the congregation, initially as a student rabbi, from 2014 and gave December 2024 as her date of departure from the congregation. The Essex Jewish News on 7 April 2025, in an article titled "Rabbinic change at New Essex Masorti Synagogue" reported that a "thank you" event was held for Rabbi Shalev to honor Rabbi Shalev's departure from the congregation. ↵

• (xi) Reserved.

• (xii) 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. ↵

• (xiii) See links to Masorti Judaism's annual reports. Some of these figures show no change from the previous year, which seems unlikely and it is assumed that the current year's figure was not available and the previous year's figure was repeated. Also, these figures appear higher than the figures for the above reports and presumably include more than one member per household. ↵

• (xiv) Charities Commission website, accessed February 2026. Clicking on the charity number of this will take you to the charity's registration on the Charities Commission website. ↵