The former

Hastings & St. Leonards Hebrew Congregations

East Sussex

JCR-UK is a genealogical and historical website covering all Jewish communities and
congregations throughout the British Isles and Gibraltar, both past and present.

During the eighteenth and nineteeth centuries there had been at least two orthodox congregations in Hastings and St. Leonards-on-Sea, at different time.

Data on Earlier Congregation
Name:	St Leonards & Hastings Hebrew Congregation⁽ⁱⁱ⁾
Date Founded:	Although the congregation was formally founded, by Rev. P. Bender, in November 1885, services in Hastings had already been held for some years (from at least October 1881, when High Holyday services were held at 12 Robertson Terrace).⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾
Address & Services^(iv):	From 1885 (and even earlier, from before the formal establishment of the congregation) until 1895, services were held at Beaufort College, St Leonards. From 1895 services were mainly conducted at the 'Strathclyde' boarding house, 51 Warrior Square, St Leonards by Abraham Abrahams (c.1841-1907). In 1898, the services were held at Saxon Hall, London Road, St Leonards.
Current Status:	Defunct from sometime after 1904^(v)
Ritual:	Ashkenazi Orthodox
President & Ministers:	Rev. Marks Rosenthal - reader or minister in about 1885.^(vii) Rev. Philipp Bender - president from 1885 until 1895, and minister from 1885 until about 1890.^(viii) Rev. S (or E.) Jaffe - minister from 1890 until about 1893.^(ix) Services were also led there by guest rabbis.
Affiliation:	Unaffiliated
Notes & Sources (↵ returns to text above) (i) Reserved. (ii) The congregation was described as the St Leonards Hastings congregation in the Jewish Chronicle press report of 2 May 1890. ↵ (iii) Hastings and St Leonards - History (p.2) by Dr. Michael Jolles, on National Jewish Heritage Trails website. ↵ (iv) Hastings and St Leonards - History (pp 2/3) by Dr. Michael Jolles, on National Jewish Heritage Trails website. ↵ (v) 1904 was the latest date mentioned in the jtrail article. ↵ (vi) Reserved. (vii) A History of the Jews of Hastings and St Leonards (2020) by Michael Jolles, p.44. ↵ (viii) Hastings and St Leonards - History (p.2) by Dr. Michael Jolles, on National Jewish Heritage Trails website. ↵ (ix) Jewish Chronicle press reports of 2 May 1890, 19 September 1890 and Octobery 1891. ↵ (x) Reserved.

Data on Later Congregation
Name:	Hastings and St Leonards Hebrew Congregation^(xi)
Former Name:	Hastings, St Leonards and Bexhill Hebrew Congregation^(xii)
Address:	Services were initially held at Criterion House, 2 Robertson Terrace, Hastings^(xiii)
Date Founded:	About 1921^(xv)
Current Status:	Defunct from about 1937^(xvi)
Ritual:	Ashkenazi Orthodox
Affiliation:	Believed unaffiliated
Ministers^(xix):	Rev. I. Young - from 1921 until about 1927^(xx) Rev. Myer Wolfson - from 1927 until about 1928^(xxi) H. Goldberg - from 1928 until date unknown^(xxii)
Lay Officers^(xxv):	President c.1927-c.1929 - L. Morris c.1929-c.1930 - H. Goldberg c.1930-c.1937 - J. Rais Hon. Secretary c.1927-c.1929 - I. Michaelson c.1929-c.1930 - M. Stern, BSc. c.1930-c.1937 - J. Michaelson	Treasurer c.1927-c.1929 - S. Teacher c.1929-c.1930 - M. Schrutski c.1930-c.1932 - Jules Rundbaken c.1932-c.1937 - J. Michaelson Auditor c.1927-c.1929 - H. Bielefeld
Notes & Sources (↵ returns to text above) (xi) This was the name under which the congregation was listed during its appearance in Jewish Year Books 1928 through 1937. ↵ (xii) A notice was published in 1921 of services to be held under this congregation name - National Jewish Heritage Trails website for Hastings (page 3) - jtrails.org.uk, accessed 19 September 2019. ↵ (xiii) Based on the Notice referred to in the previous footnote. This was the home address of a Mrs Kornbloom. There was no address given for thecongregation in its Jewish Year Book listings. ↵ (xiv) Reserved. (xv) jtrail article, see note (xii) above. ↵ (xvi) Based upon the congregation's last listing, in Jewish Year Book 1937. ↵ (xvii) and (xviii) Reserved. (xix) The source of all information regarding these listed ministers is the National Jewish Heritage Trails website for Hastings (page 3) - jtrails.org.uk, accessed 19 September 2019. There was no reference to these ministers in the Jewish Year Book. ↵ (xx) Rev. Young had conducted the first service of the congregation in 1921. ↵ (xxi) To view a short profile of Rev. Wolson - hold the cursor over his name. ↵ (xxii) Rev. Goldberg, the congregation's last minister, was from Liverpool. ↵ (xxiii) and (xxiv) Reserved. (xxv) This data here has been extracted from Jewish Year Books 1928 through 1937 and the period of service given here runs from the year prior to first listing of the officer and ends with the year in which the officer was last listed. ↵

Hastings Jewish Community home page

Jewish Congregations in East Sussex

Jewish Communities of England home page

Page created: 18 September 2019
Page most recently amended: 21 September 2023

Research and 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)

Terms and Conditions, Licenses and Restrictions for the use of this website:

This website is owned by JewishGen and the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain. All material found herein is owned by or licensed to us. You may view, download, and print material from this site only for your own personal use. You may not post material from this site on another website without our consent. You may not transmit or distribute material from this website to others. You may not use this website or information found at this site for any commercial purpose.