Letchworth & Hitchin Jewish Communities

North Hertfordshire

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congregations throughout the British Isles and Gibraltar, both past and present.
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Letchworth Garden City

Letchworth, officially called Letchworth Garden City, is a town in Hertfordshire in southeast England. It was founded as a new town in 1903, and is known as the world's first Garden City. Letchworth was an urban district until 1974, when it was merged with adjoining areas to form the North Hertfordshire District, a local government district within the county of Hertfordshire. The population of the town is approximately 33,000.

Town of Hitchin

The historic town of Hitchin, situated immediately to the west of Letchworth, was also an urban district until its incorporation into the local government district of North Hertfordshire in 1974. The population of Hitchin is approximately 30,000.

The Jewish Communities

The Letchworth Jewish Community was founded in 1939. It was almost unique among those communities formed during World War II by Jewish families relocating from London to escape the German air raids, in that the community was almost exclusively orthodox. The Letchworth Jewish community had the infrastructure that normally accompanied much larger communities, such as a kosher butcher, mikva, Talmud Torah, etc. The community began to decline following the end of the War, but continued to exist until 1971.

Adjoining Hitchin also had a war time congregation and, today, there is a yeshiva in the the close-by village of Great Offley. Hitchin also had a medieval Jewish community

Jewish Congregations

The following are the Jewish congregations that exist or existed in Letchworth and Hitchin in modern times:

Letchworth

Hall Mead Synagogue
Letchworth Hebrew Congregation
(Kahal Adass Yeshurun)
Letchworth Talmud Torah
Scouts Hill Synagogue
Simmons' Hall Synagogue
Synagogue at Girls' School

Hitchin

Hitchin Hebrew Congregation
Yeshivas Ohr Torah*, Great Offrey
(formerly Yeshivas Toras Chessed)

* An active congregation.

On-line Articles and Other Material
relating to the Letchworth Jewish Community

on JCR-UK

A Brief History of the Letchworth Hebrew Congregation by Eli Fachler.
Bibliography (which includes The Vow - Rebuilding the Fachler Tribe after the Holocaust by Yankie Fachler - copy of cover on right)

Community Records

Registration District (for BMD): Hertfordshire (since 1 April 2008).
- Previous Registration Districts:
  Hitchin (from 1 July 1837 to 1 March 1996)
  Hitchin & Stevenage (from 1 March 1996 to 1 April 2008)
- Any registers would now be held by current register office (which is in Hatfield).
- Link to Register Office website

Jewish Cemeteries Information

There are no Jewish cemeteries in either Letchworth or Hitchin.

Letchworth Jewish Population Data
1957	250	(The Jewish Year Book 1958)
1965	100	(The Jewish Year Book 1966)

Jewish Congregations in Hertfordshire

Jewish Communities of England home page

Page created: 1 February 2006
Latest revision or update: 6 December 2019

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