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JCR-UK
is a genealogical and historical website covering all Jewish communities and
congregations throughout the British Isles and Gibraltar, both past and present.
NOTE: We are not the official website of this congregation, the address of which is shown below.
Town of Maidenhead
Maidenhead is situated on the river
Thames in southeast England, some 25 miles west of London. It is within the
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, which was created in
1974, initially as a local government district of the county of Berkshire,
formed on the merger of a number of local authorities including the municipal borough of Maidenhead
and the Royal Borough of New Windsor as well as parts of the urban district of Eton (which had been
in the county of Buckinghamshire). In 1998, the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead became
a unitary authority, when Berkshire lost its administrative status becoming
purely a ceremonial county.
Maidenhead
Jewish Community
In the 19th century Maidenhead developed as a riverside resort for high
society, and a number of wealthier Jews from London took homes in Maidenhead. A
Jewish influx of evacuees from London during World War I resulted in the first
regularly organised services in the town, hosted by David Galinski, president of
Etz Chaim yeshiva. A Maidenhead Jewish community was formed by evacuees from
London during World War II. In 1952, the congregation became the first synagogue
in the UK to change its affiliation from Orthodox to Reform. In 2016, it was
stated to be the largest non metropolitan synagogue in the country.
(Extracted from Royal Jews: Jewish Life in Berkshire from the Readmission till Today,
by Jonathan Romain, 2015, now
online.)
Congregation Data |
Name: |
Maidenhead Synagogue |
Former Name: |
Maidenhead Hebrew Congregation
(also known as Maidenhead & District Hebrew Congregation), until about 1957.(i) |
Address: |
Grenfell Lodge, Ray Park Road, Maidenhead SL6 8QX
The building is a former hostel for disabled children that was converted
to a synagogue in 2001.(ii)
A significant extension to the
synagogue, including a new community centre, was opened in January 2017
by Prince Edward, Duke of Wessex (iii) |
Previous Addresses: |
"Studlands", 9 Boyn Hill Avenue, Maidenhead SL6 5ET, from 1953
until 2001.(iv)
Previously, the congregation met at various venues, such as members'
homes and rented halls, Woodcarvers Hall, Marlow Road,
Maidenhead,(v)
Oddfellows Hall, Brock Street and 29, Laburnum
Road, Maidenhead.(vi) |
Current Status: |
Active |
Formation, Affiliation and Ritual: |
At the initiative of Rabbi J. Galas in July 1940, an unaffiliated traditional Orthodox
congregation was formed in Maidenhead primarily by families evacuated to the town during
World War II.(vii)
Following the war, a number of the evacuees stayed in the area and established a more permanent Jewish community.
In 1953, a successful campaign led by a leading
member, Mr. Sidney Rich, (following a visit he made to a Reform
synagogue in the United States)(viii)
resulted in the congregation being
reconstituted, adopting the Reform ritual and applying for membership of
the Reform movement.
In 1954, the congregation
was accepted as a member of the Associated Synagogues of Great Britain
(ASGB),(ix) which subsequently became
the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain and is today the
Movement
for Reform Judaism, of which the congregation is a constituent
synagogue. |
Website: |
https://www.maidenheadsynagogue.org.uk/ |
Magazine: |
Hadashot ("News") |
Ministers:
(To view a short profile of a minister
whose name appears in blue - hold the cursor
over his name.) |
Rabbi Yechiel Gallas
- from July 1940 until at least 1941(xii)
Rev. H.V. Brazil
- from at least 1945 until at least 1946(xiii)
Simon Joseph - Hon. Minister from about 1948 until
about 1949(xiv)
Rabbi Erwin S. Rosenblum
- from 1953 until 1956(xv)
Rabbi Henry Phillips Silverman
- from 1965 until c.1968 (post retirement)(xvi)
Rabbi Dr. Jonathan A. Romain
- from 1980 until 2024(xvii)
Rabbi René Pfertzel
- from September 2024 until present (June 2025)(xviii)
|
Lay Officers:
(to 1950s)(xx) |
Presidents & Wardens
circa 1941 - H.A. Goodman, Warden(xxi)
at least 1945-c.1946 - L. Paisner, President(xxii)
c.1949-c.1950 - L. Paisner, Warden(xxii)
c.1953-c.1954 - Sidney Rich, President
c.1954-c.1955 - V. Afia, Hon. President
c.1955-c.1956 - W. Goldstein, Hon.President
Hon. Vice President
c.1954-c.1956 - I. Madenberg |
Treasurers
at least 1945-c.1946 - Mr. Golkin(xxiii)
c.1954-c.1955 - A. Hanbury & I. Wiseman
c.1955-c.1956 - V. Afia & Sidney Rich
Hon. Secretaries
at least 1945-c.1950 - D.B. Silverman(xxiv)
c.1953-c.1954 - E. Levenson
c.1954-c.1955 - R. Bernie
c.1955-c.1960 - H. Madenberg
c.1960-c.1965 - R. Bernie |
Membership Data: |
National Reports and Surveys(xxvii)
1977 - 60 male (or household) members and 28 female members
1983 - 143 male (or household) members and 51 female members
1990 - 472 members (comprising 227 households, 100 individual male and 145
individual female members)
1996 - 540 members (households)
2010 & 2016 - listed as having 750 to 999 members (by household)
General
1999 - 720(xxviii)
2019 - about 800 households(xxix) |
Legal and Charitable Status: |
On 19 July 2005, the congregation, under the name Maidenhead Synagogue Limited, was
incorporated as a registered (non-profit) company (company no.
05512194), a private company limited by guarantee without a share
capital.(xxx)
The congregation, under the same name, is also a registered charity (registered charity no.
1110795), registered on
9 August 2005.(xxxi) (The congregation had a
previous registration as a charity (prior to its incorporation as a
company), as The Maidenhead Synagogue, from 19 January
1999 (registered charity no. 1073366) until it was removed from the
register on 21 February 2007, as the non-incorporated entity had ceased
to exist.)(xxxii) |
Worship Registration: |
The synagogue at Grenfell Lodge, Ray Park Road, is registered as a Place of Worship -
Worship Register Number 80634 - under the Places of Worship Registration Act 1855.(xxxiii) |
Cemetery & Burial Information: |
The congregation is a member synagogue of the
Jewish Joint Burial Society
(JJBS), through which the congregation's members participate in a burial scheme.
There is a Jewish burial ground in Maidenhead
- a section reserved for Jewish burials at the Braywick Cemetery,
Braywick Road, Maidenhead, SL6, opened in 1971 with a capacity for 350
graves.
For additional information (if any), see also
IAJGS Cemetery Project - Maidenhead. |
Notes & Sources (↵
returns to text above)
|
Online Articles,
Bibliography and Other Material relating to the Maidenhead Jewish Community
on JCR-UK
General
Notable Jewish Connections with Maidenhead
|

Gravestone of Sir Nicholas Winton
|
-
Sir Nicholas Winton (1909-2015) stockbroker, who had
Jewish parents but was baptised as a child, was instrumental in
rescuing 669 Jewish children (later known as "Nicky's children") from
Nazi occupied Prague on the eve of World War II.
He later lived for many years in the village of Pinneys Green, near Maidenhead.
A statue of him, located outside Maidenhead train station, was unveiled in 2010.
In 2017 a garden at Oaken Grove Park, Maidenhead, was named after him. Another artwork,
at The Coppa Club in Maidenhead, is dedicated to Sir Nicholas's life.
His grave is at the children's section of Braywick cemetery, Maidenhead.
-
Louis Oppenheimer (1870-1956), owner of a diamond and mineral conglomerate in Africa, purchased Waltham Place, an old Manor and farm approximately four miles south west of Maidenhead in 1910. His wife Carlota developed the estate and gardens there.
-
A Jewish boarding school, Caufield College, operated in Maidenhead from 1897 until approximately 1917 (principal Joseph Polak).
|
Community Records |
Registration District (BMD): |
|
Maidenhead Jewish Population
|
1983 |
750 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1984) |
1990 |
1,180 |
(The Jewish Year Book 1991) |
1999 |
1,240 |
(The Jewish Year Book 2000) |
2004 |
1,035 |
(The Jewish Year Book 2005) |
World War II Evacuee Communities
List of Reform Judaism Congregations
Jewish Congregations in Berkshire
Jewish Communities in Greater London and its Outskirts
List of Member Synagogues of the Jewish Joint Burial Society
Jewish Communities of England home page
Page created: 2 March 2004
Data significantly expanded and notes first added: 13 September 2019
Page most recently amended: 25June 2025
Research by David Shulman, assisted by Steven Jaffe 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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