Edgware and Hendon Reform Synagogue

Congregation Data⁽ⁱ⁾

Edgware and Hendon Reform Synagogue

LeDor VeDor

118 Stonegrove, Edgware, Middx. HA8 8AB (the site of the former Edgware & District Reform Synagogue)

Active

Founded 15 July 2017 (first service), on the merger of the Edgware & District Reform Synagogue (EDRS) and the Hendon Reform Synagogue (HRS)

Reform

A constituent synagogue of the Movement for Reform Judaism.

http://www.ehrs.uk

Rabbi Steven Katz - Senior Minister from 2017 merger until January 2019, formerly Senior Minister of HRS from early 1980s, having previously been its Associate Minister from 1975. From 2019, an Emeritus Rabbi of the congregation.⁽ⁱⁱ⁾

Rabbi Daniel Smith - Senior Minister from 2017 merger until about August 2019, formerly Senior Minister of EDRS, from 1993. From 2019, an Emeritus Rabbi of the congregation.⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾

Rabbi Neil S. Kraft - Associate Minister from 2017 merger until his death in March 2020, formerly Associate Minister of EDRS, from 2002.^(iv)

Rabbi Emily Yael Reitsma-Jurman - Rabbi of congregation from 2017 merger until December 2020, formerly Assistant Minister of EDRs from 2015^(v)

Rabbi D. Mark Goldsmith - Senior Rabbi from early 2019 until present (June 2025)^(vi)

Rabbi Debbie Young-Somers - Rabbi of the congregation from April 2020 until present (June 2025)^(vii)

Rabbi Roberta Harris-Eckstein - Rabbi from 2022 until about 2024^(viii)

Rabbi Tanya Sakhnovich - Rabbi from 2022 until present (June 2025)^(ix)

Cantor Tamara Wolfson - Cantor from 2024 until present (June 2025)^(x)

In a 2016 Report on synagogue membership^(xiii), EDRS was listed in the highest category, as having 1,500 to 1,900 members (by household), placing it among the two largest synagogues (in terms of membership) in the UK, and HRS was listed as having 500 to 749 members. Accordingly, upon the merger of the two congregations (which took place just a year later), the combined membership of the new merged entity was almost certainly the largest for any synagogue in the UK.

The congregation is a registered company, Edgware and Hendon Reform Synagogue (company no. 10622971), a private company limited by guarantee without a share capital (and with an exemption from use of the word 'Limited'), incorporated on 16 February 2017.^(xiv)

It is also a registered charity (no. 1172458), registered on 6 April 2017.^(xv)

The governing documents were the Company's Memorandum & Articles Association.

Bibliography -  Barnet

Barnet (since founding of the merged congregation) - Link to Register Office website.

Cemetery Information:

Membership includes burial rights through the Jewish Joint Burial Society (JJBS) at the Western Cemetery, Cheshunt or cremation at Golders Green Crematorium. There is also the option (through the JJBS) of a Woodland Burial in Cheshunt at additional cost or of mixed faith burial in a separate area at Cheshunt.

(For a brief period in the 1990s, EDRS members had an option to join a scheme, at an additional annual fee, for burial at Edgwarebury Lane Cemetery. The option is no longer available, although those EDRS members who took up the option at the time may still be buried at Edgwarebury Lane Cemetery.)

Notes & Sources (↵ returns to text above)

• (i) Except where otherwise indicated, the source for all data on this Congregation was the Congregation's website, accessed in August 2017. ↵

• (ii) Congregation's website, accessed 20 November 2018 and Jewish Chronicle press report (15 January 2019) of Rabbi Katz's retirement. ↵

• (iii) Congregation's website, accessed 30 July 2019 (which noted that Rabbi Smith was due to retire in mid-2019) and 31 December 2019 (which noted that Rabbi Smith resigned in Summer 2019). ↵

• (iv) Congregation's website, accessed 31March 2020 and Jewish Chronicle Report 28 March 2020.  ↵

• (v) A report dated 21 November 2015, which appeared on the now-defunct website of EDRS, referred to the upcoming induction of Toronto-born Rabbi Emily Jurman. Jewish News Report 22 July 2020 on leaving the congregation. ↵

• (vi) Congregation's website, accessed 15 December 2020 and last accessed June 2025 and Jewish News Report 19 November 2018. ↵

• (vii) Jewish News report of 15 January 2020 entitled "Rabbi Debbie Young-Somers to join Edgware and Hendon Reform shul team" and congregation's website, last accessed June 2025. ↵

• (viii) Listed on the Congregation's website, accessed May 2023, but not listed when accessed in June 2025. ↵

• (ix) Jewish Chronicle report of 9 August 2022 entitled "Elstree rabbi to move to Edgware congregation - Currently at The Liberal Synagogue Elstree, Tanya Sakhnovich will join Edgware and Hendon Reform in November" and congregation's website, last accessed June 2025. ↵

• (ix) congregation's website, accessed June 2025. ↵

• (xi) and (xii) Reserved.

• (xiii) Report on "Synagogue Membership in the United Kingdom in 2016", published by the Institute of Jewish Policy Research (JPR). Link to report. ↵

• (xiv) Companies House website last accessed June 2025. Clicking on the company number of this will take you to the registration on the Companies House website.  ↵

• (xv) Charities Commission website, last accessed June 2025. Clicking on the charity number of this will take you to the charity's registration on the Charities Commission website.  ↵