Buckhurst Hill Masorti Synagogue

Congregation Data

Buckhurst Hill Masorti Synagogue

New Essex Masorti Synagogue (generally used until about 2011, and still used as an alternative name)⁽ⁱ⁾

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

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

Roding Valley Hall, Station Way, Buckhurst Park, Essex IG9 6LN (until about 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)

The congregation's website (bhmasorti.org.uk) does not appear to be operational. The congregation is, however, hosted by Masoti Olami at https://masortiolami.org/community/buckhurst-hill-masorti-synagogue

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

Rabbi Zahavit Shalev - Part time minister from September 2019 to present (January 2020).^(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	2016	2017
152	149	169	169	169	155	89	89	150	139	102

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 name was listed in Jewish Year Books 2007 through 2011, therafter the current name was used. ↵

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

• (iii) First listed in Jewish Year Books 2012. ↵

• (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 Masort 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, last accessed 5 January 2020, she refers to herself serving the congregation as "sole, part-time rabbi". ↵

• (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 (in beta trial stage) and Olib.UK/Charity websites (in alpha trial stage), both accessed 22 May 2018. ↵