Rabbi Abraham Moses Babad
(1909 - 31 March 1966)

Rabbi Babad was born in Mukulince, Poland (now in Ukraine) and obtained semicha at the yeshiva in Tarnopol (today Ternopil in western Ukraine). He emigrated to London in 1936 and became minister of the small Ahavat Emet Synagogue in London's East End (about 1937) and later joint prinicipal of Yeshivah Or Yisroel in Stamford Hill (1937-1943), consisting of 20 boys rescued from Nazi-occupied Europe by Rabbi Dr. Solomon Schonfeld, presiding Rabbi of the UOHC. He served as minister of Edgware Adath Yisroel Synagogue, London (1943-1947) before moving to Sunderland to become rabbi of the Sunderland Beth Hemedrash (1947-1965) and became president of Sunderland Yeshiva. Rabbi Babad was chairman of the European Executive of Agudas Israel. He died in London. (History of the Edgware Adath Yisroel Congregation on its website and Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History (2011) by W. Rubinstein (ed.) and M.A. Jolles and H. L. Rubinstein (ass. eds.), p.44.)

Rev. Joseph Babitz
(c.1889 - 18 October 1945)

Rev. Babitz (also referred to as Babity) served as minister of the Magnus Memorial Synagogue, Chatham, Kent, from 1920 until 1923. He later moved to London and practised as a mohel. He is buried in Rainham Cemetery, London. (Jolles's Encyclopaedia; A Fitting Memorial, a brief history of Chatham Synagogue by Irina Fridman; and Jewish Year Book listings.)

Rev. Joshua Bach
(28 July 1888 - 6 December 1959)

Born in Mogilev (now Belarus), Rev. Bach, also known as Bachrach, (m. Mathilda Lewis in 1915) was a pupil of the famous Chazan Sirota at Odessa and came to Britain in about 1907. He ministered (presumably as reader, shochet and/or teacher) to the Northampton Hebrew Congregation (very briefly c.1907) and Graham Street Synagogue in Edinburgh, and possibly also to congregations in Stroud, Lurgan (if so in c.1910) and Ayr (if so, very briefly in early 1911). He was subsequently reader at the Wallasey Hebrew Congregation, Merseyside (1911-1913) and reader, shochet and teacher at the Southend and Westcliff Hebrew Congregation (1913-c.1917). He then served the Middlesbrough Hebrew Congregation (c.1918) and North Manchester Synagogue. From January 1921 until 1924, he served as reader at the Portsmouth Hebrew Congregation. In 1924, he was resident in Worthing, Sussex. Rev. Bach later emigrated to the United States to pursue a ministerial career, which included serving the North Gay Street Synagogue, Nashville, Tennessee (c.1930). In 1954 he performed as a visiting chazan from America, at a Chanukah concert at the West End Great Synagogue, London. (Jewish Year Book listings and Jewish Chronicle reports, including report of 14 March 1913.)

Rev. S. Bach

Rev. S. Bach served as reader and shochet at Exeter Hebrew Congregation, Devon, (1871-1874) and Bath Synagogue, Somerset, (1874). (Jolles's Encyclopaedia; the Jewish Directory for 1874 by Asher Myers.)

Rabbi Chaim Kasriel Baddiel
(18 January 1915 - 2 February 2001)

Born in Gateshead, Rabbi Baddiel (m. Chana Rosenberg) was a student at Manchester yeshiva. He was minister to the war time evacuee congregation at Buxton, Derbyshire, until 1943, when he was appointed minister to another evacuee community, the Torquay and Paignton Hebrew Congregation, in Devon. In 1945, at the end of the war, a group of Persian Jews who had evacuated to Torquay and had "adopted" Rabbi Baddiel, persuaded him to return with them to London to be rabbi to their Stamford Hill Synagogue (later known as the Persian Hebrew Congregation). In 1963 a Jewish Chronicle reporter remarked: "Surprisingly enough, the spiritual leader of this exclusive Sephardi community is an Ashkenazi. "I am very happy with this community and feel perfectly at home with them." Rabbi Baddiel told me. "I feel that the genuine Jewish spirit is inborn in them more than in the Westernised type of Jew." He retired in about 1988 and died in Jerusalem. He was the brother of Rabbi Mordechai Moshe Baddiel. (Jewish Chronicle report of 25 October 1963; Jewish Year Book listings.)

Rabbi Clive Baddiel
(b. 1956)

Manchester-born Rabbi Baddiel (m. Rebecca) obtained semicha at Gateshead Yeshiva and at Mir Yeshiva, Jerusalem. He was briefly assistant minister at Cardiff United Synagogue, Wales, (1980-1981). He was then Minister of Southport Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire (1981-1983). He left to study at Jews' College, London. Later Rabbi Baddiel was headmaster of Lubavitch Boys Primary School in Stamford Hill and deputy headmaster of Hasmonean Girls School, north west London. ("Philanthropy, Consensus and Broiges...a history of the Southport Jewish Community" by John Cowell, p611 and Jewish Chronicle reports.)

Rabbi Mordechai Moshe Baddiel
(8 March 1930 - 22 April 2019)

Gateshead-born Rabbi Baddiel (m. Leila Wolfsonn) studied at yeshiva in Staines, Middlesex, and Gateshead Talmudic College. His first communal position was at the Newcastle Old Hebrew Congregation (Leazes Park Road Synagogue), where he served as second reader (1952-1957). He then moved to Ireland to become the last minister of the Cork Hebrew Congregation (c.1957-1963). Returning to England, he was appointed additional reader, shochet and teacher for the Leicester Hebrew Congregation (1963-c.1968). In 1969, he received and accepted a "call" from Newcastle upon Tyne to become minister of the Gosforth and Kenton Hebrew Congregation (1969-1973) and, whilst there, received his rabbinical semicha at the age of 40. In 1973, when a merger was effected of Newcastle's Orthodox congregations, Rabbi Baddiel served as minister of the new Newcastle United Hebrew Congregation (1973-1995) until his retirement at the age of 65. He was the brother of Rabbi Chaim Kasriel Baddiel. ("Who's Who" entries and listings in Jewish Year Books and Jewish Chronicle Obituary 6 June 2019.)

Rev. Morris Balanow

Rev. M. Balanow was minister and shochet at Dunfermline Hebrew Congregation, Scotland, in the 1920s. He was the father of Rev. Shalom Issy Balanow. (My Mother's Daughter - A Theatrical Autobiography by Edith Rudduck, 1995.)

Rev. Shalom Issy Balanow
(c.1922 - 10 May 1989)

Born in Dunfermline, Scotland, where his father, Rev. Morris Balanow, was minister and shochet, Rev. S. Balanow (m. Hannah Monk - d. 2013) was educated at Jews' College, London. His served as minister to the Whitley Bay Synagogue, northeast England, from about 1953 until about 1959. For the next 30 years he was minister at Netherlee and Clarkston Hebrew Congregation, Glasgow, (1959-1989), and principal of its Hebrew and religion classes. Rev. Balanow was registrar of the Glasgow Beth Din and administrator of the Glasgow Board for Shechita. He died in Glasgow and is buried at Gleduffhill cemetery. A room was endowed in the Newark Lodge Jewish Care Home, Glasgow, in his memory. (Jewish Chronicle obituary 2 June 1989 and Jewish Year Book listings. Photograph of Rev. Balanow opening the Glasgow Hebrew Burial Society office in Allison Street, Govanhill, in the 1960s.)

Rabbi Greg Bank

Rabbi Bank (m. Hannah), who grew up in South Africa, studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion, Israel, where he received his semicha while completing bachelors degree in education at Herzog College. He was appointed Youth Rabbi of the Linksfield Senderwood Synagogue, Johannesburg (from 2016) and later he and rebbetzin Hannah served as rabbinic couple at Yeshurun Hebrew Congregation, Gatley, Manchester (from November 2019 to present - June 2021). (For additional background, see Profile on Yeshurun's website.)

Rabbi Binyamin Bar
(b. 1977)

Rabbi Bar was born in Strasbourg, France to a rabbinical family and studied in yeshivot for ten years in England, Israel and the United States. He received semicha from prominent rabbonim in Israel, the United States and Canada. Whilst in yeshiva, Rabbi Bar authored several booklets about Talmud and Halacha. He is also a graduate of La Sorbonne University in Paris. Rabbi Bar was an assistant rabbi and chazan in Ottawa and Montreal, Canada, and he also taught Jewish studies at a Montreal Yeshiva/High School for boys, before he became minister of the Southend and Westcliff Hebrew Congregation (2006-2019). (Profile of the SWHC website by Anne Marcus in correspondence with Rabbi Bar.)

Rev. Abraham Barnett
(1809 - 1886)

Rev. Abraham Barnett (m. Caroline Lazarus - d. 1871) was minister of Bristol Hebrew Congregation (c.1829-c.1832) and later served as reader (chazan) of Hambro' Synagogue, London (about 1850s) and as first reader of the New Synagogue, London (c.1859-c.1884) (Jews in Bristol by J. Samuel, 1997, p.83; "Bankruptcy and the Barnett family" by John Gould, Shemot, Volume 17, pp.1-19)

Rev. Arthur Barnett
(c.1889 - 3 December 1961)

London born Rev Arthur Barnett (m. Jessie Joseph at Bayswater synagogue, 1916 - d. 1984) was a student at Jews' College from 1905 to 1907 and gained the London University B.A. degree. He served as minister at Bayswater Synagogue, London (c.1914-c.1918) and chaplain to H.M Forces during World War I. Towards the end of the war he was senior Jewish chaplain to the British Expeditionary Force in France and later served as the retiring chaplain when the Jewish chaplaincy service was terminated at Aldershot, Hampshire in 1920. He served as minister of Bristol Hebrew Congregation (1920-1924). For 30 years Rev. Barnett was minister at the Western Synagogue, London (1924-1954) and was then emeritus minister. He was the author of The Western Synagogue through Two Centuries, published on the synagogue's 200th anniversary in 1961, shortly before his death. Rev. Barnett was hon. secretary of the Jewish Historical Society of England for 25 years. (Jews in Bristol by J. Samuel, 1997, p.98. Jewish Chronicle obituary 8 December 1961, and Jewish Year Book listings.)

Rev. Isaac Barnett

Rev. Barnett was born in Cracow, Poland. After arriving in Britain, he lived some time in Woolwich, Kent where his children were born. He was subsequently in Sheffield moving from there to become the first minister of the Wolverhampton Synagogue, then in Staffordshire, serving from prior to the opening of the congregation's first synagogue in 1850 until about 1851. (Jewish Chronicle reports and Lost Pioneers: Wolverhampton's Victorian Jewish Community Youtube video by Andy Sloane.)

Rev. Saul D. Barnett
(1884 - 23 November 1959)

Rev. Barnett was born in Minsk, son of Rabbi Gershon Barnett of Orloff (today in the Czech Republic) and Rozanka (in Poland) and served as chazan in Eastern Europe. He came to Britain in about 1907, and married Gertrude Melamed, the niece of Rev Muscat of Sunderland. He served as chazan and shochet for about a year at the Sunderland Beth Hamedrash (c.1907). In 1908 Rev. Barnett was elected chazan, shochet and mohel to the Belfast Hebrew Congregation (c.1908-c.1931). He left the ministry in 1931 to pursue a business career. He died in Belfast. (Stuart Rosenblatt The A to Z of Belfast and Northern Irish Jewry, 2011 edition and obituary in the Belfast Jewish Record, VI, 4 available online.)

Rev. Isidore Barnstein
(c.1840 - 22 December 1925)

Born in Hoorn, northern Holland, Rev. Barnstein was the son of Rabbi Vivian Barnstein. He was living in Liege, Belgium, when in 1867 he married Eva Mendelson from London and in 1868 was elected to the post of minister of the Dover Synagogue, Kent, serving until his retirement in about 1917. Through the 1870s and early 1880s Rev. Barnstein advertised in The Jewish Chronicle for one or two pupils to join his household and be taught thoroughly English, Hebrew, French and German. In 1873, Rev. Barnstein founded the Hebrew and Religious School in Dover and in 1884 he opened a boarding school for boys at Westbourne House, Dover, next door to where his predecessor, Rev. R.I. Cohen, had run a college. In 1887 the Dutch steamship, W.A. Sholten, was involved in a collision and sunk in the English Channel, with the loss of 132 lives. Rev. Barnstein was directly involved with the aftermath this tragedy and officiated at the burial of the seven Jewish victims at the Dover Jewish cemetery. In 1917 while celebrating his Golden Wedding anniversary, he was injured in a major tram accident which killed 11, including his brother-in-law, Councillor Solomon Joseph of nearby Folkstone. He and his wife retired to the home of his daughter in Twickenham, London, where he died and is buried in Dover. Rev. Barnstein was father of Rabbi Dr Henry Barnston of Congregation Beth Israel, Houston, Texas, and Bessie Phillips who in 1924 became Dame d'Honneur du Merite National de France, in recognition of her work for the welfare of Allied troops during the World War I. (Jewish Year Book listings, Jewish Chronicle obituary 1 January 1926 and other reports.)

Rabbi Moshe Baron
(d. December 2021)

Rabbi Baron and his wife Melissa, both from Canada, served as the Jewish chaplaincy couple for Jewish students in Bristol and the South West of England, based at Bristol University, from 2008 until 2011. The young couple subsequently moved to Israel, where Rabbi Baron died premat. (University Jewish Chaplaincy website.)

Rabbi Moshe Barron

Liverpool-born, Rabbi Barron (m. Dr Margaret Ruth Gilbert of Leeds) was the son of Rabbi Shalom Barron. He served as the last minister of Bayswater and Maida Vale Synagogue, London (c.1977-c.1984). In 1984 he became rabbi at Richmond Synagogue, southwest London. In 1990 Rabbi Barron returned to his native Liverpool to become rabbi of the Allerton Hebrew Congregation. He served there until 1998, when he moved to Manchester to take up a teaching post. (Jewish Chronicle, various reports and Jewish Year Book listings.)

Rabbi Shalom Barron
(1916 - 9 September 2002)

London-born Rev. (later Rabbi) Barron (m. Annie Goldberg of Liverpool) was born into a chassidic family and studied at Liverpool Yeshiva. He served as minister and reader of Nusach Sfard Russell Street Congregation, Liverpool (to 1939), and for a while was also headmaster at the Southport Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire (1938-1939). He was then appointed as chazan, shochet and teacher of the Darlington Hebrew Congregation (c.1939-1944), and minister to the Stockport Hebrew Congregation, then in Cheshire (1944-1952). In 1952 Rev. Barron moved to the Irish Republic to become minister and shochet to the Cork Hebrew Congregation (1952-1955). In 1956 he was appointed minister of the Harrismith Hebrew Congregation, South Africa and he served communities at Witbank and Bokburg. Obtaining semicha, Rabbi Barron returned to London in the 1980s and in the 1990s was honorary rabbi to the Machzike Hadass Synagogue in Dublin. Rabbi Shalom Barron retired to Manchester where he died. He was the father of Rabbi Moshe Barron. (Jewish Chronicle press reports and Jewish Year Book listings.)

Rabbi Ben Baruch

London born Rabbi Baruch (m. Atira from Teaneck, New Jersey) studied at Yeshivat Hakotel, Jerusalem, and received semicha from World Mizrachi. In parallel with his yeshiva studies, he graduated with a BSc in Electro-Optical Engineering from the Lev Academic Center, Jerusalem College of Technology. Subsequently, he was awarded a MA in Jewish Philosophy from the Yeshiva University, New York. Rabbi Baruch and his wife, Atira, have served as the Jewish chaplains for students at the University of Cambridge since September 2022 until present (October 2023). (Online research.)

Rev. Abraham Baum

Rev. A. Baum (m. Eva Zucker daughter of Rev A Zucker of Cardiff) was son of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Baum and a graduate of Etz Chaim yeshiva, London and Cambridge University. Prior to World War II, Rev. Baum was chairman of the Council of Orthodox Jewish Youth Societies and of the Sinai Association, and an executive officer of the Torah v'Avodah association in the UK. From about 1939 or 1940 he was briefly minister to the evacuee community in King's Lynn, Norfolk and Jewish teacher to the Hackney Downs School, which had also been evacuated to the town. In 1941 he was appointed by the Jewish National Fund to undertake JNF work in the reception areas. (Jewish Chronicle reports.)

Rabbi Lipa Naftali Baum
(b. 6 April 1919 - 1990)

Rabbi L.P. Baum was born in Korczyna, Poland, and educated in Poland and then at Etz Chaim yeshiva and Jews' College in London, obtaining a BA in Hebrew and Aramaic. In 1945 he was appointed minister of the Windsor and Slough United Synagogue Membership Group. From 1946 to 1948 he was a member of the staff of the Talmudical College, Liverpool. He served as minister of Regents Park and Belsize Park Synagogue (now South Hampstead Synagogue), London, (1950-1954) and received semicha at Jews' College in 1954. He served as rabbi of the Pollokshields Hebrew Congregation, Glasgow, (c.1954-1959) and was appointed minister of Luton Hebrew Congregation, Bedfordshire (1959-1965) and North Finchley and Woodside Park District Synagogue, northwest London (1965-1982). A noted advocate for preserving Yiddish language and culture, he instituted Yiddish classes in London. Following his retirement in 1982, he moved to Israel and died in Jerusalem. (Jewish Chronicle obituary 20 April 1990 contains errors in the order of positions Rabbi Baum held, information is taken instead from various Jewish Chronicle reports, Jewish Year Book Who's Who and listings.)

Rev. Saul (Shlomo Zalman) Beck
(1906 - 30 June 1983)

Rev. Beck (m. Fay Josephs (Slobodnik) in 1941) was educated in the East End of London and studied at Yeshiva Etz Chaim for ten years, but initially pursued a business career as a stone mason. He was conscripted into the army during World War II and was severely wounded, having fought in the Normandy Landings of June 1944. He also served as an army chaplain and was awarded four medals. After being demobbed from the army, Rev. Beck was a Torah teacher in schools in the East End of London and was headmaster of Hebrew classes in Manor Park, West Ham and Hainault. He served as minister of Romford & District Affiliated Synagogue, Essex, for 27 years (c.1954-c.1981) and was later minister of West Ham and Upton Park Synagogue (c.1981 until his death in 1883). Rev. Beck and his wife are buried at East Ham Cemetery (view image of gravestones). (Jewish Chronicle 3 August 1984. To read a tribute written by Rev. Beck's children, Myma and Mordechai Beck of Jerusalem, click HERE.)

Rev. Alter Behrman
(c.1887 - 25 June 1956)

Rev. Behrman (m. Chyer Annie) was born in Rishon-le-Zion, Ottoman Palestine, and served as minister and secretary of York Synagogue (c.1910-c.1911), as reader and shochet of the Coventry Hebrew Congregation (c.1911-c.1914) and as minister of Norwich Hebrew Congregation, Norfolk (c.1915-c.1917). He may also have been the same Rev. A. Behrman who served some two decades later as minister to the Reading Hebrew Congregation (1933-1936) and the Paignton Hebrew Congregation (c.1945). He and his wife are buried at the Rainham Federation Cemetery, London. (Jewish Year Book listings; Sue Krisman's Portrait of a Community - Reading Synagogue 1900-2000, p.35.)

Rabbi Mendel Behrman
(c.1860 - 1929)

Born in Kratingen, Lithuania, Rabbi Behrman studied in yeshivot in Eastern Europe and arrived in England in 1903. He was Rabbi in Grimsby for three years, in Gateshead for two-and-a-half years and in Middlesbrough for ten years, although he may have been employed independently of the respective Hebrew congregations in those towns by more Orthodox residents. In 1918 he was appointed Instructor in Talmud at Manchester Yeshiva and he also became honorary instructor at the Shomre Shabbos Synagogue, north Manchester. He died in Manchester. (Jewish Chronicle Obituary 8 March 1929.)

Rabbi Daniel Beller
(25 February 1963 - 21 April 2016)

London-born Rabbi Beller (m. Arny Shapiro, 1988) grew up in Bushey, Hertfordshire, and studied in Israel at Beit Midrash l'Torah in Bayit ve'Gan, Jerusalem (1982-1982) and Yeshivat Har Etzion (1982-1983). He returned to England in 1983 to study at Manchester University, where he obtained a BA (Hons) in History in 1986. Continuing his studies at Yeshivat Har Etzion, he gained semicha in 1992. He spent four years (1992-1996) in South Africa, serving as assstant rabbi in Beit Midrash HaGadol, Sandton, Johannesburg and rabbi of West Street Synagogue, Johannesburg. From 1996 until his untimely death at the age of 53, he was rabbi of Shivtei Yisrael Synagogue, Ra'anana, Israel. (Obituary, Shivtei Yisrael Magazine 2019.)

Rabbi Dr. Harvey Belovski
(b. 1968)

Rabbi Belovski (m. Vicki), a graduate in mathematics from University College, Oxford, obtained semicha from Gateshead yeshiva and holds postgraduate degrees from the University of London in organisational psychology (MSc) and hermeneutics (PhD). He was part time minister assisting Rev. Jonathan Lorrain at Loughton and Chigwell District Synagogue, Essex, from 1997, became minister at Ilford Federation Synagogue, northeast London, in February 2000 and senior minister at Golders Green (United) Synagogue, northwest London, from 2003 until present (September 2023), although he has announced his intention to step down at the end of 2023. Rabbi Belovski is principal of Rimon Jewish Primary School, chief strategist and rabbinic head of University Jewish Chaplaincy, lead for rabbinic recruitment at the United Synagogue and rabbi of the charity, Kisharon. He is a frequent contributor on national media. He is the author of Harmonisation as Theological Hermeneutic, a translation of the Chassidic classic Shem MiShmuel and The Shabbat Siddur Companion. (Profile on Golders Green Synagogue website; online research.)

Rabbi Leon Benarroch
(b. 1940)

Casablanca-born, Rabbi Benarroch (m. Ruth) came to Britain aged 15 and studied at Gateshead and Sunderland yeshivot, where he obtained semicha. From 1974 he was rabbi at Garnethill Synagogue, Glasgow, and served as a shochet and mohel in Scotland. In 1982 he became minister to the Bournemouth Hebrew Congregation, being referred to as communal rabbi from about 1984, with overall supervision of education, kashrut and shechita (until 1987). In 1987/8 he served as interim minister at the Hove Hebrew Congregation. Rabbi Benarroch practiced as a sopher in Hendon, northwest London and in 1992 became rabbi to the Porat Yosef Moroccan Hebrew Congregation, which at the time met at the Yakar study centre, Hendon. (Various Jewish Chronicle reports; and Jewish Year Book listings.)

Rev. Hirsch Meyer Bendas
(c.1875 - 1958)

Born in Minsk, Rev. H.M. Bendas was the son of Rabbi Samuel Bendas. In 1901, he was reportedly appointed reader at the Grimsby Hebrew Congregation, Lincolshire, and, in February 1903, he was elected reader at Hull Old Hebrew Congregation, Osborne Street, Hull. In 1920, he was appointed administrator and secretary of Etz Chaim Yeshiva, where he taught and lectured. He was also rav of Grove Street Synagogue in London's East End.

Rev. Dr. Philipp Bender
(c.1831 - 31 March 1901)

German-born, Rev. Bender (m. Augusta Bremer) was appointed minister to the Hull Hebrew Congregation (c.1851). From 1863 he was appointed preacher at the Dublin Hebrew Congregation's Mary's Abbey synagogue, and teacher at the congregation's religious and Hebrew classes. He also established a private, non-denominational boys' school in Dublin, and tutored Christian clergy and others in Hebrew and modern languages. In 1881 he returned to England to become principal of Beaufort College, St Leonard's-on-Sea, in Hastings, where he founded the St Leonards Hastings Hebrew Congregation, for students, local residents and visitors, in which he served as president until 1895 and as minister until, it is believed, about 1890. He died at Hove, Sussex. He was the father of Alfred P Bender, minister at Cape Town, South Africa. Another son, Albert Maurice Bender, was a wealthy businessman and art patron in the USA, who presented Trinity College Dublin with a collection of books named after his father and endowed the Augusta Bender Room of Ancient Asiatic Art at the National Museum, Dublin, named in honour of his mother. (Jewish Chronicle obituary 5 April 1901, and presentation 16 December 1864, Louis Hyman's Jews of Ireland; Royal Irish Academy, Irish Dictionary of Biography - on line, accessed February 2021, National Jewish Heritage Trails website for Hastings.)

Rev. Joseph Benjamin (Theomin)
(d. 11 February 1880)

Rev. Joseph Benjamin (previously Joseph Benjamin Theomin) (m. Esther Braham) came to Britain from Frandtadt, Prussia. He served as Reader (chazan) and shochet of Sheerness Synagogue, Kent (1837-1844) and second reader of Bristol Hebrew Congregation (1844-1880). (Jews in Bristol by J. Samuel, 1997, p.86.)

Rabbi Yerachmiel Benjaminson (or Binyaminson),
known as the Zhlobiner Rav
(d. 24 January 1955)

Rabbi Benjaminson or Binyaminson (m. Hannah), was known as the Zhlobiner Rav, having served as rabbi of the town of Zhlobin (now in Belarus) and was a prominant follower of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. He came to Britain in 1935 and early in World War II he evacuated to Letchworth, Hertfordshire, where he was held in high esteemed by the community. He was appointed as a shochet to the community in about 1940. Following a split in the community in 1941, Rabbi Benjaminson was appointed Rosh Hakohol (approximating to president) of the breakaway Yeshurun Congregation, whose members considered the main Letchworth congregation to be "too English". The congregations reunited in 1944, and Rabbi Benjaminson was president of the united Letchworth Hebrew Congregation, from 1944 until about 1950. He later moved to Montreal, Canada and served as the chief Chabad rabbi in the city. He is buried in the Old Montefiore Cemetery (Chabad Entrance), Queens, New York City. (Yanky Fachler's Jewish Letchworth; Jewish Year Book listings; Kever website; and other online research.)

Rev. Alex Bennett
(b. c.1936)

Rev. Bennett (m. Sandy) was brought up in Stamford Hill, London, and in the North London Liberal Synagogue, Alex Bennett had a career as an accountant and later as a bookseller in Ipswich and was chair, warden and treasurer of the Colchester and District Jewish Community, Essex, where he also conducted services. He was lay reader / minister to Norwich Hebrew Congregation, Norfolk, from 2000 until 2013, when he stepped down aged 77. (Jewish Chronicle, various reports.)

Rev. Mark Bensky
(9 April 1877 - c. July 1962)

London-born Rev. Bensky was Hollier Hebrew scholar at University College London in 1897 and a student at Jews' College. Between 1901 and 1921 (except possibly for the period 1905-1907) he was minister of Hanley Synagogue (later known as Stoke-on-Trent Hebrew Congregation), Staffordshire, where he organised the congregation's new Hebrew and religion classes. He was for a while also secretary to the congregation and he helped establish the Hanley Jewish Social and Literary Society and the Hanley Literary Zionist Society. Headmaster of the Talmud Torah for the Southport Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire, from 1922 to 1928. A noted mathematician and chess player, he died in Bournemouth ("Philanthropy, Consensus and Broiges...a history of the Southport Jewish Community" by John Cowell, p615, Jewish Chronicle obituary 6 July 1962.)

Rev. Salvador Benzaquen
(b. c.1943)

Rev. Salvador Benzaquen (also referred to as I., J. or Y. Benzaquen), born in Melilla, a Spanish enclave on the North African coast, studied for some eleven years at the Sunderland Talmudical College and the Yeshiva Etz Chaim, London. He served as assistant minister of the Leicester Hebrew Congregation (1969-1972), after which he moved to Belgium upon his marriage. He later moved to Venezuela and became the long serving rabbi of Maguen David in Caracas (until present - March 2021). He is the elder brother of Rabbi Simon Benzaquen and the uncle of Rabbi Yaacov Benzaquen. (Jewish Chronicle reports.)

Rabbi Simon Benzaquen
(b. c.1945)

Rabbi Simon Benzaquen was born in Melilla, a Spanish enclave on the North African coast. At age 14 he began nearly ten years of study at Sunderland Yeshiva followed by Etz Chaim Yeshiva in London. As Rev. Benzaquen (m Celia Marguiles in Hendon in 1969), he served the Southend and Westcliff Hebrew Congregation from about 1971, as chazan (jointly with Rev. A. Garbacz until the latter's retirement in 1975) and assistant minister. He left Southend in about 1979 to qualify as a Rabbi and subsequently pursued a rabbinic career in Venezuela and then Seattle, USA. In 2003 Rabbi Benzaquen took a year's sabbatical to study in the dayanut training program at the Shehebar Sephardic Centre in Israel. Rabbi Benzaquen is a member of the Executive Council of Sephardic Rabbis of the USA and Canada. He is the brother of Rev. Salvador Benzaquen and the uncle of Rabbi Yaacov Benzaquen. (Rabbi Benzaquen's online profile; Jewish Year Book listings; and interview.)

Rabbi Yaacov Benzaquen

Rabbi Y. Benzaquen, the son of David Benzaquen, was born in Caracas, Venezuela, and obtained an engineering degree from Columbia University in New York. He subsequently studied in Yeshiva and Kollel Medrash Shmuel for seven years. Rabbi Benzaquen (frequently known simply as Rabbi B) moved to London in 2008. He served as rabbi of Tsur Yisrael (Gibraltar Minyan), Hendon, London (2009-2016) and Tiferet Eyal Synagogue, Hendon, London (2017 to 2019) He is the nephew of Rev. Salvador Benzaquen and Rabbi Simon Benzaquen. (Biography on Federation of Synagogues website and LinkedIn account.)

Rabbi Jeff Berger

Rabbi Berger (m. Michie) obtained semicha from Montefiore College, London. Although Ashkanazi, he and Rebbetzen Michie served as the rabbinic couple of Rambam Sephardi Synagogue, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire (2011-2018). In 2019 Rabbi Berger was appointed Interfaith adviser for the volunteering charity, Mitzvah Day, and in March 2021 he became Rabbi of Wembley Sephardi Synagogue. (Rambam Congregation's website and Jewish Chronicle reports.)

Rev. Nathan Bergerman
(c.1910 - 5 February 1978)

Rev. Bergerman BA (m. Renie) served as minister, reader and secretary of Becontree & District Associate Synagogue, northeast London (c.1938-1942), minister of Upton Park District Synagogue, east London (1942-1945), and minister of North London Synagogue, Lofting Road (c.1945-c.1958) and was author of a history of that congregation (published in 1948). For over 20 years, from about 1958 until his death in 1978, he served as minister at the East London Synagogue, Rectory Square. Rev. Bergerman was chaplain to a large number of organisations, including the London Jewish Hospital, old peoples' homes, AJEX, Pentonville Prison and the United Jewish Friendly Society, as well as being governor of the Robert Montefiore School, Deal Street and Vallance Road. Rev. Bergerman's communal and interfaith work in East London was praised by the Bishop of Stepney. (Jewish Chronicle obituary 10 February 1978 and tributes 17 February 1978, Jewish Year Book listings.)

Rabbi Danny Bergson

Manchester-born rabbi, singer and musician, Rabbi Bergson (m. Anna in Hale, Cheshire, 2000) graduated from Manchester University with a degree in computer science. He and his wife were engaged in outreach to young Jewish professionals and students in Manchester for the Lubavitch movement, and then as director of a charity called Ignite the Soul. He served as rabbi of Newton Mearns Hebrew Congregation, Glasgow (2008-2011) and Pinner United Synagogue, London (2011-2018) before becoming rabbi of the St. Annes Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire (2018 to present - December 2020) and also works for the University Jewish chaplaincy service with responsibility for five universities in and around Manchester. (Jewish Chronicle reports.).

Rev. Mordechai Berkowitz
(b. c.1934)

Sunderland-born Rev. Berkowitz attended Jews' College classes in chazanut and served as a reader of Yeshurun Hebrew Congregation, Gatley, Cheadle. He was reader of the Birmingham Central Synagogue from about 1956, becoming assistant minister and director of education from about 1965 until about 1968. (Jewish Year Book listings; Jolles's Encyclopaedia.)

Rev. Barnett (Berman) Berliner
(1848 - 15 January 1913)

London-born Rev. Berliner (m. Helen Benjamin, 1875) graduated from Jews' College, London, and became headmaster of the Borough Jewish Schools, London, concurrently serving as reader of the German Synagogue, Broad Street, London. He subsequently served as minister of Bristol Hebrew Congregation (1871-1878) and as minister (preacher) and secretary of St John's Wood Synagogue (1878-1912), serving also as reader until 1882. (Jews in Bristol by J. Samuel, 1997, pp.89/90; and "Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History" (2011), p.82; Jewish Chronicle obituary 17 January 1913.)

Moses Berlyn
(1843 - 1914)

London-born M. Berlyn, a pupil then a teacher at the Jews' Free School, succeeded Rev. Ornstein as headmaster of the Birmingham Hebrew National School and secretary of the Birmingham Hebrew Congregation, Singers Hill, in December 1865. He retained the dual office till August, 1904, when he retired from the headmastership, but continued to act as secretary of the congregation until the end of 1913. He was also secretary to the Jewish Working Men's association and the Hebrew Philanthropic Society and in freemasonry was Past Master of the Lodge of Israel. He died in Birmingham and is buried at Witton cemetery. The Moses Berlyn Lodge of the Order of Hebrew Druids was named after him. (Jewish Chronicle obituary 6 March 1914; Birmingham Jewry More Aspects 1740-1930, p.15.)

Rev. Abraham (Abel) Berman, BA
(1914 - 1991)

Llanelli-born Rev. Abraham (Abel Avraham Abba) Berman (also spelled Behrman) (m. Sophie Goldman, daughter of Rev H Goldman of Liverpool) was educated at Etz Chaim yeshiva, London, and then obtained BA first class honours at Jews' College. He was chairman of the Wembley Young Zionist society and active in the Habonim youth movement. After the outbreak of war, Rev. Berman became minister to the evacuee community in Egham, Surrey, and directed Hebrew classes in Egham, Sunningdale and Camberley. In 1941 he was appointed temporary minister and acting secretary of Hendon Synagogue, London, when the serving minister, Rev. H.I. Alexander, became a chaplain the the Armed Forces. He served there until 1943, when he, too, became a chaplain to the Armed Forces. Rev. Berman died in Liverpool. He was the brother of Rev. Harry Berman and Rabbi Myer Berman. (Jewish Chronicle reports; "The History of the Hendon Synagogue" by Geoffrey Alderman; "My Llanelli, the Gateshead of Wales" by Channah Hirsch; and internet research.)

Rev. Harry Berman
(18 May 1904 - January 1978)

Rev. Berman (m. Sadie Isaacs in 1927, daughter of Rev. Isaacs of Tonypandy and Hanley), as a young man served as minister to Llanelli Synagogue, south Wales, in which town he grew up. By 1927 he was serving at New Tredegar Hebrew Congregation, south Wales and then Stockton-on-Tees Hebrew Congregation  from about 1930s until World War II, possibly until 1946. He returned to Llanelli to run the family business. When the Llanelli community became too small to afford a minister, Rev. Berman stepped in to conduct services, teach the children and supervise kashrut. He had left by 1963 and officiated at synagogue services and supervised the kosher meat shop at Stoke on Trent (1963-1968). In 1968 Rev. Berman went to Bournemouth where again he supervised a kosher shop. Over Shabbats and festivals he visited the Southampton Hebrew Congregation to take services and teach the children (1969-1973) "seeking neither thanks nor reward". He is buried at Kinson cemetery, Bournemouth. He was the brother of Rev. Abraham Berman and Rabbi Myer Berman. (Jewish Year Book listings, Jewish Chronicle tribute 20 January 1978, obituary 27 January 1978 and various reports.)

Rabbi Myer Berman, MBE
(2 January 1909 - 7 May 1985)

London-born Rabbi Berman (m Josie Steinhart) was brought up in Llanelli, south Wales. He studied at Etz Chaim yeshiva and Jews' College, London, and obtained a BA degree in Semitics from the University of London in 1932. When he was appointed minister of the Wembley District Synagogue, north west London, in 1934, the community numbered about 50 families and worshipped in a Nissen hut. During the second world war, Rev Berman, served as an army chaplain in Northern Ireland, North Africa and the Mediterranean and was awarded the MBE in 1944, for "gallant and distinguished services". Returning to Wembley after the war he oversaw the rapid growth of the congregation, and the building of a new synagogue and complex in the 1950s. By that time the synagogue had over 1,000 members and over 450 children enrolled in the cheder. Rabbi Berman took a leading role in the Jewish student, youth and scouting movements in London, and was president of the Union of Anglo-Jewish Preachers. He helped establish Yavneh Primary School at Wembley Synagogue, which was later incorporated into the Michael Sobell Sinai School, Kenton. He retired in 1974. He was the father of Rabbi Vivian Berman and the brother of Rev. Abraham Berman and Rev. Harry Berman. (Wembley Synagogue website; "My Llanelli, the Gateshead of Wales" by Channah Hirsch; Jewish Year Book listings and Who's Who; and Jewish Chronicle obituary 10 May 1985.)

Rabbi Vivian Berman
(b. 24 January 1939)

Rabbi V. Berman, MA (m. Anne Levy), the son of Rabbi Myer Berman, was educated at Cambridge University. He obtained semicha in Israel in 1967, shortly following his appointment as minister of the Belfast Hebrew Congregation (1967-1971). He then served as minister of the Beth Hamedrash Hagadol, Street Lane Gardens, Leeds (1971-1980), emigrating to Israel in 1980. (Research by Steven Jaffe and Jewish Year Book listings.)

Rev. Marcus Berner
(possibly c.1868 - 1930)

Lithuanian-born Rev. Berner (m. Henya (Anne) Kaslofsky) was minister at Hanley Synagogue (later known as Stoke-on-Trent Hebrew Congregation), Staffordshire, in 1896 where he stayed until about 1898. By 1900 Rev. Berner was conducting services at Hirsch, a small Jewish agricultural settlement in Saskatchewan, Canada, named after Baron Hirsch, founder of the Jewish Colonisation Association. Rev. Berner was still at Hirsch in 1911 when he was invited to conduct the cornerstone dedication service of a new synagogue, The House of Jacob, at Calgary (he was believed to be the only Jewish minister resident between Winnipeg and Vancouver, a distance of well over 1,000 miles). Rev Berner was described as "a striking figure, a farmer of a whole section of land in Saskatchewan, and a devout Hebrew teacher". He may be the Mordechai Berger (sic) who died in 1930 and is buried at the small Jewish cemetery at Hirsch. (Jewish Chronicle, various reports; Synagogue Cornerstone Ceremony in The Journal of the Jewish Historical Society of Southern Alberta; Jewish Year Book entries.)

Rev. Abraham Bernstein

Liverpool-born Rev. Bernstein (m. Esther Segerman) received his training at Gateshead and Liverpool yeshivot. He served congregations at Liverpool, Sunderland, Leeds, and the Southampton Hebrew Congregation (c.1952-1953). In May 1953 Rev. Bernstein was inducted as minister at Wolverhampton Hebrew Congregation, where he was minister until about 1967. He then served as minister of the South-East London District Synagogue at New Cross (c.1967-c.1972). As regards both Wolverhampton and New Cross, Rev. Bernstein appears to have been the last resident minister to serve each such congregation. He retired to Prestwich, north Manchester. (Jewish Year Book listings; Jewish Chronicle profile 15 May 1953 and various reports.)

Rev. Isaac Bernstein
(b.1819)

Born in Russian Poland, Rev Bernstein (m. Miriam) was shochet, reader, etc at North Shields Hebrew Congregation in the North East of England, from about 1854 until his retirement was announced in 1861 (although he remained resident for a year or so and may have continued to serve the congregation there during that time). Rev. Bernstein was an occasional correspondent to The Jewish Chronicle and Hebrew Observer on religious and scientific subjects. The 1881 census shows him living in Birmingham with his wife and two children (both born in North Shields), his occupation is listed as pawnbroker. (Jewish Chronicle 12 July 1861 and 1881 census result.)

Rabbi Isaac Joel Bernstein
(12 November 1939 - 19 August 1994)

Dublin-born Rabbi Bernstein, MA (m. Ruth Gilbert, 1966) was the son of Rev. Solomon Bernstein. He was educated in Dublin, with a maths degree, teaching diploma and musical training, and studied at Kol Torah yeshiva, Jerusalem, receiving semicha from Gateshead yeshivah. He served as minister of Dublin's Terenure Hebrew Congregation (1966-1970), Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue, London (1972-1977), the Jewish Center in New York (1977-c.1980) and Finchley Synagogue, London (1981-1994). In about 1990 Rabbi Bernstein took a three months health sabbatical in Israel, following well-publicised division within the Finchley congregation over his ministry and the organisation of the synagogue. In tribute to Rabbi Bernstein, Chief Rabbi Sacks said: "As a teacher and preacher he had no equal. He spoke with fire, passion, clarity and drama." His regular shiurim at neighbouring Ner Yisrael Synagogue on the weekly Torah reading attracted over 300 people. (Jewish Chronicle obituary 2 September 1994; online Obituary in The Independent.)

Rev. Solomon Bernstein
(7 September 1907 - 17 February 1997)

Dublin-born Rev. Bernstein (m. Bertha Saperstein, 1939) studied at Gateshead yeshivah. He worked initially as a shochet in Dublin, and then as a teacher at the Dublin Talmud Torah. In about 1939 he was invited to officiate as baal koreh and reader by the Rathmines Hebrew Congregation at their new Grosvenor Road synagogue, in Rathgar, Dublin, which later moved to become the Terenure Hebrew Congregation. He remained as reader of the congregation and in about 1983, he became minister emeritus. In 1987 on his 80th birthday, almost fifty years after his original appointment, Rev. Bernstein was still officiating at the Terenure synagogue. A quiet and unassuming man he undertook extensive communal duties outside the synagogue, and his death was considered the "end of an era". He was the father of Rabbi Isaac Bernstein, whose first post was also at Terenure synagogue, who predeceased him. (Jewish Chronicle obituary 28 February 1997; Jewish Book listings.)

Rev. Emanuel Berry
(d. 31 July 1944)

Rev. Berry (m. Fanny) was the first and longest-serving minister of Llandudno Hebrew Congregation, North Wales from possibly as early as 1909 until his death in 1944. Two gaps in his tenure were in 1913-1914 when he was briefly minister at Pontypridd Synagogue, South Wales and from about 1924 to about 1925. In 1940 Rev. Berry was appointed assistant chaplain to Jewish soldiers in North Wales in addition to his ministerial duties. His Jewish Chronicle obituary states he served at Llandudno for 35 years. (Jewish Year Book listings and Jewish Chronicle obituary 25 August 1944 and reports.)

Rev. Michael Binstock, MBE

Rev. Binstock (m. Edith) was educated at the Yesodey Hatorah and Avigdor schools, London and studied at Etz Chaim Yeshiva. He served as reader of the Hull Western Synagogue (c.1967-c.1968) and of Brixton Synagogue, South London (c.1968-1973) where he also served as chaplain to Brixton and Wandsworth prisons. In 1970 he obtained the chazanut diploma of Jews' College, London. From 1974 he served as chazan at Palmers Green and Southgate Synagogue, London. In September 1981 he took on full-timeteaching at the newly established Sinai (Michael Sobell) School in Kenton and became headmaster of St John's Wood Synagogue's Hebrew classes. He was also part-time chazan of the Golders Green Synagogue (c.1983-1990). Rev. Binstock served on the Board of Religious Education for the United Synagogue. He was part-time minister of Staines and District Synagogue (1997-2008). He is also director of the United Synagogue Jewish Prison Chaplaincy Services from 2003 and Jewish Faith Advisor to the HM Prison Service and was awarded an MBE in 2011 for services to prison chaplaincy. (Jewish Chronicle report 9 November 1973 and profile 4 October 1985, Jewish Year Book listings, information from a former member of Staines synagogue.)

Rabbi Yisroel Binstock

Rabbi Binstock (m. Leanne) is the son of Dayan Ivan Binstock. He served as associate rabbi of Hendon United Synagogue (c.2013-2019), following which he was appointed minister of the Hale and District Hebrew Congregation, South Manchester (2019 to present - April 2020). He is the brother of Rabbi Yossi Binstock of St John's Wood. (Jewish Chronicle reports.)

Rabbi Yoni Birnbaum

Rabbi Birnbaum LLB (Hons) MA (m. Elisheva), who grew up in London, studied at the world-renowned Ponovezh Yeshiva in Israel and received his semicha from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and former Chief Rabbi of Israel Mordechai Eliyahu, as well as completing advanced rabbinical training with the Ner L’Elef Institute in Jerusalem. He obtained his LLB from the Open University and his MA (in Jewish Studies) from University College, London. He served as rabbi of the Hadley Wood Jewish Community (2010-2020) and was subsequently appointed as rabbi of Toras Chaim Synagogue, Hendon, London, from 2020. (Profile on the United Synagogue website and Rabbi Birnbaum's twitter account.)

Rabbi Abraham Sheftel Birzansky
(c.1851 - August 1907)

Russian-born Rabbi Birzansky served as the minister of the Remnant of Israel Synagogue, Cork from its establishment in the early 1880s until the early 1900s. (The Jews of Ireland from Earliest Times to the Year 1910 by L. Hyman, Jewish Chronicle report 23 August 1907, census of Ireland return, 1901.)

Rev. Isaac Bischofswerder
(1822 - 18 October 1899)

Rev. Bischofswerder (m. Rahle Weile, d. 1886), who was born at Vandsburg (Bromberg), Prussia, was the son of Rabbi Mechoel Bischofswerder of Lautenburg, Prussia. He came to Britain in the 1860s and was a jeweller. He served as reader/shochet (minister) at the Penzance Jewish Congregation, Cornwall, from about 1868 until his retirement in 1886. He remained in Penzance and, generally after about 1896, albeit retired, he resumed occasional duties during the twilight years of the congregation. He was buried at Penzance Jewish cemetery. He was the father-in-law of Rabbi Elias Pearlson of Newcastle and Hull. ("The Lost Jews of Cornwall" by Kieth Pearce, Helen Fry and Godfrey Simmons.)

Rev. Israel Gedallia Blachman
(c.1863 - 6 October 1929)

Rev. I. Blachman (or Blackman) served as first reader at the German Synagogue, Spital Square, east London in the 1890s, at Leazes Park Road Synagogue, Newcastle upon Tyne (1901-c.1905) and became principal chazan at Cathedral Road Synagogue, Cardiff (c.1905-1907). He then served as reader to the Bethnal Green Great Synagogue, in the east end of London for 22 years, dying in office. He is buried at the Federation of Synagogue's Edmonton cemetery. He was the brother of Rev. Simon Blachman. (Jewish Chronicle obituary 11 October 1929 and various reports, Jewish Year Book listings and The Jewish Communities of North-East England by Lewis Olsover (1980), p.204.)

Rev. Joseph Blachman

Rev. J. Blachman (or Bachrach) served as reader of Lurgan Hebrew Congregation, now Northern Ireland (c.1909-c.1915). He is probably the same Rev. Joseph Bachrach who is listed as a minister to Northampton Hebrew Congregation in 1907. (A Short History of the Jews of Northampton by Michael Jolles; and Jewish Year Book listings.)

Rev. Simon Blachman
(c.1870 - 30 October 1946)

Born in Russia, Rev. Blachman (m. Henrietta - d. 1954) served as reader of Fieldgate Street Synagogue, London in the East End of London before he was appointed temporary reader at South Hackney Synagogue in 1898. He actually stayed at South Hackney for 37 years, until his retirement in October 1935, then becoming emeritus reader. He was the founder of the South Hackney Synagogue Aid Society to the Jewish Association for the Protection of Girls and Women. Rev Blachman died in London and is buried at Willesden cemetery. He was the brother of Rev. Israel Blachman. (The History of the Hackney Synagogue appearing in its Centenary Commemorative Booklet 1897-1997; Jewish Chronicle report 5 August 1898 and obituary 1 November 1946.)

Rev. Henry Malcolm Black

Born in Forest Gate, East London, Rev. Black, studied at the Birmingham Dental School and became a dental surgeon in general practice. He acted as choirmaster at West Ham Synagogue, east London, from the age of 14, and was later choirmaster at Birmingham Hebrew Congregation, Singers Hill for 15 years before taking up a part time role as chazan at the synagogue (1986-c.1990). He later served as part-time chazan at Stanmore and Canons Park District Synagogue, northwest London (1996-2010) (Jewish Chronicle, various reports and Jewish Year Book listings.)

Rev. Sidney Black
(23 September 1913 - June 1996)

Rev. S. Black, BA, was born in Kalisz, Poland and attended Aria College, Southsea, Portsmouth. He served as war-time temporary minister of Bayswater Synagogue, London, (1940-1946) and as minister of St. Annes Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire (1946-1951) and Ilford Synagogue, London (1952-c.1980). He was the father of Rabbi Yehuda Black and the son-in-law of Rev. Ayeh Garbacz of Southend. (Jewish Year Book listings and Who's Who entry.)

Rabbi Yehuda L. Black
(b. 1963)

Rabbi Y.L. Black (m. Yehudit), the son of Rev. Sidney Black, studied at yeshivot in UK, Israel, USA and Canada, and initially served as the first full-time minister of Staines and District Synagogue (1990-1995). He and French-born Rebbetzen Yehudit then served as rabbinic couple at Newcastle United Hebrew Congregation (1995-2004) and Kenton Synagogue, London (2004 to present - September 2020). (Jewish Year Book listings and Kenton Congregation's website.)

Rabbi Aaron Blackman

New Yorker Rabbi Blackman (m. Shoshana from Edgware) obtained a biology degree from Brandeis University and semicha in Jerusalem and was a full-time teacher at Aish HaTorah in Ohio State. He later served as part-time minister of Watford and District Synagogue (1993-c.1996) and as a teacher of Jewish studies at the Jewish Free School, London, and subsequently returned to the United States.  (Jewish Chronicle report 8 January 1993 and Jewish Year Book listings.)

Rev. Noah Blaser
(1859 - 1940)

Born in the Austria-Hungary, Rev. N. Blaser (m. Henrietta Bleicher in Krakow in 1880) served as reader and shochet of North Shields Synagogue, northeast England (at about 1891 to 1893). In 1893 he was elected minister, chazan, shochet, secretary and teacher of the newly-founded Southport Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire (1883-1927). He learnt English in Southport to be able to preach in the vernacular. Rev. Blaser retired to Manchester in 1927 and became an active member of Holy Law & Beth Aaron Synagogue. ("Philanthropy, Consensus and Broiges...a history of the Southport Jewish Community" by John Cowell, p.594; "The Jewish Communities of North-East England" by Lewis Olsover, p.258; UK census results; Jewish Chronicle obituary 20 September 1940.)

Rev. Cecil Moses (Maurice) Bloch
(17 February 1908 - July 1986)

Born in Londonderry, in what is now Northern Ireland, Rev. Bloch (m. Esther Isaacs from Manchester in 1947) claimed descent from generations of Lithuanian rabbis. He studied at Manchester Yeshiva and at Manchester University, and gained a diploma in German language and literature from Strasbourg University. After serving the Higher Broughton Congregation, Manchester for nine years, he was minister of the Portsmouth and Southsea Hebrew Congregation (from 1938 until 1941). In 1939 he was appointed Officiating Chaplain to the Jewish troops in the Portsmouth Area. Rev Bloch was subsequently Liaison and Education Officer for North Devon, under the Joint Emergency Committee, with his headquarters at Ilfracombe. He then became an Army chaplain who served in his native Northern Ireland (1944) and in Burma. After the war he was briefly minister, headmaster and second reader at the Swansea Hebrew Congregation (1947-1948) - where he succeeded his brother-in-law, Rev. J. Weintrobe. He then served the South-East London Synagogue (from 1948), before accepting a "call" to South Africa (date currently unknown). In the 1950s Rev. Bloch served at Kimberley (then in the Cape Province) and subsequently the Potchefstroom Hebrew Congregation (then in the province of the Transvaal). He died in Johannesburg. Not to be confused with a predecessor at Portsmouth, his relative, Rev. Mendel Bloch (both were descendants of Rev. Getzel Bloch of Ebbw Vale and Brymawr). (Jewish Chronicle obituary 1 August 1986, various reports, and research by Stuart Rosenblatt on Northern Irish Jews.)

Rev. M. Bloch

A Rev. M. Bloch served as minister of the short-lived Lincoln Hebrew Congregation in and around 1940 and as temporary minister of Finchley District Synagogue, London (1945-1947), although it is uncertain as to whether they were the same person. See also Rev. Mendel Bloch. (Jewish Year Book listings.)

Rev. Mendel Bloch
(27 March 1904 - 30 June 1985)

Born in Crickhowell (near Brynmawr) in south Wales, Rev. Bloch (m. Gertrude Swift, sister of Rabbi M Swift - the marriage ended in divorce) obtained a BA from the University of Cardiff in 1925 and an MA in 1930. He was the minister and secretary of the Portsmouth Hebrew Congregation, Hampshire, (1926-1935). He was chairman of the Portsea Ratepayers' Association and Social Service Centre for the Unemployed, was an active Freemason and Rotarian, and captained the Portsmouth Jewish football team. In April 1935, Rev. Bloch was inducted minister of Borough Synagogue, in South-East London and remained there until 1939. He was founding chairman of the South London Maccabi association and a vice president of the South-East London Young Israel Society. In 1939 Rev. Bloch was appointed the first full time national organiser of the British Maccabi Association. In World War II he joined the Royal Army Educational Corps and in August 1947 was promoted to Lieutenant (Education Officer). In 1948 he became a teacher at Hasmonean School in northwest London and then taught at Carmel College from 1952 until the 1970s. After retirement, he continued to live on the school campus but he went to Australia to be close to family and died there. Not to be confused with a successor at Portsmouth, his relative, Rev. C.M. Bloch (both were descendants of Rev. Getzel Bloch of Ebbw Vale and Brymawr), nor with a contemporary, Rev. M Bloch of Glasgow. However he may have been the Rev. M. Bloch who assisted evacuee communities at Lincoln and Egham and Staines during World War II. (Profile of Rev. Bloch in Carmel College in the Kopul Era, pp. 569-573, available on line; Jewish Chronicle reports of 12 April 1935 and 19 May 1939.)

Rabbi Shmaryahu Isaac Bloch
(5 September 1864 - 14 December 1923)

Born in Krottingen (Kretinga), now in Klaipeda County, Lithuania, Rabbi Bloch (m. Rachel Rokeah of Krottingen) served as rabbi of Druskenik (today in southern Lithuania) from 1884 until his emigration to England in 1888. From 1894 to 1902, he was rav to the Chevra Torah in Sunderland, which became the Sunderland Beth Hamedrash, serving as the first minister of that congregation. In 1902, he was appointed rav of the Birmingham Beth Hamedrash in Wrotteseley Street, and in 1903 Rabbi Bloch was elected to represent the Birmingham Zionist Association at the sixth Zionist Congress. He left Birmingham in 1916, was active in the Aguda movement in north London, serving as rav of the Stamford Hill Beth Hamedrash, Grove Lane, and he died in Leeds. Tributes were paid to him as an outstanding Talmud scholar and teacher. He was the brother of Rev. Getzel Bloch and Rev. Solomon Bloch of Tredegar and Langside (Glasgow) congregations. (A. Levy's History of the Sunderland Jewish Community (1955); Jewish Chronicle obituary 21 December 1923 and various reports; internet research.)

Rev. Elias (Eli) Bloom
(c.1871 - 8 June 1939)

Rev. Bloom (m. Sarah, sister of Rabbi Harris Levin, Manchester) was born in Riga, Latvia and educated at yeshivot in Lithuania and Manchester. He served briefly as minister of Wrexham Hebrew Congregation, North Wales (1896-1897) and was then appointed minister to the Cork Hebrew Congregation, Ireland (1898-c.1901). After he left Cork, he was appointed reader, teacher, shochet and mohel of Merthyr Tydfil Hebrew Congregation, South Wales, in 1902 and, apart from short stints at Dudley Hebrew Congregation, west Midlands(1904), and Portsea (Portsmouth) Hebrew Congregation, Hampshire (1908), Rev. Bloom served the Merthyr community for approximately 37 years and died there in office. (Jewish Year Book listings, Jewish Chronicle obituary 16 June 1939 and reports, and census of Ireland return, 1901.)

Rev. Louis Blumenthal
(26 April 1912 - 22 August 1985)

London-born Rev. Blumenthal (m. Annie Kirshenbaum) served as first reader of Leyton and Walthamstow New Federated Synagogue (later known as Queen's Road Synagogue), east London, from 1936 until at least 1939. He was reader/minister and secretary of the evacuee community known as the Dunstable United Synagogue Membership Group, Bedfordshire, from 1941 until at least 1943. Following World War II, he served as chazan at the Fieldgate Street Great Synagogue,in London's East End, (c.1950-c.1954) and subsequently emigrated to the United States, where he served as a rabbi. (Jewish Chronicle reports; Jewish Year Book listings; Jolles's Encyclopaedia.) 

Rabbi Leonard Book
(b. 1943)

Sunderland-born Rabbi Book (m. Margaret Goldman in 1967, at Southend) obtained semicha in 1976 having previously briefly served as second reader of Southend and Westcliff Hebrew Congregation (about 1968) and already commenced serving his first term as minister of St. Annes Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire (1973-1978). He then served as associate rabbi to two Jewish communities in South Africa, in Port Elizabeth and in Durban. Returning to Britain, he was appointed senior minister at Cardiff United Synagogue (1982-1987), followed by his appointment as the first rabbi to serve the Potters Bar and District Affiliated Synagogue, Hertfordshire (1987-1988), while also working for the Joint Shechita Authority in London. There followed his appointment as senior minister to the Brighton and Hove Hebrew Congregation (1989-1994). In 1996, Rabbi Book moved to Sweden to serve the Jewish community in Malmo. He subsequently returned to serve a second term as minister of the St Annes Hebrew Congregation (2003-2011). He made aliyah in 2011, continuing to serve as a rabbi, as well as a researcher and a kashrut representative in Israel, Vancouver and the Far East. (Various Jewish Chronicle reports, Linked-In account, Jewish Year Book listings and Potters Bar Synagogue website.)

Rev. Matthias Bookman (Buckhalter)

Rev. Bookman (previously Buckhalter or Buchalter) (m. Jane) from Zhogor (now Zagare, Lithuania) served as chazan to the Cork Hebrew Congregation, Ireland, from 1898. From about 1905 to about 1906 he served as chazan of the Lennox Street Synagogue, Dublin. One of his sons, Louis, was an Irish football and cricket international and the first Jew to play in the English Football League First Division. (Jewish Chronicle reports and various on-line profiles of Louis Bookman.)

Rev. Harry Bornstein
(1908 - December 1943)

London-born Rev. Bornstein studied at Yeshiva Etz Chayim and Jews' College, London and was awarded a scholarship to UCL and Emmanuel College Cambridge (where he obtained a first class degree in Oriental studies in 1932). He served as minister of Becontree & District Associate Synagogue, London (c.1929), North West London Synagogue, Kentish Town, London (1932-1934), South East London Synagogue, New Cross, London (1934-1938) and Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue, London (1938-1941). Rev. Bornstein then became a Jewish chaplain in the British Armed Forces (serving in the Middle East) and died on active service. Remembered by a colleague as: "Frank, generous, high spirited, [and] eternally boyish", Rev. Bornstein's death "deprived the Jewish community of one of its gifted ministers and finest characters". (The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History, p.116; Jewish Chronicle obituary 10 December 1943.)

Rabbi Shmuley (Jacob Shmuel) Boteach
(b. 19 November 1966)

Los Angeles born Rabbi Boteach (m. Debbie) studied at yeshivas in Los Angeles, New York, Jerusalem, and Sydney. He received semicha in 1988 and was then sent by the Lubavitch Rebbe as the Chabad-Lubavitch shaliach (emissary) to Oxford. Here, in 1989, he established the Oxford University L'Chaim Society which became the second largest students' society at the University. In 1994, after disputes developed with Chabad, primarily over the large number of non-Jewish and gay members of the Society, Rabbi Boteach changed the L'Chaim Society from a student society into an independent organization. Later in 1994, after Rabbi Boteach refused to cancel a speaking event featuring Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, he and Chabad finally split.  L'Chaim Society remained active until 2001. Rabbi Boteach was an accomblished, and sometimes contraversial, author, journalist and television host. He is the author of over 30 books, including the best seller Kosher Sex: A Recipe for Passion and Intimacy and Kosher Jesus, as well as Moses of Oxford: A Jewish Vision of a University and Its Life (1994). He was referred to by The Washington Post as "the most famous rabbi in America". (Online research.)

Rabbi Boruch Boudilovsky

Israel-born Rabbi Boudilovsky (m. Esther) grew up in Glasgow and New York but moved back to Israel to study at Yeshivat HaHesder Yerucham (completing IDF military service), Mir Yeshiva, Jerusalem and a Brisk-style Kollel based in Jerusalem. He also earned B.Ed. in educational counseling and completed an MA at King’s College, London. He served as associate minister of Borehamwood and Elstree Synagogue, Hertfordshire (2010-2016), including, from 2013, leading the community's new branch congregation, the Yavneh Minyan. In 2016, Rabbi Boudilovsky moved back to Israel to become rabbi of the Young Israel Synagogue of North Netanya (to present - June 2020). (Rabbi Bouilovsky's profile on Young Israel's website.)

Rev. Gershon Boyars
(8 August 1894 - 19 December 1962)

Rev. Boyars (m. Regina, daughter of Rev. N. Grundstein - d. 1977) was born in Russia, spent his youth in Liverpool and lived for some years in America, where he took up vocal studies, which resulted in his being engaged for operatic choruses and synagogue choirs. In World War I he joined the 40th Battalion Royal Fusiliers (the "Judeans") and saw service in the Middle East. Rev Boyars was chazan at the Western Synagogue, London (1924-1928), then at the Birmingham Hebrew Congregation, Singers Hill (c.1928-1931) before becoming chazan at Hampstead Synagogue, London for 28 years (1931-1959), working alongside the choirmaster and composer, Samuel Alman. He was a member of the Chazanut Committee of Jews' College and an examiner there, wrote and lectured on the subject of Jewish folk music, and was active in the Jewish National Fund. He died in London and is buried at Willesden cemetery. He is the nephew of the Rev. Marcus Susman Boyars of Manchester. (Jewish Chronicle obituary 28 December 1962 and various reports.)

Dayan Pesach Braceiner
(May 1911 - 18 Jul 1997)

Rabbi (later Dayan) Braceiner served as the last rav of the Montague Road Beth Hamedrash, Dalston, North London (1953-c.1962) and as rav of Finchley Central Synagogue, London (c.1962-1983). He was appointed as a Dayan of the Beth Din of the Federation of Synagogues in about 1972 serving in such capacity until his death in 1997. (Jewish Year Book listings and Jewish Chronicle reports.)

Rabbi Eli Brackman

Rabbi E. Brackman (m. Freidy Loewenthal) attended the Lubavitch rabbinic academy in New York for several years and gained his semicha at the Central Lubavitch Yeshiva. At the age of 20, he led a small nucleus creating a Yeshiva in Minsk, Belarus. He gained further experience as a roving rabbi in Wyoming and Montana, ministered to students in Austin, Texas and spent some time with the community of Swansea, South Wales. In September 2001, Rabbi Brackman and Freida came to Oxford and established Chabad of Oxford, and re-establish Chabad House in the city, and remain its rabbinic couple and directors until the present (September 2023).  (Chabad of Oxford website.)

Rabbi Levi Brackman

Rabbi L. Brackman studied at Yeshivot in Israel, America and Canada and received semicha in Jerusalem and a degree from UCL. He served as minister of Enfield and Winchmore Hill Synagogue, London (c.2002-c.2006). He later served as Chabad emissary in Denver, Colorado until he resigned from Chabad in 2010. He has since pursued a non-rabbinical career. (Jewish Year Book listings.)

Rabbi Menachem (Mendy) Brackman

Rabbi M. Brackman (m. Ruth) studied at Lubavitch yeshivot in Manchester and New York and obtained semicha in Kiriat Malachi, Israel. He served as minister of the Belfast Jewish Community (2008-2012) and then moved to London, where he and his wife serve as co-directors of Chabad South East London, in Bromley. (Belfast Jewish Record, April 2008 - available on line.)

Rev. Yisroel Moshe Braier
(10 December1918 - 7 October 1996)

London-born Rev Braier (m. Elka) studied at Gateshead Yeshivah and Etz Chaim, London. Appointed reader and teacher at the West End Great Synagogue, Dean Street, London, officiating alongside Rabbi Tzvi Hirsh Ferber. During World War II, he was minister of the Cheltenham Hebrew Congregation, the synagogue having reopened as a result of the large number of Jewish evacuees that had moved to the town. He then served as minister of Leytonstone and Wanstead Synagogue (1947-1974). He also taught at the London Board of Jewish Religious Education's withdrawal classes in state schools. In the late 1950s Rev Braier joined the administrative staff of the Federation of Synagogues in a part-time capacity, becoming assistant secretary and clerk to its Beth Din. According to a colleague at the Federation, "The 1960s and 1970s were an era of turbulence and development in sections of London's Orthodox community...Rev Braier's intimate knowledge of the community, its rabbis and lay leaders proved of inestimable value in containing the situation". (Jewish Chronicle Obituary 25 October 1996.)

Rabbi Odom Brandman

Essex-born Rabbi Brandman (m. Henny) studied at yeshivot in Gateshead and Montreal as well as Sydney, from where he received semicha. He then undertook a six month posting with the Las Vegas Jewish community, where he met Henny, who was working at the local Chabad Centre at the time. The couple were married and, after living in New York for a year, they moved to Britain in 2005 to set up Chabad Lubavitch of Buckhurst Hill, Essex, where they serve as the rabbinic couple and directors until the present (November 2023). (Chabad Lubavitch of Buckhurst Hill website.)

Rev. Cyril Braslavsky
(12 April 1924 - 7 March 1980)

Liverpool-born Rev. Braslavsky (m. Stella Fisher) assisted with services at Greenbank Drive Synagogue, Liverpool, before his appointment as minister and teacher to the Cheltenham Hebrew Congregation (1946-1949). He later served as reader and then minister of Blackpool United Hebrew Congregation (1949-1972) and Nottingham Hebrew Congregation (1972-1980), where he died in office. He was recognised for his inter-faith work and designed the small synagogue at the Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, which was consecrated after his death. (Jewish Year Book listings, Jewish Chronicle obituary 14 March 1980 and Eight Hundred Years - The Story of Nottingham's Jews by N. Fisher.)

Rabbi Daniel Braune-Friedman

Rabbi Braune-Friedman (m. Hannah) grew up in Westchester, New York, and attended the University of Massachusetts, where he received a bachelor's degree. He later attended Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (YCT), Riverdale, New York, and received semicha in 2009. In September 2009, he and his wife, Hannah, were appointed as the University Jewish Chaplaincy Couple in Oxford. They returned to the United States in July 2013, where he became a chaplain resident at Hartford Hospital. In 2014 he was appointed Director of Pastoral care at Hebrew Healthcare, West Hartford, and in July 2018, he became the Director of Pastoral Care for Charles E. Smith Life Communities, Rockville, Maryland. (Jewish Year Book listings and online research.)

Rabbi David Braunold
(b. 24 March 1949)

Glasgow-born Rabbi Braunold (m. Helen) grew up in Sunderland (where his father, Rev. Joseph Braunold, was the local minister), and studied at Gateshead Yeshiva. He served as minister to the Newport Hebrew Congregation, Wales (c.1975-c.1980) and Bradford Hebrew Congregation (c.1980-c.1985) before becoming the last, and longest-serving, minister of Blackpool United Hebrew Congregation (1985-2011). He then became minister of the St. Annes Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire (2011 until his retirement in 2013), having obtained semicha in 2005 from Dayan Chanoch Ehrentreu. Following his retirement he moved to Manchester. (Jewish Year Book listings  and Jewish Chronicle report, 22 July 2005.).

Rev. Joseph Braunold
(9 March 1924 - 29 March 1984)

Rev. Braunold (m. Johanna Ruth) was born in Fulda, Germany, and came to Britain in August 1939 as part of the Kindertransport programme, the only member of his immediate family to survive the Holocaust. In 1948 he moved to Glasgow, where he officiated as reader, and was reader of the Great Central Synagogue in 1957 before moving to Sunderland. There he served initially as second reader, then from 1969 as first reader and finally, from about 1975, effectively as minister of the Sunderland Hebrew Congregation, Ryhope Road until his untimely death in 1984. Rev. Braunold was also a certified mohel from 1960 and served the entire North-East community in such capacity. He was the father of Rabbi David Braunold. (Jewish Year Book listings and communication from family.)

Rev. Berel Braunstein
(8 January 1920 - 10 October 1995)

Lithuanian-born Rev. Berel Braunstein (m. Sylvia) was the son of Rev. Girsas Braunstein. He served as reader at Ilford District Synagogue, Essex. He then served the Brighton and Hove Hebrew Congregation, Sussex, from 1948 until 1989 as chazan and then as emeritus chazan until about 1993, principally at the Middle Street synagogue in the centre of Brighton. (Jewish Chronicle notices; Jewish Year Book listings; and gravestone inscriptions.)

Rabbi Dr. Naftali Brawer

American-born and educated, Rabbi Brawer served as minister of Northwood Synagogue, London (1996-2007) and Borehamwood and Elstree Synagogue (2007-2011). He then became Chief Executive of the Spiritual Capital Foundation, a London-based think tank and consultancy on the centrality of values in organizations. In 2018 he was appointed campus chaplain at Tufts’ university and Executive Director of Tufts Hillel, Massachusetts, USA. In 2018 his wife, Dina, became the UK's first woman to obtain an orthodox semicha, from Yeshivat Maharat, New York. (Jewish Year Book listings and Times of Israel pess report of 10 May 2018.)

Rev. H.V. Brazil

Rev. Brazil served as minister of the Maidenhead Hebrew Congregation, Berkshire, from at least 1945 until at least 1946. In September 1947 he was installed as Reader of Leyton and Walthamstow New Federated Synagogue, London. (Jewish Year Book listings.)

Rev. Moses Bregman
(c.1852 - 15 February 1911)

Russian born Rev. Bregman (m. Fanny - d.1912) was a chazan and shochet for the then recently established Northampton Hebrew congregation from 1888 until 1893. He was an occasional chazan at South Hackney Synagogue, north London, and for a number of years he conducted the free High Holyday services for the poor at the Mile End Assembly rooms on behalf of the United Synagogue, at which over 6,000 worshippers attended over the two days of Rosh Hashana. Rev. Bregman worked as an official for the London Shechita Board. He is buried at Plashet cemetery, east London. (Jewish Chronicle obituary 17 February 1911 and earlier reports.)

Rev. Selig Bresiloff
(c.1877 - 2 June 1945)

Russian-born Rev Selig Bressloff's first known post is at Preston Hebrew Congregation. He then served as minister of Bolton Hebrew Congregation (late 1916 -c.1919) and  Dundee Hebrew Congregation. He subsequently became minister of Derby Hebrew Congregation (c.1921-1934) and was the congregation's longest serving minister. By 1940 he was at Montefiore College, Ramsgate, Kent. He died in London and is buried at Rainham cemetery. (Bolton Synagogue and its Ministers by Hilary Thomas; Jewish Chronicle death notice and report; Jewish Year Book listings; and Rainham Federation Cemetery Database.)

Rev. Stanley Ivan Brickman
(b. 29 March 1939)

London-born Rev. Brickman (m. Beryl Isenberg) attended Yeshiva Etz Chaim and studied chazanut at Jews' College and music at the London College of Music. He briefly served as chazan at Bayswater Synagogue, London, before being appointed to serve as reader of the United Sheffield Hebrew Congregation (1960-1965). He then served as chazan at the Ilford Federation Synagogue (1966-c.1969), the masorti New London Synagogue (1969-1971) and Birmingham Hebrew Congregation, Singers Hill (1971-1983). Rev. Brickman then took up a post at the Garden Synagogue, Cape Town, South Africa. In 1987 he was appointed chazan at Hampstead Synagogue, London, which he held until his retirement in 2004. He was chair of the Association of Chazanim of Great Britain in the 1990s. (Jewish Chronicle, various reports; and Jewish Year book listings.)

Rev. Alan Bright

Rev. Bright served as part-time chazan of Cricklewood Synagogue, London (c.1982-c.1986) and of Wembley Synagogue (1986-1989) before emigrating to Florida, USA in 1989. He was the grandson of Rev. Jonah Indech of Bournemouth. (Jewish Chronicle report 9 March 1990; Jewish Year Book listings)

Rabbi Isidor Broch

Rabbi Broch (m. Ella) reached Britain as a refugee from Berlin and was interned in 1940 on the Isle of Man. Following his release he joined the evacuee community in Letchworth, Hertfordshire. While in Letchworth, he gave private lessons and from time to time taught at the religious classes. He was subsequently employed by the Mizrachi Federation as a representative and collector which entailed travelling throughout the United Kingdom.  In about 1950, he returned to Germany to accept a rabbinical position. (Yanky Fachler's Jewish Letchworth; online research.)

Rabbi Gavin Broder
(b. 1963)

Cape Town-born Rabbi G. Broder (m. Daniella) is the son of Rabbi Irvin Broder and served as minister of Staines and District Synagogue (1988-1990) while still studying at Jews' College, London, and subsequently served as minister of Newbury Park Synagogue, Ilford (1990-1996). He was then appointed Chief Rabbi of Ireland, serving from 1996 until 2000. He resigned to became University Jewish Chaplain for London and the South East. He is the brother of Rabbi Ronen Broder. (Jewish Year Book listings and information provided by a former member of the Staines community.)

Rabbi Irvin Broder
(15 August 1930 - 13 August 2017)

London-born Rabbi I. Broder served as rabbi to Brakpan Hebrew Institution, South Africa (c.1968-late 1970s) and the Beth-El Synagogue, Wellington, New Zealand (early 1980s). After returning to Britain, he became minister of the Hull Western Synagogue (c.1982-c.1983) and Ilford Synagogue (c.1983-1996). On his retirement from Ilford, Rabbi Broder served as minister to the St. Annes Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire (1996-2002). He was the father of Rabbi Gavin Broder and Rabbi Ronen Broder. (Jewish Year Book listings)

Chief Rabbi Sir Israel Brodie
(10 May 1895 - 13 February 1979)

Chief Rabbi Brodie (m. Fanny Levine from Warsaw) was born in Newcastle upon Tyne and educated at Rutherford College, Newcastle upon Tyne; Jews' College, London, University College, London, and Balliol College, Oxford. He served in World War I as a Jewish chaplain on the Western Front, and then worked in London's East End (1921-1923). He then served as senior minister of Melbourne Hebrew Congregation, Australia (1923-1937) and had been influential in the establishment the Zionist Federation of Australia in 1927. He returned to Britain in 1937 to study for an advanced degree at Oxford, and was also on the staff of Jews' College. During World War II, he served as a Jewish chaplain in the armed forces (being evacuated from Dunkirk) and in 1944 became a Senior Jewish Chaplain, and in 1946, he briefly served as principal of Jews' College. In 1948, he was appointed Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, serving until his retirement in 1965. During his tenure, he founded and led the Conference of European Rabbis, but his later years were overshadowed by the "Jacobs Affair" in which the Chief Rabbi had banned Rabbi Dr Louis Jacobs from becoming principal of Jews' College, London. On his retirement, he was knighted "for services to British Jewry", being the first Chief Rabbi to be so honoured.

Rev. Abraham Brody
(23 December 1877 - 16 June 1955)

Rev. A. Brody (m. Frances (Frieda) Chaya Zigmond) was born in Rupin, Poland, the son of Rabbi Solomon Hyman Brody. He came to Britain in 1907 and served as shochet and spiritual leader to the Dudley Jewish community, Worcestershire, from 1907 to 1910. He then went to Buenos Aires, Argentina, as a shochet on behalf of the London Beth Din to supervise kosher meat being exported to Britain. Following his return to Britain, Rev. Brody was reader at the Commercial Road Great Synagogue, east London for fifteen years and also served as reader and ba'al koreh at Willesden Synagogue, London. He was treasurer of the Agudath Hashochetim V’shomerim of Great Britain and Ireland, and on his retirement he was made Honorary Life President. He was the father of Rev. Maurice Brody. He is buried in Willesden Cemetery, London. (Jolles's Encyclopaedia; Jewish Year Book listing; and Jewish Chronicle reports and obituary dated 1 July 1955. Photograph courtesy Michael Brody.)

Rev. Maurice Brody
(25 July 1908 - 14 November 1979)

Dudley-born Rev. M. Brody (m. Esther), the son of Rev. Abraham Brody, studied at Yeshiva Etz Chaim in London and trained in shechita and chazanut and was headmaster of the Grove Lane Talmud Torah in Stamford Hill, north London.  He was a founder member, reader and secretary of a synagogue in Upper Clapton, north London and in 1938 taught at the Hebrew and religious classes of Willesden Green Federation Synagogue, northwest London. Rev. Brody served as minister at the Rickmansworth and Croxley Green United Synagogue Membership Group, an evacuee community in Hertfordshire, from 1940 until about 1946.  He was honorary secretary of the Agudath Hashochetim V’shomerim of Great Britain and Ireland. He was the father of chazan Robert Brody. He is buried in Willesden Cemetery, London. (Jolles's Encyclopaedia; Jewish Year Book listing and anciliary data. Photograph courtesy Michael Brody.)

Rev Samuel Morris Bromberger
(c.1901 - 15 December 1979)

Rev. S.M. Bromberger (m. Beatrice Cohen in 1930), a graduate of Jews' College, was minister of Romford and District Affiliated Synagogue, Essex, from 1939 to 1940, and from 1940 to 1945 he was welfare officer and warden at the United Synagogue's Buxton Street Centre, Whitechapel, during the worst years of the Blitz. In June 1945 he was inducted as minister of the Catford Synagogue, south east London (where he served until 1948). In 1950 Rev. Bromberger was twice a week welfare officer at a new advice centre based at the United Synagogue's Stoke Newington Synagogue, holding a similar position based at the New Synagogue, Egerton Road, Stamford Hill. From 1955 Rev. Bromberger was a full-time United Synagogue hospital chaplain, attached mainly to the Friern Hospital, New Southgate, until he retired in 1966. (Jewish Chronicle various reports.)

Rev. S. Bronstein

Rev. Bronstein, formerly of Bethnal Green, east London, served as minister of the Coventry Hebrew Congregation from about 1924 until about 1926 and was then appointed as reader and teacher of the Fulham and Kensington Synagogue and Talmud Torah, west London. (Jewish Year Book listings and Jewish Chronicle reports.)

Harry Brookfield
(c.1878 - 8 November 1951)

Mr. Brookfield served as acting minister of the Aberdeen Hebrew Congregation from at least 1945 until about 1949, and officiated at the consecration of the congregation's synagogue in 1945. He died in Glasgow (at an old age home) and is buried at Glenduffhill cemetery, Glasgow. (Jewish Chronicle report, 6 February 1948, Jewish Year Book listings, Scottish Jewish cemeteries website.)

Rev. Alex Brown
(3 September 1911 - 8 January 2007)

Rev. Brown (originally Weisbrunn) was born in the spa town of Piestany, Czechoslovakia (today in western Slovakia) and received semicha from the yeshiva at Gelant (today Galanta), Slovakia, but never used the title of rabbi in Britain. He came to England in 1939 with his British-born wife (Cissie Beenstock) as a refugee from Nazi persecution. He first settled in his wife's hometown of Manchester and then served with the British army in India. Rev. Brown joined the the Blackpool United Hebrew Congregation in 1947 and served there for almost 25 years, initially as shammas, but also as shochet, Hebrew teacher and occasional reader. He also visited weekly for several years the small Jewish communities in Barrow-in-Furness, Blackburn and Preston, to teach the local children Hebrew and religious studies. Rev. Brown retired in 1971 and was later a resident at the Heathlands home in Manchester. (Jewish Chronicle report 12 November and 3 December 1971, and obituary 18 May 2007.)

Rev. Morris Brown
(c.1885 - 2 November 1957)

Rev. M. Brown, of Newcastle, served as reader, shochet and Hebrew teacher by the Gateshead Hebrew Congregation, Prest Street, (1906-1909). Three years later he crossed back over the Tyne to become reader and shochet at the New Synagogue, Corporation Street, Newcastle. In June 1911 the Dundee Hebrew Congregation appointed him minister and head teacher but within a year he overcame 25 other applicants to be appointed minister of the Southampton Hebrew Congregation (1912-c.1914). In May 1912 he conducted a memorial service at a packed Southampton Synagogue following the sinking of the Titanic which had departed Southampton the previous month on its maiden voyage. By 1915, Rev. Brown moved to London where he was to work for approximately 30 years as chazan and head teacher of the Shepherd's Bush Synagogue and Talmud Torah classes, London. He retired in 1945 and died in Edgware, Middlesex and is buried at Edmonton cemetery. (Jewish Chronicle obituary 15 November 1957 and various reports.) (Not to be confused with Rev. M. Brown BA who served in East and North West London, Shanghai and also worked for the English Zionist Federation)

Rev. Raphael Wolfish Brown (also Braun)
(2 December 1862 - 22 May 1908)

Born in Nowy Dwor, near Warsaw in Poland, Rev. Brown (m. Millie - d.1921) came to Britain in 1891. He was a Hebrew teacher in London for two years. He then served the Portsea (Portsmouth) Hebrew Congregation, Hampshire, as reader from 1893 to 1908. Rev. Brown died suddenly in Portsmouth while in office, aged 45, leaving a widow and seven children. One of these, Rev. Mendel Brown, became minister of North West London synagogue and the Ohel Rachel synagogue of Shanghai, China. (Jewish Chronicle obituary 29 May 1908.)

Rev. Samuel Brown

Rev. S. Brown served as the minister of the Nottingham Hebrew Congregation from 1876 until about 1883. (Eight Hundred Years - The Story of Nottingham's Jews (1998) by Nelson Fisher.)

Rev. Reuben Solomon Bruches (or Brookes)
(1914 - 1979)

Buenos Aires born, Rev Bruches, also known as Rubins Brujes and Reuben Brookes (m. Blanche Ackerman of Southport) was brought to the UK as a child and educated at Liverpool Talmud Torah and Manchester yeshiva. His first appointment, in about 1937, was as minister to the Kovno Synagogue, Manchester, at the age of 23. He served as assistant minister of the Southport Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire (1939-1950). His roles at Southport included chazan, shochet, headteacher of the Hebrew classes and, from about 1946, secretary to the congregation, and he was registrar to the Southport Kashrus Commission (which regulated the kosher hotels and guesthouses in the resort). In 1950 he was appointed assistant minister of Birmingham Hebrew Congregation, Singers Hill, and its director of education, serving until his death in 1979. He was active in many aspects of communal life. Chairman of the Birmingham Council of Jewish Youth, an active member of the representative council of the Jewish community of Birmingham and the West Midlands, chaplain to Birmingham University, and chair and then president of the Birmingham Zionist Council, he was also active in the Bnei Brit movement. A Bnei Brit lodge in Birmingham was named after him. He was the author of a Guide to Jewish Knowledge (with Chaim Pearl) and A Dictionary of Judaism. (Jewish Chronicle obituary, 17 August 1979.)

Rev. Philip (Hillel) Brummer
(8 October 1912 - 31 December 2005)

Rev. Philip (Hillel) Brummer was born in Cetova, in the region of Subcarpathian Ruthenia (then in Hungary, later Czechoslovakia and today in Ukraine), and attended yeshiva in Bratislava. He came to Britain in 1928 and, at the aged 16, he took up a post of shochet and assistant chazan in Leeds. He moved to Southport, Lancashire, where he was chazan, shochet and mohel of the Southport Hebrew Congregation (1931-1936), while studying at Manchester Yeshiva. Rev. Brummer (m. Sylvia Packman from Liverpool, 1936) was then chazan at Brighton and Hove Hebrew Congregation's Middle Street synagogue, Sussex (1936-1948). In 1941, in the midst of a German air raid, Rev. Brummer saw a shell land close to the synagogue. Without regard to personal safety, he picked it up and hurled it away, before any damage could be caused to the synagogue. He subsequently emigrated to the USA where he became cantor at Central Synagogue, Washington DC, then serving congregations in New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. He retired to Miami, Florida, and continued to serve a congregation in Tampa well into his retirement. ("Philanthropy, Consensus and Broiges...a history of the Southport Jewish Community" by John Cowell, p.622 and Jewish Chronicle obituary, 24. February 2006.)

Rev. Leo Bryll
(22 July 1905 - 13 January 1995)

Rev. Bryll (also spelled Brill), born in Kishinev, Bessarabia (today Chisinau, capital of Moldova), which experienced two pogroms around the time of his birth, was appointed choirmaster of his local synagogue upon his bar mitzvah. In pursuit of musical studies, he travelled through Russia, to France, Belgium, Italy and Ireland, where he studied at the Irish Academy of Music, Dublin, and was active in both secular music and in the local Jewish community, conducting the choir at the opening of the Greenville Hill Synagogue in 1925. Moving initially to Liverpool, he was, by 1929, choirmaster at the Shaw Street Congregation, Islington, Liverpool. Then, at the age of 25, he was appointed principal reader at the Brighton and Hove Hebrew Congregation, Sussex (1930-1935). This was followed by his appointment as reader at Bayswater Synagogue, London (1935-1955) (beating 14 other applicants to the post), resigning following a dispute over proposed changes to his working conditions. Rev. Bryll later served as reader of the Marble Arch Synagogue, London, and as its choirmaster, until 1963. From then he was full-time lecturer in chazanut at Jews' College and honorary musical director of the Chazanim Association of Great Britain. Rev. Bryll was also a liturgical composer and a talented amateur actor, specialising in Yiddish monologue. (Jewish Chronicle obituary 25 January 1995; Rabbi Geoffrey Shisler's vivid profile of his former teacher.)

Rev. Abraham Brysh (or Brysz)
(20 January 1920 - 30 April 2004)

Rev. Brysh (originally spelled Brysz) (m. Isa Stern), born in Kleczew, near Konin, Poland, was the son of a chazan and shochet in Poland, and studied at the yeshiva at Kalisz. Following the Nazi invasion of Poland, Rev. Brysch was forced into slave labour and was incarcerated at Auschwitz-Birkenau. In 1945 he escaped during a forced winter march, and hid until liberated by Russian forces. Following a period in a displaced persons camp, he came to Britain in 1948 and served as chazan, minister and teacher of Whitley Bay Synagogue, Northeast England, until about 1951. He then served as chazan at the Swansea Hebrew Congregation (1951-1957) and as chazan, shochet, mohel and teacher of the Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation (1957-1969). From 1969 Rev Brysh was chazan and assistant minister of the United Sheffield Hebrew Congregation, later becoming the congregation's minister in about 1975 until he retired in 1985. He served as chaplain to the Jewish students in Sheffield and helped found the local branch of the Council of Christians and Jews. He left Sheffield in 1986 as emeritus minister of the congregation and settled in Bournemouth. He was the nephew of Rev. Abraham Zucker and Rev. Bernard Zucker, who respectively held communal posts in Cardiff and Edinburgh, and the father-in-law of Rabbi Julian Schindler. (Jewish Chronicle pen portrait 25 January 1985, obituary 25 June 2004, tribute 31 December 2004, Jewish Year Book listings.)

Rev. Abraham Isaac Burland
(c.1910 - c.October 2001)

London-born Rev. Burland (m. Caroline Ginsberg) attended yeshiva London, Leeds and Manchester. He served as second reader of the Sunderland Hebrew Congregation (c.1931-c.1945) and Prestwich Hebrew Congregation, Manchester (c.1945-c.1960). He also briefly served as chazan of Sale and District Hebrew Congregation, Cheshire in 1962 and as a religious supervisor at a kosher hotel in Bournemouth. In 1963, he was appointed as second reader of the Higher Crumpsall Hebrew Congregation, Manchester. (Jewish Year Book listings; Jolles's Encyclopaedia; various Jewish Chronicle reports.)

Rev. Harris Burman
(c.1850 - 8 April 1914)

Born in Grodno (today in Belarus), Rev. Burman came to England aged 23. (He may be "Rev. H. Barman" who is listed as minister of the Grimsby Hebrew Congregation in 1881 in D and L Girlis, Story of the Grimsby Jewish Community). Rev. Burman was chazan in Hull prior to his appointment as reader of the Princess Road Synagogue, Liverpool, in 1882. He held the post for nearly 25 years and was a composer of liturgical compositions. He revived the Anglo Jewish Association branch in Liverpool. Rev. Burman retired in 1906 and died in Hull, at the home of his daughter, and is buried in Hull's Delhi Street cemetery. (Jewish Chronicle obituary 17 April 1914.)

Rev. Isadore Burman
(c.1869 - c.9 November 1941)

Russian born Rev. Burman (m. Rosa) was appointed reader and shochet to the Bath Synagogue and Jewish community, in Somerset, in April 1894. In 1896 Rev Burman took a lease of the Bratton Dairies Limited in Westbury, Wiltshire, and in 1897 was described both as the company's manager and late minister of Bath. The company sold Kosher cream and butter for Passover both directly from the farm and through a supplier based in the east end of London. Rev Burman was naturalised as a British citizen in 1904 and by 1911 was living in London as a butter merchant. He is assumed to be Isidore Halliday Burman  who died in Hendon, London aged 72 in 1941 (Facebook page of Friends of Bath Jewish Burial Ground, post and comments dated 26 February 2021, Jewish Chronicle death notice 14 November 1941; Jewish Year Book listings.)

Rev. Gabriel Burns

Rev. Burns  (m. Batsheva) served as minister of Potters Bar and District Affiliated Synagogue, Hertfordshire (1990-c.1996) and, some years later, as part-time minister of Portsmouth & Southsea Hebrew Congregation (in 1997, 2004 and post 2011). (Jewish Year Book listings; Jewish Chronicle reports; and Potters Bar Synagogue website.)

Rev. A. Bytensky
(d. 28 January 1977)

Rev. Bytensky served as second reader and shochet, and subsequently as senior reader, of the Bournemouth Hebrew Congregation from 1928 until his retirement in 1967. (Jewish Year Book listings; Jewish Chronicle report and photograph, 10 March 1967 and obituary 11 February 1977.)