Rev. Israel Candleshine
(d. 28 January 1949)

Russian-born Rev. Candleshine served as minister of Coventry Hebrew Congregation (c.1916-c.1918). He later became a lay leader of the Birmingham Jewish community, serving on the city's shechita board and was chairman of the Birmingham Talmud Torah. (Harry Levine, The Jews of Coventry 1970, p.44; and Jewish Year Book listings.)

Rev.Bernard Cantor
(d. 1915)
Rev. Cantor served as a reader at the Sheffield Hebrew Congregation from about 1900 until about 1911. He is buried in the congregation's Ecclesfield Cemetery, Colley Road. (Jewish Year Book listings.)

Rev. Daniel Caplan
(c.1879 - 20 February 1959)

Born in Slonim (today in Belarus) Rev. D. Caplan (m. Miriam Harris of Abertillery) lived for a while in Australia. In Britain from the 1890s, he served in Pontypridd and Abertillery, south Wales and from 1901 the Coventry Hebrew Congregation. He served the Bedford Hebrew Congregation from 1904, and later at Exeter Synagogue (from at least 1906 to 1908). From about 1908 Rev. Caplan was minister, chazan, shochet and teacher of Blackpool United Hebrew Congregation until 1920, stepping down briefly from the post of minister from c.1918 to c.1919. He moved to serve the Jewish community at Riversdale, near Cape Town, South Africa in 1920. However, he returned to Blackpool as early as 1923, when his wife opened "a high class Orthodox boarding house" in the seaside town. Rev. Caplan served as minister to the Barrow-in-Furness Hebrew Congregation (c.1924-c.1928) and at Preston Hebrew Congregation (c.1926-1939) where he officiated at the opening of the Preston Synagogue in 1932. In about 1937, he was again appointed to serve the Blackpool United Hebrew Congregation, initially as reader and from about 1938 as second reader and officially retired in May 1947, but continued serving the community after then and also appears to have served as a visiting minister to the Blackburn Hebrew Congregation. He also served a second term at Barrow-in-Furness (1954-1959). He is buried in Blackpool Jewish cemetery and his portrait was displayed in the synagogue hall in commemoration of "50 years service". (Jewish Chronicle various reports and obituary of Daniel Caplan 27 February 1959; Jewish Year Book listings.)

Rev. Herschel Caplan
(1921 - 30 April 2005)

Gateshead born Rev. H. Caplan (m Irene Stamm in 1951) was educated at Manchester yeshiva. He served as chazan sheini of St Annes Hebrew Congregation (1952-1958), as first reader to the Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation (1959-1964) and as second reader at the Southend and Westcliff Hebrew Congregation (1964-1966). He then moved to South Africa to serve as chazan to the Jewish community at Muizenberg, Western Cape (1966-1967), followed by serving as chazan and reader to the Pretoria Hebrew Congregation (1967-1975). On his return to England, Rev. Caplan was first reader of Hull Old Hebrew Congregation (1975-1978). He moved again to South Africa to serve as minister of the Witbank Hebrew Congregation, Transvaal (now Emalahleni, Mpumalanga) (1978-1981). Having returned to England, he served as minister of Staines and District Synagogue (1981-1986) and Margate Hebrew Congregation (1986-1988), as senior minister of Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation (c.1990-c.1996) and as minister of Portsmouth and Southsea Hebrew Congregation (c.1997-c.2004). Rev. Caplan died in Manchester. (Information from family, various Jewish Chronicle reports, and Jewish Year Book listings.)

Rev. Robert Caplan

Rev. Caplan, described as a most learned and pious scholar and loyal official, served as the shammas (beadle) and second reader of the Sheffield Hebrew Congregation for some 35 years, retiring in 1939 to be succeeded by his son-in-law, Rev. Cecil Donn. (The Sheffield Wilson Street Synagogue's Golden Jubilee Souvenir Brochure (1980), p.4; and Sheffield Jewry by Armin Krausz (1980).)

Rabbi Dr. Alexander Carlebach
(1908 - 1992)

Cologne-born Rabbi Carlebach (m. Marga Lowenstein), the son of Rabbi Emanuel Carlebach, studied at Slobodka Yeshiva, Lithuania and at Universities in Cologne, Leipzig, Paris and Strasbourg and enrolled as a student on the rabbinical course at Jews' College, London in 1933. He served as assistant minister at Golders Green Beth Hamedrash ("Munk's Shul"), London (1938-1947) and as principal of its Hebrew School. In about 1945, Carlebach served with the Jewish Relief Unit in Germany. By 1947 he was education officer at the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations (UOHC), London and served as minister of the then newly-formed North Hendon Adath Yisroel Synagogue, London (c.1947-c.1955). In 1954 he accepted the call to become rabbi to the Belfast Hebrew Congregation (1954-1965). In 1965, Rabbi Carlebach emigrated to Israel where he was actively involved in various religious and educational projects. He died in Jerusalem. In 1955. Carlebach was awarded a doctorate in law from the University of Strasbourg. He authored Adass Yeshuron of Cologne (Belfast, 1964) and Men and Ideas: Selected Writings 1935-80 (Jerusalem, 1982). (Jewish Year Book listings and research by Steven Jaffe.)

Rabbi (later Dayan) Moses Avigdor Chaikin
(1852 - June 1928)

Born at Shklow, then in the Government of Mohilev, Russia, (today the town of Shlow in Belarus), Rabbi Chaikin was the son of Rabbi Israel Chaikin, the chief shochet of St Petersburgh for some 50 years and the nephew of Simon Menas, Chief Rabbi of Hebron in Ottoman Palestine. He married the daughter of Zalman Pinsker, Chief Rabbi in Kherson. He studied for the Rabbinate in St Petersburgh and received semicha from Rabbi Abraham Samuel Diskin, of Volkovisk in 1877, and later from Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Spector, of Kovno, and from other senior Russian rabbis. In 1883 Rabbi Chaikin became rabbi of the congregation of Russian Jews of Paris, and was one of the founders of the Talmud Torah in Paris in 1887. In 1889 he was elected Rabbi of the Hebrew Congregation of Rostov on the Don, Russia. He came to England in 1891 and was communal rabbi in Sheffiled, Yorkshire, embracing both the Sheffield Hebrew Congregation and the Sheffield New Hebrew Congregation (1892-1901). In 1901 he took up the post of senior Rabbi to the Federation of Synagogues in London, and became a respected and influential spiritual leader working principally in the East End of London. For a time he combined the Federation post with being a Dayan on the United Synagogue's Beth Din, which gave rise to tensions between the lay leadership of both bodies. At one point the Federation withdrew Rabbi Chaikin from the Beth Din, but in 1911 he was restored as a United Synagogue Dayan. Rabbi Chaikin's workload prevented him from pursuing his scholarly interests, but while in Paris he wrote Apologie des Juif, and in Sheffield he published, The Celebrities of the Jews, an overview of Jewish history from the destruction of the Temple to his own day (re-published in 2017), and he later compiled a number of Hebrew works of reference. He taught for a while at Jews' College. In 1926 Dayan Chaikin retired to British Mandate of Palestine and he died in Tel Aviv. (Jewish Chronicle profile 25 October 1901, obituary 22 June 1928.)

Rev. Henry Chait
(1948 - 7 May 2021)

Son of Rev. Abraham Chait, a shochet in London, Rev. H. Chait (m. Helena) was educated at Etz Chaim Yeshiva, London, and entered Jews' College in 1968. He was appointed chazan of the Southport Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire, (1973-1975) and from 1975 to 1998 he was chazan to Liverpool's Greenbank Drive Synagogue, during which period he undertook additional ministerial and administrative duties as the synagogue was without a rabbi. Rev. Chait retired in 1998 due to ill health. He was the father of Rev. Albert Sebastian Chait, minister of the United Hebrew Congregation, Leeds. (Jewish Chronicle, various reports; recording of Rev. Chait)

Rabbi Isaac Chait (formerly Chaitowitz)
(1906 - October 1972)

Possibly the only rabbi to be born in Boston, Lincolnshire, Rev. I. Chaitowitz (later Rabbi Chait) (m. Sarah) was the son of Rev. Solomon Chaitowitz. He studied at Etz Chaim Yeshiva, Jews' College, London and obtained an MA from Oxford University in Semitic studies. As Rev Chaitowitz his first post was at the Brymawr Hebrew Congregation, south Wales. In October 1926 he accepted a call from neighbouring Pontypridd Hebrew Congregation where he served for ten years. He then became minister of Palmers Green and Southgate Synagogue, London from 1936 until 1951 (during which period he obtained semicha and also served as a chaplain to the Armed Forces during the war). In 1951, he moved to Sheffield and served initially as minister of the Sheffield Hebrew Congregation and from 1953 as minister of the newly-merged United Hebrew Congregation, Sheffield until his death in 1972 while on vacation in Portugal. He was the brother of Rabbi Avrom Chaitowitz (Jewish Chronicle obituary 3 November 1972.)

Rabbi Avrom Simon Chaitowitz
(17 February 1921 - 1992)

Rabbi Chaitowitz, BA, (m. Judith in 1949), the son of Rev. Solomon Chaitowitz, was born in Notting Hill, London, and educated at Etz Chaim Yeshiva and at Jews College, London, from where he obtained semicha in 1956. He served as minister of St Albans Affiliated Synagogue (c.1949-1952), followed by Finsbury Park Synagogue (1952-1954). He was then appointed minister of Stanmore and Canons Park District Synagogue, London (1954-1986), a congregation that saw a four fold increase in its membership during his term of office, after which he retired to Jerusalem, where he died. He was the brother of Rabbi Isaac Chait (Jewish Year Book listings and "Who's Who" entries; and various Jewish Chronicle reports and obituary, 27 November 1992.)

Rev. Solomon Chaitowitz
(14 February 1880 - 15 May 1966)

Lithuanian-born, Rev. Chaitowitz (m. Jane Israelovitch in 1905 in London) settled in Boston, Lincolnshire, where he was minister from about 1906 to about 1908 of the small and short-lived Boston Hebrew Congregation. He subsequently emigrated to Argentina and served as a minister in Buenos Aires. Rev. Chaitowitz returned to Britain, taking a post with the London Board for Shechita. He continued to live in London after his retirement. He was the father of two ministers who served congregations in the United Kingdom, Rabbi Isaac Chait and Rabbi Avrom Simon Chaitowitz. (Jewish Chronicle obituary May 20 1966 and internet research.)

Rabbi Mordechai Chalk

London-born Rabbi Chalk (m. Shira), who has a bachelor's degree in social psychology, spent eleven years in Israel during which he studied at Bais Yisroel Yeshiva, Mir and taught at Yeshivat Sha'arei Mevaseret Zion. He and Rebbetzen Shira returned to Britain in 2018 and have served as part-time rabbinic couple at Watford & District Synagogue from May 2020 to present (December 2020). (Watford congregation's website.)

Rabbi Alexander Chapper

Rabbi Chapper (m. Eva) studied at London School of Jewish Studies (obtaining semicha and a London University degree in Jewish Studies) and yeshivot Mir and Darchei Noam in Israel. He was the last minister of Hammersmith & West Kensington Synagogue, London (1998-c.1999) and then served as minister of Reading Hebrew Congregation (2001-2003) and Ilford Federation Synagogue, London (2002-2017). In 2017, he joined Borehamwood and Elstree Synagogue (BES), Hertfordshire, initially as community rabbi (and rabbi of the synagogue's Yavneh minyan), becoming senior rabbi in 2019 until present (August 2021). (Jewish Year Book listings and Rabbi Chapper's profile on BES's website.)

Rev. Simon Chassim
(b. c.1871)

Rev. Chassim (also spelled Chassen), born in Turetz (today in Belarus), was appointed minister of the Blackburn Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire, in April 1897. In 1898 he left Blackburn to serve the Hull Central Synagogue. Rev Chassen then spent some years in Birmingham before he emigrated to the USA in 1913. (Blackburn Hebrew Congregation and its ministers by Hilary Thomas.)

Rev. Philip Chazan
(c.1887 - 16 February 1961)

Rev. Chazan (m. 1920 Millie Levine of Glasgow, a singing artist who performed on local BBC radio in Scotland and the northeast of England) from Edinburgh, was elected reader and shochet of the newly-established Doncaster United Hebrew Congregation, Yorkshire, in March 1913 serving until about 1916. He was then minister to the West Hartlepool Hebrew Congregation, in the northeast of England, for some 17 years (c.1916-c.1933). Rev. Chazan represented the community at a northern conference of the English Zionist Federation in 1923. There is no evidence that Rev. Chazan continued his ministerial career after leaving West Hartlepool. He died in Glasgow and is buried at Cathcart cemetery. (Jewish Year Book listings; Jewish Chronicle reports; and online research.)

Rev. Irving (or Israel) Chazen
(d. 17 February 1975)

Newcastle born Rev. Chazen, also spelled Chazan, (m. Rita Tomback - d.2003) studied at Manchester University and Etz Chaim Yeshiva, London. While a student he was second reader and baal koreh at the South Hackney Synagogue and then studied shechita in Leeds. He served as minister, reader and shochet of the Doncaster United Hebrew Congregation (1937-1942). He then served served, a few months only, in Northampton (1942), followed by Macclesfield United Synagogue Membership Group (1942-1946); Torquay and Paignton (c.1947/8); Grimsby (February 1948-1949); and Oxford (from January 1950) where he was appointed officiating chaplain to the forces in Oxfordshire. Rev. Chazen was minister of the Tottenham Hebrew Congregation (from latest 1952). In 1967 he became United Synagogue Visitation Committee chaplain for patients at mental hospitals, including Friern Hospital. After his death, the room for patients comfort at the Friern Hospital was named the Chazen Room in his memory. He was described as a dedicated worker for Israel and many Zionist causes and spoke extensively to non-Jewish audiences throughout his career. (Jewish Chronicle obituary 21 February 1975, profile 13 January 1950 and various reports; Jewish Year Book listings; Macclesfield's Jews in World War Two by Basil Jeuda.)

Rev. Adolph Treitel Chodowski
(1862 - 1926)

Rev. Chodowski (m. Fanny Philips from London) was the son of Rabbi Isaac Jacob Chodowski of Berlin, brother of Rev. A.D. Chowdoski of Sheffield and Rabbi Dr. S. Chodowski of Oels, Germany (now in Poland). He was a graduate of Jews' College, London and was minister of Leicester Hebrew Congregation(1887-1889). From 1890 he served various communities in New Zealand and Australia: including Christchurch, New Zealand (1890-1896), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia (1896-1898), Dunedin New Zealand (1898-c.1910), Carlton, Victoria, Australia and Newtown, New South Wales, Australia. In 1922 he was the founder and first editor of the Sidney-based pro-Zionist Australian Jewish Chronicle, a position he held until his death (the newspaper folded in the early 1930s due to the depression). (Jewish Chronicle reports and obituary of Fanny Chodowski, 20 October 1933.)

Rev. Dr. Joseph Chotzner
(11 May 1844 - 30 April 1914)

Krakow-born Rev. Chotzner (m. Helen Banasch of Breslau, 1872) was educated in Breslau Rabbinical Seminary and University of Breslau. He served as the first minister to the newly-formed Belfast Hebrew Congregation (1869-1880). He then left Belfast to become a Hebrew tutor and keeper of a house for Jewish pupils at Harrow School, Middlesex (known as Beeleigh House). In 1893, Rev. Chotzner returned to the Belfast Hebrew Congregation and served as its minister for a second term (1893-1897). In 1897, he became senior scholar in residence at the Judith Montefiore College, Ramsgate until 1905, when he retired to London. Died in Harrogate. A scholar and translator, he published books in Hebrew, German and English, particularly on the subject of humour in the Hebrew Bible. (Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History (2011) by W. Rubinstein (ed.) and M.A. Jolles and H. L. Rubinstein (ass. eds.), p.155; and Research by Steven Jaffe, including Joseph Chotzner in Men and Ideas: Selected Writings 1935-1980 by Rabbi Alexander Carlebach, Koren publishers, 1983 and Jewish Chronicle articles.)

Rev. Jacob Mendes Chumaceiro
(c.1844 - 18 December 1912)

Amsterdam-born Rev. Chumaceiro (m. Henrietta de la Bella) came from a Dutch family of dayanim and rabbis, prominent in Sephardi communities both of Amsterdam and Curacao in the former Netherlands Antilles. He was described by the Jewish Chronicle as of "a class which has by now almost disappeared in Anglo-Jewry, that of the Minister who combines a secular calling with his sacred vocation". A diamond broker, he served as the chazan of the private Sephardi Andrade Synagogue, Islington, London (from at least 1877 until its closure in 1884) and then of the Sephardi Mildmay Park Synagogue, Canonbury, London (from its opening in about 1885 until his death in late 1912), also officiating at the services held in a private home during the interim period. (Jewish Chronicle tributes 3 January 1913 and internet research.)

Rabbi Abraham Citron
(b. 22 June 1976)

Los Angeles-born Rabbi Citron (m. Devorah Leah Kagan), the son of Rabbi Chaim Zev Citron, studied at yeshivot in Jerusalem, Melbourne, and New York, where he obtained semicha. He served as minister of the Belfast Jewish Community (2002- 2007) and subsequently as rabbi of Walford Road Synagogue, Stoke Newington, London (2007 to present - December 2020), a position he has combined with being a special needs teacher at Kisharon since 2010 and teacher of Jewish Studies at LSGS (Lubavitch Senior Girls School). (Jewish Year Book listings; research by Steven Jaffe including Belfast Jewish Record; and data provided by Rabbi Citron.)

Rev. Moses Claff
(c.1847 - 28 October 1903)

Rev. Claff, born in Siauliai (Shavel), Lithuania (m. 1st Esther, died at Stoke on Trent in 1884; 2nd Miriam Neuman) was minister at Hanley Synagogue, Stoke-on-Trent, where in 1883 he conducted the service at the opening of the synagogue at Burslem described as the"minister of the United congregations". He then served as reader at the the Newcastle United Hebrew Congregation (Leazes Park Road Synagogue) (September 1884-1886). The remainder of Rev. Claff's career was spent in London: at Princes Street Synagogue (later known as Princelet Street Synagogue), Spitalfields (from 1886); elected Reader of New Dalston Synagogue in February 1893; and at New Road Synagogue, Whitechapel (c.1889-1903), serving for over 14 years until his death. (Jewish Chronicle, various reports, "Service and Scandal" by Daniel Appleby, 2013, and internet research.)

Rabbi Jarachmiel Cofnas
(1912 - 19 May 2010)

Rabbi J. Cofnas (m. Bertha Sternberg in 1943), born Deksnia, Poland, was one of the last living students of the famous Chofetz Chaim (Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan). His father was a rabbi and shochet and his grandfather, Rabbi Yehudah Leib Freedman, came to Manchester at the turn of the twentieth century (but returned to Poland). Rabbi Cofnas came to Birmingham to assist his brother who served as minister of Birmingham New Synagogue where he himself was to serve for approximately fifty years (1938-c.1988). He was a qualified shochet and mohel. He retired to Manchester in 1988, where he continued to lecture at strictly Orthodox yeshivot and schools, and died in Salford and over 600 people attended the funeral. He was the father of Rabbi Lionel Cofnas. (Jewish Year Book listings, Jewish Chronicle obituary and press reports, Interview - accessed 5 January 2021.)

Rabbi Lionel (Mordechai Lev) Cofnas
(9 December 1943 - April 2020)

Birmingham-born Rabbi L. Cofnas, the son of Rabbi Jarachmiel Cofnas, received semicha from Gateshead Yeshiva. He served as minister of Pinner Synagogue, northwest London (1966-1971), Sunderland Hebrew Congregation (1971-1975) and as chief minister of Cardiff United Synagogue (c.1975-c.1980). In about 1980 he was appointed minister of Childwall Synagogue, Liverpool and served there until 2011. From 2011 he held the position of senior rabbi for Merseyside Jewry and was described as "the backbone of Liverpool's religious infrastructure for more than 30 years." He died after contracting the coronavirus (COVID-19) . (Jewish Telegraph report and Jewish Year Book listings.)

Rabbi Barnett Isaac Cohen
(30 August 1880 - 12 August 1947)

Manchester-born Rabbi B.I. Cohen, the youngest son of Dayan Sussman Cohen and the grandson of Dayan Jacob Reinowitz, was educated at Manchester Jews' School and Jews' College London, of which he became the first Rabbi-Fellow. He won the Hollier Hebrew Scholarship in 1900 at the London University, and graduated with honours in Semitics four years later. He was hon. secretary and then president of the Jews' College Union Society. From 1903, he acted as assistant visiting minister at the London Hospital; and was an hon. teacher at the Free School Sabbath Classes (1900-1908) and during the same period teacher in the Religion Classes at St. Stephen's Schools. In 1908 he was awarded semicha from Jews' College and that year became minister of the Sheffield Hebrew Congregation. Rabbi Cohen (m. Hannah Harris, 1911) was to serve there for just under 40 years, until his retirement in 1947. He was President of the Talmud Torah Schools in Sheffield, and later Hon. Superintendent of the Hebrew Education Board, Secretary and Relieving Officer of the Board of Guardians for 38 years; Hon. President of the Sheffield Zionist Association, Young Zionists' and Students' Associations; Hon. President of the New Sheffield Jewish Centre; and an Executive Officer of the congregation's Chevra Kadisha. He was also a founder and Past Worshipful Master of the Hadassah Lodge of Freemasons and held other senior Masonic offices. Rabbi Cohen was a respected faith and civic leader in Sheffield, and helped develop Biblical studies at Sheffield University. He was the brother-in-law of Dayan H M Lazarus and the brother of Rev. Harris Cohen, who served in Nottingham and Stoke Newington. Rabbi Cohen died only three months after retiring, during a visit to London. (Jewish Chronicle obituary 22 August 1947)

Rev Benjamin Cohen
(d. by 1916)

Rev. B. Cohen, a graduate of Jews' College, London, was minister at Stockton-on-Tees Synagogue from at least 1886 until 1914. He participated at the consecration of the new synagogue in 1906 and his silver wedding anniversary was celebrated by the congregation in 1913. (Jewish Chronicle press reports.)

Charles Yechezkel Cohen ("Reb Chatze")
(1843 - 1926)

Charles Yechezkel Cohen, the author of Yalkut Yechezkel and reverently and affectionately known as Reb Chatze, came to Sunderland from Krottingen (Kretinga), now in Klaipėda County, Lithuania, in 1888, having aleady obtained semicha. When he arrived in the town there were no weekday services nor any place when men of learning could assemble for study and discussion. He established the Chevra Gemara, of which he was the the honorary lecturer, which held nightly shiurim (study meetings) in Lawrence Street, Sunderland (the home of Mr. Charles Gillis). It was subsequently incorporated into the Chevra Torah, which in 1899 became the Sunderland Beth Hamedrash, of which Reb Chatze remained a respected and important member until his death. He married twice and was father of 22 children, and several of his descendants would became extremely influential members of the Sunderland Jewish community, as well as leaders of the town council. In 1935, the new building to house the congregation's Talmud Torah was named Beth Yecheskel Hacohen, as a memorial to Reb Chatze, having been purchased by one of his sons, Elias Cohen, and presented to the Beth Hamedrash.  (The Sunderland Jewish Community 1955-1955 (1956) by A. Levy and The Sunderland Beth Hamedresh 1889-1999 (2010) by D. Taylor and H. Davis.)

Rabbi Francis Lyon Cohen
(14 November 1862 - April 1934)

Born in Aldershot, Hampshire, Rabbi Cohen (m. 1886 Rose, daughter of Rev. M. Hast of the Great Synagogue), was educated at Sussex House School, Brighton, Jews' College and University College, London. He was superintendent of the classes of the Jewish Association for the Diffusion of Religious Knowledge, and became preacher, reader and teacher to the South Hackney Synagogue, London, (c.1880) and for a short time, on the retirement of the late Rev. M. Kaizer, assistant reader at the Great Synagogue, Duke Street, London. Briefly minister to the Dublin Hebrew Congregation (1885-1886), he returned to London and became preacher, reader and secretary of the Borough Synagogue, London (1886-1904). Here he came "more closely into touch with the problems of life in one of the poorest and most crowded boroughs of London", and took an increasingly active part in social and educational work: as chaplain at Brixton prison and to various asylums and hospitals in south London; chairman of the Education Committee and resident manager of the South London Jewish Schools; and examiner for the Jewish boys in Industrial Schools. Rabbi Cohen had long taken an interest in the welfare of Jewish servicemen, and in 1892 he was instrumental in initiating chaplaincy services to Jewish soldiers, and was officially appointed an Honorary Officiating Chaplain to the Forces. For several years he held regular services for the Jewish soldiers at Aldershot, and also organised many of the Chanucah military services. He retained his interest in this work until he emigrated to Australia Rabbi Cohen advocated setting up a Jewish Lads Brigade in the UK and served as the new organisation's chaplain. For some years a teacher at Jews College, he was a scholar of Jewish music and liturgy, and made popular new arrangements for traditional Hebrew songs. In 1904 Rabbi Cohen left England for Australia becoming chief minister of the Sydney Hebrew Congregation and he died in that office thirty years later having made a significant contribution to the development of the Jewish and wider community in Australia. Over 4,000 attended his funeral. (Jewish Chronicle obituary 4 May 1934)

Rev. Harris Cohen*

Rev. Harris Cohen served as minister at Blackburn Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire, from 1896 to about 1897 and had the honour of welcoming the Chief Rabbi to the town. He was then resident in Manchester and was later appointed briefly as minister of the Bradford Hebrew Congregation, Yorkshire, in about 1900. He as reader of the Hull Western Synagogue from June 1902 until about 1906. ("From Poland To Paradise Lane and Other Journeys" - a history of the Jewish community of Blackburn, by Hilary Thomas, 2018; Jewish Year Book listings.)
(*Not to be confused with the Rev. (later Rabbi) Harris Cohen (see below), who during the same period was serving at congregations in Nottingham and Stoke Newington, London.)

Rabbi Harris Cohen*
(1869 - 17 May 1949)

Rabbi Harris Cohen, who was born in Poland and came to Britain as a small child, was the son of the Dayan Susman Cohen and the grandson of Dayan Jacob Reinowitz. He was educated at the Manchester Jews' School and shortly after his bar mitzvah, he entered Jews' College, London. He served briefly as minister of the Merthyr Tydfil Hebrew Congregation (from c.1888, when he was only 19 years ols). He was then minister of the Nottingham Hebrew Congregation (1890-1903). Rev. Cohen was Lecturer in Semitics at the University College Nottingham, a much in demand speaker to non-Jewish audiences, and was visiting minister at Hanley Synagogue (later known as Stoke-on-Trent Hebrew Congregation) and Derby Hebrew Congregation. In 1895 he attended University of Leipzig, Germany, reading Arabic and Syriac. In 1903 the newly-founded Stoke Newington Synagogue, north London, appointed him minister and he served there for over 30 years, until his retirement due to ill health in 1934, when he became emeritus rabbi. He held a number of posts in youth and educational work in north London, was chairman of the Union of Anglo Jewish Preachers and president of the Sabbath Observance Bureau until 1939. He received semicha in 1914 from both the Chief Rabbi Dr. Hertz, and the Hacham, Dr. M. Gaster. He was the brother of Rabbi Barnet Isaac Cohen and the father-in-law of Rev. B.B. Lieberman. (Jewish Chronicle profile 26 June 1903, obituary 20 May 1949, Nelson Fisher Eight Hundred Years. The Story of Nottingham's Jews pp.179.)
(*Not to be confused with the Rev. Harris Cohen (see above), who during the 1890s and 1900s was serving at a number of congregations in Lancashire and Yorkshire.)

Rev. I.J. Cohen

(c.1818 - 22 December 1898)
Rev. Cohen was a licensed shochet and a resident in Oxford from before 1851 where he traded as a jeweller. In 1858 he succeeded Rev. Nathan Jacobs in serving the Oxford Hebrew Congregation, and he described himself as "shochet and examiner here in Oxford." Rev. Cohen was a regular user of the Bodleian library and may have been working as a librarian of its Hebrew collections. He left Oxford for Aldershot in 1866 where he served as shochet until 1888. He died in Sunderland. (Jewish Chronicle death notice and tribute 30 December 1898; Jews of Oxford by Lewis p.20.)

Rabbi Dr. Isaac Cohen
(26 July 1914 - 30 November 2007)

Llanelli-born Rabbi Cohen (m. Fanny Weisfogel in 1939) was educated at Aria College, Portsmouth, Jews' College and University College, London, graduating in 1935. His first posts were at Harrow and Kenton Synagogue (later Harrow District Synagogue), north London (1935-1939), and then Leeds United Hebrew Congregation, as additional minister with special responsibility for the Moortown district. During the war he deputised for the congregation's senior minister (who became a forces chaplain) and established an advisory service to assist evacuees. After the war, he obtained semicha in London, was elected rabbi to the Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation (c.1947-1959), and obtained a doctorate in 1956 from Edinburgh University. Having been born in Wales and served in England and Scotland, in 1959 Rabbi Cohen was appointed Chief Rabbi of Ireland, where, in addition to representing the Irish Jewish community in public life, he undertook more mundane congregational duties, and was prominent in the Conference of European Rabbis. He retired to Jerusalem in 1979, engaged in further rabbinic studies and completed a book, Acts of the Mind in Jewish Ritual Law: An Insight into Rabbinic Psychology, only weeks before he died. (Jewish Chronicle obituary 25 January 2008.)

Rev. Israel Cohen
(4 April 1917 - 8 June 1999)

Leeds-born Rev. Cohen (m. Freda Hofstadter) was educated at Manchester yeshiva. He served as reader and shochet of the Darlington Hebrew Congregation (1947-1950), where he was active in Zionism, the JNF and as officiating chaplain to Jewish troops at Catterick camp. In 1950 he was elected chazan, shochet and teacher of the Portsmouth & Southsea Hebrew Congregation and served there for 18 years. Rev Cohen moved along the south coast to the Bournemouth Hebrew Congregation in 1968 and after his retirement in 1985 he continued to conduct services as emeritus chazan. He was noted for his pastoral work and larger than life personality. (Jewish Chronicle profile 17 August 1979, obituary 9 July 1999 and various other reports.)

Rabbi Dr. Jeffrey Cohen

Manchester-born Rabbi Dr. Cohen, BA, M.Phil, AJC, PhD, (m. Gloria Goldberg) studied at Gateshead Yeshivah and Jews' College, London. He served as assistant rabbi of Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue, London (1963-1967) and then as Director of Jewish Studies and Hebrew Education at the King David Schools, Manchester (1967-1970). He subsequently served as minister of Newton Mearns Synagogue, Glasgow (1970-c.1980), Kenton Synagogue, London (1980-1986) and finally Stanmore and Canons Park Synagogue, London (1986-2006), followed by semi-retirement in Israel. He is the author of a number of books including Torah for Teens: Growing up Spiritually with the Weekly Sidrah, Prayer and Penitence: A Commentary to the High Holy Day Machzor and a new poetic translation of the Book of Psalms (Jewish Year Book listings and "Who's Who" entries and Rabbi Dr. Cohen's website.)

Rev. M. Cohen

Rev M. Cohen served the Margate Hebrew Congregation, Kent, from at least 1932 until 1940 when the congregation's activities were suspended because of the war emergency. Rev. Cohen and his wife then became Master and Matron of the Hostel for Refugee children in Brighton and Hove, having previously been active in a similar hostel for refugee boys in Margate. (Jewish Chronicle reports and Jewish Year Book listings.)

Rev. M. M. Cohen
(c.1856 - 12 October 1938)

Rev. M. M. Cohen (m. Juliet) was born in Kinsin, Poland, to a rabbinical family and was related to Dayan H M Lazarus (London), Rabbi B I Cohen (Sheffield), Rabbi Harris Cohen (London) and Rabbi Dr S M Lehrman (Liverpool). He served as minister with Manchester New Synagogue, Leicester Hebrew Congregation(1896-1903) and Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation. He later served the South Broughton Synagogue, Manchester, for 18 years and was described as an ardent Zionist. (Jewish Chronicle obituary, 21 October 1938.)

Rev. Menasseh Cohen
(1828 - 9 July 1884)

Born in Pyzdry, Poland, Rev. Cohen (m. 1st Harriette Moses, 2nd Mather Samuel) was the son of a lay leader of the Cardiff Jewish community, Lazarus Cohen. He was minister to the fledgling Wolverhampton Hebrew Congregation from about 1852 until 1859. He continued to live in Wolverhampton where he ran a jewellery business. In 1860 Lloyd's Newspaper reported: "The partner of Mr Menasseh Cohen, the rabbi at Wolverhampton, has absconded with a quantity of gold and silver watches, gold chains and jewellery to the value of £400. The fugitive is a Prussian". Despite this setback, Menasseh Cohen remained active in the Wolverhampton congregation and in 1873/4 he was elected its secretary and treasurer. In 1873 he conducted the high holy day services at Wolverhampton synagogue in a voluntary capacity. He died in Birmingham and is buried at Witton old cemetery. He was the brother of Rev. Ephraim Cohen in Newcastle and Rev. Solomon Cohen in Coventry (Jewish Chronicle, various reports extracted by Harold Pollins 28 October 1859, 6 January 1860, internet research.)

Rabbi Raphael Isaac Cohen
(c.1803 - 3 December 1865)

German born Rabbi or Rev. Cohen (m. Bloom) was the minister at Dover Synagogue, Kent for almost 30 years (c.1839-1865). He was the founder and principal of Sussex House Academy (previously the Victoria House Academy), a school for Jewish boys in Dover which in 1851 had over 50 scholars in residence, some coming from as far as Gibraltar and north Africa. In 1862 Rev. Cohen announced that after 25 years teaching he intended to reduce the number of his pupils. Prior to leaving Dover, and following his retirement from the ministry, he was president of the Dover congregation. He died in Liverpool at the home of his son-in-law and is buried in Liverpool's Deane Road cemetery. (Obituary Dover Telegraph, republished in the Jewish Chronicle, 15 December 1865, other Jewish Chronicle reports and on line research.)

Rev. Shalom Cohen
(c.1873 - 1928)

Rev. S. Cohen served as reader to the West Hartlepool Hebrew Congregation (at least 1906-c.1909) and the Middlesbrough Hebrew Congregation (c.1909-1917) and was then elected chazan, teacher, and shochet of nearby Stockton-on-Tees Hebrew Congregation where he served for over ten years (1917-1927). He died in a London nursing home, leaving a wife and six children. A memorial service, led by Revs. J. Silverstone and S. Turtledove of Middlesbrough, was attended by the Mayor of Stockton-on-Tees. (Jewish Year Book listings; Jewish Chronicle, obituary and tributes 10 February 1928, and press reports of the Stockton community.)

Rev. Solomon Cohen

Rev. S. Cohen was the son of a lay leader of the Cardiff Jewish community, Lazarus Cohen, and served as a minister of the Coventry Hebrew Congregation. In 1869 the Chief Rabbi urged the congregation to form Hebrew classes for the children rather than have Rev. Cohen teach at individual homes. By 1885 Rev. Cohen was still in office but was prohibited to act as a shochet because of his advanced age. This may be the same Rev. Cohen ("from Coventry") who took services at Finsbury Park Synagogue, London in 1890. He was the brother of Rev. Ephraim Cohen in Newcastle and Rev. Menasseh Cohen in Wolverhampton (Jewish Chronicle various reports, Harry Levine, The Jews of Coventry 1970 p.39.)

Rabbi Zvi Cohen

London-born Rabbi Zvi Cohen and Rebbetzen Rivky Cohen have served as the (part-time) rabbinic couple at Kingsbury Synagogue, London from 2004 to present (May 2021). Rabbi Cohen studied at Gateshead Yeshiva from where he received his semicha in 1994. He moved back to London in 1997 and since 2002 has taught at local Jewish primary schools. (Congregation's website.)

Rev. Edwin Hyman Simeon (Henry) Collins
(1858 - 8 June 1936)

London-born Rev. Collins (m. Ada Stanford, formerly of Northampton, 1892 in Brighton), whose family was amongst the founders of the Western Synagogue, London, was a Hollier Hebrew scholar at University College London. He later studied at the Universities of Marburg and Paris. He served as minister of the Belfast Hebrew Congregation (c.1882-c.1887) and briefly as minister of the Dublin Hebrew Congregation (c.1887-c.1888). In 1891, he described himself as author, journalist, Jewish clergyman, poet, teacher of Hebrew and of French, German and English literature. His work as literary collaborator with Sun Yat-sen, later first president of the Republic of China, in the late 1890s, has been the subject of academic research. Between 1911 to 1913, Rev. Collins was headmaster of Annandale House School, Bedford. He was an educational reformer, known widely as "the apostle of the simple life of children", who advocated teaching children informally and out of doors. He was prosecuted in 1906 for neglecting to send his children to school. In 1913 Rev. Collins probably founded the short-lived Bromley Hebrew Congregation in Kent, and served as its secretary and presumably its minister, until about 1915. He lived at various times in St John's Wood, Northampton, Wallasey and Richmond. Rev. Collins was a translator and scholar of rabbinic works and he popularised Jewish literature to a non-Jewish readership. He died while on a visit to Clayton, Staffordshire and is buried at the Stoke-on-Trent Jewish Cemetery. (Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History (2011), p.177; and Research by Steven Jaffe, including The Lost book of Sun Yatsen and Edwin Collins, Patrick Anderson, Routledge, 2017; Jewish Year Book listings; and Jewish Chronicle obituary of 12 June 1936.)

Rabbi Dr. Chaim Joshua Cooper
(9 August 1917 - December 1999)

London-born Rabbi Cooper, M.A., Ph.D., served as minister to Catford Synagogue, London (1937-45) before being appointed as principal of Aria College, Southsea (1945-51) and then served as minister of Kingsbury District Synagogue, London (1951-1957). He subsequently went to Australia and served as minister of Adelaide Hebrew Congregation (1958-1959). Returning to the UK, he moved to Hull, initially as the community's Communal Rabbi (from about 1960 until at least 1977), and later as minister of the Hull Old Hebrew Congregation (from at least 1982 until 1993). (Jewish Year Book listings and "Who's Who" entries and "The History of Hull's Orthodox Synagogues" by E. Oppel, 2000.)

Rabbi Alby Copeland

Rabbi Copeland served as minister (and first ever rabbi) of Darlington Hebrew Congregation (1976-1980). He subsequently served as minister of Pollokshields Hebrew Congregation, Glasgow (1980-1984) and Queen's Park Synagogue, Glasgow (1984-1986), before being appointed as the executive director of a yeshiva in Manchester in 1986. (Jewish Year Book listings and Jewish Chronicle press reports.)

Rev. Philip Copperman
(1931 - 2010)

Dublin-born, Cantor Philip Copperman was educated at Gateshead Yeshiva and Jews' College, London, where he was a pupil of Chazan Salomo Pinkasowicz. At the age of 19 he served as chazan at the Great Synagogue, Dukes Place, London and while in London, he received voice training from the Italian maestro, Dino Borgioli. He served the Beth Hamedrash Hagadol Synagogue, Leeds (1951-1955); the Southport Hebrew Congregation, Lancashire (1955-1959), the Giffnock & Newlands Synagogue, Glasgow (1959-1963), the Western Synagogue, London (1963-1966). In 1966 Rev Copperman was appointed Reader at South Manchester Synagogue and four years later he moved to the nearby Sale & District Hebrew Congregation. From 1972 he took posts in Southern Africa and North America before returning to Glasgow he served at the Garnethill Synagogue and finally the Newton Mearns Synagogue (from 1990 until his retirement in 2003). He retired to Netanya and died in Israel. A number of Rev Copperman's recordings are on Youtube. (Profile by Rabbi Geoffrey Shisler.)

Rabbi Stanley Coten

Rabbi Coten (m. Rosalind), who has an MA in Hebrew & Jewish Studies; a First in Politics; and a Post Graduate Certificate in Education, studied at Sunderland and Ohr Sameach (Jerusalem) Yeshivot, and received semicha at Jews College, London. He served as minister of Shepherd's Bush, Fulham & District Synagogue, London (c.1987-c.1988), Potters Bar and District Affiliated Synagogue, Hertfordshire (1988-1990), Kingston Surbiton & District Affiliated Synagogue, London (c.1990-2002) and Ruislip Synagogue, London (c.2004 to present - July 2020). (Profile on Ruislip Synagogue website and Jewish Year Book listings.)

Rev. Shimon Craimer
(b.1978)

London-born, Cantor Craimer studied at London’s Trinity College of Music. He served as chazan of Edgware United Synagogue, London from about 2002 to about 2003. He conducted the Hendon Adath Yisroel Congregation choir and has served as a lay cantor at several orthodox synagogues in Greater London. He has performed in cantorial concerts throughout Great Britain and in Israel. (Jewish Year Book listings.)

Rabbi Shlomo P. Cutler

(b. 21 December 1927)

Liverpool-born Rabbi Cutler (m. Judith) studied at the Liverpool Yeshiva and subsequently under the private tutorship of Dayan Morris Swift and obtained semicha at Gateshead Yeshiva. He served as assistant minister and secretary of Luton Synagogue (c.1952-1959), as minister of Mill Hill Synagogue, London (1959-1993) and as rabbi of Kol Yaacov Beth Hamedrash, Edgware, London (1997-2001). (Jewish Year Book listings and "Who's Who" entries.)

Rabbi Rafael Wolf Cymberg
(31 August 1921 -6 May 1996)

Warsaw-born Rabbi Cymberg (m Mariette Merker, who survived the Nazi occupation of Belgium), the great-grandson of Rabbi Yoav Yehoshua Weingarten (d. 1923, one of the foremost halachic authorities of pre-war Poland), came to London as a refugee shortly before the outbreak of World War II. Rabbi Cymberg's large family in Poland was murdered in the Holocaust. He studied at Etz Chaim yeshiva and Jews' College, London, and served several congregations, including Ezras Chaim Synagogue, Heneage Street, in the London East End, Northwold Road Synagogue, Stoke Newington, and the Addiscombe and District Synagogue, Croydon (1951-1952). He was then minister of the Notting Hill Synagogue, West London (1952-1958), obtained semicha in 1958 from Jews' College, and then minister at Cockfosters and N Southgate Synagogue (1958-1987). Rabbi Cymberg served as chaplain to numerous hospitals, to Holloway prison and to the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women. From 1987 he provided temporary assistance to Brighton and Hove Synagogue which was without a minister. He died in London. In 1998, the Rafael Beit Hamidrash at the Cockfosters and N Southgate Synagogue was dedicated to his memory. (Jewish Chronicle obituary 17 May 1996 and various reports.)