JCR-UK

Croydon & District Synagogue

Croydon, Surrey

 

 

 

  
 

 
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Congregation Data

Name:

Croydon Synagogue(ii)

Former Names:

Croydon Hebrew Congregation (from incorporation until about 1947)((iii)

Croydon & District Hebrew Congregation (from about 1947 until about 1954)(iv)

Croydon & District Synagogue (from about 1954 until at least 2014)(v)

Address:

The Almonds, 5 Shirley Oaks Road, Croydon, CR0 8YW, built in 1995(viii)

Former Addresses:

38 Croydon Grove, West Croydon, from 1908 until about 1925.(ix)

30 Elmwood Road, West Croydon, from 1925 until 1995.(x)

A new synagogue was erected on the site in 1934, the foundation stone being laid on 8 July 1934 by Mr. Charles E. Gaventa, President, with Dayan Harris M. Lazarus and Rabbi Shlomo Shmuel Twersky delivering addresses to the gathering.(xi)

On 23 May 1965, another new synagogue on the site, designed by architect Dennis S. Lichtig, was opened and consecrated, coinciding with the induction of a new minister, Rev. Joseph J. Kacenelenbogen.(xii)

Formation:

The congregation was formed in 1908.(xiv)

Current Status:

Active

Ritual:

Ashkenazi Orthodox

Affiliation:

The congregation was unaffiliated until becoming affiliated to the Federation of Synagogues in 1926,(xv) and has thereafter remained within the Federation, being admitted as a constituent synagogue in 1958.(xvi)

Website:

https://www.croydonsynagogue.org.uk/

Breakway Congregation:

In 1947, members of the congregation living in the area of Addiscombe broke away to form the Addiscombe and District Synagogue. In 1954, unity was restored and congregations were reunited.(xvii)

Ministers:
(To view a short profile of a minister whose name appears in blue - hold the cursor over his name.)

Rev. Isaac Jacob Super - minister/reader from 1908 until no later than 1911.(xx)

Rabbi Shmuel Gerstenfeld - possibly minister from about 1912 until about 1915.(xxi)

Rev. A. Zeidenfeld - minister from 1915 until at least 1919.(xxii)

Rev. Israel Rabinowitz - minister from 1920 until about 1927.(xxiii)

Rev. Samuel Joseph Michlewitz - minister from 1929 until 1963 and thereafter as emeritus and temporary minister during periods when the congregation was without a minister.(xxiv)

Rev. Samuel Brazil - reader/assistant minister from April 1948 until 1955.(xxvi)

Rabbi Maurice Abram Lew - minister for five months in 1963.(xxvii)

Rev. Joseph J. Kacenelenbogen - minister from about 1965 until about 1968.(xxviii)

Rev. Alex Rosin (1st term) - minister from about 1969 until about 1978.(xxix)

Rev. D. Marks - minister from about 1978 until about 1979.(xxx)

Rev. Michael A. Atkins - minister from about 1979 until about 1980.(xxxi)

Rev. Alex Rosin (2nd term) - minister from about 1981/2 until August 1987.(xxix)

Rev. Aaron Engelmeyer - part-time reader from about 1979 until about 1980.(xxxiii)

Rabbi Menachem M. Junik - minister from 1991 until 1993.(xxxiv)

Rabbi Hershi Vogel - minister from 1995 until late 1998.(xxxv)

Rev. Mark Daniels - minister from 2001 until 2009.(xxxvi)

Rev. David Gilinsky - minister from 2009 until 2011.(xxxvii)

Rabbi Natan Asmoucha - minister from about 2012 until present (March 2026).(xxxviii)

Lay Officers:

Unless otherwise stated, all data on lay officers has been extracted from listings in Jewish Year Books.(xlii)

Presidents

1908-1910 - S. Abrahams

1910-1916 - S. Marcus

Chairmen

1916-1922 - A. Barnett

1922-1925 - E.C. Davids

1925-1926 - I. Lebor

Presidents

1926-1927 - J. Lubin

1927-1930 - V. Cohn

1930-1931 - E.C. Davids

1931-1932 - L. Newman

1932-1933 - M. Silverman, BA

1933-1935 - Charles E. Gaventa

1935-1938- J. Cowen

1938-1945 - no data

1945-1947 - Dr. A. Fry

1947-1950 - N. Goldstone

1950-1951 - S. Futterman

1951-1956 - N. Goldstone

from 1951 - no data

 

Vice Presidents

1908-1910 - A. Landsman

1910-1913 - M. Cohen

1913-1927 - no data

Vice Chairman

1927-1930 - E.C. Davids

Vice Presidents

1930-1931 - L. Newman

1931-1933 - O. Barnett

1933-1947 - no data

1947-1950 - H. Coren

1950-1953 - no data

Vice Chairman

1953-1956 - H. Coren

from 1956 - no data

 

Wardens

1916-1925 - A. Landsman

1925-1927 - S. Marcus

1927-1930 - A. Landsman

1930-1931 - S. Simmons

1932-1938 - S. Marcus

1938-1945 - no data

1945-1946 - S. Binstock

1946-1953 - no data

1953-1956 - J. Ritoff

from 1956 - no data

 

Treasurers

1913-1916 - H. Supperfine

1916-1927 - no data

1927-1932 - George Max

1932-1933 - B. Greenstein

1933-1938 - Ph. Greenstein

1938-1945 - no data

1945-1947 - I. Berg

1947-1949 - J. Gold

1949-1950 - S. Futterman

1950-1951 - N. Goldstone

1951-1955 - S. Futterman

1955-1956 - H. Gilmour

from 1956 - no data

 

Secretaries & Hon Secretaries

1908-1910 - I. Isaacson

1910-1913 - D. Convisser

1913-1922 - S. Marcus

1922-1925 - M.A. Barkman

1925-1931 - L. Newman

1931-1932 - R.H. Kane

1932-1934 - R. Rubenstein

1935-1936 - B. Barnett

1936-1938 - B. Barnett & A. De Groot

1938-1945 - no data

1945-1948 - Rev. S.J. Michlewitz

1948-1955 - Rev. Samuel Brazil

1956-1959 - J.H. Joshua

1959-1973 - A. Dorman

1973-1986 - J.I.A. Harris

Membership Data:

National Reports & Surveys(xliii)

1977 - 128 male (or household) members and 35 female members

1983 - 113 male (or household) members and 30 female members

1990 - 125 members 

1996 - 84 members (comprising 27 households, 37 individual male and 20 individual female members)

2001 - 83 members 

2010 - listed as having 50 to 99 members (by household)

2016 - listed as having under 50 members (by household)

Local Government Districts:

The large town of Croydon is in the London Borough of Croydon, within Greater London.
It was previously (until 1 April 1965) in the somewhat smaller former County Borough of Croydon, which was created in 1889, geographically within the County of Surrey.(xliv)

Registration District (BMD):

Croydon since 1 July 1837 - Link to Register Office website

Worship Registration:

The synagogue at 30 Elmwood Road, West Croydon, was registered as a Place of Worship - Worship Register Number 47949 - under the Places of Worship Registration Act 1855.(xlv)

Cemetery
Information:

For Federation cemeteries, see Cemeteries of the Federation of Synagogues.

 

Online Articles and Other Material
relating to this Congregation

on JCR-UK


Notable Jewish Connections with Croydon

  • There was a Jewish orphanage and for a time a hospital and asylum at south Norwood (about three miles from Croydon town centre), from 1866 until the 1970s. In 1911 over 400 children were resident in the Orphanage and Asylum at Norwood. It was renamed the Jewish Orphanage in 1928 and in 1956 became the Norwood Home for Jewish Children. In 1961 the Orphanage, including a synagogue, was demolished, and a new synagogue and assembly hall was built in its place, but the estate was sold in the 1970s. The main Jewish children's charity is called Norwood childcare.

  • Cllr Eddy Arram, a member of Catford synagogue, became the first and only Jewish Mayor of Croydon in 2012.

  • Sir Philip Goodhart (1925-2015) was Conservative MP for the Croydon constituency of Beckenham (1957-1992). He was the son of Professor Arthur Lehman Goodhart, the first Jew to be appointed head of an Oxford or Cambridge college and a descendent of Mayer Lehman, co-founder of Lehman Brothers.

  • Jon Benjamin (b.1964 in Croydon) was Chief Executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews from 2005 to 2013 and Chief Operating Officer of World ORT from 2014 to December 2015.

  • Jacqueline du Pré (1945–1987), British cellist, acknowledged as one of the greatest players of the instrument, but whose career was cut short by multiple sclerosis, lived in Purley and attended Croydon High School. Shortly before the Six-Day War, she flew to Jerusalem, converted to Judaism and married pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim at the Western Wall on 15 June 1967, after giving concerts around Israel for its troops and citizens. She is buried in the Reform section of Hoop Lane cemetery, Golders Green.

  • Sir Philip Green (b. 1952 in Croydon), billionaire, owner of the Arcadia Group, which included high street clothing retailers Topshop, Topman and Miss Selfridge from 2002 to 2020.

  • Bernard Spear (1919-2003) was an actor who played the part of father in The Bar Mitzvah Boy and also performed in the film, Yentl, was born in Croydon. 

  • Amy Winehouse (1983–2011), singer, attended Brit School, Croydon.

  • David Winnick (1933-2026), born in Brighton, was Labour MP for Croydon South (1966-1970) and Walsall North (1979-2017).

 

Other Organisations & Institutions
connected to this congregation

Educational

  • Hebbrew and Religious Classes - establish with the formation of the congregation, when there were about 20 children.(xlix)

Other Institutions

  • Ladies Guild - probably established early following the formation of the congregation, but not listed in Jewish Year Book until the 1940s.(l)

  • Croydon Central Jewish Benevolent Fund - founded by 1945.(li)

 

Notes & Sources
(↵ returns to text above)

  • (i) Reserved.

  • (ii) This was the current name of the congregation as listed on the congregation's website, last accessed March 2026 ↵

  • (iii) This was the name under which the congregation was listed in Jewish Year Books from its first listing (1909) through 1947. ↵

  • (iv) This was the name under which the congregation was listed in Jewish Year Books 1948 through 1954. ↵

  • (v) This was the name under which the congregation was listed in Jewish Year Books 1955 through the last edition (2015). ↵

  • (vi) and (vii) Reserved.

  • (viii) The congregation's website, accessed March 2026, states that the current synagogue was erected in 1995, although it was the address listed in Jewish Year Books from 1994 through the final edition (2015). ↵

  • (ix) The Jewish Chronicle report of 14 February 1908. It is also the address listed in Jewish Year Books from 1911 through 1925. ↵

  • (x) This was the address listed in Jewish Year Books from 1926 through 1993. ↵

  • (xi) The Jewish Chronicle report of 13 July 1934. ↵

  • (xii) HaMaor (June 1965) volume 4, number 15, p.22. ↵

  • (xiii) Reserved.

  • (xiv) Note in the Jewish Year Book 2010. The congregation was first listed in the Jewish Year Book 1909. ↵

  • (xv) The Jewish Chronicle report of 4 June 1926. It was first listed as a Federation congregation in the Jewish Year Book 1928. ↵

  • (xvi) Geoffrey Alderman's The Federation of Synagogue 1887-1987 (1987), p.101. The current status confirmed by the congregation's website, accessed March 2026. It was listed as a constituent of the Federation in Jewish Year Books from 1959 (although from 1945/6 through 1948, it was also listed as a constituent). ↵

  • (xvii) The Jewish Chronicle reports of 20 February 1948 and 23 July 1954 and Jewish Year Book listings. ↵

  • (xviii) and (xix) Reserved.

  • (xx) The Jewish Chronicle of 14 February 1908 reported his appointment at Croydon. He was listed as reader of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1909 through 1913. ↵

  • (xxi) Rev. Gerstenfeld is known to have lived in Croydon during these years before emigrating to the USA. While it is assumed he served the Croydon synagogue during this period, there is, as yet, no concrete evidence to confirm this. He was not listed in Jewish Year Books with regard to this congregation. ↵

  • (xxii) The Jewish Chronicle of 12 February 1915 reported on the appointment of Rev. A Zidenfeld and The Jewish Chronicle charity list includes Rev Zeidenfeld in Croydon in 1919. However, he may have remained resident in Croydon for long after, as an Abraham Zeidefeld ran a kosher shop in Croydon in the 1930s and 1940s. ↵

  • (xxiii) The Jewish Chronicle of 11 June 1920 reported that Rev. I Rabinowitz, formerly of Tredegar, has been installed as chazan, shochet etc of the Croydon congregation. His departure date is based upon his listing as minister from the first listing of ministers of this congregation in Jewish Year Books (1926) and in 1927. ↵

  • (xxiv) Online reports. Rev. Michlewitz was listed as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1928 through 1964 (except for wartime suspension of publication). ↵

  • (xxv) Reserved.

  • (xxvi) Jewish Chronicle report of 16 April 1948. Rev. S. Brazil was listed as reader of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1949 through 1951 and as minister, jointly with Rev. Michlewitz, in the editions from 1952 through 1955. ↵

  • (xxvii) Rabbi M.A Lew's Jewish Chronicle obituary of 30 June 1989. He is not listed in Jewish Year Books with regard to this congregation. ↵

  • (xxviii) The Jewish Chronicle of 28 May 1965 reported on the service to mark the consecration of the new Croydon (Federation) Synagogue and the induction of its minister, the Rev. Joseph Kacenelenbogen. On 10 March 1967 there was a family announcement thanking Rev. Kacenelenbogen, placing him in Croydon. He was listed as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1966 through 1968. ↵

  • (xxix) The Jewish Chronicle 1969 New Year greetings place Rev. Rosin in Croydon and The Jewish Chronicle of 26 October 1990 reported that the congregation had been without a full-time(sic) minister since August 1987, when the Rev. Alex Rosin left, placing his departure in 1985. However, he was listed as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books over two separate periods, from 1971 through 1978 and again from 1983 through 1987, with other ministers named during the intervening years. As there is currently very little available material relating to this period at Croydon, it is assumed that Rev. Rosin served the congregation in two separate stints. ↵

  • (xxx) Based solely upon the listing of Rev. D. Marks as minister of the congregation in the Jewish Year Book 1979. ↵

  • (xxxi) The Jewish Chronicle of 10 October 1980 reported that Rev. Michael Atkins, minister of the Croydon and District Federation Synagogue, has accepted a "call" to be the minister of the Nottingham Hebrew Congregation in succession to the late Rev Cyril Braslavsky. Mr Atkins, who is aged 34, has served the Croydon Synagogue for seven years (sic). Rev. M. Atkin's was listed as minister of the congregation solely in the Jewish Year Book 1980. ↵

  • (xxxii) Reserved.

  • (xxxiii) The Jewish Chronicle of 26 October 1990 reported that Rev. Rosin was succeeded, in July 1988, by Aaron Engelmeyer, a part-time reader, who left the congregation before the High Holy Days (presumably in 1990). He was not listed in Jewish Year Books with regard to this congregation. ↵

  • (xxxiv) The Jewish Chronicle of 5 November 1993 reported that Croydon synagogue's former minister, Rabbi Menachem Junik, was forced to leave earlier this year. He was not listed in Jewish Year Books with regard to this congregation. ↵

  • (xxxv) The Jewish Chronicle of 21 April 1995 reported that with the new [Croydon] synagogue will come a new part-time minister, Rabbi Hershi Vogel, 25, the Chabad community and youth worker for South London. On 26 February 1999, it reported that Rabbi Hershie Vogel, who arrived as minister at the Ealing Synagogue less than three months ago from Croydon. He was listed as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1998 through 2001. ↵

  • (xxxvi) The Jewish Chronicle of 14 February 2003 reported on Rev. N. Daniels's induction and states that he joined the community 18 months previously. The Jewish Chronicle reports place him in Croydon in 2009, and the appointment of his replacement was also in 2009. He was listed as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 2003 through 2009. ↵

  • (xxxvii) The Jewish Chronicle of 18 December 2009 referred to Rev. David Gilinsky, Croydon's recently appointed minister. In 2011, there were various reports (in particular a The Jewish Chronicle of 24 February 2011) concerning a dispute between Rev. Gilinsky and the congregation which was referred to the Federation Bet Din, and his employment was terminated in February 2011. He was listed as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 2010 and 2011. ↵

  • (xxxviii) Profile on the Federation's website, last accessed March 2026. He was listed as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books from 2013 until the final edition (2015). ↵

  • (xxxix) to (xli) Reserved.

  • (xlii) Where a person is first listed in a year book as holding a particular office, it has been assumed that his term of office commenced in the year of publication of the relevant year book (which was generally towards the end of the year prior to the year appearing in the title of the year book) and that he continued in office until the commencement of office of his successor, unless the office was vacant (e.g. if he is listed in Jewish Year Books 1930 through 1933, it is assumed that he commenced office in 1929 and continued in office until 1933). However, it should be noted that this is only an assumption and accordingly his actual years of office may differ slightly from those shown here. Jewish Year Books suspended publication during WWII 1941/5. There were no Jewish Year Book listings of officers (other than secretary) subsequent to 1956. ↵

  • (xliii) Reports on synagogue membership in the United Kingdom, published by or on behalf of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and which can be viewed on the website of the Institute of Jewish Policy Research. Click HERE for links to the various reports. ↵

  • (xliv) The London Borough of Croydon, an Outer London Borough, was created on 1 April 1965 upon the merger of the former County Borough of Croydon (a unitary authority geographically in the county of Surrey) with the Unban District of Coulson and Purley, also then part of Surrey. ↵

  • (xlv) Page 388 of the 2010 List of Places of Worship ↵

  • (xlvi) to (xlviii) Reserved.

  • (xlix) The Jewish Chronicle report of 14 February 1908. ↵

  • (l) Jewish Year Book 1947. ↵

  • (li) First listed in Jewish Year Book 1945/6. ↵


List of Federation of Synagogues Congregations

Jewish Congregations in the London Borough of Croydon

Jewish Congregations in Greater London

Greater London home page

Page created: 25 October 2006
Notes first added: 25 January 2018
Data significantly expanded: 8 March 2026
Page most recently amended: 28 May 2026

Research by David Shulman, assisted by Steven Jaffe
Formatting by David Shulman

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