Chronology of the Hampstead Synagogue

2012

• Website is relaunched and features film and social networking functions.
• Journalist Toby Young is our guest at a communal lunch.
• Josh Zaitschek joins as Education and Programmes Director for 20s and 30s.
• Rabbi Gerzi obtains semicha.
• The 'coffee and biscuit' Kiddush at 10.15am ends to facilitate an earlier finish for the Shabbat Morning Service.
• We host Lord Sacks' final Selichot Service as Chief Rabbi.
• The Hampstead Forum, an extensive adult education programme is launched in association with the London School of Jewish Studies and the London Jewish Cultural Centre.
  
• Gabriel Herman resigns as Community Development Director.
  

2011

• The United Synagogue awarded the honorary officers a special award to thank them for their hard work on the restoration of the synagogue building.
• A temporary mechitzah is used for the first time on Shabbat 26th November.
• Prof. Vernon Bogdanor delivers the Isaiah Berlin Annual Lecture.
  

2010

• The Mayor of London Boris Johnson pays a visit to the synagogue with London Assembly member Brian Coleman and Cllr Chris Philp, prospective Parliamentary candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn.
• The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams delivers the eighth Annual Isaiah Berlin Annual Lecture.
• On Shabbat 26/27 November, a central bimah is used for the first time in the synagogue.

2009

• The community return to the synagogue building.  The first service is the annual Selichot service with the Chief Rabbi in attendance.
• The synagogue publishes Hampstead Review as an annual full colour glossy magazine.
  

2008

• Friday Night Dinners for young people, aged in their 20s and 30s, are launched

2007

• Journalist Nick Cohen delivered the fifth Annual Sir Isaiah Berlin Lecture about the "Liberal Left".
• The community move out of the Synagogue building in November so that the refurbishment can commence.

2006

• Hampstead hold a regeneration consultation with its members.
• The synagogue adopts the five person executive format.
• Friday Night Dinners for people aged in their 30s and 40s are launched.
• Trevor Philips OBE, chair of the Commission for Racial Equality, delivered the fourth Annual Sir Isaiah Berlin Lecture on multi-culturalism in the 21st century.

2005

• Shlomo Gerzi appointed as Chazan.
• The 1922 part of the property which included the Storch Hall and Junior Synagogue, is sold to a developer to finance the restoration of the Synagogue and Community Centre.
• Historian Sir Martin Gilbert delivered the third Annual Sir Isaiah Berlin Lecture on the life of Sir Winston Churchill.

2004

• Rev. Stanley Brickman retires.
• The Rt. Hon. Lord Brittan of Spennithorne QC DL delivers the second Sir Isaiah Berlin Lecture entitled "Europe: Past, Present and Future".
• Synagogue website launched.

2003

• The Synagogue magazine is renamed "The Review", similar to its original name. For some time it was called "The Hampstead Chronicle".
• Due to the growing success of Jewish Day Schools, the Hebrew classes merge with St. Johns Wood cheder to form "The St. John's Wood and Hampstead Regional Centre".
• The Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Sacks, gives the inaugural Sir Isaiah Berlin lecture.

2001

• Friday Night Dinners for young people, aged in their 20s and 30s, are launched

2000

• WHAM - West Hampstead Alternative Minyan closes

• Rev. Dr. Norman Gale retires.
• Rabbi Dr. Michael Harris appointed as minister.

• WHAM - West Hampstead Alternative Minyan formed in Junior Synagogue

• Rev. Dr. Norman Gale appointed as minister

• Rev. Charles Lowy resigns.
• Rev. Stanley Brickman appointed as Chazan.

• Hampstead vote to disband its mixed choir.
• Rabbi Saul Aronov appointed as minister, a post he held for only a few months.

• Rabbi Dr. Norman Solomon leaves to assume office as Director of the Centre for the Study of Jewish-Christian Relations in Birmingham

• Rabbi Dr. Norman Solomon appointed as minister

• Rabbi Raymond Apple resigns to return to Australia.   profile...

• To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Synagogue, Rabbi Apple publishes a comprehensive history of the Synagogue illustrating the historical, religious, cultural and social significance of the influential Jewish community in Hampstead

• Rev. Dr. Isaac Levy retires.
• Rev. Raymond Apple appointed as minister.   profile...
• The new community centre is opened.  The Eli Chinn Hall and additional classrooms replace the Samuel Moses Hall.

• The Hampstead Review changed its name to Rivon

• Rev. Gershon Boyars retires.
• Rev. Charles Lowy appointed as chazan.

• Julius Bernstein retires as beadle

• Another attempt to allow Cohanim to Duchan is made and also rejected.  However, the Chief Rabbi rules that any Cohanim who wish to recite the Priestly Blessing should be allowed to do so.  On Rosh Hashanah, the first Duchaning in Hampstead took place.

• The United Synagogue Act is changed to allow women members the right to vote.  Mary Wollman is the first woman to vote at Hampstead.
• Israeli pronounciation of Hebrew is dropped from the services.

• Israeli pronounciation of Hebrew adopted for the services

• Representatives of the Ladies Guild invited to attend Board meetings

• Hebrew classes re-opened.
• Choir re-formed.
• Literary Society re-organised.   more...
• Council of Christians and Jews is set up in Hampstead, and is chaired for ten years by Robert Brodtman.

• Having been closed when children were evacuated, the Hebrew classes are re-opened

• 50th anniversary service conducted by Dayan Mark Gollop, and held in the presence of the Mayor and Mayoress of Hampstead

• Rev. Morris Nemeth appointed temporary minister, a position he holds for five years

• At the outbreak of war, Dayan Gollop, as Senior Jewish Chaplain to the forces, is called up.   profile...
• Rev. S. Clayman appointed as temporary minister.
• Most of the cultural, educational and social activities of the Synagogue are suspended during the war.

• Rev. Isaac Levy leaves to take up the position as minister of Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue

• Opening of Junior Synagogue.
• Opening of Samuel Moses Hall adjacent to Synagogue.

• Rev. Isaac Levy appointed as student minister.

• Rev. Wolf Stoloff retires.
• Rev. Gershon Boyars appointed as chazan.

• Rev. A.A. Green retires at the age of seventy, after thirty eight years as minister.   profile...
• Dayan Mark Gollop appointed as minister.   profile...
• Charles Abrahams retires and Julius Bernstein is appointed beadle.

• United Synagogue rejects giving women the vote, but Hampstead allows women to attend general meetings and participate.

• AGM votes unanimously to give the vote to women members.
• West Hampstead Jewish Day School founded by Emmanuel Snowman and Harry Samuels.

• Youth Service started. It had previously been encouraged for the youth to sit with their parents in the main service. However, due to the large membership this was not possible over the High Holy Days, and so alternative arrangements were made which led to the commencement of the Youth Service throughout the year.
• Rev. A.A. Green reaches the age of 65, but is persuaded to stay on as minister.

• New Ark and bimah built using marble. Original wooden Ark and Bimah donated to Ealing and Acton District Synagogue.

• Foundation stone laid for the conversion of the stables in Kingdon Road (owned by Jacob Snowman) into classrooms

• After the war, the membership of the community began to decline, as it became harder to maintain the large houses in the West Hampstead area. The building of the Hocroft Estate during the 1920s and 1930s, with its affordable family houses, help to stem the tide.

• Samuel Alman appointed as choirmaster

• Vote on giving women members the vote was passed at the AGM.  However it was not implemented as the United Synagogue Act did not permit it.

• First move made to give women members the vote. It was rejected by the chairman Emil Kahn, who ruled that the motion was unconstitutional.
• First attempt made to allow Cohanim to Duchan on festivals, but this is rejected.

• B.M. Woolf appointed as secretary

• 200 children attend Hebrew classes

• The two Shabbat morning services were merged into one.
• A two hour limit was set for Shabbat morning service. However a trial run found that this was not possible if the prayers were said with devotion.

• Rev. Wolf Stoloff confirmed as permanent chazan.
• Hampstead and St. Johns Wood Literary Society formed.   more...

• Synagogue extension completed providing additional seating, especially in the gallery

• The architect, Delissa Joseph, designs an extension to the Synagogue

• Rev. S. Manné resigns and takes up a position in Johannesburg.
• Rev. Wolf Stoloff appointed as temporary chazan.

• Extension of classrooms built to mark Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.

• Algernon Lindo resigns as choirmaster, taking up a position at Bayswater Synagogue.  Louis Freeman appointed as choirmaster.

• Extra seating added to the centre of the Synagogue. Referendum votes to use an organ during the Shabbat services, but this is never implemented

• Hebrew classes founded in West Hampstead Town Hall.  Dr. Wolf Heinemann appointed as teacher.

• Movement founded to build a Synagogue in West Hampstead