Sermon: How the founders of Alyth built a Progressive Synagogue

Written by Rabbi Josh Levy — 26 May 2023

On the morning of 17 June, as part of our Alyth 90 celebrations, there will be an opportunity for members to look at a selection of items from the Alyth archives before our Shabbat morning services.

 

Among the items on display will be a letter.

It is dated 6 May 1933, addressed to Rev Harold F Reinhart, minister of West London Synagogue; and it is from E.L. Mendel and Ralph Nordon – two of the prime movers in the creation of what would become ‘Alyth’.

 

The founders had first come together the previous year, wishing to create a new synagogue in Golders Green, to which a significant number of Jews had moved since the extension of the Northern Line in 1907.

 

The Alyth story begins in October of 1932.  In that month, they met with the Jewish Religious Union – what would become the Liberal movement – asking for support.  They were told that the JRU would not support them unless WLS –which had already begun expansion into the Hampstead area – decided not to do so.

An unofficial agreement existed between WLS and the JRU that they would not interfere in one another’s projects – it was an agreement that Alyth would itself come up against when asked to support a satellite community in 1943 in Southgate, where the JRU was already in discussions.

Having been rebuffed by the JRU, Mendel and Nordon instead had an ‘interview’ with Reinhart, on 19 April 1933.  Now, two weeks later, they were writing to him asking officially for sponsorship from the ‘Extensions Committee’ of WLS to create a new community in Golders Green.

 

So it was that, at the first official Alyth meeting, 90 years ago this week, on 24 May 1933, two ministers of WLS – Harold Reinhart and Rev Vivian Simmons – were in attendance, though for some reason the minutes note that at this stage they were there in a personal capacity.

One of the first orders of business in that meeting was to adopt the constitution of “Berkeley Street” as the first synagogue constitution.  Another was to adopt its ritual practice, with the exception of three things – they would omit the English hymn, stand for the Amidah, and read the whole Torah over a three-year cycle. If you ever wondered why we process for the hakafah to the left not the right, there is your answer.

 

Importantly, though, there was a third minister in attendance at that meeting, too – the rabbi with whom the founders had been working, who would become Alyth’s first rabbi.  His name was Rabbi Solomon Starrels, and he was not from WLS, but was mainly identified with the JRU.  He had been ‘third minister’ at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue since 1928.  In that role he been the main mover in the creation of a new Liberal community – West Central Jewish Congregation.

 

The founders of this new synagogue had initially approached the JRU; they were working with a ‘Liberal’ rabbi; and now they found themselves working with WLS.  But – it seems – they did not really mind.

They didn’t mind by which organisation they would be supported because what they wanted was backing as they built a community that reflected their needs and values, near to where they were now living.

 

It was a matter of circumstance rather than design that they were forced together with WLS; circumstance rather than design that as a result, in 1933, this synagogue would become the first intentionally Reform synagogue to be founded in London, and the first in the UK with the word Reform in its name (Hampstead Reform Congregation, as it was – a name they really should have kept!); it was circumstance rather than design that we ended up here, in this location, in a corner of West London’s cemetery – granted to our forebears for building by Act of Parliament; and, so, circumstance rather than design that 90 years later, we remain part of MRJ, that Alyth’s clergy are in the Reform Assembly, not the Liberal Conference.

 

In my copy of the letter, someone has highlighted the financial commitments that Mendel and Nordon were personally making to the project – £50 each, which was about four months of the average UK salary at the time.

But, to me, the most interesting line is the following.  They wrote: “We are convinced more than ever that there is a great need for a Progressive Synagogue in this area”.  They understood themselves not as Reform or Liberal, but as Progressive Jews – with a big P.

 

With this origin story, it is hardly a surprise that Alyth has over the years supported a closer working arrangement between Reform and Liberal Judaism.  Among vocal supporters of one Progressive movement were some of the Alyth g’dolim we have lost over the last 15 years: Jeffery Rose, Jerome Karet, Marcus Sefton-Green, Harold Langdon, and (wearing his Liberal hat) Henry Cohn.

The last time there was a really concerted effort to bring the movements together, in the early 80s. Alyth was deeply involved.  The Alyth Council were unambiguous in their support for a move to merge the movements.  In May 1983, alongside plans for the Jubilee celebration, the Council minutes include the following resolution proposed by Marcus Sefton-Green with his characteristic impatience: “This Council welcomes the proposal to merge RSGB with ULPS, and wishes them success, with the hope that this will be carried out with all speed.”

Alyth was disappointed when the plans were dropped without the opportunity of a final discussion.  “The North Western Reform Synagogue” a resolution sent to RSGB declared, “Proposes that Council urgently take steps to… continue their discussion leading to closer association in the spirit of co-operation which has been engendered to date”.  In a classic Alyth way, this was later softened, so as not to cause too much trouble.

 

There are lots of very compelling reasons that Reform and Liberal Judaism should come together to create a new Progressive movement.  By doing so we can create a new model that is more effective, more sustainable, more visible and vocal on the Jewish and wider stage.

Our synagogues, including this one, need a reimagined movement, more effective and ambitious – capable of supporting and strengthening communities as we adapt to new financial and societal challenges.

Our clergy need a reimagined movement, working to build more sustainable, planned, rich rabbinic and cantorial careers.

Our children, students and young adults need an ambitious Progressive movement offering them an inspiring and supportive Jewish life;

The wider Jewish community of the UK needs an outward looking Progressive Judaism, capable of offering meaningful Jewish life to the thousands of Jews who are not affiliated to synagogues;

Wider society needs Progressive Judaism as an exemplar of thoughtful, liberal religion at a time of polarisation and extremism.

 

All of this is true, and important.

 

But, as we come together in the middle of this period of celebration of the creation of our community, from an Alyth perspective, the work of bringing our movements together feels like something else.  It feels like an act of tikkun – of completion, of fixing something that needed repair, an anomaly that needs resolving.  As an Alyth rabbi, to be embarking on this new phase of my career against the backdrop of our anniversary celebrations feels like a continuation of the work of Mendel and Nordon, of Hacker, Silbert and Levy, of Solomon Starrels.

 

Three weeks from now, on Friday 16 June, we will celebrate the anniversary of the first Alyth service.

The rabbi of this new community had spent the last 4 years building Liberal Judaism.  In attendance was the senior minister of WLS, who brought with him choristers from his Reform synagogue, and a Reform liturgy.

But the people in the room? They understood themselves to be building – as they put it – a Progressive Synagogue.

The founders of Alyth wanted to build not Reform Jewish life, or Liberal Jewish life, but Progressive Jewish life.  And 90 years on, that task remains for us to complete.