Community
Hadley Wood Shul appoints new rabbinic couple
Rabbi Toby and Rebbetzin Bracha Weiniger are moving from St John’s Wood Synagogue
October 20, 2025 16:53
Rabbi Toby and Rebbetzin Bracha Weiniger are moving from St John’s Wood Synagogue
October 20, 2025 16:53Hadley Wood Jewish Community has announced the appointment of its new rabbinic couple.
Following an extensive search, the community voted almost unanimously for Rabbi Toby and Rebbetzin Bracha Weiniger. They will be taking over from Rabbi Akiva and Rebbetzin Batya Rosenblatt, who have been appointed to lead Hampstead Synagogue.
Rabbi and Rebbetzin Weiniger are currently part of the rabbinic team at St John’s Wood Synagogue, with responsibility for children and youth, families and education. Since their appointment in July 2021, they have been at the forefront of a variety of popular programmes and events.
Issuing a joint statement, they said: “We are honoured to be stepping into the role of senior rabbinic couple at Hadley Wood Jewish Community and are filled with excitement for the journey ahead. Our years at St John’s Wood have been an extraordinary privilege, marked by the chance to serve a vibrant community and learn from an inspiring rabbinic team.
“As we look to the future, we are energised by the warmth, ruach and community spirit we already felt so strongly in Hadley Wood during our trial Shabbat, and we look forward to building on those values and taking the community from strength to strength.”
Rabbi Weiniger received his semicha (rabbinic ordination) in 2024 from Rabbi Shraga Feivel Zimmerman, Av Beth Din of the Federation. Since 2022, he has been a regular lecturer at the JLE in Golders Green, where he teaches popular classes on Talmud and Jewish law to students and young professionals. Rabbi Weiniger studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion in Israel for several years and graduated with a first-class law degree from LSE.
Rebbetzin Bracha studied at MMY Seminary in Jerusalem. She is pursuing a PhD in chemical biology at Imperial College London, where she is developing drugs to block cancer pathways. She holds an MSc in chemistry with medicinal chemistry from Imperial and has been awarded a grant from the Royal Society of Chemistry for research.
Mark Ross, chair of Hadley Wood Jewish Community, said: “We're hugely excited to welcome Rabbi Toby and Rebbetzin Bracha Weiniger to Hadley Wood in January. They bring warmth, intellect, enthusiasm and a sincere passion for community life. They have impressed the whole community with their thoughtful approach, extraordinary potential and their genuine desire to grow alongside our community.
“We take this opportunity to thank Rabbi Akiva and Rebbetzin Batya Rosenblatt for their exceptional contributions to Hadley Wood over the last five years and wish them well on the next step of their rabbinic and communal journey.”
Michael Abraham, chair of St John’s Wood Synagogue, said: “We thank Rabbi and Rebbetzin Weiniger for their tremendous contribution to the St John’s Wood community over the past four years. We wish them every success in their next chapter at Hadley Wood, where we have no doubt they will continue to make a remarkable impact.”
The Weinigers and their daughter are expected to move to Hadley Wood in mid-January 2026.
Hadley Wood Jewish Community, located between High Barnet and London’s northern green belt, is one of the United Synagogue’s fastest-growing congregations. An eruv is in the planning stages.
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