A bold plan to unite the three central Orthodox synagogues in Leeds on one campus took a step forward this week as the largest, the United Hebrew Congregation, voted to enter discussions with the other two.
If it comes to fruition, Etz Chaim and Beth Hamidrash Hagadol Synagogue will join UHC as the Leeds United Synagogues on the site of UHC, serving 2,500 plus members.
The site would be redeveloped to house a multi-purpose hall, offices and education and other facilities.
Etz Chaim and BHHS had been engaged in on-off talks for several years about the two of them amalgamating before concluding a couple of years ago that that “plan wasn’t viable as it stood”, BBHS president Jonathan Straight said.
But, he explained: “When we started talking about everybody getting together, there was a lot more interest”.
UHC members voted overwhelmingly at their AGM on Wednesday night to support talks to advance the plan. “We’ve made a good start,” UHC president Philip Myers said, “which should give impetus to it.”
Sara Saunders, president of Etz Chaim, which holds its AGM in July, said the idea was “fantastic. We have a chance now. We have the financial resources, we can make something really special and that’s what we want to do. B’ezrat Hashem, we are going in the right direction.”
In his address to the AGM, Myers said: “The intention… would be for the organisations to come together on this site at Shadwell Lane, with the existing sites sold and assets combined, and for United Leeds Synagogues to take responsibility for the core operations that are central to Orthodoxy in Leeds.”
This could include kashrut supervision, the mikveh, the Beth Din, the eruv, as well as existing joint services, such as Leeds Jewish Orthodox Youth and the Leeds Jewish Orthodox Cemetery.
“The vision for this site is genuinely exciting – retaining the beloved exterior of this building, but enhancing and adding to it to answer the community’s needs to create something truly new and wonderful for our kehillah [community].”
By coming together, he said, “we can sell redundant properties, unlock capital and invest in something extraordinary: a real, thriving centre of Jewish life for the entire Leeds Orthodox community, built for generations to come.
“I want to say that again: for generations to come. This is not primarily a project for us. It is for our children and our grandchildren. We must think of them.”
According to the last census in 2021, the overall Jewish population in the city fell by nearly a quarter from 2001, from 8,267 to 6,267 – although the rate of decline in the second decade was half that of the decade before.
BBHS members will have their say at their scheduled AGM in June.
Straight said the amalgamation was “not going to happen tomorrow but it needs to happen some time in the coming years”.
UHC has also voted to re-affiliate to the Board of Deputies after a strong appeal by the synagogue’s president.
“ I do not think any of us needs reminding that the environment for Jewish communities in this country has become more challenging in recent times,” he said. "Antisemitism is at deeply troubling levels. It has never been more important for our community to stand together and to be part of a strong, united national voice.”
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