The Grimsby shul is in the heart of the East Marsh district of the Lincolnshire city, an area regularly listed as being one of the ten most deprived wards in the country. The wind rattles off the North Sea. It was once where the fishermen lived in the long ago days when it was the world’s largest fishing port. It’s an area where many Jews once lived too. But now only about 12 inhabit it. But we have become a fashionable “destination synagogue”.
This year the sound of the shtetl and chazanut echoed across the windswept district. Twenty five people came from all corners of the Earth – Israel, Manchester, Newcastle, London and even Hebden Bridge. We ate together both before and after the fast and had a very meaningful yom tov. The following day we went to the cemetery to help to clean up the graves, which had been overrun by roots.
Most of the 19th-century Jews came here from Russia, Poland and Lithuania as Grimsby was one of the closest entry ports. There are still immigrants from Lithuania but they are not Jews. Many of these Jewish travellers thought that they had bought a golden ticket to the US (the golden land) but they were dropped off instead in the closest English port. The Great Central Railway Co offered cheap package deals from Riga (Latvia), Libau, Hamburg and Rotterdam to the town. History does not record whether any sued the ship owners when they discovered their dud tickets. What is known is that many changed their name on entry, as did my maternal grandfather from Plotkin to Bolton on the instructions of the Customs Officers, although this may be apocryphal.
The magnificent shul, which has just been awarded £232,500 by Historic England to fund vital restoration work, was built in the 1888 and took the name of Sir Moses Montefiore, who never actually visited the place. The community appears to date from 1865 when folks started to meet for worship in peoples’ houses. Inevitably, for a short period there were two rival shuls. Heneage Road, where the single shul now stands, was originally dedicated by Lord Heneage (the local Lord of the Manor) for religious and educational use when he developed large parts of the town. It was opposite two churches when I was growing up; only one survives.
The Jewish crew who came to Grimsby Docks were quite rough and ready. They brought distinctive tunes from their shtetls that are still in use and exclusive, I believe, to the town
As a barrister I happened to represent one of Lord Heneage’s descendants a few years ago and thanked him for this wonderful gesture so many years ago. The Jewish crew who came to Grimsby Docks were quite rough and ready. They brought distinctive tunes from their shtetls that are still in use and exclusive, I believe, to the town.
Many Jews moved on virtually straight away. In 1890 the Grimsby Observer recorded an altercation that led to a court hearing between Mr Kuntsman and Mr Cohen (both tailors) for “assault and ejection” from the synagogue. The row was apparently about which seat they had in the shul. Now seats are plentiful and there is no cause to fight over them. By the time that I was born in 1956 there were about 350 Jews in the Grimsby area, according to the census. Decline set in after the war by a mixture of assimilation and exodus (a few went to Israel, but more moved to London and Manchester). I still own a house there. I was confidently told in the 1970s by older congregants that the community would last only ten years. Fifty years later I would not say we are going strong but we are maintaining the truly magnificent shul.
There is no university nearby to bring Jews to the area. I am not sure whether it is right to say we are a growing community when the average age of members is over 80 but for the past four years we have increased in numbers. We only conduct Yom Kippur services and occasional Friday nights under the Orthodox rite. We last had a rabbi 60 years ago. We are lucky that Jonathan Arkush, the former president of the Board of Deputies, has conducted Yom Kippur services for the last 51 years.
The stained glass in the shul windows is outstanding and recalls congregants who were mayors, magistrates and councillors in the town. Photos of the windows graced the front cover of a book published some years ago by English Heritage about English synagogues. Today we are gaining support from Heritage Lincolnshire for both the mikveh and the shul itself (now the only ones in Lincolnshire). They also mounted an exhibition in the Town about Jewish immigration.
Although Grimsby was a tough place (the hard drinking that took place in the centre on a Saturday night gave it a Wild West atmosphere), I found that it was a generally tolerant place and the Jews were respected, especially in the business community. Jews generally kept their heads down (although there was some cross-religious co-operation) and few would have known where the shul was. Sadly, the graves in the cemetery (which is in a tough part of town) were frequently daubed before high fences were installed to put a stop to this. There has also been sporadic vandalism in the shul itself. Last Yom Kippur on hearing of the horrific events at Heaton Park a non-Jewish couple came to the shul as Neilah started to give us flowers in solidarity.
While other Jewish communities on the East Coast have shut their doors, Grimsby remains as a still small voice. If you fancy an experience of Yom Kippur you’ll never get elsewhere, sign up for the Grimsby minyan next year.
You won’t forget it.
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