Lauderdale Road - 100 and rising

Gate to heaven in Maida Vale - by Rabbi Abraham Levy OBE

Over one hundred years ago, on Shabbat Noach 1896, Lauderdale Road Synagogue, known as Sha'ar Hashamayim (The Gate to Heaven) was opened in London.

In the mid-19th centuary, as members of Britian's oldest synagogue, Bevis Marks (founded in 1701) became wealthier and more established, there was a steady drift towards the spacious houses of Park Lane, Bayswater and Regent's Park.

At first, the more energetic of them, like Sir Moses Montefiore, walked from their fashionable West End residences to Bevis Marks in the City. Eventually a small Sephardi synagogue was opened in Wigmore Street and later another in Bryanston Street.

But as more families moved to the west of London, especially around Maida Vale, a decision was made to build a larger synagogue. The project cost £9,800, half of it contributed by members, the other half coming from the funds of the congregation.

In accordance with Sephardi tradition that the synagogue should not be only a place of worship but somewhere that ma'aim tovim (good deeds) could be performed, an orphanage was built in the synagogue grounds.

Today it is the Sephardi Center and Shasha Library where educational programmes are carried out for all age groups.

Until the building of the new synagogue, the Sephardi community had seemed in the words of the Jewish Chronicle to be "in a state of irredeemable decay." There was no strong leadership. Sir Moses Montefiore was occupied with his concerns as a leader of world Jewry. There were problems of assimilation, and a group had broken away to start the west London Synagogue, eventually turning Reform. The appointment as Haham of the energetic but controversial Moses Gaster arrested the decline.

Gaster, born in Romania, became a don at Oxford. He was young, charismatic and popular. He became one of the fathers of political Zionism, introducing Theodor Herzl to the British government; the first draft of the Balfour Declaration was penned in his house at 193 Maida Vale.

The end of the Second World War saw another stride forward as Haham Solomon Gaon and the Rev Eliezer Abinun revitalised the Kahal (community) and infused its life with greater religious content and community spirit.

Parallel to the resurgence in leadership was the steady influx of new members from abroad. They arrived from Turkey and Iran in the early 1900s from Morocco and Lebanon throughout the century, from India in 1948, from Gibraltar during and after the Second World War, from Iraq in 1949-51 and from Egypt in 1956 after Suez. The Iranian revolution of 1979 yielded another surge. There was always a steady trickle of Ashkenazim, attracted by our tolerance and strongly traditional outlook.

A synagogue is not just a building but a community with religious, educational, welfare and social needs. We, with our ancient and well funded institutions, were in an unique position to provide this framework. Great emphasis was put on our Sunday religious classes - where our rabbis take a leading role, leaving tombstone consecrations to wait till Sunday afternoons.

The community spirit has been fuelled by dedicated members of the Lauderdale Road Association who carry out the quiet work that makes a community hum - kiddusim, succah lunches, outings and fund raising.

The special mix of Lauderdale Road, of east and west, old with new, ignites its own dynamic. We stand for a form of religious worship and community which is welcoming to all.

(Adapted from a supplement published by the Jewish Chronicle for The Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation, Lauderdale Road Synagogue November 15, 1996.)