JEWISH EAST END OF LONDON PHOTO GALLERY & COMMENTARY

London's East End Synagogues, cemeteries and more......

My personal journey through the Jewish East End of London

Around the East London Synagogue, Stepney Green and more

 

e.mail thoughts & memories to: Phil Back to Jewish East End of London home page Back to to Jewish East End of London site index Stepney Green Jewish School Around the East London Synagogue, Stepney Green and more (double click all photos to enlarge) 1st World War Roll of Honour from the East London Synagogue, Stepney, relocated in 1990 to Waltham Abbey Jewish   Moving  East into the Stepney Green area reveals more sites of Jewish interest.   Stepney Green runs North from the rear of Rectory Square to the Mile End Road and is one of the prettiest and now most expensive streets to live in in the East End.  Alongside it's quaint cobbles once stood Stepney Orthodox Synagogue (now incorporated with Fieldgate Street Great Synagogue), The London Jewish Hospital, a Jewish old people's home, Stepney Jewish School, and nearby in Rectory Square The East London Synagogue.  Famous former members included the first Jewish MP Lionel de Rothschild. As the years passed dwindling membership caused the East London Synagogue to be put up for sale in 1987 and the congregation moved next door into the Joseph Stern communal hall.   Joseph Stern was a colourful character and the rabbi of the East London Synagogue at the beginning of the 20th century and was known locally as 'the Jewish Bishop of Stepney.  In 1993 the East London Synagogue closed forever and merged with Hackney synagogue in Brenthouse Lane.  Meanwhile the building languished derelict & vandalised until the mid 1990s when it was finally converted into smart flats.  It is now known as Temple Court.  The interior is still recognisable as having once been a synagogue.  Much of the ark, commemorative plaques and Moorish style tiling is preserved, as are areas of the ladies gallery.  Reverend Mendel Zeffertt was minister at the East London Synagogue from 1928 to 1958.  In the 1947 photo, left, he is standing to the right of the late Chief Rabbi Dr Israel Brodie.  Read the recollections of Reverend Mendel's son Dr H Dr H Zeffertt more.  On the right is the view of the East London Synagogue you get if you approach it from the alleyway leading off Stepney Green.     Below are some past and present views of Jewish sites around Stepney Green - the most memorable of which is the former East London Synagogue in Rectory Square. The photo on the right is the converted interior of the former East London Synagogue looking towards where the ark was once located     View of front of the former East London Synagogue, Rectory Sq, London E1-closed in the late 1980's & converted to flats mid 1990's. View of main entrance to former East London Synagogue (now called 'Temple Court'). View of rear entrance to former East London Synagogue, Rectory Sq, London E1 Foundation stone of East London Synagogue "laid in 1876 on behalf of the United Synagogue Organisation by Lionel Louis Cohen" Inside the former East London Synagogue-upstairs-looking towards the ark from the ladies gallery.Note how it used to look in the adjacent 1948 photo East London Synagogue interior photographed in August 1948 at the wedding of Dr & Mrs Herman Zeffertt. Dr Zeffertt's father, Rev.Mendel Zeffertt, B.A. was minister of East London Synagogue from 1928 until 1958. Inside the former East London Synagogue on ground floor looking towards the location of the Ark Ketubah (mariage contract) of my Great Aunt Miriam and Great Uncle Solomon that took place in 1904 in the East London Synagogue Reverse side of 1904 Ketubah (marriage contract) of my great Aunt, dated 1904, that took place in the East London Synagogue One of many original Inscriptions on wall of ground floor flat in the former East London Synagogue, Rectory Sq The stairs leading up to the ladies gallery in the former East London Synagogue, Rectory Sq Plaque in ladies' Gallery East London Synagogue commemorating consecration of Children's Synagogue in June 1962 by Chief Rabbi Israel Brodie Memorial Plaques in Ladies' Gallery East London Synagogue. Your names are not forgotten At the rear of the East London Synagogue in Stepney Green is a vandalised drinking fountain - a memorial to Leonard Abraham Montefiore (1853-1879). He was the brother of Claude Montefiore - one of the founders of Liberal Judaism. The memorial bears the following inscription: "1884 - In Memory of Leonard Montefiore who loved children and all children loved him"   Stepney Orthodox Synagogue on East side of Stepney Green is now a boxing club. Stepney Orthodox Synagogue amalgamated with Fieldgate Street Synagogue