Records of Dalston Synagogue, consisting of minutes, cash book and registers of kethubot [marriage contracts] and chalitzah.

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, United Synagogue.

Records of the East London Synagogue, consisting of Board of Management minutes, other administrative records, financial accounts, membership records, marriage contracts and index of social services cases.

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, United Synagogue.

Records of the Finchley Synagogue, consisting of registers of kethubot [marriage contracts] and marriage authorization certificates, issued by the Chief Rabbi.

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, United Synagogue.

Records of the Hackney and East London Synagogue including Board of Management minute book; committee meeting minute books; administrative correspondence; legal papers; insurance policies; agreements; financial accounts; membership registers; registers of seatholders; marriage registers [kethubot]; religious class registers; decorated prayer book; history of the Hackney Synagogue by Reverend Dr Barnett Joseph; orders of service; newsletters; fundraising; papers of the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women Hackney Branch; youth activities; plan of the seating galleries; plan of the Synagogue; and photographs.

Records of the Hammersmith Synagogue, consisting of minutes and a kethubah book [marriage certificates].

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, United Synagogue.

Records of Hampstead Synagogue, Dennington Park Road, Hampstead, including minutes of Board of Management and committees; early correspondence relating to the founding of the synagogue; administrative files for the synagogue and its community Centre; annual reports; membership records; Ladies Guild records; material relating to music provision; synagogue magazines; orders of service; brochures and ephemera; photographs.

Records of the Mile End and Bow Synagogue, consisting of minutes, a kethuba register [marriage contracts] and a register of donors to the Building Fund.

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, United Synagogue.

Records of the New Synagogue, Leadenhall Street, consisting of administrative and financial records, including laws and byelaws, minutes, annual reports, letter books, membership records and photographs; an extensive run of correspondence files, registers of memorials; chalitzah books and registers of kethubot [marriage contracts].

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, United Synagogue.

The records within this section comprise those items which do not technically belong within the United Synagogue or its member synagogues or related charities and societies. They consist largely of trading accounts of various Jewish merchants, and accounts of the Beth Hamedrash, Chief Rabbi and small Jewish bodies.

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, United Synagogue.

Records of Romford Synagogue consisting of an account book for membership contributions.

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, United Synagogue.

Records of the Willesden Green Synagogue, consisting of minute books.

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, United Synagogue.

Records of Wanstead and Woodford Synagogue consist of an account book for membership contributions.

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, United Synagogue.

The archive consists of the official working papers of the Chief Rabbinate from the mid-nineteenth century onwards. Files, volumes, bundles of papers, photographs, prints, video tapes, publications and leaflets make up the bulk of the collection. The Chief Rabbis represented in this collection are Nathan Adler (1868-1901), Hermann Adler (1868-1921), Joseph Hertz (1899-1946), Israel Brodie (1917-1967), Immanuel Jakobovits (1913-1992) and Jonathan Sacks (1988-2004). Also included are some papers of the Deputy for the Chief Rabbi, Harris Lazarus (1942-1950).

The archive is primarily concerned with the activities of the Chief Rabbinate. Because of the cosmopolitan nature of the office there are files on Jewish congregations overseas which are of interest, also some papers on the Holocaust and its immediate aftermath (ACC/2805/06/05/1-11). The varying interests of individual Chief Rabbis are reflected in the collection: for instance Immanuel Jakobovits' role in Jewish medical ethics.

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, Office of Chief Rabbi.

Papers concerning Judaism and communism in Russia, 1936-1937, relate to the Jewish Central Information Office's work to refute the Nazis' commonly held assertion that Jews played a significant role in the leadership of the Soviet Union. The collection notably includes a request from Alfred Wiener for a list of names of Jews supposed to be working in high positions in Russia; correspondence from Jewish Central Information Office, Amsterdam, enclosing list of government officials in Soviet Union, concerning racial origin; pamphlet entitled Materialien zu 'Judentum und Bolschewismus' and a report entitled 'The Jews in leading positions in the Soviet Republic', refuting the Nazi assertion that Jews dominated positions of power in Russia.

Manuscript Haggadah [early 14th century], for Passover Eve: Jewish order of service for domestic use.

Manucript Jewish service book [1887]: Siddur, rite of Sana (Yemen). Apparently copied from an original with superlinear vowel-points.

Manuscript Jewish service book, 1890: Piyyutim for distinguished Sabbaths, Ashkenazic rite.

Records of the United Synagogue's own Board of Jewish Religious Education, as well as the London Board of Jewish Religious Education and its predecessor the Jewish Religious Education Board, and other bodies such as the Union of Hebrew and Religious Classes, the Jewish Association for the Diffusion of Religious Knowledge, the Jewish Memorial Council, the Central Council for Jewish Religious Education and the Jewish Voluntary Schools Association. Also records of individual schools and institutions such as the Jews Free School, Jewish Infant Schools, Westminster Jews Free School, Ilford Jewish Primary School and Michael Sobell Sinai School. The records themselves include minutes, correspondence, reports, annual reports, financial records, registers of bar mitzvah tests, printed material such as publicity, brochures, prospectuses, journals and press cuttings, and the papers of Governing bodies.

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, United Synagogue.

Records of Barking Synagogue, consisting of an account book.

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, United Synagogue.

Records of Edgware Synagogue, consisting of an undertaking to observe the provisions and conditions of the United Synagogue, annual report for 1947/48, and an accounts book.

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, United Synagogue.

Annual report for Ilford Synagogue, 1947-48.

Records of the Joel Emmanuel Charity, consisting of a minute book.

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, United Synagogue.

Records of the Kings Lynn Jewish Congregation, consisting of minutes and a charity register.

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, United Synagogue.

Records of the North London Synagogue, consisting of correspondence and a kethuba register [marriage contracts].

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, United Synagogue.

Kethubah book [marriage contracts] for Upton Park District Synagogue.

Wembley Synagogue annual report for 1947-48.

Records of the New West End Synagogue consisting of minute books.

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, United Synagogue.

Records of the West Ham Synagogue, including a register of reserved graves; Board of Management minutes; administrative files relating to premises, marriages, classes, staffing, centenary celebrations and the closure of the synagogue; financial records; membership lists; kethubah books [marriage contracts]; centenary exhibition boards; and a design for a hall.

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, United Synagogue.

Records of the Watford and District Synagogue consisting of an account book for membership contributions.

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, United Synagogue.

Correspondence of Chief Rabbi Hermann Adler, 1868-1921, relating to diverse subjects including education, legal cases, Jews College, shechita, charity and relief funds, Russo-Jewish Committee, the United Synagogue, administration, provincial congregations and marriages; and relating to foreign places including Australia, China, Japan, Palestine, Jerusalem, Ireland, Romania, South Africa, Russia and New York.

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, Office of Chief Rabbi, 735 High Road, North Finchley, London NW12 OUS.

Records of Chief Rabbi Joseph Hertz, 1899-1946, including correspondence with various individuals and organisations including the Anglo-Jewish Association, Aria College, the London Beth Din, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Conference of Anglo-Jewish Preachers, the Jewish Association for the Protection of Girls and Women, the Jewish Chronicle, Jews' College, Central Committee for Jewish Education, the Jewish Historical Society, the Jewish Memorial Council, the Council for Christians and Jews, the Jewish Peace Society, London County Council, the Metropolitan Hospital Sunday Fund, the Mizrachi Organisation, the Provincial Ministers Fund, the Spanish and Portuguese Congregation, associate synagogues of the United Synagogue, the War Graves Commission, Zionist groups, the Talmud Torah Trust and the War Victims Fund.

Also correspondence with Jewish congregations throughout the United Kingdom and in countries including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, Palestine, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland and the United States of America; correspondence relating to matters including shechita, Jews in Ukraine, Germany and Poland, war orphans, rabbinical exams, mikvah, marriages, kabolohs, disarmament, the Coronation of King George VI (1937), and pastoral tours of Wales and Ireland; papers relating to World War One including services for Jewish soldiers, the Kosher Food Fund, correspondence with chaplains, distribution of kosher foods, prisoners of war and Palestine Relief Fund, and copies of publications and sermons.

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, Office of Chief Rabbi, 735 High Road, North Finchley, London NW12 OUS.

Records of Chief Rabbi Lord Immanuel Jakobovits, 1913-1992. The records of Lord Jakobovits are the single largest part of the archive, indicative of the large volume of work undertaken and the relative speed with which the records were passed onto London Metropolitan Archives.

Records relating to the Office of the Chief Rabbi and Chief Rabbi's Cabinet including papers relating to social functions and administration. Correspondence with the Board of Deputies, London Beth Din and United Synagogue. Papers relating to Jewish communal organisations including the Kol Nidre Appeal and the Joint Israel Appeal.

Papers relating to education and Chaplaincy Boards including general correspondence, the Education Reform Act 1988, Jews' College, individual schools, colleges and universities, the University Jewish Chaplaincy Board, and the National Jewish Chaplaincy Board. Papers of the Jewish Educational Development Trust including administration, correspondence, financial records, trustees, donors, applications, fundraising and policies.

Papers relating to Jewish religious organisations including Reform, Liberal and Sephardi congregations and the Spanish and Portuguese Community. Papers relating to congregations and ministers in Great Britain including the registration of synagogues, the National Jewish Chaplaincy Board and provincial congregations.

Halacha [a legal decision regarding a matter or case for which there is no direct enactment in the Mosaic law, deduced by analogy from this law or from the Scriptures] and rulings on religious questions including correspondence, rulings relating to burial practices, the participation of women in communities, blasphemy, medical ethics, circumcision, bar mitzvah, marriage, conversions, get [divorce] legislation, High Holy Days and mikvaot. Papers relating to Shechita [slaughtering practices] and Kashrut [laws relating to food] including correspondence and minutes of the London Board for Shechita and the National Council of Shechita Boards of Great Britain, general correspondence, reports, and defence of shechita practices.

Papers relating to bills in the House of Lords. Correspondence with central Government departments and local authorities, including correspondence with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Correspondence with welfare organisations and papers relating to ageing, child abuse, crime, drugs, homelessness, hospice care, disabled people and individual welfare cases. Correspondence with religious leaders, individuals, and organisations relating to Israel, including the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.

Correspondence with overseas congregations including those in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Ireland, Russia, South Africa, and the United States of America and correspondence with the Conference of European Rabbis. Papers relating to Soviet Jewry including correspondence, appeals and reports.

Papers relating to interfaith organisations including the Council of Christians and Jews. Papers relating to medical ethics including abortion, sex education, AIDS, organ transplants, Tay-Sachs disease and abortion. Papers relating to social issues including business ethics, disarmament, homosexuality, inner cities, disasters, and race relations. Correspondence relating to the representation of the Chief Rabbi on various public bodies and patronage by the Chief Rabbi.

Copies of sermons, addresses, publications from the office of the Chief Rabbi, press and publicity, broadcasts and messages from the Chief Rabbi. Personal papers including household accounts, letters of thanks and messages of sympathy. Papers relating to the Chief Rabbinate Fund including the distribution of funds to various causes.

PLEASE NOTE: Records can only be accessed with the written permission of the depositor. Contact the Chief Executive, Office of Chief Rabbi, 735 High Road, North Finchley, London NW12 OUS.

Records of the Federation of Synagogues, 1887 - 1988. The records include a comprehensive set of minutes of the Federation; a less comprehensive but nonetheless interesting collection of minute books from the individual congregations; and minutes of other institutions connected with the Federation. There are also financial accounts, reports, property files (including synagogue plans), notice books and correspondence files which give a fuller picture of life of the Federation; and records of the East London Mikvah Committee; Federation Burial Society and London Talmud Torah Council.

Records of the Jewish Bread Meat and Coal Society, 1797-1954. The collection consists of minutes, financial records, correspondence, reports, copies of the Laws of the Society and other general material.

Records of the Jewish Memorial Council, 1899-2001. The archive mainly consists of files and volumes of minutes and working papers. The records of the Reverend Malcolm Weisman are noteworthy for the detail they provide on the survival of Judaism in small, often isolated, communities.

Records of the Westminster Jews Free School, 1846-1950. This is a short series of records and consists of minutes and financial accounts. The minutes date from 1846 and include the first minute book of the Jewish Girls Free School (1846-1853) which contains lists of pupils and letters.

Records of the Belmont Synagogue, covering the whole range of activities undertaken by the Synagogue. In particular, the administration is well represented with minutes, agendas and correspondence from all the main committees; the Council of Management, Membership, Building Fund, Ladies Guild, Parents Association, Education and Social Activity Group.

Information on the religious life can be gleaned from files on Rabbi selection, Bat Chayil Ceremony, Yom Naroim and the Sefer Torah as well as from the substantial photographic collection which also presents a good picture of the social side of the community.

PLEASE NOTE that written permission from the depositors is required to access this collection.

Records of the Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues (ULPS), dealing mainly with the creation of the new version of the prayer book Service of the Heart which was published in 1995. Rabbi John Rayner edited the new edition with Rabbi Chaim Stern as co-editor. Rabbi Julia Neuberger chaired the anthology committee. As well as aiming to combine general Jewish tradition with Progressive Jewish thought the editors wished to respond to changes in Jewish outlook in the late twentieth century. The use of language, in particular gender sensitivity, was carefully examined.

Other records include minutes and correspondence of the Federation of Womens' Societies Executive Committee and papers relating to ULPS educational courses.

Records of The Home for Aged Jews (later called Nightingale House and later Nightingale). This collection contains a wide range of records of the Home including minutes, a good set of annual reports, accounts, property and building records, printed material, photographs, film and videos. The archive gives detailed coverage of changes in care work and the life of residents and staff working at Nightingale. Of particular interest are the residents' admission book (1914-1933) and official 'diary' of events (1916) which are a good resource for tracing residents admitted to the Home, and the annual reports (1896-1997) which cover all aspects of the work of the Home including the early introduction of Occupational Therapy and other facilties for residents.

The majority of the archive relates to the later half of the 20th century, although there is a small survival of records from the early period of the Home and its former Charities (from 1879) before its move to Wandsworth in 1907. The minutes include a minute book of the Wandsworth Hospital Group's Jewish Home of Rest, Birchlands Avenue, Wandsworth. The property deeds include deeds of the Farmiloe family, lead and glass merchants of Rochester Row, Westminster.

Organisational papers of the League of Jewish Women, including meeting minutes from various committees; reports; general administrative records; correspondence; papers relating to the organisation of various events and conferences; magazines and press cuttings; and films and photographs.

PLEASE NOTE: to access this collection written permission is required from the depositors.

Essays and memoranda on the situation of Italian Jewry and original correspondence between Dr Cecil Roth and certain Italian Jews and organisations concerning their rescue after 1939.

Manuscript Jewish service book [1695]: Rosh ha-shanah, rite of Carpentras. With a commentary styled 'Seder Eliahu zuta' by Elijah Karmi.

Manuscript Jewish service book [1757]: Yom Kippur, Sephardic rite. An inscription on the title page states that this text was written for the hazzan (cantor), Daniel di Moses Cohen d'Azevedo.

Manuscript Jewish service book, 18th century: Omer. Signature on folio 1: Judah Samuel Sinigaglia.

Records of the Spitalfields Great Synagogue, 1714-1922. The collection consists of deeds which trace the ownership and tenancies of the former synagogue from 1714 to the early twentieth century.

Papers relating to his service in the Fleet Air Arm, 1939-1945 and 1974, principally comprising aerial propaganda leaflets collected by Freedman. 'Annals of minds at war', an article on aerial propaganda by John Moorehead, from The Daily Telegraph, 8 Mar 1974. Three scripture pamphlets issued by the United States Army, namely Roman Catholic and Protestant editions of 'The Gospelaccording to St Matthew' and 'Psalms from the Jewish Holy Scriptures', 1943-1944. Notebook of Trooper T W Thorn, Surrey Yeomanry, containing a diary covering his service in Salonika, Jun 1917-Jan 1919. Notes on the history and use of grenades, and descriptions and drawings of different types of grenades, [1917-1919].

Papers of the Ilford Jewish Primary School, formerly the Stepney Jewish Primary School, including deeds; correspondence; Governors and Management Committee meeting minutes and papers; Buildings Committee minutes; minutes and correspondence relating to the Jewish Youth Club; minutes and correspondence relating to the move from Stepney to Ilford; and records relating to construction including papers of the architect, plans and maps.

Records of Jews' College (later known as the London School of Jewish Studies), including constitution; minutes of meetings of the College Council and various committees; minutes of annual general meetings; student attendance registers; student admission registers; reports on students; papers relating to exams; agreements relating to property; financial accounts; papers of staff; papers relating to teaching; plans; photographs; printed material. Also papers relating to the Library including meeting minutes and reports, agreements, correspondence and centenary celebrations; and papers relating to Northwold Road Synagogue include a congregation scrapbook, congregation attendance register and marriage certificates.

Records of the Maccabi Union of Great Britain, 1943-2002. Please note written permission from the depositors is required to access these records.

This collection reflects how the Maccabi organisation functions on an international, European and national level. The hierarchy of authority is evident in the way the series of records have been organised. The Maccabi World Union, International Maccabiah Committee and European Maccabi Confederation are represented in the holdings mostly through official reports. However, although the records for the Maccabi Union of Great Britain start with the official minutes of what was to become the National Executive Committee, it is the personal correspondence from key figures in the Union, for example Eric and Beryl Rayman, which greatly enhance our understanding of this organisation.

It is apparent from the records that the Maccabi Union GB has many related parts to it. This demonstrates the level of organisation involved and fund raising necessary to run a major youth movement. The Maccabi Foundation, an independant body, has, as its main purpose, a funding function for Maccabi activities. This itself was previously linked to a company called Maccabi Stadium Limited. The Maccad Agency Limited, also no longer functioning, charged commission from companies to advertise in Maccabi Union publications. This commission was most likely ploughed back into the Union's activities.

The Maccabi Century Club took over the activities of the Sportsmen's Century Club in 1992. This club was founded by generous, wealthy men who ran one fundraising event per year at the Dorchester Hotel. The "Century" referred to the fact that this stag dinner function cost 100 pounds per head for 100 people. By 1992 the cost of the ticket had risen to 500 pounds and the number of attendees increased. Fine speakers, fine food and wine and top names in cabaret ensured a memorable evening. Over 33 years these dinners raised over 1,000,000 pounds to keep the Maccabi movement alive. The Maccabi Century Club continued this work with a slightly altered structure, that is, that the fundraising work is shared with the Maccabi Centurions. This Club is no longer operating.

By far the most comprehensive series of records is that of sports events and games. The Maccabiah is covered from the 3rd to the 16th Games. A set of photographs of the 1950 Games is of particular interest as it shows not only the opening cermonies in Israel but members of the team from Great Britain and the competitors as they take part.

The involvement of the Maccabi Union Great Britain in the Maccabiah, European and North American Games is known to us mainly through the personal papers of Ken Gradon who served the Union in many capacities. Ken Gradon was a key figure in the development of the Maccabi Union because he has served at all levels. He was, among other roles, President of the Maccabi Union Great Britain, Honorary President of the European Maccabi Games, a member of the International Maccabiah Committee on a personal basis, nominated to stand for committees of the Maccabi World Union and standing on the British Maccabiah Organising Committee.

The photographic collection includes meetings, conferences, dinners and other events held between the 1940s and 1960s with particular reference to Maccabi Association London depicting speakers, audiences and assembled groups, the Jewish Welfare Unit ambulances, and the opening of the Maccabi running track at Hendon Stadium in 1953. Among the ephemera there are football league trophies, sports caps and T-shirts, commemorative pennants, banners and plaques.

Besides the Maccabiah, individual sports are represented through the files of affiliated sports groups such as the Maccabi Southern Football League and Wingate Football Club, as well as the Union's own records of certain sports and their annual tournaments, such as table tennis, athletics and cricket.

Records relating to the Tottenham Hebrew Congregation including finance and Talmud Torah class administration and correspondence. Also includes printed material relating to annual reports and dinner dances, photographs and building plans.