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 of the London Society for Jews and Christians, including minute books; correspondence; financial accounts; reports; bulletins; press cuttings; papers for publication; copies of talks; and programmes and advertisements for meetings and conferences.

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.

Administrative records, deeds, financial records, patient records, nursing records and photographs.

Records of the Court of the Chief Rabbi, London Beth Din, 1904-1988. The bulk of the archive transferred to London Metropolitan Archives are the administrative papers and general correspondence of the Court, and in particular that of the Clerks and Registrar. There are also files concerning consultations the Beth Din undertook with the Government on the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Bill in the 1980s. Some correspondence and rough notes of the individual Dayanim and records relating to work done with refugees in the Second World War have also been deposited.

Records relating to the Liberal Jewish Synagogue and the Jewish Religious Union, consisting of the working papers and sermons of Israel Mattuck, Lily Montagu, Claude Montefiore and Leslie Edgar. The records do not deal exclusively with their roles within the Liberal Jewish movement, but cover a range of their activities. Some more personal correspondence also exists within the collection. There are also some papers of the Jewish Religious Union, including history and press cuttings.

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.

Records of Kol Chai Hatch End Jewish Community including minutes and administrative papers, finance, papers relating to the synagogue building, membership, services, religious education, events and visits; also a run of Koleinu, the Kol Chai magazine, other Kol Chai publications, printed material and photographs.

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 Kenton Synagogue, consisting of correspondence about the construction of the synagogue, 1938; 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.

Records of the Kashrut Division of the London Beth Din, 1951-1983. The collection consists mainly of financial records together with some material on koshering work at private functions and newscuttings scrapbooks.

PLEASE NOTE: Written permission from the depositors is required to access this collection. Contact the Chief Executive, United Synagogue, 735 High Road, North Finchley, London NW12 OUS.

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.

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 Jews' Orphan Asylum, consisting of minutes of the Ladies Society and the Education Committee.

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

Records of Jews' Hospital, consisting of minutes.

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

Two volumes of press cuttings from Anglo-Jewish newspapers, concerning aspects of Jewish life; and from national and international newspapers concerning Chief Rabbi Nathan Adler and his successor Chief Rabbi Herman Adler, 1872-1901.

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 Jewish Health Organisation of Great Britain, comprising committees, case histories, personnel and general correspondence.

Records of the Association of Jewish Friendship Clubs, consisting of administrative and financial records (including minutes, enquiries and reports) for the association itself, and for specific areas and clubs. Also correspondence files for individual clubs, both overseas and in Britain.

A further deposit included an extensive run of office files regarding both the administration of the AJFC and relations with affiliated clubs; a large number of photographs of AJFC events such as a handicrafts exhibition, talent competitions, holidays, celebrations and meetings; copies of the "Friendship Club Magazine"; circular letters; club programmes; press cuttings; obituaries and club badges.

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

Papers of the Jewish Chronicle Ltd, 1947-1970, mainly comprising financial material, such as account summaries, cash books, weekly estimates for production of newspapers, monthly statistics, income and outgoing statements, book costs and departmental operations, publications summaries, and Vallentine Mitchell Ltd working papers and accounts.

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 Initiation Society, consisting of an account book with register of circumcisions.

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.

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 the United Synagogue Headquarters Staff Association consisting of administrative and financial records, including minutes, correspondence, legal documents, and papers relating to elections; and documents relating to the organisation of social events.

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 Hammersmith Synagogue, Brook Green including financial records of the synagogue and dealings with the Shepherds Bush Synagogue.

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 Hammersmith and West Kensington Synagogue including minutes, attendance books, annual reports, financial records, membership records, registers of authorisations of marriages, correpondence, plans, inventories, magazines, photographs and papers.

Records of the Hambro Synagogue, consisting of administrative records including minutes and letter books; financial records; membership payments; records of charities; records of the Burial Society; photographs 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.

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.

Original manuscript Passover Haggadah in Hebrew with transliteration, edited by Leo Ansbacher at Gurs concentration camp, France, Apr 1941.

Records of the Great Synagogue, consisting of minutes of the Committee of the Great Synagogue; Vestry minutes; Financial Committee minutes; Building Committee minutes; laws and rules of the Great Synagogue; letter books; wills and bequests; registers of distribution of unleavened bread at Passover and of Passover flour; title deeds for property at Duke's Place; financial accounts; financial accounts of the Burial Society; papers relating to charities; notices and circulars; and registers of kethubot [marriage contracts] and chalitzah undertakings.

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

Records of the Grand Order of Israel and Shield of David Friendly Society. The records relate to the administration of the Society, property investments and the social aspects of the Society, for example, there are files relating to the Annual Dinner and Ball, quizzes and newsletters.

Lecture notes and other papers of Sir Hermann Gollancz including notes from lectures on the philosophy of mind, given by George Croom Robertson (1842-1892) at University College, London; notes from lectures at University College, London, comprising lectures on applied mathematics by William Kingdom Clifford (1845-1879), and on physics by George Carey Foster. Also included are notes on the history of the Jews in Sicily; notes on aspects of Jewish religion and theology. Signature inside the front cover, 'H Gollancz, Jews' College' and medical prescriptions written for Sir Hermann Gollancz, and miscellaneous medical ephemera.

Records of Gladstone Park Synagogue, 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.

Correspondence and papers of Dr Moses Gaster, his family, and the family of his wife Lucy (née Friedlander), 1796-1973, dating largely from the 1870s to the 1930s, also including some material on Gaster's life and work which post-dates his death. Many papers relate to Gaster's activities in his official posts, notably as Haham, to his interests in Jewish affairs and Zionism, and as a scholar, but the collection touches upon a wide range of topics in late 19th and early 20th century history, including the history of Rumanian Jewry and Anglo-Jewry. The bulk of the collection comprises Gaster's correspondence, which includes letters from Jewish and Zionist organisations in Britain, Europe and Jerusalem, from newpapers, periodicals and publishers, and from a large number of individuals outside Gaster's family, including eminent British, European and American Jewish scholars, rabbis and public figures, such as members of the Adler, Gollancz, Mocatta, Montefiore and Rothschild families, and with non-Jewish public figures, but it also includes a wide range of other material. The main series mostly cover much or all of Gaster's adult life. Some material of the same type or on the same subject is separated between different sections of this large collection.

Correspondence series include letters from organisations and individuals outside Gaster's family, one sequence sorted alphabetically by correspondent; one sequence sorted chronologically, 1874-1939, with a few other items, the earliest dating from 1854; a sequence of undated letters, sorted alphabetically; letters received by Gaster on the emigration of Rumanian Jewry, including to England, 1900; Gaster's out-letters and copies of letters written by him, 1887-1939; copies of letters from Gaster to the Zionist Chaim Weizmann dating from the 1900s and 1910s; letters not written by or addressed to Gaster, 1870-1939 and undated.

A series of bound volumes contains press cuttings and other items, largely printed, including circulars and pamphlets, with some letters received and written by Gaster, and relates to various subjects, although much of the material was apparently bound haphazardly; the contents, overall dating largely from 1879-1939 but with items of 1796, 1838-1849, and 1867, include persecution of Jews in Rumania and elsewhere; emigration; Anglo-Jewish matters and the Anglo-Jewish Association; hospitals and schools; lectures, weddings, and other functions; the Board of Deputies of British Jews; Shechita; the Slaughter Bill, 1911; the Spanish-Portuguese congregation, including Bevis Marks Synagogue and Gaster's 25th anniversary as Haham, 1912; Independent Order of B'nai B'rith; letters congratulating Gaster on his engagement, marriage and birth of his children, and on the 'Gaster Anniversary Volume' ; Zionism, including the Jewish Colonial Trust, and Zionist Congresses in 1905, 1907 and 1913; Palestine; the Royal Asiatic Society; the Folklore Society.

Printed ephemera, dating from the 1870s to the 1930s, includes invitations to lectures, weddings and other events; visiting and greeting cards and condolences.

Papers, 1890-1896, on the Ramsgate affair relate to Gaster's association with the College there, the controversy over his management, and events leading up to his departure in 1896.

Papers relating to Zionism include copies of letters between Gaster and Theodor Herzl at the turn of the 20th century and other Zionist correspondence and papers up to the Balfour Declaration of 1917; file of letters and telegrams, some copies, from Winston (Leonard Spencer) Churchill, 1906-1908; volume of minutes of Council meetings of the London Zionist League, 1904-1910; microfilms of Zionist sources, among them Herzl letters held elsewhere.

Pamphlets, 1944-1950, relate to the Anglo-Jewish Association, a London conference of Jewish organisations, Palestine, the Jews in Britain, and Jewish Relief Units in Germany.

Working papers include notebooks, many undated, relating to Gaster's studies (from the 1870s) and later research; typescript and some manuscript reviews, sermons, letters to the press, obituary articles or notices, speeches and articles by Gaster; loose press cuttings of Gaster's reviews and articles, and cuttings on Gaster himself and his areas of interest; reproductions of texts and manuscripts and working notes by Gaster on his scholarly research.

Papers on Gaster's life, work and estate include a photostat manuscript catalogue of Gaster's Hebrew, Samaritan and other manuscripts and printed books, with annotations postdating Gaster's death in 1939; papers relating to Gaster's manuscripts which passed to the British Library, John Rylands Library and Rumanian Academy, including manuscript and typescript descriptions of manuscripts, and correspondence, 1925-1926, 1941, 1961-1962, on their disposal; papers dating from the 1940s to the 1960s on the estate of Gaster's wife (d 1940) and disposal of her books and on Gaster's will, estate and the disposal of his books and manuscripts including his Judaica, the sale of his Rumanian library to the School of Slavonic Studies, the disposal of Samaritan and Hebrew manuscripts to the John Rylands Library, his papers at University College London; material, including press cuttings and papers to 1971, on Gaster's publications, including a copy of his 'History of the Ancient Synagogue ... in Bevis Marks ... 1701-190' (published in 1901); papers to 1961 on the 'Gaster Centenary Publication' (first published in 1936), the centenary of Gaster's birth in 1956, and his publications; papers on Gaster's life and work following his death in 1939, including a file of Vivian Gaster's correspondence on his father to 1973.

Personal papers include Gaster's appointment diaries; congratulations on Gaster's engagement (1889); various rolled or printed addresses to Gaster as Haham, from Jewish communities; certificates, including one for Gaster's election as Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, 1930; letters of congratulation and cuttings on Gaster's 80th birthday (1936); typescript autobiographical notes and reminiscences by Gaster; papers on Gaster's death, 1939, including a scrapbook of cuttings.

Family papers include a genealogical roll of the Gaster family; two photograph albums, largely undated but apparently dating from the latter 19th century, many items unlabelled but some taken in Bucharest, Breslau and London and some identified as members of the Friedlander and Gaster families; correspondence, comprising letters from Gaster's family in Rumania, 1873-1939 and undated; Gaster's original letters to his family in Rumania, from 1874; letters from Gaster to his wife and children, 1885-1939 and undated, and a diary of Gaster on a journey to Palestine, 1907; letters to Moses Gaster from his wife Lucy, between Moses and Lucy and their children, and from the Friedlander family to Moses and Lucy Gaster, 1888-1939; letters from Lucy to her parents, Michael and Bertha Friedlander, before and after her marriage, 1880-1922; Friedlander family correspondence including letters from Michael Friedlander to his wife Bertha, from 1866, and to the Friedlanders from the Gasters; other letters received by the Friedlanders from their family and others, largely 1870-1927 and undated. Other Friedlander papers comprise papers of Michael Friedlander, including notes, and working papers and correspondence relating to Jews' College, including its administration and courses; and the diary of Bertha Friedlander (wife of Michael Friedlander and mother of Lucy Gaster, née Friedlander), 1893-1898.

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].

Records of Finsbury Park Synagogue, including correspondence; kethubot [marriage certificates]; membership payment registers; memorial book; accounts book; educational pamphlets; certificates; and photographs of Synagogue officers.

Records of the Hayes Certified Industrial School for Jewish Boys, later known as Finnart House School, comprising a series of annual reports covering the years 1902 to 1938 (with gaps) and minute books from 1939 to 1973, which include sections devoted to accounts and to payments made to staff.

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 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 Ellis Wolfe Charity, consisting of minutes and a cash book.

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

Records of Edmonton and Tottenham Hebrew Congregation, consisting of a lease for property in Landsdowne Road.

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.

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 East Ham and Manor Park Synagogue, consisting of Board of Management minutes; correspondence; kesubah [marriage contracts] books; membership applications and account books; reserved grave spaces; orders of service; and fundraising cards.

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

Records of Dunstable 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 the Deputy for the Chief Rabbi, 1942-1950, comprising correspondence with various individuals and organisations, including provincial congregations in Wales and England and congregations in Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Palestine, Russia, South Africa and the United States of America.

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 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.