Western Marble Arch Synagogue

The Western Marble Arch (WMA) Synagogue is a Jewish place of worship in central London. The WMA is the result of a merger between the Western and the Marble Arch Synagogues, with the former congregation dating back to 1761. The current building is in Great Cumberland Place, Westminster. It is a leading Orthodox Judaism synagogue and offers religious and social activities to its members and the wider community.[1]

Facade of Western Marble Arch Synagogue, Great Cumberland Place, London, England

History

Western Synagogue

The Western Synagogue was founded in 1761 in Great Pulteney Street, Westminster. The congregation, formally named, in the transliteration of the era, Hebra Kaddisha Shel Gemillith Hassadim, Westminster (Holy Congregation of Acts of Charity, Westminster) first met in the home of Wolf Liepman, a prosperous immigrant merchant from St. Petersburg. A series of leased spaces followed until 1826 when the congregation built an elaborate synagogue in St. Alban's Place, Haymarket (London) and renamed itself The Western Synagogue.[2]

Spiritual leadership
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

Seat of the Chief Rabbi

In November 2003, the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth Jonathan Sacks accepted the position as the spiritual leader of the Western Marble Arch Synagogue.[6]

Notable members

Bibliography
  • Picciotto, Sketches of Anglo-Jewish History

See also

References
  1. http://www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/london/western/index.htm
  2. Lindsay, Paul, The Synagogues of London, Vallentine Mitchell, London, 1993, p. 66
  3. http://www.marblearch.org.uk/who-we-are/our-people/
  4. http://www.marblearch.org.uk/who-we-are/our-people/
  5. http://www.marblearch.org.uk/who-we-are/our-people/
  6. "WMA – Western Marble Arch – Our people". www.marblearch.org.uk. Retrieved 2016-11-10.

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