JUDAISM.
Jews apparently arrived soon after the
opening of the Underground station at Golders
Green. Their numbers increased after the extension
of the line to Edgware, until in 1959 it was claimed
that one quarter of the population of the borough
was Jewish. (fn. 65)
All the various synagogue organizations are
represented in the area. The United Synagogue
came first with Golders Green synagogue, (fn. 66) opened
in Dunstan Road in 1922, and Hendon synagogue,
opposite the Brent Bridge hotel, in 1928. (fn. 67) In
Golders Green Jews had previously used St. Alban's
hall, West Heath Drive, and several had been
members of Brondesbury synagogue in 1914, (fn. 68)
while in central Hendon worshippers had met in a
private house in Alderton Crescent from 1925 and
rented a near-by hall for festivals. In 1935 Hendon
synagogue moved to a new building in Raleigh
Close. A later constituent of the United Synagogue
was Mill Hill and District Hebrew congregation,
which began meeting in Sylvan Avenue in 1950,
became Mill Hill District synagogue in 1960, and
had erected a hall by 1969.
A new phase followed Hitler's rise to power,
which resulted in a steady influx of middle-class
immigrants. Not altogether satisfied with the mainstream of traditional Judaism in England, represented by the United Synagogue, some of them
sought help from other organizations in setting up
branches. (fn. 69) Thus with aid from the West London
synagogue a Reform synagogue was founded in
1933 in a private house in Hampstead Garden
Suburb. Members later hired a hall in Bridge Lane
and the larger hall of the Free Church and in 1936
a permanent building in Alyth Gardens near the
Jews' cemetery, the North Western Reform synagogue, was opened. (fn. 70) A more significant event,
however, was the foundation of Golders Green Beth
Hamedrash synagogue in the Lincoln institute,
Broadwalk Lane, in 1934. Although it was aided by
the Adath Ysroel synagogue in Stamford Hill, with
which it continued to co-operate for a number of
religious purposes, it has retained its independence
in the Ridings, where it moved in 1959. The
Federation of Synagogues opened a Golders Green
branch in Woodstock Avenue in 1935 and moved in
1959 to another building in the same road, which was
renamed Sinai synagogue in 1960. Hendon Reform
synagogue was established in 1949, meeting in Egerton
Gardens and from 1955 in Danescroft Gardens.
A third phase began when after the bombing of
east London people moved thence into Hendon.
This led to the proliferation of small orthodox
synagogues, some transferred and others the result
of the newcomers' initiative. Those that survived
were variously reorganized. In 1974 the leading
synagogue in the group was Beth Shmuel, at no. 171
Golders Green Road. Most of them were connected
with one another through membership of the Union
of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, which in 1974
had the following constituent members: the North
Western Sephardish synagogue, which met at no. 15
Russell Parade, Temple Fortune, in 1940 and moved
very soon afterwards to no. 4 Highfield Avenue,
Golders Green; Finchley Road synagogue, founded
in 1941 and meeting by 1969 at no. 843 Finchley
Road; Hendon Adath Ysroel synagogue, which held
services in the Central hall, Queen's Road, in 1945,
opened a community centre in Shirehall Lane in
1947, and moved to the bottom of Brent Street in
1948; Bridge Lane Beth Hamedrash, founded in
1947 and at no. 85 Bridge Lane from 1948; North
Hendon Adath synagogue, founded in 1948 and
moving in 1950 from Ravensfield to the N. B. Walters
centre in Holders Hill Road; Beth Abraham synagogue, in Woodstock Road from 1951 until its
move to the Ridgeway in 1958; and Sunny Hills
Adath Ysroel synagogue, on the corner of Southfields and Watford Way from 1958.
In 1957 the North West London Talmudical
college was founded at no. 861 Finchley Road and
in 1968 the Tree of Life college was transferred
from the east end of London to no. 85 Bridge Lane.
Golders Green and its neighbourhood thus came
to be second only to Stoke Newington as a centre of
orthodox Judaism in London.
The transfer of power in India prompted certain
old families of oriental Jews to come to Britain.
Those who settled in Hendon were attached to the
Baghdadi rite and retained it in their prayers at the
Lincoln institute, which they took over from Golders
Green Beth Hamedrash synagogue in 1959 and
named Ohel David Eastern synagogue.