Wembley 40 Years

Vivian Pereira-Mendoza writes:

I moved to Wembley in the earlier days of the growth of the Congregation, when I was among those who gave evidence to a Town Planning enquiry at the then Wembley Town Hall on the need to build a new synagogue, despite the large Ashkenazi synagogue in the area.

Laying the foundations
of Wembley synagogue in 1976
(Click image to enlarge)

Maurice Sabah and Roddie Romain (father of Sue Kandel) were then the joint chairmen of the Congregation. Among other early Committee members were Sam Guershon, Maurice Barki (then Vice-Chairman) Edmond Benattar (Treasurer for many years) Jack Valencia, Sidney Del Monte, Albert Iny and many other who, like myself, had previously been members of the London Congregation of Sha'ar Hashamayim.

The early days of the Wembley Congregation were happy and optimistic ones. On Shabbat, services took place in the hall of a church in East Lane. We used the same transportable Echal that Sir Moses Montefiore has used on his travels. This was lockable and we kept a few Sepharim in it. There was a space beneath it into which we stowed away our books, Taletot, a carpet and holdall that contained all the requirements for a small Kiddush. The small carpet, when unrolled, defined the 'Synagogue'. The Tebah, being a suitable table, was fixed on four children's chairs. All this had to be put in place before Shabbat and removed after the service.

For the Yamim Noraim we had to hire larger premises - often a scout hut in Brook Avenue that was mouse-ridden and where the roof frequently leaked. To move there we had to take all our possessions from the Shabbat hall and re-erect them in the new one. Maurice Barki was in great demand as a carpenter!

The purchase, on our behalf, by the London Congregation, of two large houses in Forty Avenue, coupled with the purchase of another house to its rear, at 25 Oakington Avenue through the generosity of Roddie Romain, enabled the present Synagogue and the former Edinburgh House to be build. This was later supplemented by two adjacent houses in Forty Avenue. The house in Oakington Avenue became the social centre of the Congregation, pending the completion of its new synagogue building, and was even used to provide a Succah. Many very happy events took place there.

In the early days the Haham, Dr. Solomon Gaon, wished to pay us a pastoral visit. There was nowhere he could stay that was both Kasher and within walking distance of the 'synagogue'. We arranged for him to have a room in the nearby Century Hotel (now demolished) but it was winter: the only heat in his room was provided by a shilling-in slot gas fire. We arranged all this, leaving him a kasher breakfast and putting in the appropriate number of shillings to last the night. He seemed quite content when we collected him in the morning!

Briefing the architect for the synagogue was most interesting. A multi-functional building of simple yet consistent design was produced. It was then possible to hold at least four separate classes in the building. Other classes were, at one time, held in one of the neighbouring houses, which were also let from time to time.

Sam Guershon writes:

Our very first service was in 1959 in a terraced house in Preston Road, courtesy of the Gaon Family, where the Parasha was read by the late Ezra Douek. For years after that we were like the perennial wandering Jews moving between various church halls, East Lane, Brook Avenue, Oakington Avenue and the Labour Hall in Ealing Road where our first Barmitzvah ceremony, that of Victor Guershon and Richard Del Monte, was held in 1965. It was a wonderful service with over 160 people present, conducted by Rabbi Abraham Levy and Reverend Halfon Benarroch.

Every Friday afternoon our two Siphrei Torah were taken from the Ark of the Wembley United Synagogue to the hall in East Lane and returned after Shabbat. The late Rabbi Berman helped us a great deal. The carpentry skills of the late Maurice Barki came in handy when building our Echal, along with the book-repairing skills of Jack Daniel.

In 1962 we attempted to buy some houses in Oakington Avenue to build a synagogue but planning permission was rejected. However, in 1970 generous benefactors suggested building both a home for the Elderly and a synagogue on the same site.

Judge Rodney Romain was instrumental in buying houses in Oakington Avenue and developing the site. Funding was available and planning permission was again applied for. Finally the foundation stone for the new building was laid in 1976 by the late Haham and Sir Alan Mocatta.

Yossi Houri writes:

In 1968 when I was at Montefiore Collage, the late Rabbi Kamhi tried to persuade me to join him at Wembley. However, I had to be auditioned first: one Shabbat in May 1969, the Wembley committee came to Lauderdale Road to listen to me. I must have passed, as I have spent the last 33 years at Wembley !

My first Shabbat at Wembley was 26 July 1969. Before I moved there permanently in 1977 I had the pleasure of being hosted chez Toledano, Cohen, Kandel, Sassoon, Serfaty, Gaon, Mendoza, Ettinghausen, Mizrahi, Guershon, Kovacs..... Having Tried a great variety of different recipes and cooking I could have gone on to be another Michael Winner.