The Federation of Synagogues

In 1887, sixteen small synagogues in the east of London, largely composed of recent migrants from Eastern Europe and Russia, combined to form the Federation. The migrants wished to recreate the societies (chevrot) and support to which they were accustomed in the Jewish culture they had left behind in the Pale of Settlement. In England they had met a community (particularly in the United Synagogue) that was assimilated and frequently hostile to their needs and observances. Technically, the community into which they came, the whole of Britain and its empire, had only one rabbi and into the early 1870s, the Beth Din, the rabbinical court, had only one permanent judge (dayan); the synagogue was a place for formal worship rather than the focus of the community. This presented a marked contrast to the arrangements that prevailed in Eastern Europe. In establishing these societies, the migrants frequently associated with those that had come from the same areas or even towns.

The Federation was established effectively to maintain these new communities within Orthodoxy in Britain and to resolve the question of burial costs in relation to the United Synagogue. At the same time the Federation's purpose was to give this part of the community a voice in communal affairs, to seek representation at the Board of Shechita, the Board of Deputies and the Board of Guardians. Constitutionally it had a board of delegates, with a president (the president of the United Synagogue), an elected member from each Federated Synagogue, with a further elected member for each 50 adult males in each Federated Synagogue. (G.Alderman THE FEDERATION OF SYNAGOGUES 1887-1987 (London, 1987)).

From the guide to the Papers of the Federation of Synagogues, 1902-1986, (University of Southampton Libraries Special Collections)