| AdminHistory | The United Synagogue, Sheffield, can trace its roots back to the first congregation - the Sheffield Hebrew Congregation (SHC) - established around 1831, according to Armin Krausz in "Sheffield Jewry". However, the SHC is one of many bodies/organisations/societies that amalgamated to form the United Synagogue, Sheffield.
Since the 19th century there have been several synagogues in Sheffield. The first known sites used by the SHC as synagogues were on Holly Street, Solley Street and West Bar Green. In 1848, a building in Figtree Lane was acquired for permanent use as a synagogue - where the Sheffield Hebrew Congregation remained until 1872. Purpose-built synagogues of SHC included North Church Street (1872 - 1929), Wilson Road Synagogue (1930 - 1998) and now Kingfield Synagogue, Psalter Lane (2000 - present).
In 1860 a division in the community resulted in the formation of a new congregation - the Sheffield Central Hebrew Congregation (SCHC) or "Greeners". Another brief congregation - "Yanashker Shul" - was formed in c. 1896 for only a few months, and met on Scotland Street.
The Sheffield Central Hebrew Congregation met in Solley Street (1860 - c. 1872), 47 West Bar Green (c. 1872 - c. 1891), Hallamshire Hall, West Bar Green (1891 - 1914), Campo Lane (c. 1914 - 1940) and then 93 Brunswick Square for services (1941 - 1959). Although the two congregations amalgamated in 1953, they still held separate services including on festivals and high holydays. After 1957, the ‘Central Synagogue’ services were held in the recently built hall-cum-synagogue Kingfield Hall, at the Jewish Centre on Psalter Lane.
Whilst the congregations were separate entities until 1953, some of the rabbis and ministers were communal, meaning they provided their services to both congregations and synagogues. These included: Rabbi Moshe Avigdor Chaikin (1892 - 1901) and Rabbi Mordechair I. Levin Epstein (1904 - 1925).
Amalgamation of SHC and SCHC congregations was first attempted in 1947, but there was no agreement over the building of a second synagogue to replace the destroyed Central synagogue on Campo Lane. Finally, under the management of a separate committee (the Representative Council for Sheffield and District Jews) the amalgamation of the two congregations occured in 1953, with the proviso that a new synagogue for the Central congregation would be built and representatives from each synagogue would sit on the now united congregation council. The new name of this amalgamated congregation was the United Sheffield Hebrew Congregation (USHC).
The location of these first synagogues and most of Jewish life in Sheffield is documented around the areas of West Bar, Scotland Street, Campo Lane, Paradise Square, Figtree Lane, Meadow Street and Shalesmoor. However, as the 20th century progressed, work, businesses, synagogues, education and socialising shifted to the southern and western suburbs of the city around Ecclesall and Nether Edge.
Communal Jewish life included many extra-curricular activities and every aspect of social life had a representative club, including music, drama, history, debating, sports, literature, politics, freemasonry, charity and befriending. Many members of the synagogue congregations were instrumental in setting up early societies and organisations such as: the Chevra Kadisha (Jewish Burial Association); the Board of Guardians; the Jewish Working Men’s Club; the Zionist Association; and the Jewish Literary and Philharmonic Society which were all established by the turn of the 19th century.
There had been, sporadically, some form of Hebrew education attached to both synagogues in the latter half of the 19th century, but 1902 saw the official establishment of the Talmud Torah School at 47 West Bar Green, later the Sheffield Hebrew Education Board and then the Sheffield Jewish Education Organisation.
The purchase of Psalter Lane House in 1948 by the recently set up Sheffield Jewish Centre Charitable Trust (created in 1945) provided the Jewish community with a site for social activities. This was used by the Jewish clubs, societies and sports groups who paid subscriptions to the Centre. 1956 saw an extension of Sheffield Jewish Centre site to incorporate a "Central Synagogue" (Kingfield Hall) and more rooms (for Hebrew classes etc), jointly owned by USHC and SJCCT.
Whilst the Centre and these boards, charities, societies and clubs were administered, funded and managed as distinct organisations, separate from the synagogue congregations, the Jewish community was close-knit and it was often the same individuals that were involved with multiple groups of communal Jewish life.
The communal journal of the community - The Sheffield Jewish Journal - recorded many societies and organisations' activities as well as births, marriages and deaths in the Sheffield community and further afield from 1945 to 1980.
Latterly, as the orthodox Jewish community reduced in size towards the end of the 20th century, many of the once independent communal organisations either ceased to exist or adjusted their administration to become managed by the SJCCT/United Synagogue, Sheffield. Examples include: the Sheffield Jewish Centre Charitable Trust; the Sheffield Jewish Education Organisation; the Sheffield Chevra Kadisha; and Sheffield Hillel Association. The collation of multiple organisations' and societies' records in the papers of the United Synagogue, Sheffield, is reflective of this practice.
Other significant dates in the history of the community include:
1989 - formation of the "Seven Hills Shul" Sheffield & District Reform Congregation.
1998 - the sale of the Wilson Road Synagogue.
2000 - extension of the Jewish Centre site on Psalter Lane to include the new synagogue - Kingfield Synagogue.
2015 - SJCC becomes affiliated with United Synagogue, to become United Synagogue, Sheffield.
For a list of rabbis, ministers and readers of the congregations and communal organisations and burial sites see Jewish Geneological website: https://www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/Community/sheffield.htm .
The following are the Jewish congregations that exist or existed in and around Sheffield, with alternative names to which they may be referred in the catalogue and records:
Sheffield Central Hebrew Congregation:
Brunswick Street Synagogue, Campo Lane Synagogue, Central Synagogue, The Chevra, Sheffield New Hebrew Congregation, West Bar Green Synagogue.
Sheffield Hebrew Congregation:
Figtree Lane Synagogue, Great Synagogue, Holly Street Synagogue, North Church Street Synagogue, Wilson Road Synagogue (until 1953).
United Synagogue - Sheffield: Great Synagogue (from 1953), Kingfield Synagogue, Sheffield Jewish Congregation and Centre, United Sheffield Hebrew Congregation, Wilson Road Synagogue (from 1953).
Yanashker Synagogue:
Scotland Street Synagogue.
Sheffield & District Reform Jewish Congregation:
Seven Hills Shul.
The Sheffield Jewish Centre may also be referred to as: Kingfield, Kingfield Hall, Synagogue Hall, The Centre, The Jewish Community Centre, Psalter Lane, Psalter House, Brincliffe Crescent, The Kingfield Centre. |
| Description | The material comprises many collections in one. It includes papers from the synagogues, Jewish organisations and personal papers of Jewish families and individuals.
The types of material include minutes, correspondence, financial accounts, annual reports, deeds, photographs, plans, printed papers (programmes, orders of service, newsletters, pamphlets etc.) speeches, film clips, research papers, handwritten notes and portraits in the following sections:
Sheffield Orthodox Congregations and Jewish Centre:
JCA/1/2 United Sheffield Hebrew Congregation, 1929 - 2004
JCA/1/3 Sheffield Hebrew Congregation, 1849 - 1954
JCA/1/4 Sheffield Central Hebrew Congregation, 1903 - 1953
JCA/1/5 Sheffield Jewish Centre Charitable Trust, 1945 - 1980
Sheffield Jewish Organisations and Societies:
JCA/2/1 Sheffield Hebrew Education Board (previously Talmud Torah School, laterly Sheffield Jewish Education Organisation), 1902 - 2005
JCA/2/2 Sheffield Jewish Burial Association (Chevra Kadisha), 1948 - 2011
JCA/2/3 Representative Council of Sheffield and District Jews, 1949 - 2005
JCA/2/4 Sheffield Maccabi Association, 1948-1989
JCA/2/5 Sheffield Zionist Association (later Sheffield Israel Society), 1899 - 2010
JCA/2/6 Sheffield Board of Guardians (later Sheffield Jewish Welfare Organisation), 1923 - 1987
JCA/2/7 Sheffield Jewish Ladies Benevolent Society, 1935 - 1989
JCA/2/8 Federation of Women Zionists (later Women's International Zionist Movement) Sheffield Branch, 1936 - 2001
JCA/2/9 Sheffield Jewish Journal, Feb 1945 - Jul 1980
JCA/2/10 Joint Palestine Appeal Sheffield Committee, 1949 - 1980
JCA/2/11 Sheffield Younger Jewish National Fund Commission (Blue and White '60), 1958 - 1981
JCA/2/12 Sheffield Soviet Jewry Committee, 1972 - [2000]
JCA/2/13 Sheffield Hillel Assocation, 1965 - 2005
JCA/2/14 Sheffield Jewish Blind Society, 1960 - 2005
JCA/2/15 Sheffield Jewish Students' Association, 1919 - 1938
JCA/2/16 Sheffield Jewish Library, 1942 - 1948
JCA/2/17 Sheffield Jewish Friendship Club, 1968 - 2024
JCA/2/18 Group 62, 1971 - 1989
JCA/2/19 Kol Rinah Choir (later Friends of Alyn), 1971 - 2000
JCA/2/20 Sheffield Jewish Ladies Sewing Guild, 1935 - 1960
Collected Papers of the Sheffield Jewish Community:
JCA/3/1 Papers of David Brown, 1909 - 1968
JCA/3/2 Papers of Neville D. Ballin, 1887 - 2008
JCA/3/3 Papers of Joseph Newman, 1933 - 1944
JCA/3/4 Papers of the Blaskey Family, c 1949 - 1980
JCA/3/5 Papers of Eric Sayliss and Daniel Swycher (Sheffield Cadet Company Jewish Lads' Brigade), 1937 - c. 1970
JCA/3/6 Papers of P. Louis Lyons (Sheffield Cadet Company Jewish Lads' Brigade), 1952 - 1960
JCA/3/7 Papers of Rita Singerman [née Williams], 1913 - 2007
JCA/3/8 Papers of the Dempsey Family, [1920s - c. 1957]
JCA/3/9 Papers of Eva Eudin [Yudin], [c. 1900 - 1960]
JCA/3/10 Papers of Harry Isaacs, [c. 1890s - 1960]
JCA/3/11 Papers of Barbara Bergman, 1951 - 2004
JCA/3/12 Papers of David Cantor, 1900 - 1967
JCA/3/13 Papers of Alderman and Mrs Isidore Lewis Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Sheffield, 1963 - 1964
JCA/3/14 Papers of Eric Lipson, Feb 1943 - Jun 1997
JCA/3/15 Papers of David Jacob, 1947 - 1969
JCA/3/16 Papers of Isaacs Family, 1943 - 1976
JCA/3/17 Papers of Rabbi Barnett Cohen, Oct 1913 - Jul 1930
JCA/3/18 Papers of Cecil Donn, 1902 - 1967
JCA/3/19 Collected Communal Photographs, c. 1890 - 2008
JCA/3/20 Collected Communal Resources, 1969 - 1998
JCA/3/21 Papers of Isaac Friend, 1912 |
| CustodialHistory | These records were deposited with Sheffield City Archives by the United Synagogue, Sheffield in 2021 - 2022, via the Synagogue's Honorary Archivist, Joseph John Samuels, keeper of the records from October 1980 until May 2022. Samuels was an original member of the "Archives Committee".
The Archives Committee was established by David Brown in October 1980. It was set up to identify and preserve material from across the Sheffield Jewish community and house it at the Centre, Psalter Lane. Since the Committee’s inception, the collection has been referred to as the “Sheffield Jewish Archives”. With the deliberate intention to collect their history, multiple families chose to donate records that were created in the activities of communal life to the "Sheffield Jewish Archives".
The earliest records were originally held in a deed box at Midland Bank on behalf of the Sheffield Hebrew Congregation. But since the 1980s numerous records have been donated to the "Sheffield Jewish Archives" by organisations, individuals, neighbours and estate executors.
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