Middle Street Synagogue
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The Middle Street Synagogue is an Orthodox
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
congregation and
synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...
, located at 66 Middle Street, in the centre of
Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...
, in the city of
Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority area, ceremonially in East Sussex, England. There are multiple villages alongside the seaside resorts of Brighton and Hove in the district. It is administe ...
,
Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, in the United Kingdom. The congregation was formed in as the Brighton Hebrew Congregation and since 1918, was known as the Brighton & Hove Hebrew Congregation, and worshiped in the
Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...
rite Rite may refer to: Religion * Ritual, an established ceremonious act * Rite (Christianity), sacred rituals in the Christian religion * Ritual family, Christian liturgical traditions; often also called ''liturgical rites'' * Catholic particular ch ...
. The synagogue building was the centre for Jewish worship in Brighton and Hove for more than a century. The West Hove Synagogue, located at 29-31 New Church Road in
Hove Hove ( ) is a seaside resort in East Sussex, England. Alongside Brighton, it is one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove. Originally a fishing village surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th century in respon ...
, also owned by the Brighton & Hove Hebrew Congregation, has been the congregation's main synagogue since the early 1960s. Although the Middle Street Synagogue is not in full-time use, the building is opened at certain times, and cultural events and weddings frequently take place. The building was listed as a Grade II* building in 1971.


History

A Jewish community existed in the Brighton area for nearly a century before Middle Street synagogue was built in 1874. A
Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
n settler, Emanuel Hyam Cohen, established a Jewish school on the seafront in the 1780s and a place of worship between 1789 and 1792. The latter moved from Jew Street (off Bond Street) to West Street in 1808, but there is no record of the nature of the buildings; meetings may in fact have taken place in private houses. The Brighton Regency Synagogue was built in 1823 on land leased from a hotel, and enlarged by David Mocatta (architect of
Brighton railway station Brighton railway station is the principal station serving the city of Brighton in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, operated by Govia Thameslink Railway. It is the southern terminus of the Brighton Main Line, the western terminus of the ...
, and member of the prominent Jewish Mocatta family) in 1836. It was used until the new synagogue was opened in Middle Street in 1875. Situated on Devonshire Place, the
stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...
ed building in the
Classical style Classical architecture typically refers to architecture consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or more specifically, from ''De architectura'' (c. 10 AD) by the Roman architect Vitruvius. Va ...
still stands; an inscription on the outside, including the
Hebrew calendar The Hebrew calendar (), also called the Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today for Jewish religious observance and as an official calendar of Israel. It determines the dates of Jewish holidays and other rituals, such as '' yahrze ...
year of opening (5598), can still be seen on the
entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...
, but it is now in commercial use. The Chanukah menorah at the Middle Synagogue was brought from the Brighton Regency Synagogue. Chief Rabbi Nathan Marcus Adler attended the start of construction work in Middle Street on 19 November 1874. The architect, Thomas Lainson, had been responsible for many buildings in Hove, including a
Congregational church Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice congregational government. Each congregation independently a ...
and the residential development on the Wick Farm estate, and also the Bristol Road Methodist Church in Kemptown. After ten months of work at a cost of £12,000 (equivalent to £ in ), the dedication ceremony took place on 23 September 1875 and the synagogue was opened. Its capacity of 300 was six times higher than that of its predecessor. The
Sassoon family The Sassoon family were a wealthy Baghdadi Jews, Baghdadi Jews, Jewish family dynasty, associated with finance, banking, capital markets, the exploration of oil and gas, Judaism, British Conservative Party, Conservative politics, opium trade wit ...
, a wealthy Jewish dynasty with links to Brighton and Hove, funded various expansions and improvements over the next few decades, especially in respect of the internal fittings, which are very elaborate for a synagogue. Electric lighting was installed in 1892, making it the first electrically lit synagogue in Britain. Although the Jewish community in the city numbered 4,000 by 2004, the Middle Street Synagogue fell out of regular use at that time, although it is still opened regularly for educational and architectural tours of the interior, especially during the annual Brighton Festival. Urgent structural repairs, including a new roof, were required by that time. A combination of fundraising concerts, auctions and a grant of several hundred thousand pounds from the government agency
English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...
enabled restoration work to take place. Middle Street Synagogue was listed as a Grade II* building by
English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...
on 20 August 1971, one of seventy Grade II*-listed buildings and structures in the city of
Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority area, ceremonially in East Sussex, England. There are multiple villages alongside the seaside resorts of Brighton and Hove in the district. It is administe ...
, as of February 2001. It was also licensed for worship in accordance with the Places of Worship Registration Act 1855 and had the registration number 30824.


Architecture

The synagogue was described as Brighton's second most important historic building, behind the
Royal Pavilion The Royal Pavilion (also known as the Brighton Pavilion) and surrounding gardens is a Grade I listed former royal residence located in Brighton, England. Beginning in 1787, it was built in three stages as a seaside retreat for George, Prince o ...
. The exterior, executed in pale Sussex brick by the builders George Cheesman and son, is in an eclectic blend of
Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( ) was a period in History of Italy, Italian history between the 14th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Western Europe and marked t ...
and
Byzantine Revival Neo-Byzantine architecture (also referred to as Byzantine Revival) was a revival movement, most frequently seen in religious, institutional and public buildings. It incorporates elements of the Byzantine style associated with Eastern and Or ...
styles. The west-facing elevation to Middle Street uses yellow bricks in an English bond pattern, while the other walls are of brown brick. The arched windows are surmounted by contrasting red and blue tiles, and are flanked by red coloured columns. There is a large
rose window Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' wa ...
in the west-facing frontage. The façade consists of five bays, alternately projecting and recessed; on the ground floor the layout of windows (protected since the 1960s with translucent safety panels) is two in each end bay and one each in the two recessed bays, with the wooden entrance door on the centre bay (between two pink columns with ornamented capitals). On the first floor, the eight windows are arranged in pairs on the three projecting bays, with one in each of the recesses. Sharman Kadish remarks that "Nothing prepares the visitor for the sumptuousness of Middle Street's interior." There are ladies' galleries on three sides, held up by cast-iron columns decorated with imitation marble-effect paintwork with gilded metalwork capitals depicting plants, fruit, flowers and crops from the Middle East region. Thomas Lainson's design for the interior followed the Byzantine Revival style. The building takes the form of a
basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...
. There are ladies' galleries on three sides, held up by cast-iron columns decorated with imitation marble-effect paintwork. The capitals are fashioned of hammered copper and iron, each one is individually worked to show a different one of the species of plants, fruit, flowers and crops from the Land of Israel. The particularly decorative and ornate interior, funded by the generosity of the Sassoon family and visitors from outside Brighton, was built mostly of iron, but the surfaces that meet the eye are lavishly stenciled, gilded, or made of brass, marble, and mosaics. The
Torah Ark A Torah ark (also known as the ''hekhal'', , or ''aron qodesh'', ) is an ornamental chamber in the synagogue that houses the Torah scrolls. History The ark is also known as the ''ark of law'', or in Hebrew the ''Aron Kodesh'' () or ''aron ha-Kod ...
sits on a marble-stepped
dais A dais or daïs ( or , American English also but sometimes considered nonstandard)dais
in the Random House Dictionary< ...
in the centre of the
apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...
, below an arch supported by elaborate columns. It is top-lit via a stained glass half-dome. The surrounding rails, menorah and
pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...
are all brass. There is late-19th century stained glass in all of the windows, much of it by Campbell & Smith.


See also

*
History of the Jews in England The history of the Jews in England can be traced to at least 750 CE through the Canonical Exceptions of Echbright, published by the Archbishop of York, although it is likely that there had been some Jewish presence in the Roman period and poss ...
* List of Jewish communities in the United Kingdom * List of synagogues in the United Kingdom


References


External links

*
Facebook Page & Events at Middle Street Synagogue
{{B&H Buildings 1820s establishments in England 19th-century synagogues in Europe Ashkenazi Jewish culture in England Ashkenazi synagogues Brighton Grade II* listed buildings in Brighton and Hove Grade II* listed religious buildings and structures Jewish organizations established in the 1820s Orthodox synagogues in England Synagogues completed in 1875 Synagogues in Brighton and Hove