The South Manchester 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 ...

community 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 in Bowdon,

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester, southwest of Sale, Greater Manchester, Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2021 United Kingdom ce ...

, South Manchester,

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 1872 and worships 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 ...

. In 2002, the community relocated from the

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

, built in 1913, located in the

Fallowfield Fallowfield is a bustling area of Manchester with a population of 14,869 at the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 census. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it lies south of Manchester city centre and is bisected east&n ...

district, to new premises in Bowdon.

History

South Manchester Synagogue was founded in 1872 by a group of people who wished to cater for those

families who lived south of Manchester city centre. In 1913, the congregation moved from premises in Sidney Street, Chorlton on Medlock, to a new building in the then semi-rural location of Wilbraham Road, Fallowfield. The synagogue flourished for many years in its new location, due in no small part to the arrival of successive waves of refugees from Europe in the 1930s. Such was the growth in membership, that an extension had to be built to the women's gallery, and later additional parallel services had to be held in the new synagogue hall during the

High Holy Days In Judaism, the High Holy Days, also known as High Holidays or Days of Awe (Yamim Noraim; , ''Yāmīm Nōrāʾīm'') consist of: #strictly, the holidays of Rosh Hashanah ("Jewish New Year") and Yom Kippur ("Day of Atonement"); #by extension, th ...

. Membership peaked at over 800 during the 1970s. Just as when the synagogue moved to Wilbraham Road in 1913, in the late 1980s many congregants began to move out of the area, this time to the Hale/Bowdon region. This caused a sharp decline in membership, meaning that the congregation were forced to sell the Grade II listed building in Fallowfield to a Jewish student trust and move the synagogue to Bowdon. The 10th of August 2002 marked the day the first services were held in the new location with the official opening taking place on 6 September 2002 for Rosh Hashanah. In 2003, Charles, Prince of Wales visited the synagogue to mark its opening, making it the first synagogue in the United Kingdom to be opened by a member of the royal family. Just a year later in April 2004, the synagogue was also visited by Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. The synagogue has a number of charismatic leaders, including for many years Rabbi Felix Carlebach, Chazan Solomon Morris and more recently Rabbi Yitzchok Rubin. That tradition of vibrant leadership was later continued by Rabbi Dovid Lewis and Chazan Michael Isdale. Throughout its history, the synagogue has had to come to terms with demographic trends within the community. In the same way as the move to Fallowfield reflected the move of the membership out of the city centre, so its most recent history reflects the move of many members of the congregation to Hale, Bowdon and the surrounding area.

New synagogue building in Bowdon

The South Manchester Synagogue building in Bowdon is a purpose-built contemporary building. Constraints posed by the compact site necessitated stacking the principal rooms – the galleried synagogue and a large communal hall – one above the other. Use was made of the sloping site to place the communal hall at lower-ground level and to create a sunken garden with a safe play area for children. The main entrance is a glazed foyer with voids reaching down to the lower-ground floor and up to the first-floor entrance to the women's gallery, admitting daylight into the heart of the building. The synagogue itself is square with the bimah set centrally in a traditional arrangement. The low pitched roof rises to a glazed lantern over the bimah with an exposed steel roof structure that further emphasises the latter's position and importance. The women's gallery is arranged on three sides of the main space and care has been taken to create a degree of intimacy while still being able to accommodate large numbers for major festivals. The windows on each side of the women's gallery are fitted with stained glass windows by the Scottish artist John Clark. The windows represent

Rosh Hashanah Rosh Hashanah (, , ) is the New Year in Judaism. The Hebrew Bible, biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (, , ). It is the first of the High Holy Days (, , 'Days of Awe"), as specified by Leviticus 23:23–25, that occur in the late summe ...

and

Yom Kippur Yom Kippur ( ; , ) is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, corresponding to a date in late September or early October. For traditional Jewish people, it is primarily centered on atonement and ...

and the festivals of

Sukkot Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of Booths, is a Torah-commanded Jewish holiday celebrated for seven days, beginning on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei. It is one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals on which Israelite ...

Pesach Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...

and

Shavuot (, from ), or (, in some Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi usage), is a Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday, one of the biblically ordained Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan; in the 21st century, it may ...

. Further stained glass windows are planned for the main entrance on the theme of

the Exodus The Exodus (Hebrew language, Hebrew: יציאת מצרים, ''Yəṣīʾat Mīṣrayīm'': ) is the Origin myth#Founding myth, founding myth of the Israelites whose narrative is spread over four of the five books of the Torah, Pentateuch (specif ...

and for the three-storey atrium on the

Shema ''Shema Yisrael'' (''Shema Israel'' or ''Sh'ma Yisrael''; , “Hear, O Israel”) is a Jewish prayer (known as the Shema) that serves as a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services. Its first verse encapsulates the monothe ...

. 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 ...

and synagogue interior are all finished in oak to maintain the light, airy ambience of the building. Alongside the synagogue at ground level is the library and

Beth midrash A ''beth midrash'' (, "house of learning"; : ''batei midrash''), also ''beis medrash'' or ''beit midrash'', is a hall dedicated for Torah study, often translated as a "study hall". It is distinct from a synagogue (''beth knesseth''), althoug ...

in which weekday services are held. A retractable wall allows this area to become part of the main worship space, providing additional seating for

and

. The synagogue was designed to enable access by both able-bodied and disabled people while still conforming to the requirements of

Halacha ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is based on biblical commandments ('' mi ...

. Sloping ramps provide ease of access to the main entrance and a lift has been installed with special programming for use on Shabbat. A mechitzah has also been installed on the ground floor for women unable to access the women's gallery.

Former synagogue building in Fallowfield

The community's former synagogue building was in Wilbraham Road,

. The result of a competition won by

Joseph Sunlight Joseph Sunlight ( – 15 April 1978), was a Belarusian/ English architect whose energy amassed him a great fortune in Manchester and left at least one fine building in Sunlight House. He was also a Liberal politician in his adopted country. Bi ...

, the synagogue was completed in 1913, and is a structure of diverse stylistic influences and innovative technical construction, as was listed as a Grade II building in 1974. Sunlight adopted the style of a Turkish

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

, complete with

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

and

minaret A minaret is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer (''adhan'') from a muezzin, but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence. They can h ...

though interpreted in a

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

, it has even been said

cubist Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

, idiom. Sunlight confessed to quoting

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia (; ; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (; ), is a mosque and former Church (building), church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The last of three church buildings to be successively ...

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

and the tower of

Westminster Cathedral Westminster Cathedral, officially the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Most Precious Blood, is the largest Catholic Church in England and Wales, Roman Catholic church in England and Wales. The shrine is dedicated to the Blood of Jesus Ch ...

. The building marked a first in British synagogue construction in avoiding

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

supports for its 35 ft dome by the use of

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

in its span and the lattice girders supporting the

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...

gallery. In 2003, the Fallowfield building became redundant, the congregation having relocated, and plans were drawn up by a charitable trust to convert it to a residential Jewish student centre. , the building was being renovated, with major changes to the interior. The ladies' gallery was turned into a complete second floor to replace the function room previously in the annex, which was demolished.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1872 establishments in England Ashkenazi Jewish culture in England Ashkenazi synagogues in the United Kingdom Buildings and structures in Trafford Byzantine Revival architecture in the United Kingdom Byzantine Revival synagogues Grade II listed buildings in Manchester Grade II listed religious buildings and structures Jewish organizations established in 1872 Orthodox synagogues in England Synagogues completed in 1913 Synagogues completed in 2002 Synagogues in Manchester

History

New synagogue building in Bowdon

Former synagogue building in Fallowfield

See also

References

External links