The initial purpose of this Web site is as an archive of pictures
and videos that I have taken over the years at four shuls to which I had
or have an affiliation. This is my contribution to the maintenance
of our Jewish Heritage. Only the last shul is located in the USA,
and
is my present synagogue. It is definitely not defunct!. Northwold Road and Egerton Road shuls are
now long since defunct, as their congregations moved out of their areas
many years ago, though the Stamford Hill and South Tottenham area is now
the Chassidisher capital of the United Kingdom (apologies to Golders
Green).
Between the time I was born in 1948 till 1957, we lived
upstairs at 18 Fountain Road, Stoke Newington. I attended Tyssen
School in Old Hill Street, Clapton and Lampard Grove (Grove Lane) cheder.
At that time, my grandparents lived above the baker's shop in Old Hill
Street, just one turning from the school - this being quite convenient for
a little kid.
In May 1957, we moved to 43 Rostrevor Avenue, South Tottenham.
My nearest synagogue was Crowland Road (United
Synagogue affiliation), where I attended Talmud Torah, was taught my
Barmitzvah by the late Rabbi Unterman, and attended the "Jewish Canteen"
(of blessed memory) whilst at Crowland Road Junior and Senior Schools, and
Markfield Secondary Modern. After my Barmitzvah in 1961, I attended
the Egerton Road Cheder, with classes below the Marcus Samuel Hall and
upstairs in the adjacent Victoria Club. After a few years there, I
was taught by the late Rabbi A.D. Suffrin at the Lubavitch Headquarters on
Stamford Hill. During many of the years that I attended The New
Synagogue, Dr. N.J. Goorney was a warden (1958-1969), and I remember that
his son, Hershey, was in my class at Egerton Road cheder. The family
left the congregation when they went on Aliyah.
Unfortunately, the South Tottenham shul
was not of architectural merit and did not have a choir, so I never took
much in the way of photographs or any recordings. It later merged
with the Egerton Road congregation, or rather the latter merged with the
former. The Bournemouth Hebrew Congregation is still going
strong and approaching its Centenary. It is my intention that this archive
will present the
greatest Internet-based collection of photographic, audio and video materials on
all or most of these shuls.
In the case of Northwold Road
and Egerton Road Synagogues, it is very likely to be the only representation of once
thriving communities - now just a distant memory to their former
congregants and families. It is intended that this site becomes a
living memory of communities as they once were - in some cases far
outlasting those that can remember. Having recently had reason to
consider my own mortality, I came to the decision to start putting this
material in the public arena to prevent them from being lost.
In Memoriam:
My father, the late Sydney Alexander Kingsley, was the President
of Northwold Road Synagogue from its inception in 1955 till the time of his
untimely passing on August 10, 1987 (15th Av, 5747). So I have shul business in
my blood. We used to say that "there is no business like shul business . .
. ."! Had my father lived, he would have been 86 today, and perhaps
would have become an honorary officer of the Bournemouth Hebrew Congregation on
his full retirement from London.
Dr. Stuart A. Kingsley
Columbus, Ohio, USA
First Uploaded:
August 11, 2002
Revised: September 14, 2002
*The Jewish World, Revelation, Prophecy and History,
edited by Elie Kedourie, Thames and Hudson, 1979.
Featured Synagogues on this site:
-
Northwold Road Synagogue, Stoke Newington, London N16, England
(Defunct)
-
New Synagogue, Egerton Road, Stamford Hill, London N16, England
(Defunct)
-
Bournemouth Hebrew Congregation, Bournemouth, Dorset
BH1, England
-
Congregation Ahavas Sholom, Bexley, Ohio
43209, USA
Other Materials:
SITE MAP
First Upload: August 11, 2002
Last Update: November 23, 2011
This Web site is maintained by British American, Dr. Stuart
A. Kingsley, formerly of Columbus, Ohio (since January 2008 I have been living
in Bournemouth, England). In 1981, I emigrated
to the United States from England. Born in Stoke Newington, London, on
Saturday, May
15, 1948 (the first full day of independence for the State of Israel and the day
that the British Mandate over Palestine lapsed), my
homes in the UK were in South Tottenham (Stamford Hill), London and Bournemouth, Dorset.
My father, the late Sydney Alexander Kingsley, named me Shmuel Yisroel Ben
Alexander, in honor of being born on the first Yom Haazma'ut. That Ben
Gurion's premature declaration of independence a few hours earlier, prior to shabbos,
on Friday, May, 14, (Iyar 5th) did not distract my father from the association of my
birthday with that of Israel's!
The places where I have lived is reflected in the synagogues
archived on this site. I would be
very pleased to link and be linked to other Jewish Heritage sites.
Further information about the Webmaster may be found at the
bulleted link above and the link below. If you have a collection of
photographs, 35 mm negatives, slides or short video clips of a shul you would
like to see archived here, please contact Stuart Kingsley (see
contact info page). It would
be of considerable assistance if such materials could be be prepared for the Web
with text and annotations before being offered. I would then be pleased to
host the materials on this site. If you have photographic, audio and video
materials to complement the shuls already covered on this site, again he would be
pleased to add them to this collection.
Dr. Stuart A. Kingsley
Revised:
March 1, 2009
Webmaster:
www.stuartkingsley.com
Midi-enabled page:
The main theme
from Steven Spielberg's film Schindler's List
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