Bevis Marks Synagogue
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The Bevis Marks Synagogue, or Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue is the oldest synagogue still in use in the United Kingdom.
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[edit] History
[edit] Construction
The congregation was established by the Spanish and Portuguese Jews in 1698 by Rabbi David Nieto who took spiritual charge of a congregation that met in a small synagogue in Creechurch Lane. A considerable influx of Jews made it necessary to obtain more commodious quarters. Accordingly a committee was appointed, consisting of Antonio Gomes Serra, Menasseh Mendes, Alfonso Rodrigues, Manuel Nunez Miranda, Andrea Lopez, and Pontaleao Rodriguez. It investigated matters for nearly a year, and on February 12, 1699, signed a contract with Joseph Avis, a Quaker, for the construction of a building to cost £2,750. Avis would later decline to collect his fee, on the ground that it was wrong to profit from building a house of God. On 24 June of the same year, the committee leased from Lady Ann Pointz (alias Littleton) and Sir Thomas Pointz (alias Littleton) a tract of land at Plough Yard, in Bevis Marks, for 61 years, with the option of renewal for a further 38 years, at £120 a year.
Avis began building at once, incorporating in the roof a beam from a royal ship presented to the community by Queen Anne. The structure was completed and dedicated in 1702, and, with the exception of the roof (which was destroyed by fire in 1738 and repaired in 1749), is today as it was over 300 years ago. The interior decor and furnishing and layout of the synagogue reflect the influence of the great Amsterdam synagogue of 1677.
In 1747 Benjamin Mendes da Costa bought the lease of the ground on which the building stood, and presented it to the congregation, vesting the deeds in the names of a committee consisting of Gabriel Lopez de Britto, David Aboab Ozorio, Moses Gomes Serra, David Franco, Joseph Jessurun Rodriguez, and Moses Mendes da Costa.
[edit] Influence
The Bevis Marks Synagogue was for more than a century the religious center of the Anglo-Jewish world, and served as a clearing-house for congregational and individual troubles all the world over; e.g., the appeal of the Jamaican Jews for a reduction in taxation (1736); the internecine quarrel among the Barbados Jews (1753); and the aiding of seven-year-old Moses de Paz, who escaped from Gibraltar in 1777 to avoid an enforced conversion.
The synagogue formed the centre of the Sephardic community of London until the foundation of the Bryanston Street Synagogue, in 1866, after which the attendance at the functions declined so much that in 1886 a move to sell the site was contemplated; a Bevis Marks Anti-Demolition League was founded, under the auspices of H. Guedalla and A. H. Newman, and the proposed move was abandoned.
[edit] The synagogue today
The synagogue held its tercentenary celebration in 2001. It is now one of three synagogues owned by the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish community of London, the other two being in Lauderdale Road (Maida Vale) and Wembley.
The synagogue suffered some damage in the IRA Bishopsgate bombing on 24 April 1993, but has since been restored. The buildings include a substantial modern hall, part of which functions as a kosher restaurant.
The synagogue is the only one in Europe which has had continuous services for over 300 years. Unfortunately, dwindling attendances threaten its future. However, the Chairman of the Bevis Marks Committee, Mr Sam Lopes Dias stated that it was his avowed intention to rejuvenate the congregation.
[edit] Bibliography
- Picciotto, Sketches of Anglo-Jewish History;
- A. H. Newman, A Chapter of Anglo-Jewish History, 1886;
- Jacobs and Wolf, Bibliotheca Anglo-Judaica, No. 780, p. 116; No. 1332, p. 155;
- Jewish Chronicle, May 31 and June 7, 1901;
- Gaster, History of the Ancient Synagogue of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews, 1901;
- Hyamson, M., The Sephardim of England: A History of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish Community 1492-1951: London 1951.
- Kadish, Sharman; Bowman, Barbara; and Kendall, Derek, Bevis Marks Synagogue 1701-2001: A Short History of the Building and an Appreciation of Its Architecture (Survey of the Jewish Built Heritage in the United Kingdom & Ireland): ISBN 1-873592-65-5
- Treasures of a London temple: A descriptive catalogue of the ritual plate, mantles and furniture of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Synagogue in Bevis Marks: London 1951 ASIN B0000CI83D
[edit] See also
[edit] External link
[edit] References
This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.
