Giffnock Synagogue

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Giffnock and Newlands Synagogue, located at 222 Fenwick Road in the outlying Glasgow area of Giffnock is the largest Jewish religious congregation in Scotland. The synagogue also features a religious day school for both children and teenagers.

Contents 1 Spiritual leadership 2 Brief History and Community 3 Membership 4 Recent Events 5 See also 6 References

[edit] Spiritual leadership

The congregation is lead by Rabbi Moshe Rubin who originally hails from the United States having joined the community, first serving as their Cantor in 1990. He was asked to take over the pulpit upon the retirement of the previous Rabbi (Rabbi Philip Greenberg) approximately seven years ago.

[edit] Brief History and Community

Founded in 1934 approximately, The synagogue stood at May Terrace in Giffnock until about 1970, previously Maybank Road. In 1971 the current complex was erected on Maryville Avenue. Giffnock Synagogue is described as "provincial synagogue". As a member of the United Synagogue organization of Great Britain, it is under the aegis of the Chief Rabbi. The largest Jewish community in Scotland. Services are done in the Ashkenazi Orthodox ritual.

[edit] Membership

• 1938 - 350 seatholders (Jewish Year Book 1939)
• 1950 - 400 seatholders (Jewish Year Book 1951)
• 1953 - 550 seatholders (Jewish Year Book 1954)
• 1957 - 750 seatholders (Jewish Year Book 1958)
• 2007 - 700 seatholders (approximation)

[edit] Recent Events

On 4 March 2007, Academy Award winning songwriter, Robert B. Sherman was the guest of honour at a Giffnock Shul Shushan Purim dinner, where he participated in a question and answer session about his songwriting career with an audience of over 250 guests. Sherman and his son donated two Sherman created giclée prints of his paintings, "Sacrifice" and "Moses" to the synagogue.

[edit] See also

• Synagogues
• Synagogue architecture
• Judaism
• Modern Orthodox Judaism
• Ashkenazi Jews
• The Virtual Jewish History Tour - Scotland
• Jewish Encyclopedia on Scotland
• Scottish Jewish Archives Centre

[edit] References

• This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.