History of the Jews in Leeds facts for kids

The city of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England, has a Jewish community. Many important people have come from or lived here. Jewish people have played a big part in the clothing trade, business, and education in Leeds and around the world. Today, the community has less than 7,000 people.

How the Jewish Community Grew in Leeds

A small group of about 60 Jewish people lived in Leeds by 1840. This number grew to 219 by 1861. Before the late 1880s, when more people started arriving from the Russian Empire, there were about 1,000 Jewish residents.

By 1891, Leeds had 8,000 Jewish people. More than 6,000 of them lived in the Leylands area by 1901. This area was so full of Jewish residents that it was called a "continental Jewish ghetto" in Yiddish newspapers. The population kept growing in the early 1900s, reaching 12,000 to 14,000 in 1901. After 1914, it was around 25,000.

After 1933, refugees from Nazi Germany, people escaping the London Blitz, and later Holocaust survivors arrived. The Jewish population in Leeds might have reached its highest point between 1945 and 1950, with 25,000 to 29,000 people. Since then, the population has slowly gone down. Even so, in the 1970s, Leeds had the highest percentage of Jewish people compared to any other British city.

The 2011 UK census counted 6,847 people in the City of Leeds who said their religion was Jewish. This was 0.9% of the district's total population. In the main Leeds built-up area, there were 6,136 Jewish people, making up 1.3% of the population. Many lived in areas like the Alwoodley ward, where 3,270 Jewish people lived, which was 14.4% of that area's population.

Early Jewish Settlers in Leeds

The first Jewish settlers in Leeds in the 1700s were mostly from Germany. Many were wool merchants, drawn by West Yorkshire's big wool industry. The first Jewish marriage in Leeds was recorded in 1842. One early resident was Lazarus Levi.

The history of the Leeds Jewish community is closely connected to Hull. A railway line connected Hull to Leeds from 1840. Most Jewish immigrants came through the Humber ports of Hull and Grimsby. Many lived in Hull or stayed there for a short time. They were often on their way to America through Liverpool.

Leeds was growing fast economically and was on this migration route. Many Jewish people had tailoring skills or knew people in the area. Because of this, a large community grew in Leeds. They mostly settled in the Leylands district. This was a poor area with low rents, which attracted immigrants. By the mid-1890s, Leylands was mostly Jewish. Most Jewish immigrants during this time were Lithuanian Jews from the northern part of the Russian Empire.

Moving North: Changes in Living Areas

Jewish people often worked in tailoring, which became the main trade. Many worked in crowded, unhealthy workshops. When slums were cleared in 1936–37, Jewish residents moved north. They moved from the central Leylands area to Chapeltown. Later, they moved even further into Moortown and Alwoodley.

Many European refugees came to Leeds in the 1930s. They were often well-educated. In 1937, the ORT training school from Berlin moved to Leeds. From 1938 to 1940, Kindertransport children arrived. Later, survivors of the Holocaust also came. Before the war, a local branch of the Association of Jewish Refugees was formed. More recently, the Leeds-based Holocaust Survivors' Fellowship Association was created.

Synagogues: Places of Worship

The first synagogue in Leeds opened in 1846. It was in a converted house on Back Rockingham Street. This is where the Merrion Centre is today. In 1861, a new building called the Great Synagogue replaced it on Belgrave Street. This synagogue closed in 1983. An office block was built there, and a blue plaque now marks the spot.

Another synagogue opened in 1876 on St. John's Place, New Briggate. It was known as the Grinner Shul. This was replaced by the New Synagogue in Chapeltown Road in 1932. It was built in a Byzantine style. The building closed in 1985 and is now used by the Northern School of Contemporary Dance.

The Vilna synagogue started in St Luke's Terrace. It moved to Exmouth Street before 1885. In 1955, it joined with the New Vilna Synagogue. This synagogue was on Harrogate Road from 1973 to 1991. It then became part of the Etz Chaim synagogue in 1994, also on Harrogate Road. The Etz Chaim synagogue has roots in the Leeds Jewish Workers' Burial and Trading Society from 1899 and the Psalms of David Congregation from 1884.

The United Hebrew Congregation opened its current synagogue on Shadwell Lane in 1986. It brought together several older congregations. These included the Great Synagogue, New Synagogue, and Moortown Synagogue. The Byron Street Polish synagogue was founded in 1893. It moved to Louis Street around 1933 and closed in 1974.

Beth Hamedrash Hagadol synagogue, founded in 1874 on Templar Street, moved to Hope Street in 1886. Then it moved to Newton Road Chapeltown in 1937. Its current building is on Street Lane, Moortown, since 1969.

Shomrei Hadass Synagogue is a center for the very traditional Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic Jewish community in Leeds.

The Sinai Synagogue in Roundhay, Leeds, started as a congregation in 1944. It is part of Reform Judaism. A new building for it opened in 1960.

Cemeteries: Resting Places

The first Jewish cemetery in Leeds opened in 1837. Before that, Jewish people from Leeds were buried in Hull. Today, Leeds has five Jewish cemeteries. These include the Beth Hamedrash Hagadol cemetery (1955), Hill Top Cemeteries (1875), New Farnley Cemeteries (1896), the United Hebrew Congregation Cemetery (1840), and the Sinai Synagogue Cemetery (1950s).

The New Farnley cemetery has nine Commonwealth war graves for Jewish service members. Two are from World War I and seven from World War II. An additional World War II serviceman is buried in the nearby Louis Street Polish Jewish Cemetery. The United Hebrew Congregation cemetery has 18 Commonwealth war graves for Jewish service members: six from World War I and 12 from World War II.

Community Support and Groups

The first Jewish friendly society was started in 1852. The Jewish Board of Guardians (started 1878) helped with many things. They gave loans and grants to immigrants to start businesses or travel to North America. The Leeds Jewish Welfare Board has given help since 1878. The Leeds Jewish Housing Association has 500 homes. The Leeds Jewish Institute was founded in 1896, and the Jewish Young Men's Association by 1901. The Leeds Jewish Representative Council has been active since 1938.

The first Jewish trade union in Leeds started in 1876. The Amalgamated Jewish Tailors', Machinists' and Pressers' Union was officially founded in 1893. It grew from earlier groups and strikes.

Schools: Learning and Education

A Jews' Free School was founded in 1876. By 1888, Jewish students mostly attended Gower Street and other Board Schools in Leylands. Brodetsky Primary School, which started in 1968, and the secondary school Leeds Jewish Free School, opened in 2013, are both in Alwoodley. They are connected to Orthodox Judaism. The Menorah primary school in Sandhill Lane is connected to the Haredi Chabad Lubavitch movement.

Businesses: Making a Living

Leeds had been a major center for the wool trade for a long time. Herman Friend was the first Jewish person to get into the large-scale tailoring business in Leeds around 1856. Many men and women worked in cutting and sewing, but not in the big factories. In the 1930s, Jewish factories hired refugees from Europe. Jewish refugees also started a law firm in Leeds in 1930.

Facing Challenges: Anti-Semitism

In the past, it was common for people in Leeds to make fun of Jewish people in their Sabbath clothes. Some town cafes even refused to serve them. Violence happened, leading to serious riots in 1917 in the Leylands area. Property was destroyed and shops were looted. Job discrimination was one reason why some Jewish people changed their names. Later, they found it very hard to join local golf clubs, so they started their own in 1923. Anti-Semitism continued in Leeds during the 1930s as refugees from Nazism arrived. Mosley's fascists marched in Leeds in 1936, which led to a clash known as the Battle of Holbeck Moor.

Notable People from the Leeds Jewish Community

Arts and Entertainment

• Alec Baron (1913–91), filmmaker and playwright. He founded the Leeds Playhouse.
• Janina Bauman (1926–2009), a journalist and writer who survived the Warsaw Ghetto.
• Jeff Christie (born 1946), lead singer and songwriter for the band Christie.
• Eta Cohen (1916–2012), a violinist and teacher.
• Jeremy Dyson (born 1966), an author and screenwriter.
• Gaynor Faye (born 1971), an actress and writer known for roles in Coronation Street and Emmerdale.
• Jason Feddy (born 1966), a musician and cantor (a singer in a synagogue).
• Louise Finlay (1971–2014), a top celebrity journalist for the French magazine Elle.
• Paula Froelich (born 1973), a journalist and author.
• Mark Knopfler (born 1949), singer-songwriter and guitarist for Dire Straits.
• Jacob Kramer (1892–1962), a Ukrainian-born painter who lived in Leeds.
• James Lascelles (born 1953), a musician who helped start the Global Village Trucking Company.
• Sam Lee (born 1980), an award-winning singer and songwriter.
• Elliot Levey (born 1973), a theatre actor.
• Judith Levin (born 1936), an artist who paints landscapes and still-life.
• Kay Mellor (born 1951), a writer and director.
• Philip Naviasky (1894–1983), an artist who worked with watercolors and oils.
• Ann Rachlin (born 1933), a musician and children's author. She received an MBE for her work with deaf children.
• Michael Roll (born 1946), a pianist and the first winner of the Leeds International Piano Competition.
• Bernard Schottlander (1924–99), a German-born sculptor who lived in Leeds.
• Samantha Simmonds (born 1972/1973), a news anchor for Sky News and BBC News.
• Barry Simmons (born 1948), a quiz-show contestant on Eggheads and Brain of Britain.
• Marion Stein (1926–2014), Countess of Harewood, who helped start the Leeds International Piano Competition.
• Frankie Vaughan (1928–99), a singer and actor known for "Give Me the Moonlight, Give Me the Girl".
• Fanny Waterman (1920–2020), a pianist, and the founder and director of the Leeds International Piano Competition.
• Wendy Waterman (born 1944), a pianist.
• Joash Woodrow (1927–2006), an artist who preferred to live a private life.
• Tamar Yellin (born 1963), an author who won the 2007 Sami Rohr Prize.

Business Leaders and Givers

• Phillip Abrahams (1907–82), an industrialist and supporter of Zionism.
• Montague Burton (1885–1952), who founded Burton Menswear.
• Barbara Cline (born 1935), a volunteer for many charities.
• Manny Cussins (1905–87), a businessman and chairman of Leeds United F.C..
• Henrietta Diamond (1876–1958), who founded the Herzl-Moser Hospital and the Leeds Ladies Zionist Association.
• Colin Glass (born 1943), Chairman of UK Israel Business.
• Paul Hirsch (1834–1908), Leeds' first Jewish Magistrate.
• John D. Jackson (1933–2013), vice-chairman of the Leeds Development Corporation.
• Clive Labovitch (1932–94), who helped start Haymarket Media Group.
• Neville Labovitch (1927–2002), a businessman and giver, awarded an MBE.
• Trevor Lyttleton (born 1936), who founded the charity Contact the Elderly.
• George Lyttleton (1904–90), who founded Jewish day schools in Leeds and London.
• Michael Marks (1859–1907), an entrepreneur who helped found Marks & Spencer.
• Simon Marks, 1st Baron Marks of Broughton (1888–1964), a businessman.
• Lloyd Rakusen (1881–1944), who founded Rakusen's.
• Leslie Silver (1925–2014), a paint manufacturer and chairman of Leeds United F.C..
• Esther Simpson (1903–96), who helped refugees before and during World War II.
• Harris Sumrie (1866–1951), who founded C. and M. Sumrie Ltd.
• Arnold Ziff (1927–2004), a property owner and giver.

Politicians and Activists

• Irwin Bellow (1923–2001), Leader of Leeds City Council and a government minister.
• Judith Chapman, Lord Mayor of Leeds from 2015–16.
• Karl Cohen (1908–73), a City Alderman who supported slum clearance.
• Jack Diamond (1907–2004), a Labour and Social Democratic Party MP.
• Ronald Feldman, Lord Mayor of Leeds from 1991–92.
• Joseph Finn (1865–1945), a trade unionist.
• Joyce Gould, Baroness Gould of Potternewton (born 1932), a trade-unionist and Labour activist.
• Fabian Hamilton (born 1955), Labour MP for Leeds North East.
• Keith Joseph (1918–94), a Conservative MP for Leeds North East.
• Gerald Kaufman (1930–2017), a Labour MP and government minister.
• Edward Lyons (1926–2010), a Labour and Social Democratic Party MP.
• Hyman Morris (1873–1955), a magistrate and Lord Mayor of Leeds from 1941–42.
• Jeremy Raisman (1892–1978), an administrator in the government of British India.
• Bert Ramelson (1910–94), an organizer for the Communist Party of Great Britain.
• Moses Sclare (1867–1949), secretary of the Leeds Jewish Tailors', Machinists' and Pressers' Union.
• Alex Sobel (born 1975), Labour MP for Leeds North West.
• Martha Steinitz (1889–1966), a pacifist.
• Joshua Solomon Walsh (1902–84), Lord Mayor of Leeds from 1966–67.

Community Leaders

• Joshua Abelson (1873–1940), a minister of the Leeds Great synagogue and writer on Jewish Mysticism.
• Albert Chait (born 1986), a Rabbi recognized for his service to the Jewish Community.
• Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog (1888–1959), the first Chief Rabbi of Ireland and later Chief Rabbi of Israel.
• Yehuda Refson (1946–2020), a Rabbi and head of the Leeds Beth din.
• Meir Rekhavi (born 1962), founder of the Karaite Jewish University.
• Pat Solk (1924–2008), a charity volunteer and President of Age Concern Leeds.
• Arthur Saul Super (1908–79), a Rabbi and wartime Army chaplain.

Military Heroes

• Julius Diamond (1896–1917), a Lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps, awarded the Military Cross.
• Walter Lubelski (1886–1919), awarded the Military Cross for service in World War I.
• Jack White (1896–1949), awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery.

Holocaust Witnesses and Refugees

• Eugene Black (1928–2016). His family was murdered in Auschwitz. He survived forced labor and a march to Belsen. He later spoke in schools about his experiences.
• Lilian Black (1951–2020), who became chair of the Holocaust Survivors' Friendship Association. She helped set up the Holocaust Exhibition and Learning Centre.
• Liesel Carter (born 1935). She escaped Germany at age four and came to a foster family in Leeds. She began sharing her story in 2005.
• John Chillag (1927–2009). He survived Auschwitz and a forced march to Buchenwald. In Leeds from 1962, he published his memories and spoke to many young people.
• Ruth Grant (born 1928). Her family home was taken by the Nazis. She came to England on a Kindertransport. She has published her life story.
• Leslie Hardman (1913–2008), a minister at Chapeltown synagogue. As an Army chaplain, he entered Belsen in 1945 and helped bury many victims. He was an early educator about the Holocaust.
• Arek Hersh (born 1928), a Leeds-based Holocaust educator. He survived the Łódz ghetto, four camps including Auschwitz, and a death march. He was one of the Windermere Children.
• Joseph Henry Levey (1881–1970). In 1939, he worked to evacuate Berlin's ORT School, saving many staff and students. He then helped re-establish the school in Leeds.
• Martin Kapel (born 1930). He experienced Nazism in Leipzig and was forced into Poland. He came to England on the Kindertransport. He is a Holocaust educator.
• Helena Kennedy (1912–2006). A dressmaker, she sewed for the orchestra in Auschwitz and later for Nazi women.
• Iby Knill (1923–2022). She was freed from Auschwitz in 1945 and settled in Leeds. She gave talks and published her life story.
• David Makofski (1892–1973). He organized immigration and found work for refugees in Leeds as chairman of the Leeds Jewish Refuge Committee.
• Rudi Leavor (1926–2021). He came to Shipley from Germany in 1937. He was a dentist, cantor, and champion of inter-faith relations. He was also a Holocaust educator.
• Judith Rhodes (born 1953). She made a film and gives talks about her mother's experiences, including the Kindertransport.
• Suzanne Ripton (born 1936). She hid in Paris during the war and later found she had lost her parents in Auschwitz. She has shared her experiences.
• Trude Silman (born 1929). She fled before the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia. She lives in Leeds and ran the Holocaust Survivors Fellowship Association for many years.
• Ernst Simon (born 1930). He experienced Kristallnacht and arrived from Austria on the Kindertransport in 1939. He has been recognized for his work in Holocaust Education.
• Heinz Skyte (1920–2020). A refugee from Nazi Germany, he helped create the idea of sheltered housing in Leeds. He often spoke in schools.

Sports Stars

• Manny Cussins (1905–87), who chaired Leeds United F.C. from 1972–83.
• Les Gaunt (1918–1985), a football player for Leeds United FC.
• Gerald Krasner (born 1949), an accountant who became chairman of Leeds United F.C. and helped save the club financially in 2004.
• Wilf Rosenberg (1934–2019), a South African Rugby Union international who played for Leeds RLFC.
• Bernard Shooman (born 1935), a former Rugby League referee.

Doctors and Medical Experts

• Saul Adler (1895–1966), a professor who became a world expert on Leishmaniasis.
• Major Myer Coplans (1879–1961), a doctor who led the first mobile hygiene laboratory in World War I.
• Max Hamilton (1912–88), a professor of Psychiatry at Leeds. He helped create widely used depression and anxiety scales.
• Augusta Landsman (1893–1966), the first woman to qualify from Leeds Medical School.
• Monty Losowsky (1931–2020), who helped establish Europe's largest teaching hospital, St James's in Leeds.
• Ivor Meyer Quest (1928–93), a senior Police Surgeon in Leeds.
• James Shapiro (born 1962 in Leeds), a Canadian surgeon known for a diabetes transplant procedure.
• Alan Silman (born 1951), an epidemiologist and rheumatologist at Oxford University.
• Arnold Sorsby (1900–80), a Polish-born eye surgeon and geneticist.
• Maurice Sorsby (1898–1949), a physician who organized medical relief for victims of Nazism.
• Moses Umanski (1862–1936), a Russian army doctor who became superintendent of the Herzl-Moser hospital in Leeds.
• Kurt Zinnemann (1908–88), a professor of Bacteriology and world expert on Haemophilus infection.

Lawyers

• Sue Baker, a senior Magistrate.
• Stanley Berwin (1926–88), a lawyer who founded several firms.
• Barrington Black (born 1932), a member of the Supreme Court of Gibraltar.
• Arthur Sigismund Diamond (1897–1978), a Master of the Supreme Court.
• John Dyson, Lord Dyson (born 1943), a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
• Neil Franklin (born 1948), the longest-serving Chief Crown Prosecutor for England.
• Martin Goldman (born 1964), Chief Crown Prosecutor for North-West England.
• Alter Max Hurwitz (1889–1970), a barrister.
• Jerry Pearlman (1933–2018), a solicitor and advocate for the right to roam.
• Julius Stone (1907–1985), an international law professor in Australia.
• Marilyn Stowe (born 1957), a lawyer specializing in family law.

Other Professionals

• Basil Gillinson (1925–2001), an architect known for the Merrion Centre in Leeds.
• Joe Glucksmann (1912–70), a headmaster and synagogue officer, recognized in the Queen's 1966 birthday honors.

Academics and Scholars

• Zygmunt Bauman (1925–2017), a sociologist and philosopher who became Professor of Sociology at Leeds.
• Jeremy Baumberg (born 1967), Professor of Nanoscience at Cambridge University.
• Simon Baumberg (1940–2007), professor of bacterial genetics at Leeds University.
• Selig Brodetsky (1888–1954), a Professor of Mathematics at Leeds and a leader in the World Zionist Organization.
• Geoffrey Cantor (born 1943), Professor Emeritus of the history of science at Leeds.
• Julius B. Cohen (1859–1935), Professor of Organic chemistry at Leeds. He also campaigned against air pollution.
• Frank Felsenstein (born 1944), from the Leeds Centre for Jewish Studies.
• Eugene Grebenik (1919–2001), an expert on population studies and professor at Leeds University.
• Erika Harris, an academic expert in European nationalism.
• Benedikt Isserlin (1916–2005), who headed the Department of Semitic Studies at Leeds University.
• Walter Kellermann (1915–2012), a physicist at Leeds who led work on cosmic rays.
• Hyam Maccoby (1924–2004), a scholar of Jewish and Christian tradition.
• Aryeh Newman (1924–2020), an Israeli scholar and ordained rabbi.
• Jonathan Newman, a filmmaker and writer trained at the Northern Film School in Leeds.
• Griselda Pollock (born 1949), Professor of social and critical art history at Leeds University.
• Jay Prosser (born 1966), a reader in humanities at the University of Leeds.
• Geoffrey Raisman (1939–2017), a neuroscientist who studied nerve regeneration.
• Philip Saffman FRS (1931–2008), a mathematician and world leader in fluid mechanics.
• David A. Shapiro (born 1945), Professor of Psychology at Leeds University.
• Max Silverman (born circa 1957), Professor of French at Leeds School of Modern Languages.
• Johanna Stiebert (born circa 1970), Professor of Hebrew Bible at Leeds University.
• Geoffrey Wigoder (1922–99), an editor, professor, and international broadcaster from Israel.

Community Historians

• James Appell (born 1984 in Leeds), who has written about the Jews of Leeds.
• Joseph Buckman (born 1926 in Leeds), who wrote about the politics of the class struggle among the Jews of Leeds.
• Murray Freedman (1928–2011), a Leeds dentist who wrote extensively about his community.
• Ernest Krausz (1931–2018), who conducted a study on the Jews of Leeds.
• Aubrey Newman (1927–2005), a Leeds-based historian who studied British Jews and the Holocaust.
• Louis Saipe (1896–1984), a local Jewish historian in Leeds.