Seven hundred and fifty years after Jews were expelled from Guildford, the Surrey town has inducted its first rabbi in centuries.
Guildford, whilst not known as a centre of British Jewish life, has a rich Jewish history, with a community existing in the 1100s, building what was once believed to be Britain’s oldest synagogue. It was only discovered during an archaeological dig in 1996.
The town’s community, which lay dormant for centuries, was revived during the Second World War, with a small community of Jewish refugees from Europe, who settled in the area.
Guildford and District Jewish community for the past few decades has been a small affair, operating out of a tiny building on the town’s York Road.
But under the stewardship of the town’s new rabbi, Alex Goldberg, the community is making a comeback.
More than a hundred people crammed into Guildford’s newly renovated and dedicated synagogue to witness Goldberg’s induction ceremony by Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis.
The ceremony, attended by Guildford civic officials, faith leaders, and Jews from the town and surrounding areas, showed off the community’s Torah scrolls and the new Ark.
In front of multiple faith leaders including the Bishop of Guildford, Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis hailed the “marvellous gathering”, one “filled with happiness and joy and a sense of celebration”.
“I’m mindful of the fact that we cannot take our rejoicing for granted,” the Chief Rabbi remarked, “because, at this time, we are marking the 750th anniversary of the expulsion of Jews from Guildford, which took place on January 16, 1275.
But, he added: “How wonderful it is for us, 750 years later, to come back into a living and thriving Jewish community, which is growing, thanks to your wonderful rabbi.”
Chief Rabbi Mirvis lauded Rabbi Goldberg’s “bringing together” of three separate “covenants” to form the combined Guildford Jewish community: the community centred around the synagogue, the online community, Yisroel Ba’Astolat, which began during the Covid pandemic and continues to exist, together with the Jewish students attending the University of Surrey, and faculty.
Together, they form, he said, a “thriving, successful Jewish presence here in [Guildford]”.
Later, Rabbi Mirvis said: “How wonderful it is for you, Rabbi Goldberg, to be brought back to the synagogue where you grew up, the synagogue in which you celebrated your bar mitzvah, to be the first leader of the Guildford community since Reverend S Clayman in 1945 and the first rabbi since the expulsion.”
