Machzike Hadath

For the synagogue in Ottawa, Canada, see Machzikei Hadas.

For the current use of the former Machzike Hadath synagogue, located in Brick Lane, see Brick Lane Mosque.

The Machzike Hadath (transliterated from Hebrew as 'Upholders of Faith'^[1]), also known as the Spitalfields Great Synagogue, is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located on Highfield Road, Golders Green, in the Borough of Barnet, in the East End of London, England, in the United Kingdom. The congregation was formed predominately by Lithuanian Jews in 1891 and was initially located on Brick Lane. The congregation worships in the Ashkenazi rite.

Machzike Hadath
The synagogue, in 2010
Religion
Affiliation	Orthodox Judaism
Rite	Nusach Ashkenaz
Ecclesiastical or organisational status	Synagogue
Leadership	Rabbi Ilan Halberstadt
Status	Active
Location
Location	1 Highfield Road, Golders Green, Borough of Barnet, London, England NW11 9LU
Country	United Kingdom
Location of the synagogue in Greater London
Geographic coordinates	51°34′46″N 0°12′28″W
Architecture
Type	Protestant chapel
Date established	1891 (as a congregation)
Completed	1898 (Brick Lane & Fournier St) 1983 (Highfield Road)
Website
machzikehadath.com

History

The congregation was established in 1891 as Chevra Machzike Hadath (or Chevrath Machzikei Hadath), transliterated from Hebrew as 'The Society of Strengthened of the Faith'. It was founded by members of the North London Beth Hamedrash in Newington Green Road and members of the Machzike Shomrei Shabbat Synagogue of Booth Street, with whom it merged in 1983. The primary aim of the congregation was to persuade the Chief Rabbi and the community that serious infringements of the laws of kashrut.^[2]

In 1898 the congregation acquired premises in Spitalfields, at the corner of Fournier Street and Brick Lane, where they remained for 70 years.^[3][4] In 1905 the congregation affiliated with the Federation of Synagogues.^[5][1]

The Brick Lane, Spitalfields building, first established in 1743 as a Protestant chapel ("La Neuve Eglise") by London's French Huguenot community^[6] and later a Methodist chapel,^[7] was used by the congregation as a synagogue from 1898 unto; 1970; where it moved to Golders Green, and the new synagogue was consecrated in 1983.^[4] The former Brick Lane synagogue building is now the Brick Lane Mosque.

In the late 1920s the Machzike Hadath sponsored the publication of an edition of the Mishna Berura.

Clergy

The following individuals have served as rabbi of the congregation:

Ordinal	Officeholder	Term started	Term ended	Time in office	Notes
1	Avraham Aba Werner	1891	1912	20–21 years	[8]
2	Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook	1912	1919	6–7 years
3	Yechezkel Abramsky	1932	1935	2–3 years
4	Simcha Lopian	1956	1983	26–27 years
5	Dr. Ephraim Yehuda Wiesenberg	1983	1986	2–3 years
6	Chaim Zundel Pearlman	1986	2018	31–32 years	Great grandson of Kamenitzer Maggid
7	Ilan Halberstadt	May 2018	incumbent	7 years, 85 days	[9]

See also

• London portal
• Judaism portal

• History of the Jews in England
• List of Jewish communities in the United Kingdom
• List of synagogues in the United Kingdom
• Machzikei Hadas