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The Plymouth Synagogue is a
synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worsh ...
in the city of
Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymout ...
, England and the home of the Plymouth Hebrew Congregation. Built in 1762, it is a listed Grade II* building and the oldest extant synagogue built by Ashkenazi Jews in the English speaking world.


History

A Jewish community was present in Plymouth by the mid-18th century. The members were immigrants, primarily from the German lands and the
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Neth ...
. Most were members of an extended family with the surname Emden. They are known to have been meeting regularly for services in private homes by 1745, at some point the services moved to rented rooms. Plans for building a synagogue had begun by 1759. In 1762 building land was leased, but the lease was signed by a Christian named Samuel Champion since it was not clear that leases signed by
Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
s were legal. The Congregation bought the freehold in 1834.


Architecture

No architect's name is recorded, and it is assumed that the rectangular, pitched-roof structure was designed and erected by a local master builder. The building is of whitewashed brick and stone with a roof of Cornish slate. The street front is the eastern end of the synagogue, so the door is placed on the western front, in what is effectively the back garden. The building is tucked on a side-street, Sharman Kadish, the leading expert on Jewish buildings in Britain, believes that an unobtrusive location was chosen to avoid provoking the destructive riots that non-Anglican houses of worship often provoked in the eighteenth century. Nothing on the exterior distinguishes the building from the meeting houses of Nonconformist Protestants. Kadish believes that the corniced entrance, the date and
Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...
95:6 (''O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker'') written in Hebrew dates from the renovation of 1863–1864. The cornerstone of the adjacent three-storey building housing various synagogue offices is dated with the Jewish year 5634 (1874). There is a
mikveh Mikveh or mikvah (,  ''mikva'ot'', ''mikvoth'', ''mikvot'', or (Yiddish) ''mikves'', lit., "a collection") is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve ritual purity. Most forms of ritual impurity can be purif ...
in a room off the vestry (hall) and it is open to viewing. It is of white tiling and is no longer in use. The water has been diverted partly due to an irreparable leak and also to logistics. Ref: Anna Kelly Honorary Secretary 2015. The vestibule is floored with Minton terracotta tile dating from a
Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian ...
renovation, the present stairs to the women's galleries were built at the same time. The vestibule appears to be a Victorian addition to a prayer hall that was originally entered without a vestibule, the women's galleries probably had external staircases as was once common. As was usual in British synagogues, there is a prayer board with the
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
prayer for the welfare of the British Royal family. The prayer board at Plymouth dates from 1762. It was usual for the name of each new king to be painted over the names of previous monarchs. At present the names being prayed for are listed as
George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Quee ...
and Queen Mary (
Mary of Teck Mary of Teck (Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes; 26 May 186724 March 1953) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 6 May 1910 until 20 January 1936 as the wife of King-Empe ...
). The interior is simple, with the exception of the elaborate
Torah ark A Torah ark (also known as the ''Heikhal'', or the ''Aron Kodesh'') refers to an ornamental chamber in the synagogue that houses the Torah scrolls. History The ark, also known as the ''ark of law'', or in Hebrew the ''Aron Kodesh'' or ''aron ha- ...
. The building has a flat ceiling and a women's gallery along three walls. Originally, the women's gallery was confined to the west end. The windows were originally clear glass. The present stained glass was a 20th-century addition. The pair of windows that flank the
Torah ark A Torah ark (also known as the ''Heikhal'', or the ''Aron Kodesh'') refers to an ornamental chamber in the synagogue that houses the Torah scrolls. History The ark, also known as the ''ark of law'', or in Hebrew the ''Aron Kodesh'' or ''aron ha- ...
and open onto the street were added in 1874. Kadish believes that putting synagogue windows on a public street may have been judged unwise in the religious climate of the eighteenth century.


Torah Ark

The elaborate,
Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including th ...
Torah Ark rises two storeys, the full height of the building. It features fluted
Corinthian columns The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order w ...
, a broken pediment, carved finials and urns in gold leaf. On the second storey are a pair of tablets of the
Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ� ...
, in gold leaf on a royal blue ground. Inscribed on the cornice is the Hebrew date 5522 (1761–62) and a passage form Psalms 5:8 (''Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face''). It is a free-standing piece of cabinet work. It was transported from Holland flat packed and rebuilt when in situ. The Holy Ark however was brought over from the Netherlands in parts and assembled on site – a sort of Georgian flat-pack! A marvellous classical confection of white and gold, it stands in sharp contract to the plain wood of the rest of the building.*Elkan Levy. Kadish believes that it may have been crafted by cabinetmakers in the Netherlands or the German lands. For many years the Ark had "a gentle golden patina." A 2002 restoration has made the Ark bright with gold leaf, white and blue paint.


See also

*
Oldest synagogues in the United Kingdom Synagogues may be considered "oldest" based on different criteria. A number of synagogues that predate the expulsion of the Jews from England have been discovered by archaeologists or by historians in buildings that have been in use for other purp ...


References


External links

* {{Official, http://www.plymouthsynagogue.com/
Plymouth Hebrew Congregation
o
''Jewish Communities and Records – UK''
(hosted by ''jewishgen.org''). * Virtual tou

18th-century synagogues Ashkenazi Jewish culture in England Ashkenazi synagogues Buildings and structures in Plymouth, Devon Dutch-Jewish culture in the United Kingdom German-Jewish culture in the United Kingdom Orthodox synagogues in England Grade II* listed religious buildings and structures Grade II* listed buildings in Devon Synagogues in Devon