A distinguished gathering filled St. John’s Wood Synagogue this afternoon to commemorate the centenary of the United Synagogue. Religious and communal leaders from all factions of British Jewry were present, including the Lord Mayor of Westminster, Councillor B. Fitzgerald-Moore; Lord Barnett Janner, and Alderman Michael M. Fidler, president of the Jewish Board of Deputies. Sir Keith Joseph, Secretary of State for Social Services, represented the government. The address was delivered by the Chief Rabbi, Dr. Immanuel Jakobovits, who called the centenary “the most ephoch-making single event in Anglo-Jewish history.” The United Synagogue, he said, is “a mighty oak…a forest of congregations which provides nourishment for hundreds of thousands of Jews.” He said the Synagogue has proved “a solid habitation of unrivaled strength,” adding: “Never has one synagogal institution achieved so much for so many…There must be no greater tribute to the vision of the founders of the United Synagogue than to see it still intact through history’s most turbulent century.” Dr. Jakobovits also read a prayer on behalf of Soviet Jewry.
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