Louis Jacobs was a leading writer, Jewish theologian, and rabbi of the New London Synagogue in the United Kingdom. He was also the focus in the early 1960s of what became known as the "Jacobs Affair" in the British Jewish community.
Reform Judaism is one of the two World Union for Progressive Judaism–affiliated denominations in the United Kingdom. Reform is relatively traditional in comparison with its smaller counterpart, Liberal Judaism, though it does not regard Jewish law as binding. As of 2010, it was the second-largest Jewish religious group in the United Kingdom, with 19.4% of synagogue-member households. On 17 April 2023, Reform Judaism and Liberal Judaism announced their intention to merge as one single unified progressive Jewish movement. The new movement, which may be called Progressive Judaism, will represent about 30% of British Jewry who are affiliated to synagogues.
The World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ) is the international umbrella organization for the various branches of Reform, Liberal and Progressive Judaism, as well as the separate Reconstructionist Judaism. The WUPJ is based in 40 countries with 1,275 affiliated synagogues, of which 1,170 are Reform, Progressive, or Liberal and 105 Reconstructionist. It claims to represent a total of some 1.8 million people, both registered constituents and non-member identifiers. The WUPJ states that it aims to create common ground between its constituents and to promote Progressive Judaism in places where individuals and groups are seeking authentic, yet modern ways of expressing themselves as Jews. It seeks to preserve Jewish integrity wherever Jews live, to encourage integration without assimilation, to deal with modernity while preserving the Jewish experience, and to strive for equal rights and social justice.
Leo Baeck College is a privately funded rabbinical seminary and centre for the training of teachers in Jewish education. Based now at the Sternberg Centre, East End Road, Finchley, in the London Borough of Barnet, it was founded by Werner van der Zyl in 1956 and is sponsored by The Movement for Reform Judaism, Liberal Judaism and the United Jewish Israel Appeal. It is named after the inspirational 20th-century German Liberal rabbi Leo Baeck.
Jacqueline Hazel "Jackie" Tabick is a British Reform rabbi. She became Britain's first female rabbi in 1975. She is convenor of the Movement for Reform Judaism's Beit Din, the first woman in the role, and until its closure in 2022 was also Rabbi of West Central Liberal Synagogue in Bloomsbury, central London.
Albert Hoschander Friedlander OBE was a rabbi and teacher.
Rabbi Professor Anthony Michael "Tony" Bayfield is a Reform rabbi and former President of the Movement for Reform Judaism, the second largest organisation of synagogues in Britain.
North Western Reform Synagogue is a Reform synagogue at Temple Fortune in north-west London. The synagogue was built in Alyth Gardens in 1936, on land carved out from the West London Synagogue’s cemetery in Hoop Lane. Alyth is one of the largest Reform synagogues in the United Kingdom. It has around 2500 adult and 1000 child members. In 2021 its members approved a £6 million upgrade to the synagogue building.
Laura Naomi Janner-Klausner is a British rabbi and an inclusion and development coach who served as the inaugural Senior Rabbi to Reform Judaism from 2011 until 2020. Janner-Klausner grew up in London before studying theology at the University of Cambridge and moving to Israel in 1985, living in Jerusalem for 15 years. She returned to Britain in 1999 and was ordained at Leo Baeck College, serving as rabbi at Alyth Synagogue until 2011. She has been serving as Rabbi at Bromley Reform Synagogue in south-east London since April 2022.
Werner van der Zyl was a rabbi in Berlin and in London, where he came in 1939 as a refugee rabbi from Germany. He was the prime mover and first director of studies of the Jewish Theological College of London. The college was inaugurated in 1956 and was renamed Leo Baeck College shortly afterwards at his suggestion.
The Westminster Synagogue is a non-affiliated Jewish Reform synagogue and congregation near Hyde Park, London. It is located in Kent House, a restored Victorian town house in Knightsbridge. The building, which dates from the late 1800s, also houses the Czech Memorial Scrolls Centre.
Arthur Löwenstamm was a Jewish theologian, writer and rabbi in Berlin and in London, where he came in 1939 as a refugee from Nazi Germany.
Sybil Ann Sheridan is a writer and British Reform rabbi. She was chair of the Assembly of Reform Rabbis UK at the Movement for Reform Judaism from 2013 to 2015 and was Rabbi at Wimbledon and District Synagogue in south west London. As of 2020 she is part-time rabbi at Newcastle Reform Synagogue.
Barbara Marcy Borts is an American-born Movement for Reform Judaism rabbi. She was one of the first women in Europe to be ordained as a rabbi and the first woman to have her own pulpit in a UK Reform Judaism synagogue.
The Liberal Jewish Cemetery, Willesden, is a cemetery for Jews in Pound Lane, Willesden, in the London Borough of Brent. It is adjacent to Willesden United Synagogue Cemetery. Established in 1911 by the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, it opened in 1914 and was originally known as the Liberal Jewish and Belsize Square Cemetery. Several notable British Jews, including members of the Sassoon family, are buried at the cemetery, which also has a Grade II listed war memorial.
Rabbi Charles Berg, born Karl Rauchtenberg, was the first non-Orthodox rabbi to be ordained in England. He came to the United Kingdom in 1939 as a refugee from Nazi Germany, having been interned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp following Kristallnacht.
Rabbi Curtis E Cassell, born Kurt Kassell, was a rabbi in Germany, the United Kingdom and Rhodesia. He came to the United Kingdom in 1939 as a refugee from Nazi Germany and became a British citizen in 1946.
Harold Frederic Reinhart, was an American-born rabbi who was senior minister at West London Synagogue and the founding rabbi of Westminster Synagogue.
Miriam Berger is a British Reform rabbi, and Senior Rabbi of Finchley Reform Synagogue in London.
