Blackpool Reform Jewish Congregation

{{Short description|Reform Judaism congregation in Blackpool, Lancashire, England}} {{Use British English|date=September 2019}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} {{Infobox religious building | building_name = Blackpool Reform Jewish Congregation | infobox_width = | image = Blackpool Reform Synagogue 257.jpg | image_upright = 1.4 | caption = The synagogue in 2009 | map_type = United Kingdom Blackpool | map_size = 250 | map_relief = 1 | map_caption = The synagogue in [[Blackpool]] | location = 40 Raikes Parade, [[Blackpool]], [[Lancashire]], [[England]] FY1 4EX | country = United Kingdom | coordinates = {{coord|53.817|-3.044|region:GB_type:landmark|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | religious_affiliation = [[Reform Judaism]] | rite = | region = | district = | municipality = | consecration_year = | status = [[Synagogue]] | functional_status = Active | heritage_designation = | leadership = [[Rabbi]] Norman Zalud | website = {{url|brjc.co.uk}} | architect = | architecture_type = | architecture_style = | general_contractor = | facade_direction = | established = 1947 {{small|(as a congregation)}} | groundbreaking = | year_completed = 1961 | construction_cost = | specifications = | capacity = | length = | width = | width_nave = | height_max = | dome_quantity = | dome_height_outer = | dome_height_inner = | dome_dia_outer = | dome_dia_inner = | materials = | nrhp = | added = | refnum = | designated = }}

The '''Blackpool Reform Jewish Congregation''' is a [[Reform Judaism|Reform]] [[Judaism|Jewish]] congregation and [[synagogue]], located in [[Blackpool]], [[Lancashire]], [[England]], in the United Kingdom.

==History== With a [[synagogue]] located on Raikes Parade, Blackpool Reform Jewish Congregation was founded in 1947 and was originally a member of the [[Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues]]. It is now a constituent synagogue of the [[Movement for Reform Judaism]] with which it has been associated since 1961.<ref name="jewishgen">{{cite web |url=https://www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/Community/bl2/index.htm |title=Blackpool Reform Jewish Congregation |date=15 July 2020 |work=Jewish Communities and Records-UK |publisher=[[JewishGen]] and the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain |access-date=7 May 2024 }}</ref>

It is also a member of the [[Board of Deputies of British Jews]], the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester and Region and the Blackpool Faith Forum.<ref name="brjc-home">{{cite web |url=http://www.brjc.org.uk |title=Welcome to Blackpool Reform Jewish Congregation – Online |publisher=Blackpool Reform Jewish Congregation |access-date=21 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725192717/http://www.brjc.org.uk/ |archive-date=25 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In October 2005 [[Michael Howard]] visited the synagogue on the day he gave his final speech as [[Leader of the Conservative Party (UK)|leader]] of the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] at its annual Party Conference in Blackpool. He was called up to the [[Torah]] during a first day [[Rosh Hashanah]] service at the synagogue.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/national/?content_id=1746 |title=Howard Goes From Tory To Torah |last=Cohen |first=Justin |date=14 October 2005 |publisher=TotallyJewish.com |access-date=21 November 2009}}</ref>

The synagogue publishes a quarterly magazine, ''Migdal''.

==Rabbi== Rabbi Norman Zalud is the community's rabbi. He also serves the community of Manchester's [[Sha'arei Shalom]] synagogue and, until 2007, was rabbi of the [[Liverpool Reform Synagogue]].

He has worked with the Blackpool Reform community for the last 40 years. He teaches special needs children at Delemere Forest School, is prison chaplain for all faiths in eleven prisons in the north west of England and Jewish chaplain to Southport and District Hospital.

Rabbi Zalud trained as a cantor at [[Guildhall School of Music]] and then at [[Jews' College]], where he received a minister's qualification before going to [[Leo Baeck College]]. He received [[semikhah]] in 1993.

== See also == {{stack|{{portal|England|Judaism}}}} * [[History of the Jews in England]] * [[List of Jewish communities in the United Kingdom]] * [[List of synagogues in the United Kingdom]]

==References== {{reflist|2}}

==External links== * {{official website|https://www.brjc.co.uk/}} *[http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LAN/Blackpool/RaikesParadeReformJewish.shtml Blackpool Reform Jewish Congregation] at [[GENUKI]]

[[Category:1947 establishments in England]] [[Category:20th-century synagogues in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Jewish organizations established in 1947]] [[Category:Reform synagogues in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Religious buildings and structures in Lancashire]] [[Category:Synagogues completed in 1961]] [[Category:Synagogues in Blackpool]]