We are part of something when we become members of the BHRS.
A living community of course, but also something more. We hold a precious legacy which was the founding purpose of our synagogue. Just because that has disappeared from our collective narrative until recently does not mean it has lost its potency, importance or relevance – the opposite is perhaps true. Let’s now explore and rediscover it together. That knowledge and understanding of the legacy has been dormant and now is exactly the time for it to emerge, and for us all to play a part in ensuring it enriches our future.
Occasionally through spirit, art and intent, the material world can transcend matter in to something more important. We believe this is the case with the BHRS. Nothing will ever matter more than our building providing sanctuary for our precious Torah scrolls and our collective worship, but our founders did envision that the bricks and mortar would do more. Firstly, the building was a true community endeavour, built for the people by the people of Jewish faith living locally. But they did not build simply to gather and pray together. They built, in our founder Rabbi’s own words, to be: “…a bridge to link the past of our people and our religion with the present and future of our faith…” Lest we forget, this synagogue is dedicated to the glory of God and to the memory of the six million jews who perished in nazi concentration camps. In honour of the dead, an inspiration to the living.”
So how should we – those who by living and being members here inherit this legacy – how should we interpret and carry on this mission in our own time? We believe we should start by knowing our history and acknowledging what we hold in our hands, and at this crossroads in our community’s history – in terms of our synagogue building, but also for our global community of Jewry in the world today, and at the point in our time when our time is limited to walk alongside those who survived the holocaust and learn their lessons first hand – do we not owe it to ourselves that our vision for our own future as a community should be as bold and visionary as our founders?
They conceived of a building where light pierces every room. Where there is great attention to and care for the detail in every corner, banister and panel if one looks for it. They granted us space to grow and to adapt. They commissioned a great artwork to occupy our most sacred space which has been recognised as one of the great religious works in stained glass of the 20th Century – and itself recorded as a memorial at the Imperial War Museum.
So YES! we welcome the listing of our building by English Heritage. We welcome the acknowledgement that the founding vision and the dedication of our synagogue was uniquely conceived – certainly locally, nationally and perhaps internationally. We welcome it because these bricks and mortar are greater than their sum in building material. It meant something to build this community in the decades following the holocaust, and to build for it a home for memory and remembrance, but also as a place to grow and to thrive, to learn and to teach. To inspire the living. Will we live up to this vision and seek to exceed it in our own time?
It is right that this vision should be difficult to destroy, and it is right that we should deeply question how we adapt and change what we have been passed to us by our predecessors. The listing helps ensure that.
That is not to say change is not required or shouldn’t be embraced, but our starting point must be to treasure and honour what we have and to build from there. We also celebrate that the listing brings with it opportunities. Some grants and foundations require listed status for access to their support. English Heritage itself has funds available to help secure buildings such as our own. But greatest of all surely is the opportunity for our story to be told far and wide and to ‘inspire the living’ as our founders implored us. So that we dare ask how we might best redouble our efforts in being ‘a bridge to link the past of our people and our religion with the present and future of our faith’.
Surely implicit here is a need to reach beyond our own community to inspire as we step confidently forward pass this current crossroads. Our cheder is flourishing, despite the schooling taking place in outdated and outgrown classrooms. We have more school visits than our volunteers can cater for. We have no sustainable revenue generating activities, and plenty of space. Surely now is the time for us to build on the extraordinary foundations we have been given and dedicate the future of our community to realising in a modern context the legacy that our founders bequeathed us?
At the heart of our synagogue we have an artwork of undeniably international importance. Itself conceived for illumination – practically and metaphysically – and today a great aid for learning about the Jewish world: our stories, festivals and lore. Limited for decades to being seen only by schoolchildren and our own congregation. Perhaps the listing – the greatest acknowledgement of the importance of this heritage in our history – can be the platform, the basis on which we reach out anew to tell our story and fulfilling our purpose.
Let’s imagine a few years in the future. The building looks the same from the outside, except there are smart in-keeping period metal fencing at street level replacing the fallen wooden posts we currently have. There are solar panels hidden on one of the flat open roof sections and a heat pump system cleverly hidden at the lower ground level. This technology has cut the electricity bills by 40% and ensures comfortable temperatures year-round. Our middle eastern style window screens are renewed and repaired across the entire building and the windows they screen have been entirely replaced, still wooden framed and copies of the originals, but triple glazed and thus bringing the greatest heat insulation possible.
The synagogue is accessible by wheelchair ramp which looks like it has always been there as part of the entrance landscaping. The roof of the synagogue is renewed, with a new zinc cladding which accentuates the three-arch design and in materials which will ensure its fidelity for at least another 60 years and beyond.
The entrance corridor ceiling is pierced by new sky lights bringing new natural light in to the space illuminating the founding stone. On the right hand side where once there were windows to the Ajex Hall there are large windows and doors through to flexible community space and state of the art cheder classrooms built on a new floor on top of what was the Ajex Hall. On the lower floor, now secured as a separate area of the building with its own entrance for security and convenience, long-lease commercial tenants contribute a significant amount to the shul’s annual revenue.
At the entrance, now the only entrance to the building, subtle new security features on the outside include recording and surveillance equipment linked to the new security hub located just inside the entrance doors. Within the entrance hall new facilities include scanning equipment for non-member visitors.
On the outside of the building, in front of the Petts windows, a self cleaning, tilted glass protection screen offers complete security to the windows in perpetuity from any street-born projectile, whilst having no impact on the view of the windows internally and minimal impact on the listed façade of the building.
The lighting throughout the entrance corridors and staircase has been renewed, along with a new choice of fabrics and floor coverings, making the area full of light and accentuating the architectural detailing as the original design intended, but which was lost to memory as the buildings original features such as recessed lighting fell into disrepair and were forgotten.
The balcony of the worship hall, derelict and unused for many years has been levelled off and is now the Rosenblum Room, with a 40ft plate glass screen sealing it from the worship hall but providing a spectacular view directly facing the full length of the Petts windows. The room doubles as a screening space to teach about our local stories of the holocaust, but also national and international Jewish history and culture. It is open at specific times of the week for visitors and is also a bookable events space bringing income to the shul. The Rosenblum room is also accessible by lift with the lift access having been extended to this further floor. This space is used by hundreds of Schools across Sussex and beyond at the core of their holocaust education programs involving dedicated site visits and use of the multimedia Rosenblum Room space funded by the Rothschild Foundation in collaboration with Sussex University and the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust. It also houses a regional digital archive and is one of the Nation’s regional Holocaust Memorial Centres.
The right hand side of the entrance hall now sees an office for our Rabbi, for our synagogue administrators and a large and fully equipped staff room for our cheder staff and those staff who look after our visiting schools and thriving community and non-Jewish education program and site visitors. A small but well-equipped kitchen has also been installed for regular services, community events and festivals with easy access to the new educational facilities and staff.
Our worship hall is preserved as it was conceived in 1967, even preserving the origjnal recycled pews which have been entirely refurbished and restored by a skilled woodworker and look pristine. A new floor surface is bright and clean. The Bimah has received a gentle access ramp using in keeping materials which blends the addition seamlessly to the ordinal platform thus making every aspect of the shul accessible to the physically impaired and finally making an Aliyah possible for everyone. There is not a cobweb in site and the original strip lighting for the room and for the wall recesses has been replaced sensitively and under conservation architect supervision with LED lighting to enhance the space with ultra-low energy usage and long life meaning the ark doors are always resplendent and prayer books are easily readable even in the darker winter months. New, discreet air heating and cooling systems have been installed to keep a comfortable temperature year-round. The panelling has been preserved and secured so that no gaps are visible.
The rear of the hall has been remodelled using the original panelling material and can now expand and contract making the main hall more intimate and responsive to the size of congregation from evening services through to high holidays. The rear of the hall can easily be reconfigured now – including the once separate side teaching rooms, to let in significant amounts of light and host post service kaddish and bar and bat mitzvah and other community celebrations. This space can also be hired, exclusively for the community members, for celebrations and events.
Next door to the synagogue, where once there was just a car park stands Rosenblum House. The land on which it stands is still owned freehold by the synagogue, as originally sold to the community at a charitable rate in the 1960’s, and a car park for the use of the shul and Ajex tenants is still located in the lower basement, accessible from the right hand side of the building. On the street level ground floor is the entrance hall, lifts, stairs and behind this some limited owner-residents’ parking. Apartments are found on the 1st, 2nd and third floors with two penthouses on the roof space. The building is considered locally as a successful and welcome addition to the street, with architectural features that reference the synagogue next door, including brick colour and use of the ‘mashrabia’ window screen style on the balcony walls visible from the street and at the entrance. The capital released from this small development made a significant contribution to the full refurbishment costs of the original synagogue building, and the creation of the Ajex centre, the separate commercial space on the basement floor on the East side of the synagogue building.
Within the community itself, since our new shul was re-dedicated in 2030 on the basis of the founding vision, and building off of the successful celebrations and fundraising from our 60th birthday celebrations in 2027, we have seen a very significant rise in new membership applications. What we did not expect was new families moving to Hove citing our rededicated shul and our cheder facilities as being a significant factor in their choice to relocate out of the capital.
To be a member of our community is to know our history and that runs now as a golden thread throughout our annual program of events, from shabbat weekly announcements to our high holidays program and everything in between. All new joiners receive an information pack and copy of our constitution which has enshrined our commitment to our program at its heart.
As part of the national holocaust memorial centres in the regions, our board is expanded with expert volunteers reflecting our expanded use of the building, with highly effective sub committees ensuring we are a national beacon of good charity governance in terms of community engagement and transparency.
