Sometimes known as the Old Hebrew Congregation, this was the synagogue with the oldest provenance in Leeds. The first minyan in the town had probably been meeting for at least ten years when there were a large enough community to open a proper synagogue in 1846. This was a converted house in Back Rockingham Street on the site of what is now the Merrion Centre. It is clearly marked in the first Ordnance Survey Map of Leeds surveyed in 1847. The house was acquired through the good offices of Gabriel Davis, the synagogue's first president and the fledgling community's first leader. He was also instrumental in obtaining, from the Earl of Cardigan in 1837, the land in Gelderd Road, Gildersome, for the first Jewish cemetery which opened in 1840. He died in October 1851 and his headstone, though very worn, can just be identified, at the time of writing, by what survives of the inscription. The first minister of the synagogue was Rev. David Kaufman who, in 1849, left for a similar position in Portsea, though he later came back to Leeds. The second minister was Rev. Ephraim Cohen who served for 11 years before moving on to Hull. According to his memoirs, when he came to Leeds in 1847 as a young man of 19, the community was so tiny that it took him three weeks before he met another Jew. The first Jewish marriage, in 1842, was held in a private house under the auspices of the synagogue, the first bride appropriately being a daughter of the President and marriage secretary Gabriel Davis.
In March 1851, at the time of conducting the national census, a religious census of the country was also taken. This showed that the synagogue had 18 seatholders with an average attendance of 35 at Sabbath morning services. There were also 16 men present at the afternoon service on that census Sabbath.
The size of the membership gradually increased so that by 1860 it was obvious that a larger building was required. The congregation felt confident enough to commission a new building from the architects Perkins and Backhouse, and the new purpose-built synagogue, in Belgrave Street, was formally opened in August 1861. Reverend Albu was then the minister, a post he had only recently assumed at a salary of 80 per year. In 1991, Leeds Civic Trust placed a plaque on the office building which now occupies the site to commemorate the synagogue.
Further additions to the building were made and in 1877/1878 a completely new edifice was erected on the site. A letter writer to the Jewish Chronicle, with a claim later repeated by Louis Saipe, said that the Ark was positioned on the north wall instead of the east wall when it was first opened for worship on the High Festivals - presumably causing much embarrassment to the assembled congregation. He blamed the non-Jewish architect. The charge was later completely denied by an official of the synagogue, and its minute book suggests that the mistake was noticed in time to be partly rectified at the planning stage. It was at this time also that the Jewish Board of Guardians (modelled on, and named after, the Leeds Board of Guardians of the Poor) was founded with its office adjoining the synagogue premises and its honorary officers made up of the members of the synagogue. Paul Hirsch, the president of the congregation at the time, became the president of the Board and was to remain so until his death in 1908. (He also became the first Jewish J.P. in Leeds in 1900.) According to Louis Saipe "...these leaders may have been a little pompous but they never shirked their duty to the whole community."
In 1882 the synagogue was able to arrange to have a 'magnificent' mikvah (ritual bath) on the Cookridge Street premises of the Oriental and General Bath Co. Meanwhile the cemetery in Gelderd Road, although extended, was quickly filling up and a search for land was made. A suitable plot was considered at Lawnswood but, just before buying it, some cheaper land actually adjoining the existing Gelderd Road cemetery became available and this was purchased for 300.
In 1886, the synagogue appointed a new minister, Rev. Moses Abrahams, at a salary of 150 per annum. He was required to preach once a month and was also to visit Bradford once a month. He was a dedicated spiritual leader who tried to involve himself in most communal organisations, like the Hebrew School on the premises of the Leylands Council School in Gower Street of which he became the Principal. He was English born and not a Yiddish speaker, which made him somewhat out of touch with the majority of the community. Nevertheless, he served the congregation and the community with distinction until his death in 1919, and it was under his leadership that a Representative Council was first established in Leeds. On his death he left his library of books to the community. This eventually formed the core of the Rabbi Moses Abrahams Library of the Joseph Porton Collection, currently housed in the Reference Library in Calverley Street, but previously in Sheepscar Library (where a plaque to commemorate it is still in place in what is now the repository of the West Yorkshire Archive Service).
The minister appointed after Rabbi Abraham's demise was Rev. Dr. J. Abelson, who appears to have been cast much in the same mould as his predecessor. He served the synagogue until his retirement in 1939. Included in the chazzanim employed by the synagogue were Rev. Forlezer, Rev. Professor Darewski, and Revs. Diamond and Davidson. The latter was appointed second reader and shochet and baal koreh in 1881 for 30/- per week. In 1891 it was reported that his son had been called up to read the haftorah at the tender age of six !. Rev. Diamond, who died in 1939, served the congregation for nearly 42 years and a son of his, A .S. Diamond, became Master of the Rolls. His wife, Mrs. Henrietta Diamond, established the Leeds Ladies Zionist Association, the first of its kind in the country and the forerunner of WIZO.
At least one small chevra (Copenhagen Street in 1876) was incorporated over the years, and mention was made from time to time in the synagogue minute books of others, including one called Neir Tamid. One continual matter of concern expressed in all the records was the poor attendance at the synagogue services, in spite of the fact that it was considered (and not only by its own members) to be the 'cathedral synagogue' in Leeds. In 1881, the shul was described as being empty on Sabbaths, whilst in 1928 the attendance was described as 'deplorable', and later as 'lamentable'. Even as early as 1936 the future of the synagogue was feared to be in jeopardy - but it was not to close for almost another 50 years.
The synagogue continued to function, though Sabbath attendance remained low. (Later, in 1954, it was described as 'a sorry state of affairs'.) This was not too surprising as increasingly the surrounding district became devoid of Jews, and the clergy had long distances to walk from their homes in Chapeltown and even further afield. In 1939, the position of First Reader was offered to Rabbi Joseph Apfel, a refugee from Berlin. Unable to obtain a post as a rabbi, he was at least able to make use of his sweet voice as chazzan. He served UHC for nearly 40 years until his retirement in 1978. In 1947 his rabbinic qualifications and expertise were at last recognised when he was appointed to the Leeds Beth Din, and in 1968 he became Av Beth Din (Senior Judge), a position he held with distinction until his death in 1996.
When the negotiations for amalgamation with Beth Hamedrash Hagadol took place in the 1960's it was probably the views of the members of the Great Synagogue that prevented it happening. They were very proud of the traditions built up over the years in the synagogue and were very loath to see its demise. There was also the argument that it was the only synagogue near the centre of the city and as such served a function no other synagogue could. Unfortunately, the facts of a dwindling membership and attendance, together with a rapidly decaying building could not be ignored for very much longer, and the building was closed in 1983.
Courtesy: Murray Freedman, UHC 150th Anniversary Brochure