New chapter as Leo Baeck College opens the Lily Montagu reading room

Following 18 months of planning, construction and transportation, Leo Baeck College in Finchley celebrated the opening of its newly redeveloped library with a special event.

A leading centre for Progressive Jewish learning, the contents of its extraordinary literary collection, described as one of the great hidden treasures of Anglo-Jewry, go back more than 500 years.

The tomes span every aspect of Jewish life, thought and culture, from prayer books that survived the trenches to 21st century feminist Talmud commentary.

In 2024 the College received a gift from an anonymous donor to redevelop the old synagogue hall at the Sternberg Centre. Combined with grants from Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe and NLPS Trust for Progressive Judaism, the unused space was transformed into the new, state-of-the-art Lily Montagu reading room, named in honour of the social worker, religious organiser and first woman to play a major role in the British Progressive Jewish movement.

The ceremony welcomed 120 community members alongside Mayor of Barnet, Rabbi Danny Rich, Mayoress Laura Lassman and deputy head of culture at the German Embassy, Max Breitling.

The college’s principal, Rabbi Professor Deborah Kahn-Harris said: “I’ve had the privilege of serving our community for almost 15 years. It has been my most fervent desire for at least 14 and a half of those years to convert this space into a new bit of our Library. I want to offer my deepest gratitude to our donor, who gave me, and the people who work here, and the people who support this institution and our students and our faculty the opportunity to make this vision a reality.”

Describing the breadth of texts in the reading room, senior librarian Cassy Sachar referenced “rabbinic Bibles censored in 16th century Italy, prayer books that survived the trenches, dictionaries contactless-ly collected during COVID. They tell tales of Jewish life our readers can reach out and touch. Our library preserves the material culture of European Jewry and makes it accessible and meaningful.”

Looking ahead, Sachar said: “Wonderful things happen in the Leo Baeck College Library” and expressed her hopes for “our extraordinary collections to
inform, inspire and support all our seekers and researchers. Enabling all our readers to be excited, surprised and challenged by the texts, narratives and people they meet in the library. Enabling casual visitors and daily readers to take their library learning back into their lives, their Jewish practice and their communities.”

She urged members of the Jewish community and beyond to “join us with no agenda but serendipity and discovery. Join us, this space is for you – our students, our faculty, our alumni, our progressive congregations, our London congregations, our British congregations, our friends from across the Jewish world, our friends of all faiths and none. It is with an enormously full heart that I invite you to be part of our library community.”

Since its founding in 1956 by Rabbi Dr Werner van Der Zyl, a refugee from Nazi Germany, LBC has been at the forefront of Progressive Jewish learning. Over the decades, it has ordained more than 350 educators and 219 rabbis – more than 70 of whom are women – serving in 20 countries worldwide.