Radlett Reform and The Liberal Synagogue Elstree eye ‘merger of equals’

Two Hertfordshire synagogues will hold votes later this month on whether to merge and become a single Progressive Judaism community, with the intention of maintaining two separate locations with no redundancies if the proposal is successful. 

Radlett Reform Synagogue and The Liberal Synagogue Elstree, chaired by Spencer Grant and Leigh Renak respectively, are three miles apart and collectively welcome families from Bushey, Elstree, Borehamwood, Shenley, Radlett, Watford, St Albans and further afield into Hertfordshire.

Informal conversations about joining started over a cup of tea last year and Grant said that “we’ve been collaborating really successfully for the past nine ten months. We work really well together and it’s been an absolute pleasure. The process itself has engaged more members.”

Since then, a steering group and five separate working parties have developed both the big vision for what such a merger would bring, and a lot of the details of how it would work.

Grant and Renak told Jewish News that the merger aims to create a community centre for progressive Judaism, serving the combined 1,100 families, enhancing community engagement and resources.

Renak says: “It’s not a rationalisation; there are no redundancies,” adding that “the two synagogues are not too disparate in terms of fee structures”, and that “there is no immediate plan to sell either of the buildings. For the moment, we will be operating as one out of two buildings, while we explore a longer term solution that will meet our future needs as a community centre.”

It’s been “agreed from the outset that this is a merger of equals.”

The senior rabbinical teams comprise Paul Freedman, David Yehuda-Stern and Elisheva Salamo at Radlett, and Gershon Silins and Anna Wolfson at TLSE.  When it comes to practicalities, “it’s not about merging two services. It’s about still offering a liberal service and a reform service in one or two buildings with a choice to go to either.”

Spencer Grant notes: “It’s about looking at how you create something that means people have a place that fits in with the way Judaism fits in with their lives”, whilst Renak adds: “I’m told that this merger is causing an awful lot of interest and excitement amongst other communities.”

A vote on the move is scheduled for 29 January, where each community will have a separate EGM (Extraordinary General Meeting) and put the resolution to their respective memberships giving permission for the trustees to merge.

Grant hopes that “we have a fantastically successful community and that people will come to us and say ‘how did you do it?’ Because that means that we’ve done it right.”