In its fifty years of existence, Westminster Synagogue has been served by only three Senior Rabbis. Currently, the rabbis of the community are Rabbi Thomas Salamon, who joined as Senior Rabbi in 1997, and Rabbi Rebecca Qassim Birk who has special responsibility for education, who joined in 2006.
Rabbi Thomas Salamon was born in Czechoslovakia in 1948. At the age of 18 he enrolled in Budapest’s Rabbinical Seminary (the oldest surviving Rabbinical College in Europe), where he studied for two years. Following the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Army in 1968, he found a new home in the UK, where he completed his Rabbinic Studies at the Leo Baeck College. On receiving smichah in 1972, he gained his practical rabbinic knowledge as Associate Rabbi at West London Synagogue, where he had the privilege of working with Rabbi Hugo Gryn for three years. From 1975-1980, he worked as Executive Director of Norwood Child Care. In 1980 he went back to his studies and qualified as a Solicitor, working full-time with several London law firms. During this time, he worked on a part-time basis with a number of Liberal and Reform communities both in this country and abroad. In 1997, he came back to full-time rabbinic work, when he joined the Westminster Synagogue, inspired by both of its predecessors, the late Rabbis Harold Reinhart and Albert Friedlander. Rabbi Salamon is currently working on a PhD at the Jewish University in Budapest. He was formerly Chairman of the Liberal Judaism’s Rabbinic Board (Beth Din). He celebrated his 10th Anniversary with the Community in 2007.
Rabbi Rebecca Qassim Birk is a graduate of Leo Baeck College and was ordained in 2001. Her route to the rabbinate took her via Bristol University with a BA in Theology, Harvard Divinity School for a Masters in Theological Studies and a stint with Radio 4 Religious Broadcasting where her moral compass got finely tuned while she worked on the Moral Maze. She has come to our community from Woodford Liberal Synagogue, where she served for 4 1/2 years as rabbi of the community. Rebecca also serves on a part time basis as rabbi of the Reform Community of Stockholm's Great Synagogue. She is Jewish Chaplain to Holloway Prison. Rebecca is married to Omar Qassim, they have three children, Ruben, Dora and Rafael.
Our Former Rabbis
Harold Frederic Reinhart (1891-1969)
Born in Portland, Oregon, Harold Reinhart was invited in 1928 to come to London as Senior Minister of the West London Synagogue of British Jews. He was to remain in office for nearly thirty years, restoring to the congregation a dignity and integrity that many thought were lacking. Throughout the war he worked unstintingly not only for the refugees reaching safety in Britain from Nazi occupied Europe, but especially for the German Rabbis who had lost their homes and communities, finding them situations in the rapidly-growing Reform movement establishing itself in this county. In 1957 he and his wife Flora left West London, together with several members and their families, to found the New London Jewish Congregation (now Westminster Synagogue). Harold Reinhart became the head of an enthusiastic, devoted community, anxious to achieve (as shown in its 'Statement of Principles and Policy') the best of traditional, yet modern, ideas of a Jewish way of life. With Flora at his side, and supported by a hard-working band of followers, he was responsible for settling his congregation into Kent House, with services on Shabbat and the Festivals, a wide programme of events, Hebrew classes for the children and activities for young people. Reinhart, while keeping the synagogue free from commitment to any umbrella organisations, played an important part in the Jewish life of London and the wider community. He was instrumental in bringing the Czech Scrolls to the sanctuary of Kent House and in overseeing their onward journey to homes across the world. Harold Reinhart died in 1969, much beloved of his own congregation and respected by Jews and non-Jews wherever he was encountered. His legacy remains in the thriving synagogue he left behind.
Albert Hoschander Friedlander (1927-2004)
Aged 11, Albert Friedlander escaped from Berlin with his family, reaching Cuba before arriving in America. where he studied for the rabbinate at the Hebrew Union College. Coming to England he led the Wembley Liberal Synagogue and became Dean of the Leo Baeck College. He and his wife Evelyn, came to Westminster Synagogue after the death of its first minister, Harold Reinhart. Friedlander wrote several books, perhaps the most important being his biography of the Reform leader and Holocaust survivor, Leo Baeck. He also worked hard for inter-religious understanding for which he received the OBE in 2001. He was the first Reform Jew to be made President of the Council of Christian and Jews, and was almost as well known, through his broadcasts and interviews, to non-Jews as to Jews. His sense of humour and scholarship made him an approachable as well as a much respected minister and his work for women's achievement in Jewish leadership and for those wishing to become Jewish brought him great appreciation. He retired as Minister of Westminster Synagogue in 1997, continuing as Rabbi Emeritus until his death. A fine meeting room at Kent House has been named after him, and he will always be remembered there and in the wider world with love and affection.
For more information about our rabbis, education and professional teams, and the members of the Council and Executive Committee, see the Members' Section of the website.
