A prayer hall has been opened in Hull by Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis in memory of a community leader.

The ohel at the city’s Marfleet Cemetery was dedicated to Max Gold on the first yahrzeit of his death.

Mr Gold was a Hull Hebrew Congregation president and a prominent local solicitor.

Rabbi Mirvis chatted to members of Mr Gold’s family and praised the efforts of Hull’s chevrah kedishah volunteers.

The ohel was built thanks to a donation from Lady (Beryl) Steinberg, who grew up in the community and whose late husband Lord Steinberg was one of British Jewry’s leading philanthropists. 

Rabbi Mirvis later visited the city’s Pryme Street shul, addressing around 100 members.

He said he wanted synagogues to be community hubs where Jews could feel at home.

He spent an hour meeting guests ranging in age from the late 90s to four-month-old Joshua Goldman. 

Hull Hebrew Congregation president Howard Levy thanked Rabbi Mirvis for visiting the community for the second time in four years.

He had also been due to speak at a gala lunch 14 months ago marking the 250th anniversary of Jewish settlement in East Yorkshire but could not attend because of ill health.