Birmingham Central Synagogue hosted Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis in its new £1 million shul and community centre on his first regional Shabbat visit since taking office.
He told the 200-strong congregation that it had taken “courage” for the Central to embark on the building project. A post-service lunch marked the formal opening of the Locker Suite.
Addressing the Chief Rabbi, Central president Geoffrey Clements said: “Today you have witnessed a community at the start of a new journey. Like most smaller provincial Jewish communities, our numbers are nothing like they were 50 years ago. We needed to change. It is difficult to create a ruach, an atmosphere, with 100 people davening on a Shabbat morning in a shul built for 700.”
On Sunday, Rabbi Mirvis unveiled a plaque consecrating the new building and Rabbi Chanan Atlas affixed a mezuzah to the front door. While in Birmingham, the Chief Rabbi also toured the local Jewish care home, Andrew Cohen House, and met students at Birmingham Hillel.
