Kingston Synagogue will not be renewing the contract of minister Rabbi Michael Rosenfeld and is recommending Northwood Synagogue youth minister Rabbi Samuel Landau as his successor. Members will be asked to support the appointment at an EGM on Wednesday.

In a letter to members, Kingston chair Dr Martin Wolfson described Rabbi Landau and his wife Shana as “a very special couple whom we hope and expect will help Kingston Synagogue become as exciting and dynamic as it has been in the past”.

The normal selection procedure had been circumvented partly because of the prolonged negotiations over Rabbi Rosenfeld’s departure and also because of the “unsolicited but not unwelcome” emergence through informal contacts of a candidate who “ticked all the most important boxes”.

Although the board had considered seeking someone older, the feeling was that “we needed a young dynamic minister for the community to have the chance of a future. We have drifted recently.”
Rabbi Rosenfeld, who has been with the congregation for five years, will take up a chaplaincy role with the Oxford and Oxford Brookes universities on August 1.