Rep Council president Michael Westerman began the trip down memory lane by recalling the dozens of rabbinical figures, business owners, lord mayors and sporting and cultural icons the community had nurtured.
They ranged from Louis Harris, who played rugby league for England in Australia in the 1920s, to politician Sir Leo Schultz and actress Maureen Lipman. There were also the unsung heroes who had taken on roles in industry and education.
He concluded "that the Hull community has punched, and continues to punch, well above its weight". This was reflected by the attendance of the city's Lord Mayor and Hull MPs Alan Johnson, the former Home Secretary, and Diana Johnson, until this week a member of the shadow cabinet.
Rosie Millard - the former BBC arts correspondent who chairs Hull's City of Culture team - had a front-row seat, as did East Yorkshire's Lord Lieutenant, who represented the Queen. Bishop of Hull the Rt Rev Alison White rearranged church commitments to join the celebration.
For 60 years after Isaac Levy's arrival in 1766, Hull was the centre of Yorkshire Jewish life. But a city that once boasted dozens of Jewish hairdressers, tailors, bookies and a kosher café has witnessed a decline in numbers over the past two decades as younger generations left.
Linda Mickler upped sticks to Newcastle when she married in the 1960s. "When I was growing up, there were more than 100 children in the cheder," she said. "But people moved away. The same is happening now in Newcastle. My son is in Israel and my daughter lives in Edgware."
It had been "uplifting" to revisit the city her father, Benno Eisner, had come to after fleeing Vienna on the Kindertransport. But there was a palpable sense of despondency at the falling numbers. "When children go to university they don't come back. They go to communities that are bigger."
Hull Hebrew Congregation's Rabbi Naftoli Lifschitz - who led the religious element of the service alongside chazan Rafi Muller and a boys' choir - said Hull Jews had given back to the city "in every single manner".
Max Gold - rep council vice-president and a fourth generation member of a Hull Jewish family - closed the service with an emotional address.
"The first people I should thank," he said, "are the brave men and women who came to Hull a quarter of a millennium ago. They went out into the unknown, a world that was strange to them, and they found kindness and tolerance. When you see what has happened in other parts of the world, we should never forget the welcome that our ancestors received in Hull."
The former Hull KR rugby league club chairman added that the city's role in the Kindertransport should be acknowledged. "Hundreds of thousands of Jews travelled through Hull on the way to America and South Africa, escaping to freedom."
Efforts made by non-Jewish groups to mark the 250th anniversary were also recognised. A series of educational conferences have formed part of the celebrations and a one-day seminar last month had to be moved to a larger venue after dozens applied to take part.
David Lewis, who runs the Hull Jewish Archive, expressed astonishment at the level of interest.
"I had to tell people we were full up," he said. "Most of the attendees came from out of town. They wanted to come back and remember their time in Hull."
University of Hull historian Nick Evans, who has researched the city's role as a port, helped to organise the seminar.
He said the anniversary events had "really showcased to Jews and non-Jews in Hull and further afield the importance of Hull Jewry.
"That so many have attended shows the pride we all have in being one of the nation's oldest and continual Jewish communities."
Dr Evans said Dr Lewis's work had "ensured that generations in the future can see for themselves the rich mosaic" of Hull Jewry.
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis is due to speak at a lunch next March which will bring down the curtain on the 250th programme.
