In the 1820s and 1830s, a small intellectual current arose in English Jewry, influenced by the
Anglican environment which laid great emphasis on the
Bible alone and scorned the Jews for valuing the
Talmud. Represented by such figures as
Isaac D'Israeli, they were sometimes named "neo-
Karaites", though their actual knowledge of Karaism was scant. This group rejected rabbinic authority and espoused a bibliocentric view. Concurrently, wealthy members of the
Sephardi Mocatta and
Ashkenazi Goldsmid families, who were related by marriage, were complaining about lack of decorum and rigid regulations in the
Bevis Marks and
Great Synagogue of London, respectively. The Mocattas were forced to walk miles on the Sabbath as an old communal ordinance banned forming prayer groups in a radius of ten miles from Bevis;
Isaac Goldsmid vied for more clout with the wardens, and repeatedly protested against the protracted blessings for family members during services. They were also inclined to worship together. Eventually, a group of Mocattas, Goldsmids,
Montefiores and other supporters withdrew from their two congregations on 15 April 1840, declaring their intention to found a house of worship for neither Sephardi nor Ashkenazi, but "British Jews". They appointed
David Woolf Marks to lead services in their new
West London Synagogue, dedicated on 27 January 1842. A former
reader in Liverpool, he was deeply influenced by the "neo-Karaite" tendency and refused to
cantillate the Torah on the
second day of festivals, grounded only in rabbinic tradition. His stance suited the secessionists mainly on the practical level; Most never cared much for the bibliocentric issue but were content to abolish the second day. Although the term "Reform" was occasionally conferred on the congregation,
Todd Endelman stressed that they were "unique and owed nothing" to the continental movement.
Jakob Josef Petuchowski emphasised that Marks' philosophy was the polar opposite to that espoused by the German founding fathers of
Reform Judaism. The latter regarded the
Beatified Sages as geniuses and progressives who developed Rabbinic Law further. Marks granted the
Written Torah alone divine status, refused to call himself rabbi but insisted on "reverend", and even translated the
Kaddish into Hebrew, viewing
Aramaic prayer as a later rabbinic corruption. In his new prayerbook and
Passover Haggadah, he excised or reinstated various elements, always contrary to rabbinic tradition. Petitions for the
Return to Zion under the
Messiah and
reinstitution of sacrifices, rejected by
Continental Reform, did not concern the English at all. West London was subject to a harsh denunciation and de facto ex-communication by Chief Rabbi
Solomon Hirschell in 1842. In 1856, tensions in Manchester were increasing, as many in the community sought greater autonomy from the authoritarian new Chief Rabbi
Nathan Marcus Adler and regarded local Rabbi
Solomon Marcus Schiller-Szinessy with disfavour. On 25 March 1858 the dissident
Manchester Congregation of British Jews was dedicated. They adopted Marks' prayerbook but retained the second day of festivals. Their motives were far more political than principally religious. In 1872, a third English synagogue withdrew from Adler's jurisdiction, the
Bradford Jewish Association. Unlike the rest, Bradford was clearly influenced by developments in
Continental Europe: the founders were mostly German Jews, as was their first rabbi, Joseph Strauss. The three breakaway congregations were neither organised together nor had a consistent religious philosophy. Marks' "neo-Karaism", which was never very important to ordinary constituents in West London, virtually died with him. His successor, Rabbi
Morris Joseph, was dismissed by the Orthodox in 1890 for evincing doubt about the prayers concerning the sacrifices but was of little conviction. His moderate style brought a rapprochement with the United Synagogue. At the turn of the century,
Claude Montefiore emerged as the most important religious philosopher among Anglo-Jewry. Montefiore, whose mother attended West London Synagogue, studied at the Berlin
Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums and was a disciple of the teachings of German Reformers
Abraham Geiger and
Samuel Holdheim. His Jewish Religious Union (JRU), the antecedent of British
Liberal Judaism, was as purist and radical as American Reform Judaism, if not exceeding it. He too emphasised the ethical aspects as the essence of religion, instituted drastic ritual reforms – over half of the Liberal liturgy was in English, men were bareheaded and sat together with women, the practical observance was not only ignored by the public (as was the case in the
United Synagogue, too) but officially discarded. While the three nonconformist synagogues did not emulate the JRU, it did influence them toward greater modifications, albeit yet inconsistent. In 1919, the St. George synagogue, appealing for unaffiliated
East End Jews, was opened by
Basil Henriques. It was alternatively sponsored by both West London and the Liberals. The first of the three breakaway synagogues to adopt full-fledged Reform Judaism was West London. After the retirement of Rabbi Joseph in 1929, it hired Harold F Reinhart, a
Hebrew Union College graduate who served as a rabbi in several congregations of the
Union of American Hebrew Congregations. Within a year, Reinhart brought the synagogue into the recently established
World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ), albeit retaining a relatively conservative ritual, consistent with the congregation's sensibilities. Though both were WUPJ affiliates, cooperation and competition alike characterised relations with the Liberal ULPS as a growing interest in non-Orthodox forms emerged among the wider public. A Glasgow printer named Samuel Ginsberg was impressed with what he saw in West London and opened the
Glasgow Progressive Synagogue in 1932. In 1933, Reinhart sponsored the establishment of the
North Western Reform Synagogue at
Golders Green. In 1935, a group at Edgware seceded from the United Synagogue and formed the
Edgware & District Reform Synagogue, again under West London's guidance. A movement only arose with the arrival of some 40,000 Jewish refugees from
Nazi Germany. While worldwide Reform Judaism originated there, the nature of German communities limited what was known as "Liberal Judaism" to the status of a tendency within unified congregations which had to accommodate traditionalist members. German Liberals were relatively conservative (for example, maintaining mainly-Hebrew liturgy, head coverings for men, and separate seating for men and for women), and found the British Liberal synagogues far too radical. The moderation of the independent nonconformist ones suited them better, and immigrants overwhelmed West London and the others. They also brought along a cadre of 35
Hochschule-trained rabbis, most prominently
Ignaz Maybaum and
Werner van der Zyl who were aided by Reinhart in finding new posts at Britain. Harmonising ritual and religious approach to a great measure, they made their loosely related communities quite uniform. One that remained independent and strongly clung to German Liberal worship was
Belsize Square Synagogue. On 4 January 1942, representatives from the West London, North Western,
St. George Settlement, Glasgow, Manchester and Bradford synagogues met at the
Midland Hotel, Manchester and founded the Associated British Synagogues, later renamed Associated Synagogues of Great Britain. The ASGB joined the WUPJ as a whole in 1945. In 1956, it cooperated with the ULPS to establish the
Leo Baeck College for training rabbis. In 1958, it adopted the name Reform Synagogues of Great Britain, which would last until 2005.
Merger with Liberal Judaism On 17 April 2023, Reform Judaism and the Liberal movement announced their intention to merge and form a single progressive Jewish movement. The merger was approved by both movements on 18 May 2025, at two parallel Extraordinary General Meetings (EGMs) of member communities, with the number of votes in favour at each exceeding 95 per cent. By the end of 2025, the Reform and Liberal movements completed the merger into Progressive Judaism. ==Notable Reform rabbis==