Shul plaque cements the link between bar mitzvah boy and his great-great-great grandfather

A bar mitzvah boy has spoken of the pride he felt when he discovered that a line from his parsha (portion) was used in the inscription stone of a synagogue founded by his great-great-great grandfather.

Joseph Stroud, 13, was doing a dress rehearsal of his parsha a week before his bar mitzvah at Finchley Reform Synagogue when he found out that the verse Genesis 28:17 was used in a plaque on the wall of Bradford Synagogue, which was consecrated by his ancestor and namesake Rabbi Joseph Strauss in March 1881.

“I was really shocked when I heard this,” Joseph told the JC. “Here I was reading a passage in one shul when [my great-great-great grandfather] had chosen the passage to go on the wall of another shul.”

It was Finchley Reform Synagogue’s warden and social historian David Jacobs who recalled that the line "Ma Norah Hamakom Hazeh, Eyn Zeh Kee Im Beit Elohim Ve’ze Sha’ar Hashamyim" ("How full of awe is this place! – This is none other than the House of God and this is the Gate of Heaven") was also written in Hebrew at the top of the front wall of Bradford Synagogue, which is also a Reform community.

Joseph described the coincidence as “fate” as it was only by chance that he was leyning that particular parsha as his actual 13th birthday had been two months prior, but another child was already scheduled to have their bar mitzvah that Shabbat.

He said: “When I was reading that verse, I felt a real connection to my history. I wasn’t just reading it, I was really remembering what this line meant.”

His great-great-great-grandfather Rabbi Dr Joseph Strauss arrived in Bradford from Germany in November 1873 at the age of 28.

He was appointed rabbi of the fledgling Bradford Synagogue by a group of German Jewish textile merchants, who had moved to the city during the Industrial Revolution to develop its textile production and helped turn the city into the “wool capital of the world”.

Newly qualified, Rabbi Strauss could speak only German and Hebrew when he arrived, but started studying English, in which he quickly became proficient.

Synagogue services initially took place in the Old Freemasons’ Hall, but in 1880, the foundation stone was laid on Bowland Street for Bradford Synagogue.

Rabbi Strauss died in 1922 after serving as the rabbi of the community for 49 years.

His eldest son Oswald anglicised his name to Stroud before joining the army in 1914.

Bar mitzvah boy Joseph’s father, James Stroud, told the JC: “The engraving in the stone was done when the building was put up nearly 150 years ago. My great-great grandfather was in charge of the whole thing, so it would have been his call. There are so many lines that would have been fitting, but he chose this one. It was fate.”

He added that David Jacobs’ discovery of the link between the parsha and Joseph’s heritage “made a truly special moment even better. It has had an impact on all of us and made it an occasion we as a family will never forget.”

As well as founding Bradford Synagogue, Rabbi Strauss was also an influential Zionist figure and a delegate at the Second Zionist Congress in Basle. He also raised the funds for Herzliya Gymnasium, the first Jewish high school in Tel Aviv.

His son Oswald Stroud was a well-known businessman and philanthropist, who established a home in Bradford for 24 refugees who came to England on the Kindertransport.

Oswald’s son, Roy Stroud, and his grandson Richard – James’ father – continued the legacy of Rabbi Strauss by serving the Bradford Jewish community. Roy was treasurer, chair and life president of the synagogue and also chair of the British Wool Textile Confederation. He was made OBE, and later, Richard was made MBE on the occasion of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee for his interfaith work in West Yorkshire.

Paying tribute to his ancestry, James said: “Each of those men have carried on the values of Rabbi Strauss. Looking at what they all achieved feels like a great lineage to be part of.

“During Joseph’s bar mitzvah, I felt a very strong connection to this line and really felt their presence.”

David Jacobs, who has family connections to Bradford Synagogue, said: "Knowing Joseph's great-grandfather, Roy Stroud, his son, Richard, and now his son, James, and James’ son, Joseph, gave us all an additional sense of the connections through the generations. It created a deep understanding of the value of relationships within the Reform family of communities and their members."

This wasn’t the first time that a plaque had encapsulated the strong link between the Joseph Stroud and his Jewish heritage.

In December 2023, when the Bradford Synagogue celebrated its 150th year, Joseph designed a commemorative plaque with his friend Tal Mizrahi. The friends created it using a 3-D digital printer.