Wherever ten Jews live, they should establish a place to congregate for prayer at the time of each prayer service. This place is called Beit Knesset. The inhabitants of a city can compel each other to construct a synagogue and to purchase Torah scrolls. (Rambam Laws of Prayer Chapter XI: 1)
For many years there was no synagogue for the small Jewish community living in Radlett, so residents would trek to Elstree and Borehamwood Shul two-and-a-half miles away. On a cold Kol Nidre night in 1981 walking back from shul, the late Stephen Pater decided that the time had come to establish a shul in Radlett. He gathered together a small group of volunteers and, together, they held services in different homes every six weeks. By 1987, the community had grown to over 100 families and services were being held every fortnight in local halls.
In 1995 the Radlett Village Hall was put up for sale and the community raised enough money to buy it. That year, the formal ties with Borehamwood and Elstree Synagogue were finally cut and Radlett United Synagogue became an independent community. For the first 18 months the synagogue was led by Rabbi Yitzhak Sliw and in 1997 he handed over the reins to Rabbi Gideon Sylvester.
Since then, our community has grown at a staggering rate. We are one of the fastest growing United Synagogues and have over 600 member families. We have given birth to a new sister community in Shenley. The rate of growth has meant that our current building is too small for the community and plans are being laid for the next step.
Rabbi Gideon left our community in November 2004 to return, with his family, to Israel. Rabbi Ariel Abel, his wife Deby and their children arrived in Radlett in August 2005.
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