Eliezer Adler

{{Short description|Founder of the Gateshead Jewish community in England (1866–1949)}}

{{Infobox rebbe

| main_work = Business (self-employed)

| spouse = Sarah (Rosenthal) Adler

| children = 10

| dynasty = Adler

| father = Yehuda Yona Hass

| mother = Chayala Adler

| birth_date = {{birth date|1866|08|30|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Stanisławów, Galicia (now Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine)

| death_date = {{death date and age|1949|01|16|1866|08|30|df=yes}}

| death_place = Manchester, United Kingdom

}}

Eliezer Adler (30 August 1866 – 16 January 1949) was an early Jewish communal leader in England and is regarded as one of the founders of the Gateshead Jewish community. A self-made businessman and devout Orthodox Jew, Adler played a foundational role in establishing religious institutions in Gateshead, which has since become one of the leading centers of traditional Jewish learning in Europe.{{cite book |last=Dansky |first=Miriam |title=Gateshead: Its Community, Its Personalities, Its Institutions |year=1992 |publisher=Targum Press |page=33 |isbn=978-0-944070-88-8}}{{cite book |last=Olsover |first=Lewis |title=The Jewish Communities of North-East England, 1755–1980 |year=1980 |publisher=J.N. Olsover |pages=189–192}}

Early life

Adler was born in Stanisławów, Galicia, then part of the Austrian Empire (modern-day Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine), to Yehuda Yona Hass and Chayala (née Adler). Due to the absence of civil marriage, he was likely registered under his mother’s surname. He immigrated to Liverpool, England, in 1882 at the age of 15, seeking to support himself and his widowed mother.

Gateshead community leadership

After settling in Newcastle upon Tyne, Adler sought a community that met his high religious standards. Dissatisfied with the existing synagogues in Newcastle, he began crossing the River Tyne to Gateshead for prayer. When his mother died, Adler organized a minyan to say Kaddish, catalyzing the formation of Gateshead's first Orthodox congregation.

In 1887, Adler co-founded the *Shomrei Shabbos* synagogue with fellow immigrant Zelig (Zachariah) Bernstone.{{cite web |last=Wise |first=Yaakov |title=The First Jews in Gateshead |url=https://www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/Community/gateshead/articles/first-jews-in-gateshead.htm |website=Jewish Communities and Records – UK |access-date=26 May 2025}} He soon became the congregation’s first president and its most prominent figure. His leadership laid the foundation for Gateshead's emergence as a leading center of Orthodox Judaism in the UK. The community he helped build went on to establish:

a cheder (religious primary school) in 1912,
the Gateshead Talmudical College (yeshiva) in 1929,
the Gateshead Kolel in 1941, and
the Jewish Teachers’ Training College in 1944.{{cite book |last=Dansky |first=Miriam |title=Gateshead: Its Community, Its Personalities, Its Institutions |year=1992 |publisher=Targum Press |page=82}}

These institutions have trained thousands of students and continue to operate to this day. In recognition of Adler's foundational role, his seat in the Gateshead synagogue was left permanently vacant after his death.

Personal life

Adler married Sarah Rosenthal Doyschen, with whom he had ten children. He worked as a hawker of jewelry{{cite web |url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBC%2F1901%2F0031772434 |title=1901 Census: Eliezer Adler |website=Find My Past UK |access-date=26 May 2025}} and later as a furniture dealer.{{cite web |url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBC%2F1911%2FRG14%2F30427%2F0689%2F1 |title=1911 Census: Eliezer Adler |website=Find My Past UK |access-date=26 May 2025}} He passed away on 16 January 1949 (15 Tevet 5709) in Manchester while living with one of his daughters and is buried in the Jewish cemetery in Rainsough, Manchester.{{cite web |url=https://www.geni.com/people/Eliezer-Adler/328277196530007189 |title=Eliezer (Hass) Adler |website=Geni |access-date=26 May 2025}}

Legacy

Eliezer Adler is remembered as a central figure in shaping Gateshead into a bastion of traditional Jewish education and observance. Scholars have noted that *“with his arrival, Jewish Gateshead began to expand”*. His commitment to Orthodox principles and communal leadership continues to influence Gateshead’s Jewish institutions to this day.

Eliezer Adler

Early life

Gateshead community leadership

Personal life

Legacy

References

Further reading