Wardens

There are around a dozen wardens at W&DS currently:

• Stella Mason (Senior Warden)
• Larry Abrahams
• Daniel Borin
• Patrick Bower
• David Clark
• David Kelin
• Michael Kelion
• Miriam Kramer
• Joanna Kramer
• Andrew Leek
• Jonathan Oppenheimer
• Rachel Ouseley
• Julian Samuels

The Role of the Wardens

The role of the Wardens is to manage the services (and other ritual matters) of the synagogue, working closely with the Rabbis. These duties include the following:

• Allocating mitzvot in advance of the service, particularly to members who have a yahrtzeit or some other significant date which they are remembering.
• Opening up the synagogue before the services, and getting it ready. Equally, the duty warden will lock up the synagogue after the service.
• Welcoming people to the synagogue – both members of the community and guests or potential new members.
• Managing the ‘choreography’ of the service. This means assisting people to do their mitzvah at the correct time. In particular, the duty warden organises the various mitzvot in the Torah service, including the hakafot (processions of the Torah) and calling people to the bimah for an aliyah. To find out more about an aliyah please click here to visit our ‘Taking Part in the Services’

Contacting the Wardens

• If you have any comments, queries or questions about the services, or related matters, please feel free to speak to any of the wardens.
• If you know of a guest who will coming to a service in the future, please leave a note for the duty warden in the pigeon-hole at the synagogue.
• If you have a significant date or anniversary that you would like to mark with a mitzvah, please contact the Senior Warden by clicking here who will pass this on to the duty warden for the relevant Shabbat
• If you have a mitzvah in an upcoming service, but are not sure what to do, or when to come up to the bimah, contact the warden who allocated the mitzvah to you, and they will be happy to explain what to do or click here to read about some of the mitzvot.
• If you have any views on any aspect of the services – the sidur, the timings, the music, the style / formality – we are eager to hear these views, so please contact the Senior Warden by clicking here.