Thanks to a generous grant from the NLPS Trust, almost 100 years of archives of Liberal Judaism Beit Din and Rabbinic Board certificates, and other historic documents, have been professionally digitised.

By digitising these archives, Liberal Judaism has ensured the protection of these important historical records from deterioration or damage, but also, crucially, improved the speed and efficiency of the response to archive requests from members or families of deceased members.

A Beit Din deals with conversion, Jewish status and other areas of complex Jewish law. An official Liberal Judaism Beit Din – then called the Rabbinic Board – was first set up in the 1960s. Before then matters of conversion were dealt with by individual synagogues, whose records dating back to the 1920s also form part of this digitisation.

Requests to access these historical certificates often come from Jews-by-choice or their families to assist in matters around marriage or aliyah (immigration to Israel).

An accessible online filing system is now being created to store the records, which will be added to when new candidates complete their Beit Din process.

The move was warmly welcomed by Rabbi Mark Solomon (pictured), Chair of the Liberal Judaism Beit Din, who said: “Ensuring our ability to always support our members, as well as the families of those who are no longer with us, is of vital importance – especially as it aligns with our key value of inclusivity.”

Anyone with an enquiry regarding the Beit Din archive or wishing to find a copy of lost certificates should contact Liberal Judaism’s Lifecycle Administrator Lisa Godsal on montagu@liberaljudaism.org, who will be delighted to assist.

A digitised conversion record from The Liberal Jewish Synagogue in the 1930s