‘Our doors are open’: York gets its first resident rabbi in more than 800 years

Rabbi Elisheva Salamo: ‘We need to learn the lessons of the past to build on the future’. Photograph: Richard Saker/The Guardian

For the first time since the Jews of York were wiped out in a pogrom more than 800 years ago, the small progressive community rebuilding a presence in the historic city has its own resident rabbi.

Elisheva Salamo arrived in York this week to take up her new post. As well as overseeing synagogue services, she will bring new ways of reaching people in the north-east of England who have some Jewish heritage or an interest in exploring the faith.