Description
Order of Service on the reopening of the Risca Road Synagogue, Newport, following refurbishment, on 22 February 2004. The Order of Service describes the current state of the Newport congregation having survived "against all odds", including its Hebrew classes, Shabbat services and "vibrant" ladies' guild. The service was attended by the Presidents of the Swansea and Cardiff Hebrew congregations and a closing talk was given by the Newport synagogue's oldest member and Honorary President, Mr Harry Poloway.
Newport Monmouthshire Hebrew Congregation was founded in 1859 by orthodox Jews meeting at a temporary synagogue in Llanarth Street. A synagogue at Francis Street was opened in 1869 and consecrated by the Chief Rabbi Dr Herman Adler in 1871. In 1934 the congregation moved to the Nathan Harris Memorial Hall in Queen's Hill which was converted to a synagogue. In 1997 this synagogue was closed, and the congregation moved to the Prayer House by the Jewish Burial Ground on Risca Road. Within 20 years the congregation had dwindled to a few members able to attend and this too had ceased to hold services.
Sources:
"History of our Shul. The First Hundred Years", published by Newport Congregation in 1959;
Oral history interviews with members of the Newport Mon Hebrew;
Newspaper clipping, presumably from the South Wales Argus, hand dated 15 June 1975.
Depository: Gwent Archives.
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