Newsletter article detailing celebrations held by the Cardiff New Synagogue, Cardiff, 1992

Description

An article from issue 75 of Inform, the newsletter of the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain, written by Alfred Moritz. Published in December 1992, it gives details of the celebrations held by the Cardiff New Synagogue, including the induction of Rabbi Elaina Rothman as Minister of the Synagogue. During the service, new stained-glass windows were dedicated to Dr L. G. Graf, the first Rabbi of the Synagogue and Rabbi Rothman also re-consecrated the newly refurbished Synagogue. The article commences on the first page of the newsletter and then continues and ends on page 8.

Elaina Rothman first served as a student Rabbi for two years at the Cardiff New Synagogue in 1990. She went on to become Minister of the Synagogue, later retiring in 2002. She was a rabbinic student at Leo Baeck College and was ordained in 1992.

The Cardiff Reform Synagogue was founded in 1948 as the Cardiff New Synagogue. The following year, it became a constituent member of the Movement for Reform Judaism. Born in reaction against the more restrictive traditions of the Orthodox Judaism of Cardiff Hebrew Congregation, such as the prohibition of driving on the Sabbath and the ban on interfaith marriages, the new Synagogue appealed to the immigrants who had fled the war-torn Europe, where the Reform movement was already well-established. The congregation worships in a converted Methodist Chapel on Moira Terrace they acquired in 1952.

Sources:
Reform Synagogue (https://mireviewz.com/reform-synagogue-cardiff/);
'The History of the Jewish Diaspora in Wales' by Cai Parry-Jones (http://e.bangor.ac.uk/4987);
JCR-UK/JewishGen (https://www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/Community/card1/index.htm).

Depository: Glamorgan Archives.

• https://cardiffreformsynagogue.uk/new/ (link opens in new window)