Letter from the Cardiff Jewish Board of Guardians to the members of the Cardiff New Synagogue regarding the Annual Purim Ball, Cardiff, March 1955

Description

An invitation from Barnett Caller, the Chairman of the Cardiff Jewish Board of Guardians, addressed to the members of the Cardiff New Synagogue (now known as the Cardiff Reform Synagogue) inviting them to attend the Annual Purim Ball on 8 March 1955 at the Royal Hotel in Cardiff. The letter also thanks the recipients for their support towards the Board of Guardians.

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.

The Cardiff Board of Guardians is a branch of the Jewish Board of Guardians that was established in London in 1859, aimed at providing relief for Jewish immigrants as well as for the Jewish poor. In the 1990, it merged with other Jewish charities to create Jewish Care.

Sources:
'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);
Cardiff Shul (http://cardiffshul.org/history2.htm);
Jewish Care (https://www.jewishcare.org/about-us);
Jewish Board of Guardians (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Board_of_Guardians_%28United_Kingdom%29).

Depository: Glamorgan Archives.