Remarks from the Minister' written by Rabbi Dr L. G. Graf's , Cardiff, 1960

Description

The 'Remarks from the Minister' were written by Rabbi Dr Graf for the Cardiff New Synagogue's Annual General Meeting on 28 February 1960. In the document, Rabbi discusses the issues faced by the Jewish community and congregation of the Cardiff New Synagogue.

Rabbi Dr Louis Gerhard Graf was head of the Reform community in Cardiff for 31 years. He was born in Berlin on 28 March 1912, where he lived until 1939 when he and his wife left Germany and were welcomed in Manchester. He was Minister of the Bradford Synagogue (1940-48), then he went on to found the Leeds Sinai Synagogue in 1942. Eventually he moved to Cardiff, in 1948, where he began to take services in the newly formed Reform Jewish community. He died in December 1986, aged 74.

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:
'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);
ARJ Information, volume XLII No. 3 March 1987 (https://ajr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/1987_march.pdf).

Depository: Glamorgan Archives.

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