Newspaper clipping about the Cardiff Jewish community donating Torah scrolls to the Israeli Army, 18 January 2002

Description

This newspaper clipping from the Jewish Chronicle reports that the Cardiff Jewish community will donate a Sefer Torah to the Israeli Army. The scrolls will be collected from Cardiff by the Israel Defence Force Chief Rabbi.

The Cardiff Orthodox Synagogue minister, Rabbi Yossi Ives, encouraged other communities to also donate Torah scrolls and the Swansea and Newport congregations were considering doing so. The handover ceremony was tentatively planned for March and Rabbi Ives was expecting it to draw a large crowd not only of Jews but of people who support Israel.

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 Congregation, recorded in 2018 by JHASW.

Depository: Gwent Archives.

• http://www.thejc.com (link opens in new window)