Order of a memorial service at the Cardiff New Synagogue, 22 March 1987

Description

This booklet contains the order of the memorial service of Dr Louis Gerhard Graf, rabbi emeritus of the Cardiff New Synagogue. Dr Graf left his native Germany in 1939, relocating into Manchester. He was appointed a minister at the Bradford Synagogue in 1940, a position he held for eight years. During that time, he helped found the Sinai Synagogue in Leeds. Dr Graf served as a rabbi in Cardiff from 1949 to 1980. A prominent member of the Cardiff Jewish community, he was involved in the work of several charitable organisations, such as the United Nations Association, the Association of Jewish Refugees, the Samaritans, the Marriage Guidance Council, and the Standing Conference of the Welsh Centre for International Affairs. Dr Graff was also the chairman and founder of the Cardiff Inter-faith Association.

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).

Depository: Glamorgan Archives.

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