Souvenir booklet from the Consecration of the Penylan Synagogue, Cardiff, 09 January 1955

Description

The souvenir booklet produced for the Consecration of Penylan Synagogue, held by Rabbi Israel Brodie, on the 9th January 1955. At the forefront of the booklet, a black and white photograph is included, identified as the Penylan Synagogue. Names of the synagogue's presidents are located on the inside cover, as well as the names of the home treasurer, home solicitor, and secretary. Additionally, the individual members of the building committee and the officiating clergy have been featured on the adjacent inside cover.

The Cardiff United Synagogue was established in 1942 when the Cardiff Hebrew Congregation and the Cardiff New Hebrew Congregation were united into a single organisation. The early years of the Cardiff congregation remain shrouded in mystery, but it is known that a Jewish cemetery was founded in 1841 and a purpose-built synagogue was built for the Cardiff Hebrew Congregation in 1858 in East Terrace. As the congregation outgrew the premises, a new synagogue was opened on Cathedral Road in 1897. In 1889, a group of recent immigrants left the “Englisher shul” to form the “foreigners’ shul” formally known as the Cardiff New Hebrew Congregation. Having initially worshipped at Edward Place and Clare Road, the New Congregation moved to purpose-built premises on Windsor Place in 1918. After the 1942 reunification, the Cardiff United Synagogue continued to use both the Windsor Place and the Cathedral Road synagogues until 1955 when the former was sold, and a new synagogue was built on Ty-Gwyn Road. The Cathedral Road synagogue was eventually sold in 1988 and the Ty-Gwyn Road synagogue in 2003 with the congregation moving to its current premises in Cyncoed Gardens.

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/card/index.htm).

Depository: Glamorgan Archives.