Notice to the members of the Cardiff New Synagogue about changes to the Friday Evening addresses, Cardiff, 1960

Description

This letter is to notify the congregation that Rabbi L. G. Graf would be giving a series of talks called "Great Religions and Where They Differ from Our Own " instead of the usual Friday Evening addresses. The religions to be covered were Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity.

Rabbi Dr. Louis Gerhard Graf was Rabbi to the Cardiff New Synagogue from 1949 until 1980. Originally from Germany he emigrated to Manchester in 1939. Before moving to Cardiff he was a Rabbi in Bradford and Leeds. He was the founder and chairman of the Cardiff Inter-faith Association. He was involved with many charitable groups including the United Nations Association, the Association of Jewish Refugees, the Marriage Guidance Council and the Standing Conference of the Welsh Centre for International Affairs.

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.