Letter of recommendation for a junior Minister and Headmaster for the Newport Hebrew Mon Congregation, 19 September 1962

Description

The letter is a reply from the Central Council of Jewish Religious Education in the United Kingdom to the Newport Hebrew Congregation. The congregation had asked for a recommendation for a junior Minister and Headmaster. The council recommended a graduate of Jews' College for the role stating that he is educated to degree level and has his Ministers certificate.

The Central Council of Jewish Religious Education in the United Kingdom was located at Woburn House, Upper Woburn Place, London, WC1.

Jews' College now known as The London School of Jewish Studies was established in 1855 by Chief Rabbi Nathan Marcus Adler. It was originally a day school for boys aged 9-15 years old but later became a college for higher education. In 1945 the college began to offer teacher training.

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 their 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 their 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:
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/4c6b4dfe-ba5e-4260-8dac-7f09ab333b92#0;
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bloomsbury-project/institutions/jews_college.htm;
"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.