Order of Service booklet and Dinner Menu for the Tercentenary of the Resettlement of the Jews in the British Isles held by the Newport Hebrew Congregation, 3 June 1956

Description

Order of Service booklet for the Dedication and Thanksgiving to commemorate the Tercentenary of the Resettlement of the Jews in the British Isles held at The Synagogue in Queen's Hill Newport on 3 June 1956. The booklet contains directions for the congregation, psalms and prayers. Pages on the left are in English and pages on the right are in Hebrew and English.

The second item is a booklet with the menu and toast list for the dinner which was held before the service on 31 May 1956 at The King's Head Hotel, Newport, Mon.

The service and dinner celebrated the 300 year anniversary since Jewish people were allowed to return to Britain. In 1290 the Jewish people were banned from living in Britain by Edward I. In 1656 a petition by a Dutch Jew Menasseh ben Israel led Oliver Cromwell to allow the return of Jewish people to Britain.

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:
"Readmission of Jews to in 1656" by Tara Holmes published by BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/history/350.shtml;
"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.