Letter thanking the Newport Mon Hebrew Congregation for lending a Sefer Torah, Bristol, 28 September 1987

Description

The letter was sent by the housemaster at Polack's House, Clifton College, Dr William Blake, to the Newport Mon Hebrew Congregation thanking them for lending a Sefer Torah to be used in forthcoming holidays. The letter states that the Sefer Torah will be returned after the Rejoicing of the Law. Rejoicing of the Law is a Jewish holy day which celebrates the conclusion of the annual cycle of Torah readings.

Clifton College is an independent public boarding school in Bristol. It was set up by Dr John Percival, a Bristol businessman, in 1862. Polack's House, founded in 1878, was the first Jewish Boarding House in an English public school. The House was closed in 2005.

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://davarbristol.co.uk/event/polacks-house-and-the-jewish-community-at-clifton-college/;
https://www.cliftoncollege.com/upper/pastoral/spiritual/jewish-worship/;
"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.