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Description
A black and white photograph, taken probably around 1928, of the Pontypridd Jewish congregation standing on steps at side of the building. The image records the opening of the new Jewish community hall in the basement of the synagogue in Cliff Terrace. The old lady at the front is Sarah Freedman, then the oldest member of the congregation. The man wearing the chain of office is Artemus Seymour, chairman of Pontypridd Urban District Council for the year 1933-34. He was a Labour councillor for Cilfynydd. The rabbi is Isaac Chaitowitz (1906-1972), who served ten years in Pontypridd from 1926-1936. He was previously rabbi in Brynmawr.
A synagogue was first founded in Pontypridd in 1867, when a school room was converted into a place of worship, but the Jewish community dates back to at least the 1840s. Although the membership of the congregation remained small, the congregation established their own section in the Glyntaff Cemetery in the 1890s and built a synagogue in Treforest in 1895. The congregation was dissolved in 1978 and the Cliff Terrace synagogue was sold and converted to flats.
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/val1_tredegar/index.htm);
Jewish Yearbook (JYB), 1896-1929;
Glamorgan Archives: (http://calmview.cardiff.gov.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=D1717%2f1%2f1&pos=2).
Depository: Glamorgan Archives.
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