Photograph of Rabbi Middleburgh and Rhodri Morgan, Cardiff

Description

A photograph of Rabbi Dr Charles Middleburgh, Minister of the Cardiff New Synagogue, and Rhodri Morgan, the First Minister of Wales (2000-2009). The photograph was taken inside the Cardiff Reform Synagogue.

Rabbi Dr Charles Middleburgh served as Minister of the Cardiff New Synagogue for 10 years, departing in 2014. He had replaced Rabbi Elaina Rothman, who had retired in 2002. Today, he is a founder rabbi of the Congregation Shir HaTzaphon in Copenhagen and is also the Dean and Director of Jewish Studies at the Leo Baeck College in London.

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);
The Jewish Chronicle (https://www.thejc.com/community/community-news/cardiff-rabbi-s-surprise-departure-1.52664);
JCR-UK/JewishGen (https://www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/Community/card1/index.htm);
Liberal Judaism (https://www.liberaljudaism.org/who-we-are/whos-who/rabbi-dr-charles-middleburgh/).

Depository: Glamorgan Archives.

• https://cardiffreformsynagogue.uk/new/ (link opens in new window)