Letter from Stanley Soffa, Chairman of the Synagogue Council, Cardiff New Synagogue, Cardiff, to Trude Owen, 15 March 1999

Description

Letter from Stanley Soffa, Chairman of the Synagogue Council, Cardiff New (now Reform) Synagogue, Cardiff, to Trude Owen, 15 March 1999. It thanks her for designing and making a chalah cloth to commemorate the jubilee and for her contributions to the synagogue.

Trude Owen (1926-2003) was born in Brno, Czechoslovakia to observant Jewish parents. Having heard many of his speeches on the radio, Trude's father Hans anticipated danger from Adolf Hitler in 1938 and began to plan a move of his whole family to south Wales where he had the opportunity to set up a factory due to the South Wales Development Agency.

While twelve-year old Trude and her older sister fifteen-year old Ilse were able to take the trip from Nazi Germany to Britain in early 1939, their mother Hilda was almost left behind in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. Hans had to claim that one of their daughters was seriously ill to convince the German authorities to let her leave for the United Kingdom.

Trude first discovered her skill at textile production due to her mother's own ability as a needlewoman and her encouragement that Trude and her sister busy themselves with hobbies. Her parents' acquisition of an embroidery factory in Treforest also likely fuelled her interest. When she was nearing forty, she took a ten-week needlework course which allowed her to perfect her ability. Trude went on to make over twenty-five curtains for Arks in Synagogues including the one in the Cardiff Reform Synagogue, of which she was a member.

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:

JCR-UK: Jewish Communities & Records, Cardiff Reform Synagogue, Cardiff, Wales (2020) https://www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/Community/card1/index.htm [accessed 14 March 2024]

Parry-Jones, Cai, The History of the Jewish Diaspora in Wales (doctoral thesis, Bangor University, 2014)
https://research.bangor.ac.uk/portal/files/20579001/null [14 March 2024]

Depository: Glamorgan Archives.

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