Minute book of the Newport Hebrew Congregation from 25 September 1945 to 8 July 1962

Description

A green minute book with “Minute book” inscribed on the spine. It consists of 346 pages of minutes of general and council meetings of the Newport Mon. Hebrew Congregation between 1945 and 1962. These contain discussions about synagogue council elections, building and cemetery repairs, community matters, and numerous events. The diminishing size of the community can also be seen in the increasingly frequent requests for more members to attend services.

The A-Z at the front was used as an index, but this lapsed after page 8 (28th October 1945). The names of those attending meetings are recorded at the back of the book. 19 Council members are listed in 1945/6 and 27 in 1961/2. The back also records the names of Chatan Torah and Chatan Bereshit (congregants who are honoured to commence and conclude the annual cycle of readings of the Jewish Bible) each year from 1948 to 1962. The first minutes are dated 25th Sept. 1945 and the final minutes are for 16th Jan 1962, with an entry for 8th July 1962 deleted.

A Hebrew school had been established in 1905 with an initial enrolment of 34 students. A committee of community members reported to the synagogue council about educational matters, and the appointment of different headmasters throughout the time period is discussed within the minutes. The community had a burial ground in Risca Road, and in 1946 a second plot was acquired in adjacent land. The upkeep of the burial ground is regularly dealt with in the minutes.

Page 15 (illustrated) records a discussion regarding necessary repairs to the synagogue building due to damage sustained while it was used a warden’s post in World War II; stained glass windows in the cemetery were also damaged. The headmaster/minister pointed had pointed out that extra work expected to supplement his income had not been forthcoming.

Subsequent matters discussed (not illustrated) include:
• details of the war memorial to be erected in the communal hall, and the invitation extended to the Chief Rabbi to unveil it (page 210);
• plans for an event to mark the Tercentenary since the readmission and settlement of Jews in Britain that took place in the 1650s following their expulsion in 1290; other events happened in London throughout the year to mark this date (page 231);
• a resolution to donate money to the local fund for the relief of Hungarian refugees (page 244). (In 1956 the Hungarian Revolution against the Soviet leadership led to problems for many Hungarian people; Jews were badly affected due to anti-Semitic incidents, with many leaving to Austria and Canada.)

Pages 287 to 294 (dated 1959 - illustrated) discuss the options for making arrangements when the last Newport butcher closed, and arrangements to celebrate the centenary of the synagogue, including feedback from the Mayor of Newport about the dinner (page 293). This page also details the continuation of Newport’s ongoing difficulties securing Kosher meat, and the decision to appoint Mr M. Krotosky of Cardiff as the congregational butcher.

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 the 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 the 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:
- “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.