Cardiff New Synagogue Newsletter, March 1980

Disgrifiad

A newsletter for the congregation of Cardiff New Synagogue (later Cardiff Reform Synagogue), dated March 1980. The newsletter contains opinion pieces, articles, sermons, reports from synagogue groups, a recipe, details of future synagogue led events, and open letters.

The newsletter includes:

Rabbi Graf's letter of resignation from the Rabbinate. In the letter Graf expresses his wish to retire on 31st August 1980. He describes how after 31 years of service he feels that it is time for the synagogue to have a younger rabbi - especially since he had been the synagogue's first and only Rabbi since 1949. He ends the letter by declaring that he intends to remain involved in the synagogue for the rest of his life

An article entitled 'Professional Acclaim for member on BBC - TV'. The article concerns the involvement of a member of the synagogue's congregation: Dr Michael Rosen, in the BBC1 documentary 'Decision'. The programme was about a couple who decided to have a baby in spite of being warned of the dangers by a medical professional. The dangers were due to the woman's health: she had juvenile arthritis (which affected her lungs along with every joint in her body) and she was a wheelchair user. The baby was to be born by caesarean section and so (due to his extensive background in working with anaesthetics) Dr Rosen was called upon to advise the doctors on which anaesthetic to use. The operation was successful for both the mother and child

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);
JCR-UK/JewishGen (https://www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/Community/card1/index.htm).

The depository: Glamorgan Archives.