Letter to Newport (MON) Hebrew Congregation, setting out resolutions passed at a General Meeting, Newport, 18 September 1988

Disgrifiad

Letter to the Newport (MON) Hebrew Congregation, setting out the resolutions passed at a General Meeting held at the Nathan Harris Memorial Hall, Newport on 18 September 1988. The resolution was passed without dissent and covered a number of issues relating to membership, burial rights, officers and voting rights. For example, the resolution confirms that only persons who are of orthodox birth or who have undergone orthodox conversion can be accepted as members. It also sets out eligibility for cemetery plots and the cost of such plots.

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.