Two pages from the Westquest Magazine

Disgrifiad

These two pages from the West Quest Magazine (sometimes spelled Westquest) contain transcriptions of two newspaper articles about the Jewish community of Llanelli. The illustration shows that the synagogue on Queen Victoria Road has been put up for sale, indicating that the texts were compiled in the early 1980s.

The first reproduced article is from a 1902 issue of the South Wales Press. It notes the expansion of the Llanelli Jewish community and the plan to build a synagogue for the congregation that is holding its services at a private residence.

The second article was published in 1909 in the Llanelly and County Guardian and discusses the opening of the Queen Victoria Road Synagogue. Summarised in the text is the Chief Rabbi, Dr Hermann Adler's speech to the Swansea congregation on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of their synagogue.

The articles were compiled by Neville Saunders, who has also authored a pamphlet on the history of the Swansea Hebrew Congregation from 1730 to 1980.

Members of the Llanelli Hebrew Congregation initially held services for the High Holy Days in the early 1900s at private residences. A purpose-built synagogue was established in 1909 on Queen Victoria Street. Through the 1920s, the community had around 300 members, but the number fell rapidly in the 1930s and never recovered. When the congregation merged with Swansea Hebrew Congregation in the 1980s, membership was down to 20.

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/llanelli/index.htm & https://www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/community/llanelli/press_reports_llanelli_4.htm).

Depository: Carmarthenshire Archives.