Letter to members of Newport (MON) Hebrew Congregation from the Chairman of the Education Committee, Harry Poloway, dated December 1978

Description

Letter to members of the Newport (MON) Hebrew Congregation from the Chairman of the Education Committee, Harry Poloway, setting out details of the Chanukah celebrations on 31 December 1978 at the Nathan Harris Memorial Hall Synagogue. The letter includes an order of service which includes songs and recitations from children of the Cheder and prayers for Israel and Russian Jewry.

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.