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JCR-UK is a genealogical
and historical website covering all Jewish communities and congregations
throughout the British Isles and Gibraltar, both past and present.
Town of Brynmawr
Brynmawr (Welsh: Bryn-mawr - "big hill"), with a population of
nearly 6,000, sometimes cited as the highest town in Wales, is situated at 1,250 to 1,500 feet above sea level, at the head of the South Wales Valleys.
It is situated approximately 34 miles north of
Cardiff and 12 miles east of Merthyr Tydfil.
Until 1974, Brynmawr formed the urban district of Brynmawr in the county of Brecknockshire
(aka Breconshire). From 1974 until 1996, it was part of the district of Blaenau
Gwent in the new county of Gwent. In 1996, Gwent ceased being an administrative
county, and the district became the county borough of Blaenau Gwent - a unitary
authority (within the ceremonial, or
preserved, county of Gwent).
The Jewish Community
The Jewish community
and congregation dates back to the 1880s and continued to function into the 1960s.
The Jewish community, being the most northernly of the Jewish communities of
south Wales, was one of very few in South Wales that had its own cemetery.
Population figures:
It had been claimed that, in the 1910s, the Jewish population, though
small, constituting the third largest (other sources state the largest) proportion of
Jews in any town in Britain.(ii)
However, Harold Pollins, in his history of the community, was sceptical of this claim
on the basis that many of the congregation's members actually lived outside the town.(iii)
Congregation Data
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Name:
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Brynmawr Hebrew Congregation
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Address:
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46
Bailey Street, Brynmawr, NP23 4AH,(iv)
situated next to the Brynmawr Fire Station (part of the street was actually known locally as Jew Street or Jews' Row).
The newly built synagogue, designed by local architect,
W.S. Williams,(v)
which had accommodation for 86 congregants,
was opened by Mr. O. E. d'Avigdor Goldsmid and consecrated by the Chief Rabbi
on 20 June 1901. (See two
articles on the opening and consecration of the
synagogue from The Jewish Chronicle of 21 June 1901 and
28 June 1901.)
The congregation had previously held services at Heathcock
(or Heathcote) House, Brynmawr, since at least 1893,(vi)
and prior to then, since 1888, services were held in a house owned by Barnett Isaacs,
which he had placed at the disposal of members of the
congregation and defrayed the cost of adapting it for
use as a synagogue.(vii)
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Formation:
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The congregation was formed in 1888.(viii)
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Closure:
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By 1962, the congregation had
ceased holding services other than on high holy days,(xi) and
by 1964, services were no longer held at all.(xii)
By 1966, the congregation had been amalgamated into the
Newport Hebrew Congregation(xiii) and
all local [Jewish] residents belonged to that
congregation.(xiv)
The synagogue building was sold in 1966(xv) and converted
into a private house.(xvi)
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Ritual:
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Ashkenazi Orthodox
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Affiliation:
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The congregation was an
unaffiliated congregation under the aegis of the Chief
Rabbi.
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Rival Congregation:
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During the period from 1909 to 1911, the community was
rife with bitter arguments and disputes amongst its
members and, as a result of which, a second congregation
was briefly established
in Brynmawr.(xvii)
In August 1910, The Jewish Chronicle carried a long, satirical, article, entitled
"Brynmawring", a term which the writer defined, inter
alia, as: "to Brynmawr"
which "will mean a state of affairs in a Jewish place of worship
where the members indulge in free fights during the service, where
the most bitter hatred is nursed by member against member, where
wrangles are carried out in the public courts of justice, where the
House of God is turned into
a cockpit."(xviii)
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Ministers
and Readers:
(To view a short profile
of a minister whose name appears in blue - hold
the cursor over the name.)
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Rev. Aaron David Rosowski
- visiting reader (from Tredegar) in 1889.(xx)
Rev. Tobias Spivack
- reader from at least 1891 until 1892.(xxi)
Rev. Isaac Sunlight
- reader and shochet from 1892 until about 1893.(xxii)
Rev. Pinchas Zevulun Schulman
- reader and shochet from 1893 until
1895.(xxiii)
Rev. Solomon Wolman
- reader and shochet from at least 1896 until about
1899.(xxiv)
Rev. Getzel Bloch
- reader and shochet from about 1899 until about 1911
and shochet and teacher from 1923 to 1924.(xxv)
Rev. Jacob B. Levy
- visiting minister (from Newport) in
1901.(xxvi)
Rev. Benjamin N. Michelson
- visiting minister (from Newport) in
1901/2.(xxvi)
Rev. Aaron Solomon
- reader unknown date until
1915.(xxvii)
Rev. Hyman Goldwater
- reader and shochet from about 1915 until about
1924.(xxviii)
Rev. Reuben Rabinowitz
- minister from about 1924 until about 1926.(xxix)
Rev. Isaac Chaitowitz
- minister in and about 1926.(xxx)
Rev. Judah Levinson
- minister from about 1929 until about 1931.(xxxi)
Rev. Boruchas M. Starr
- minister from about 1931 until, possibly, about 1946.(xxxii)
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Lay Officers of the
Congregation:
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Unless otherwise stated, all data on lay officers has been extracted
from
listings in
Jewish Year Book (first published 1896/7).(xxxvi)
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Presidents
1889-1890s
- Barnet Isaacs(xxxvii)
late 1890s
- Aaron D. Rosowski(xxxviii)
1898-1913
- Barnet Isaacs(xxxix)
1913-1914
- Aaron D. Roskin(xl)
1914
- Barney Jackson(xliii)
1915-1917
- Ben Cohen(xliv)
1917-1936
- Jacob Morris(xlv)
1936-1947
- S. Solomon(xlvi)
1949-1953
- Jacob Morris
1953-1956
- M. Cohen(xlvii) from 1956
- no data
Vice Presidents
1950-1953
- H. Solomon
1953-1956
- J.H. Lyons(xlviii)
from 1956
- no data
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Treasurers
1889-1890s
- Isaac Isaacs(l)
1898-1899
- Goodman Weiner
1899-1901
- Isaac Brest(li)
1901-1902
- Isaac Isaacs
1902-1904
- Aaron D. Roskin
1904-1905
- Isaac Isaacs
1905-1914
- Moses Samson
1914-1916
- Jacob Morris(lii)
1916-1919
- Mr Myers (from Nantyglo)(liii)
1919-1923
- Moses Samson
1923-1926
- E. Marks(liv)
1926-1927
- Abraham Brest
1927-1934
- S. Solomon
1934-1940
- Abraham Brest(lvii)
1940-1945
- no data
1945-1947
- J.M. Peck(lviii)
1947-1950
- J.H. Lyons(lix)
1950-1953
- E. Marks
1953-1956
- J. Cammerman(lx)
from 1956
- no data
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Secretaries and Hon. Secretaries
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1900-1902
- Hermann H. Roskin
1904-1905
- A. Shane
1905-1906
- Isaac Goldfoot
1906-1908
- Abraham Brest
1908-1914
- Isaac Goldfoot(lxiii)
1914-1915
- Arthur Cohen
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1915-1919
- Isaac Goldfoot
1919-1927
- Gershon J. Ballin(lxiv)
1927-1934
- Gershon J. Ballin
& H. Solomon(lxv)
1934-1935
- Abraham Brest
& H. Solomon
1935-1969
- Abraham Brest(lxvi)
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Membership Data:
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Members of the Brynmawr community often included Jewish families
and individuals living in the nearby towns and villages such as
Abersychan, Beaufort, Blaina, Blaenavon, Nantyglo, Abergavenny and even Ebbw Vale.(lxix)
Number of Seatholders
or Members
1897 - 23 seatholders.(lxx)
1900 - about 50 seatholders.(lxxi)
1949 - 33 members, of whom only 17 were Brynmawr
residents.(lxxii)
1952 -
18 members.(lxxii)
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Online Articles, Videos and Other
Material relating to the Brynmawr Jewish Community
on JCR-UK
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Press Reports relating to the Brynmawr Jewish Community 1889 - 1986;
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Jewish Chronicle Articles on the Opening and
Consecration of the Synagogue, 1901;
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The Jewish Community of Brynmawr, Wales
(pdf file)
by Harold Pollins, initially published in The Jewish Journal of Sociology
(volume L, number 1 & 2 2008, pp. 5-32)
and subsequently also available on the Institute for Jewish Policy Research website.
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How 'Greeners' Came to the Valley
by Michael Wallach, Jewish Chronicle Colour Magazine, 1975.
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Brynmawr from "Provincial
Jewry in Victorian Britain" - Brief
reference to the community in papers for a conference at
University College, London, convened by the Jewish Historical
Society of England, prepared by Aubrey Newman - 6th July 1975.
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Invitation to unveiling of Synagogue Tablets on 18 March 1908;
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Synagogue Balance Sheet for period 4 November 1923 to
12 October 1924 (with list of Comgregation's contributors);
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Naturalised Jewish Citizens of Brynmawr;
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Bibliography.
on Third Party Websites
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YouTube video on the
Jews of Brynmawr narrated by Oliver Wood, who explores the history of the Jewish community that once lived in
Brynmawr and elsewhere in Blaenau Gwent, first published on 1 March 2012.
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The Jewish cemetery in
Brynmawr is located at Brynmawr New Cemetery, Jewish Section, Cemetery Road,
Brynmawr, NP23 4TU.
The plot measured just over 2 acres.
It was acquired in 1919 through the generosity of Abel Myers,
who provided the requisite funds (it cost £206) in memory of his late parents,
Mr & Mrs Nathan Myers of Abersychan.(lxxiv)
Although the first interment took place in June 1920,(lxxv)
the cemetery was not consecrated until 19 August 1920.(lxxvi)
Prior to the opening of the cemetery, the community used the Jewish cemetery in Merthyr Tydfill.(lxxvi)
The cemetery was governed by the Brynmawr and District Jewish Burial
Board, a joint board, including Chevra Kadisha, with representatives from the other local Jewish communities formed in 1920.
The first Board included residents from Brynmawr, Abersychan, Ebbw Vale, Llanhilleth
and Tredegar.(lxxviii)
A. Myers was appointed hon. president. The chairman (later president) was John Morris until 1954,
and then S. Cammerman.
The hon. secretary was Gershon Joel Ballin (1920-1934), David Morris
(1934-c.1945), Sim Robinson (c.1945-c.1954) and J.H. Lyons
(from c.1954).(lxxix)
(For additional information, see also
IAJGS International Jewish Cemeteries Project - Brynmawr)
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Other Brynmawr Jewish Institutions &
Organisations
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Educational & Theological
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Other Institutions
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Brynmawr and Abertillery Zionist Association, founded 1900 as a branch of English Zionist Association.(lxxxv)
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Choverei Zion Society, founded 1901.(lxxxvi)
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Literary and Social Society,
founded 1902.(lxxxvii)
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West Monmouthshire and Breconshire Jewish Orphan Aid Society, founded by 1903.(lxxxviii)
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Brecon & Monmouthshire Ahm Israel Branch of the Jewish Territorial Organisation
(the ITO) founded
by 1906.(lxxxix)
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Brynmawr JNF Commissioner, founded
by 1927.(xc)
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Records: |
Marriage Records: |
Held by The Board of Deputies: Ref: 50/2a/1.
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Registration District (BMD):: |
Blaenau Gwent, since 1 April 1974 - Link to Register Office website
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Brynmawr Jewish Population Data,
Harold Pollins's
The Jewish Community of Brynmawr, Wales, 2008,
page 12,
includes a table of the Jewish Population of Brynmawr and district
1841 to 1901 derived from his research of census evidence.
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Year
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Number |
Source |
1896
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c.12 families |
The Jewish Year Book 1896/7 |
1897
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c.18 families |
The Jewish Year Book 1897/8 |
1900
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c.30 families |
The Jewish Year Book 1900/1 |
1911
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125 |
The Jewish Chronicle of
25 August 1911 |
1945
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49 |
The Jewish Year Book 1945/6 |
1953
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30 |
The Jewish Year Book 1954 |
1958
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28 |
The Jewish Year Book 1959 |
1960
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21 |
The Jewish Year Book 1961 |
1964
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17 |
The Jewish Year Book 1965 |
1966
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10 |
The Jewish Year Book 1967 |
1968
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16 |
The Jewish Year Book 1969 |
1973
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3 families |
The Jewish Year Book 1974 |
Click HERE to view Jewish
population figures for the whole of Blaenau Gwent from UK Censuses since 2001.
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Notes & Sources
(↵
returns to text above)
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Former Jewish Communities in the county borough of Blaenau Gwent home page
Jewish Congregations in the former county of Brecknockshire
Jewish Congregations in the former administrative county of Gwent
Jewish Congregations in Wales, listed according to current unitary authorities
Jewish Communities & Congregations in Wales home page
(including online articles)
Page created: 25 May 2003 Data significantly expanded and notes added:
29 October 2024
Page most recently amended: 8 December 2024
Research by David
Shulman and Harold Pollins, assisted by Steven Jaffe Formatting by David Shulman
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