the former

Montefiore Centenary Synagogue

& Tredegar Jewish Community

Tredegar, Blaenau Gwent, South Wales

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congregations throughout the British Isles and Gibraltar, both past and present.

Town of Tredegar

Tredegar, a town in the Valleys of South Wales, is located at the north end of the river Sirhowy valley, about 1,000 feet above sea level. It lies about 30 miles north of Cardiff, some 9 miles east of Merthyr Tydfil and 5 miles southwest of Brynmawr. (Not to be confused with New Tredegar, which lies some 5 miles to the south of Tredegar.)

Until 1974, Tredegar formed the urban district of Tredegar in the county of Monmouthshire (which in many instances was then considered part of England and not Wales). From 1974 until 1996, it was part of the district of Blaenau Gwent in the new Welsh county of Gwent. In 1996, Gwent was abolished as 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 Tredegar Jewish community dates back to at least the 1870s, when a Jewish congregation was established. In 1911, the town's Jewish community was the victims of an anti-Jewish riot, when the rioters rampaged through any property having Jewish connections in Tredegar. Windows were broken and shops were plundered and destroyed, but there were no injuries (see Tredegar Anti-Jewish Riots of 1911). Nevertheless, the Jews continued to live and trade in the town and harmony was re-established with their non-Jewish neighbours. By the 1940's, the number of Jews in Tredegar had dwindled to the extent that communal services could no longer be held. There was also a Jewish community in New Tredegar.

Congregation Data

Name:

Montefiore Centenary Synagogue, Tredegar,

also known as Tredegar Hebrew Congregation

Address:

In 1884, the congregation's new synagogue was opened and consecrated by the Delegate Chief Rabbi, Dr H. Adler.^(iv) The year 1884 was Moses Montefiore's centenary year^(v) and the synagogue accordingly took the name "Montefiore Centenary Synagogue". Although all references to the synagogue's address, since at least the mid 1890s, was to 14a Morgan Street, Tredegar,^(vi) (current postcode NP22 3ND), at least one source refers to the new synagogue, designed by local architect, W.S. Williams, as being at Picton Street (now redeveloped, but in the vicinity Gelli Close, NP22 3RE), Tredegar.^(vii) It is currently uncertain whether the Picton Street project was abandoned in favour of Morgan Street or whether the 1884 synagogue was initially in Picton Street but shortly thereafter moved to Morgan Street.

It appears that from 1911 until about 1913, the congregation moved temporarily to 87 Victoria Street, Tredegar, before moving back to Morgan Street,^(viii) where it remained until the congregation was disbanded.

Formation and First Synagogue:

The first congregation was formed in Tredegar in about 1872,^(xi) although Jews had been resident in the town from some years previously.^(xii) Worshippers initially met in a portion of Mr. Lewis Lyons's house, which he had fitted out for use as a synagogue.^(xiii) This is believed to be the synagogue in 18 Queen Street, Tredegar, in use until 1884.^(xiv)

Closure:

The synagogue closed for regular services in about 1944, when a minyan was no longer available, and the synagogue was sold in about 1954.^(xvii) It became a private home.^(xviii).

Ritual:

Ashkenazi Orthodox

Affiliation:

The congregation was an unaffiliated congregation under the aegis of the Chief Rabbi.

Ministers and Readers: (To view a short profile of a minister whose name appears in blue - hold the cursor over the name.)

Rev. Samuel Shynman - reader 1971 until at least 1874.^(xxi)

Rev. Jacob Phillips - reader from 1888 until 1891.^(xxii)

Rev. M. Weinstock - reader in about 1889.^(xxiii)

Rev. Aaron David Rosowski - reader in 1880s and 1890s.^(xxiv)

Rev. J.B. Zaccheim - minister from about 1896 until about 1898.^(xxv)

Rev. Solomon Noah Levin - minister from about 1898 until about 1902.^(xxviii)

Rev. Benjamin N. Michelson - visiting minister (from Newport) in 1901/2.^(xxix)

Rev. Solomon Bloch - reader/minister from about 1904 until about 1915.^(xxx)

Rev. Henry Olivestone - minister from 1916 until about 1918.^(xxxi)

Rabbi Reuben Rabinowitz - visiting minister in mid 1920s.^(xxxii)

Rev. Chaim Goldman - minister from about 1925 until about 1930.^(xxxiii)

Rev. Abraham Freedman - minister from about 1930 until about 1933.^(xxxvi)

Rev. Samuel Schwartz - minister from about 1936 until 1946^(xxxvii)

Rev. Aron Cohen - reader from about 1939 until about 1946^(xxxviii)

Lay Officers:

Unless otherwise stated, all data on lay officers has been extracted from listings in Jewish Year Book (first published 1896/7).^(xl)

Presidents

1870s - Jacob G. Shynman^(xli)

1895-1897 - S. Rosenbaum

1897-1901 - Lewis Birnstein

1905-1915 - Samuel Woolfson

1915-1916 - I. Gaba

1916-1917 - M. Bandas

1917-1918 - P.J. Cohen

1918-1919 - H. Wolfson

1919-1923 - J. Cohen

1923-1927 - Moss Berstein

1927-1933 - D. Cohen

1933-1950 - J. Cohen

Treasurers

1895-1897 - S. Rosenbaum

1897-1898 - Lionel L. Harris

1898-1901 - Lewis Birnstein

1901-1913 - H. Broder

1913-1915 - M. Bendis

1915-1916 - P.J. Cohen

1916-1919 - A. Craimer

1919-1933 - Moss Bernstein

1933-1936 - A. Craimer

1936-1948 - no data

1948-1951 - I. Cohen

from 1951 - J. Feldman

Secretaries and Hon. Secretaries

1887 - Marks J.S. Lyons^(xlii)

1895-1897 - Marks J.S. Lyons

1897-1898 - Lionel L. Harris

1898-1901 - Marks J.S. Lyons

1901-1910 - H. Broder

1910-1911 - G. Rosenbaum

1911-1912 - S. Louis Harris

1912-1913 - Joseph Cohen

1913-1914 - G. Rosenbaum

1914-1916 - M.J. Cohen

1916-1927 - Moss Bernstein

1927-1931 - Sefton Cohen

1931-1933 - Moss Bernstein

1933-1936 - Sol Cohen

1938-1940 - Aron Cohen

Membership Data:

Number of Seatholders - Board of Deputies Returns^(xlv)

1874

1880

1890

1900

21

20

23

15

Number of Seatholders^(xlvi)

1874

1895

1910

1911

15

20

19

27

Registration District:

Blaenau Gwent, since 1 April 1974^(xlvii)- Link to Register Office website

Cemetery Information:

There is no Jewish cemetery in Tredegar, although in 1874, shortly after the congregation was established, the community received a piece of land as a gift for use as a cemetery, but having no funds to build a wall around the plot, the proposed cemetery was never established.^(xlviii)

The closest cemetery is in Brynmawr, opened in 1920, which was governed by a joint board, the Brynmawr and District Jewish Burial Board, which included residents from the other local Jewish communities, including Tredegar.

There is also a Jewish cemetery at Merthyr Tydfil.

Online Articles, Videos and Other Material
relating to the Tredegar Jewish Community

on JCR-UK

Into the Vortex: South Wales Jewry Before 1914 - paper by Geoffrey Alderman, presented at a Conference prepared by Aubrey Newman on Provincial Jewry in Victorian Britain, convened by Jewish Historical Society of England (JHSE) at University College, London, 6 July 1975.
Tredegar from "Provincial Jewry in Victorian Britain" - Material prepared by Aubrey Newman for the Conference on Provincial Jewry in Victorian Britain, 6 July 1975.
Miscellaneous Press Reports relating to the Tredegar Jewish Community, 1873-1981;
Tredegar Anti-Jewish Riots of 1911 by David Shulman;
How 'Greeners' Came to the Valley by Michael Wallach, Jewish Chronicle Colour Magazine, 1975;
Bibliography.

on Third Party Websites

"When the 'pogrom of the valleys' erupted in Wales" by Geoffrey Alderman, on The Jewish Chronicle website, 21 July 2011.

Notable Jewish Connections with Tredegar

Rabbi Dr Solomon Goldman (1910-1991), minister at St John's Wood United Synagogue, London (1950-76), was born in Tredegar.
Judge Aron Owen (1919-2009), a barrister and circuit judge, was born in Tredegar. Before his career as a lawyer he was minister at the Beth Hagadol Synagogue in Leeds.
David Wolfson, Baron Wolfson of Tredegar KC (born 1968), a barrister and Conservative politician, who served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (1920-1922) and is currently Shadow Attorney General. He adopted the title "Baron Wolfson of Tredegar, of Tredegar in the County of Gwent", on being created a life peer on 30 December 2020, due to his family's connections with the town. His grandfather, Rev. Samuel Wolfson (c.1909-1990), was born in Tredegar.
The trilingual film (Welsh, Yiddish and English) Solomon and Gaenor (1999) was set against the backdrop of the anti Jewish riots in Tredegar in 1911. (See YouTube trailer and interview with Paul Morrison, writer/director.)

Other Tredegar Jewish Institutions & Organisations

Educational & Theological

Hebrew Classes, founded 1888.^(li)

Number of pupils:^(lii) Year 1896 1912 1915 1918

Number 25* 30 40 20

* 10 boys, 10 girls and 5 infants

Chevra Shass, founded by 1914.^(liii)

Welfare Institutions

Tredegar Hebrew Benevolent Society, founded in 1873 for the purpose of affording relief to Jewish poor residents, strangers, etc.^(lvi)
Jewish Orphan (Aid) Society, West Monmouthshire & Breconshire Branch, founded in December 1890.^(lvii)
Branch of Poor Aid Society, founded in 1893, for relief to Jewish itinerant poor (may have replaced the Hebrew Benevolent Society).^(lviii)
Itinerant Jewish Poor Society, founded by 1911.^(lix)

Other Institutions

Anglo-Jewish Association, South Wales & Monmouthshire Branch, founded by 1901.^(lxii)
Jewish Literary and Social Society, founded by 1903,^(lxiii) probably succeeded by the Zionist and Literary Society , founded by 1917.^(lxiv)
Jewish Scholars' Life Boat Fund, founded by 1913.^(lxv)

Tredegar Jewish Population Data
Year	Number	Source

1873	12 families	The Jewish Chronicle of 1 January 1873
1874	60	The Jewish Directory for 1874
1895	102	The Jewish Year Book 1896/7
1902	80	The Jewish Year Book 1903/4
1904	100	The Jewish Year Book 1905/6
1909	150	The Jewish Year Book 1910
1911	150	The Jewish Chronicle of 25 August 1911
1911	160	The Jewish Year Book 1912
1914	175	The Jewish Year Book 1915
1945	39	The Jewish Year Book 1945/6
1950	28	The Jewish Year Book 1951
1951	27	The Jewish Year Book 1952
Click HERE to view Jewish population figures for the whole of Blaenau Gwent from UK Censuses since 2001.

Notes & Sources
(↵ returns to text above)

(i) to (iii) Reserved.
(iv) The Jewish Chronicle reports of 25 March 1884 and 2 May 1884. ↵
(v) He was born on 24 October 1784. ↵
(vi) Morgan Street is given as the address in Jewish Year Books from the first edition (1896/7). ↵
(vii) Sharman Kadish's Jewish Heritage in Britain and Ireland, p.254. ↵
(viii) This was the address listed in Jewish Year Books 1912 and 1913 ↵
(ix) and (x) Reserved.
(xi) The Jewish Chronicle of 3 January 1973 reported on the establishment of the congregation. However Jewish Year Books refer to the congregation as having been founded in 1870.. ↵
(xii) H.H.Roskin, "The Tredegar Community", Cajex, viii (June 1958), p.65. ↵
(xiii) The Jewish Chronicle of 3 January 1973. ↵
(xiv) This was the address listed as the temporary synagogue in the Jewish Directory for 1874, edited by Asher I. Myers. ↵
(xv) and (xvi) Reserved.
Report in The Jewish Chronicle of 20 November 1953. ↵
(xviii) Michael Wallach's article, "How 'Greeners' Came to the Valley". ↵
(xix) and (xx) Reserved.
(xxi) The Jewish Chronicle of 3 January 1872 reported on Rev. Shynman's appointment as shochet and Michael Jolles's Encyclopaedia of British Jewish Cantors, etc. ("Jolles's Encyclopaedia"), p.884, places him in Tredegar in 1874. ↵
(xxii) The Jewish Chronicle obituary of 26 April 1940. The Jewish Chronicle reports of 6 September 1889 and 13 September 1889 place Rev. Phillips in Tredegar. ↵
(xxiii) The Jewish Chronicle report of 6 September 1889 places Rev. Weinstock in Tredegar. ↵
(xxiv) Jolles's Encyclopaedia, p.842. ↵
(xxv) Rev. J.B. Zaccheim was listed as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1896/7 and 1897/8. ↵
(xxvi) and (xxvii) Reserved.
(xxviii) Rev. Levin was listed as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1898/9 through 1903/4 (except 1901/2). ↵
(xxix) Rev. Michelson was listed as visiting minister of the congregation in the Jewish Year Book 1901/2. ↵
(xxx) Rev. Bloch was listed in the Jewish Year Books 1904/5 through 1916, initially as shochet and later as minister of the congregation. ↵
(xxxi) Rev. Olivestone was listed as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1917 and 1918. ↵
(xxxii) Jolles's Encyclopaedia, p.815. ↵
(xxxiii) According to Rev. Goldman's obituary in The Jewish Chronicle of 10 July 1981, he came to Tredegar in 1925. He was listed as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1928 through 1930. ↵
(xxxiv) and (xxxv) Reserved.
(xxxvi) Rev. Freedman was listed as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1931 through 1933. ↵
(xxxvii) Rev. Schwartz was listed as minister of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1937 through 1940 and (following cessation of publication during the war years 1941 to 1945) 1945/6. His upcoming departure was reported in The Jewish Chronicle report of 24 May 1946. He was the son of Rabbi Mordechai Schwartz of Manchester. ↵
(xxxviii) Rev. Aron Cohen was listed as reader of the congregation in Jewish Year Books 1940 and 1945/6 (there being no publication during the intervening war years). ↵
(xxxix) Reserved.
(xl) Where a person was first listed in a year book as holding a particular office, it has been assumed that his term of office commenced in the year of publication of the relevant year book and that he continued in office until the commencement of office of his successor, unless the office was shown as vacant. Initially year books corresponded to the Hebrew year, and thus ran roughly from autumn of one year - the year of publication - until autumn of the next year. From 1909, year books were published according to the Gregorian year, being published generally towards the end of the year prior to the year appearing in the title of the year book. For example, if an officer is listed in Jewish Year Books 1919 through 1924, it is assumed that he commenced office in 1918 and continued in office until 1924. However, it should be noted that this is only an assumption and, accordingly, his actual years of office may differ somewhat from those shown here. Jewish Year Books were not published during World War II subsequent to 1940. There were no Jewish Year Book listings of officers (other than secretary) subsequent to 1956. ↵
(xli) Jolles's Encyclopaedia, p.884. He was the father of the first reader and shochet. ↵
(xlii) The Jewish Chronicle report of 27 May 1887. ↵
(xliii) and (xliv) Reserved.
(xlv) Tredegar from "Provincial Jewry in Victorian Britain". ↵
(xlvi) 1874 figure from the Jewish Directory for 1874, edited by Asher I. Myers, the other figures have been extracted from the Jewish Year Book immediately following the year shown. ↵
(xlvii) Previous Registration Districts: Abergavenny from 1 July 1837 to 1 January 1958; and Bedwellty from 1 July 1861 to 1 April 1974. All records would now be held by the current office. ↵
(xlviii) People's Collection Wales website. ↵
(xlix) and (l) Reserved.
(li) Note in the Jewish Year Book 1896/7. ↵
(lii) Extracted from the relevant Jewish Year Books. ↵
(liii) First listed in the Jewish Year Book 1915. ↵
(liv) and (lv) Reserved.
(lvi) The Jewish Directory for 1874, edited by Asher I. Myers. ↵
(lvii) The Jewish Chronicle report of 1 February 1891. ↵
(lviii) Note in the Jewish Year Book 1896/7. ↵
(lix) First listed in the Jewish Year Book 1912. ↵
(lx) and (lxi) Reserved.
(lxii) First listed in the Jewish Year Book 1901/2, but then unlisted for many years, reappearing in the 1940 edition. ↵
(lxiii) First listed in the Jewish Year Book 1903/4. ↵
(lxiv) First listed in the Jewish Year Book 1918. ↵
(lxv) First listed in the Jewish Year Book 1914. ↵

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

Page created: 23 August 2005
Data significantly expanded and notes added: 13 November 2024
Page most recently amended: 22 November 2024

Research by David Shulman and Harold Pollins
Formatting by David Shulman

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