Cardiff is so welcoming, vibrant and inclusive – everyone has a role to play

Over the years the community used various spaces for worship, including David Michael’s sitting room in Wind Street, before erecting their very own synagogue building in Waterloo St in 1818. This was to be Wales’s first purpose-built synagogue.

As was the case with the rest of the United Kingdom, Wales’s Jewish population soared in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries with the arrival of Eastern European Jews who were fleeing economic hardship and anti-Jewish violence in the Russian Empire. An estimated 120,000 to 150,000 Eastern European Jews migrated to the United Kingdom between 1881 and 1914, of which approximately 4,500 settled in Wales, primarily in the south.

Like their predecessors, it was primarily the business and commercial opportunities provided by this burgeoning working-class centre that attracted Eastern European Jewish immigrants to the area. Their arrival resulted in more Jewish communities and synagogues springing up in South Wales in places like Aberavon, Aberdare, Brynmawr, Ebbw Vale and Llanelli.

Smaller Jewish communities also emerged in the seaside resorts and market towns of North Wales such as Bangor, Llandudno and Wrexham, partly as an overflow from Liverpool and Manchester and made up of Jews who were looking for locations to conduct trade with less competition.

By the end of the First World War, Welsh Jewry reached a peak of approximately 5,000 people and 19 communities of varying sizes, ranging from 70 individuals in Bangor to over 2,000 people in Cardiff. However, from the 1920s onwards these communities witnessed a gradual decline.

The most recent census in 2021 recorded just over 2,000 Jews in Wales, accounting for just 0.1 percent of the population. Most Welsh Jews are of Ashkenazi descent, descendants of the Jews of Eastern Europe who fled pogroms.

Shuls

Today, the Jewish community in South Wales is served by the Cardiff Reform Synagogue and the Cardiff United Synagogue.

Cardiff Reform Synagogue, founded in 1948 on Moira Terrace, Adamsdown, Cardiff (Credit: courtesy)[Missing Credit]

Cardiff Reform Synagogue (originally called Cardiff New Synagogue) was established in 1948. Cardiff Reform Synagogue is a warm, welcoming, vibrant community, holding services throughout the year, including Chanukah celebrations which are celebrated in most major cities. It is led by Rabbi Martina Loreggian.

Cardiff United Synagogue (CUS), built in 1853, traditionally orthodox but welcoming Jews of all levels of observance, is led by Rabbi Michoel Rose and Rebbetzin Aidele Rose.

Cardiff United Synagogue, located in Cyncoed Gardens, Cardiff (Credit: courtesy)[Missing Credit]

CUS hosts monthly activities for younger members of the community, ranging from arts and crafts to sessions about Jewish history.

Rabbis

Rabbi Martina of Cardiff Reform Synagogue was born in Milan in 1973. She has an MA in Philosophy and obtained her rabbinical ordination from Leo Baeck College in July. She describes her passion for rabbinics as being motivated by her "deep love for teaching” and “the privilege” of witnessing “moments in other people’s lives” and listening “to their stories”.

Rabbi Martina Loreggian of Cardiff Reform Synagogue[Missing Credit]

Rabbi Michoel Rose of Cardiff United Synagogue was born and raised in Leeds, and subsequently Manchester before moving to Israel for a number of years.

Speaking to the JC, Rabbi Rose says that Welsh Jews are “very proud of their Welsh heritage” and feel a “big responsibility to the [Welsh] community”. He adds that though the Jewish community of Cardiff is “small in numbers”, they are “large in spirit”, describing the community as “warm”, adding that it “punches above its weight”.

Rabbi Michoel Rose of Cardiff United Synagogue[Missing Credit]

Observing kashrut in Cardiff

Rabbi Rose tells the JC that while there are no kosher eateries in Cardiff, deliveries are made from London to Cardiff once a month, facilitated by Cardiff United Synagogue and supervised by Kedassia. There are also local supermarkets that offer a selection of kosher products, although limited.

Jewish student life

The Union of Jewish Students (UJS) reports that there are no less than 20 Jewish students on campus at Cardiff University, and that despite the low numbers, Cardiff’s JSoc still manages to host a wide variety of events for the community.

Last academic year, during term time, Cardiff JSoc provided Friday night dinners, regular bagel brunches, games nights and different parties celebrating the Jewish holidays to help Jewish students unwind from academic stress. The JSoc also organised trips to synagogues and the local orthodox rabbi (Rabbi Michoel Rose) is a frequent collaborator, often providing the JSoc with kosher food. Cardiff JSoc offers both religious and non-religious social events for students to get stuck in with.

Cardiff JSoc also welcomes students attending other Universities in South Wales, such as Cardiff Metropolitan.

Chabad in Cardiff

Cardiff is served by the Chabad of South Wales, which operates a Jewish helpline which can be found on their website, as well as a Hillel House for students at Cardiff University and Glamorgan University, in partnership with Cardiff United Synagogue.

Voices of the community

Steven Salamon, 62

“I run the deli, Wally’s, which was started by my paternal grandfather, who came from Austria, and was taken over by my father. The shop is modelled on a continental Polish gourmet store and has a Viennese-style café. It’s not a kosher deli – it’s the complete opposite.

“My paternal grandfather ended up in Cardiff after being discharged from the Pioneer Corps due to ill health. His brother was in Cardiff, where he had a factory on the Treforest industrial estate, so that’s where my father went. My mother was born in London but moved to Cardiff as a teenager. Her mum persuaded her to chat up the nice Jewish man behind the deli counter – my dad.

“Cardiff’s Jewish community is very active. I’ve been treasurer of the Reform shul for 25 years. It’s very vibrant and extremely inclusive. It’s hard to persuade Jewish people to move to Cardiff, but it’s got everything – jobs, the sea and fantastic culture and sports.”

Steven Salamon[Missing Credit]

Stephen Hamilton, 71

“I was born and raised in Merthyr Tydfil, where there was a shul. It is now being turned into the Welsh Jewish Cultural Centre. I’m now a member of Cardiff United, which was purpose built about 25 years ago.

“I love the way of life in Cardiff. My kids live in London, and every time I go down there, I get very stressed with the traffic and not being able to go easily from A to B.

“Life in Cardiff is less stressful, more peaceful and easier socially. Everyone knows everyone, and we look after one another in a very caring way.

“It’s possible to keep kosher here as long as you plan in advance. There are deliveries every four weeks to the shul, and you just have to put you order in beforehand.

“As far as synagogue services are concerned, they are becoming more problematic as time goes on as numbers are declining, and it can be difficult to get a minyan. But we have a wonderful rabbi and rebbetzin and good amenities, including our own mikveh.

“I would really recommend living in Cardiff – as well as the Jewish community, overall as there is a better quality of life and far more affordable housing.”

Stephen Hamilton (fourth from right) and his family[Missing Credit]

John Minkes, 72

“My parents were both born and brought up in Cardiff. They moved away when they got married, and I was born in London and brought up in Birmingham.

“I used to visit lots of relatives and friends in Cardiff while I was growing up, and in my thirties, I did a master’s degree here and was offered a job at the end of it.

“I discovered that I felt more at home in Cardiff than anywhere else and that I really liked the city. It did, however, take a while to feel at home Jewishly. I joined the Reform Synagogue, and after several years, I decided to become more involved in the shul.

“I have been a treasurer and a warden, and I help take the services. It’s a small but very welcoming community, and the relationship between the Reform and Orthodox synagogues is very good.

“I think if I had stayed in a bigger city, I would never have been able to contribute to shul life in the same way.”

John Minkes[Missing Credit]