Bangor University DOCTOR of PHILOSOPHY the History of the Jewish Diaspora in Wales Parry-Jones
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Bangor University DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY The history of the Jewish diaspora in Wales Parry-Jones, Cai Award date: 2014 Awarding institution: Bangor University Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 07. Oct. 2021 Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgments iii List of Abbreviations v Map of Jewish communities established in Wales between 1768 and 1996 vii Introduction 1 1. The Growth and Development of Welsh Jewry 36 2. Patterns of Religious and Communal Life in Wales’ Orthodox Jewish 75 Communities 3. Jewish Refugees, Evacuees and the Second World War 123 4. A Tolerant Nation?: An Exploration of Jewish and Non-Jewish Relations 165 in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Wales 5. Being Jewish in Wales: Exploring Jewish Encounters with Welshness 221 6. The Decline and Endurance of Wales’ Jewish Communities in the 265 Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries Conclusion 302 Appendix A: Photographs and Etchings of a Number of Wales’ Synagogues 318 Appendix B: Images from Newspapers and Periodicals 331 Appendix C: Figures for the Size of the Communities Drawn from the 332 Jewish Year Book, 1896-2013 Glossary 347 Bibliography 353 i Abstract This thesis examines the history of Jewish communities and individuals in Wales. It is the first study of its kind to offer a comprehensive history of Welsh Jewry, from the foundation of the first Hebrew congregation in Swansea in 1768 to the current position of the principality’s Jewish communities in the early twenty-first century. Unlike previous studies, this thesis examines the history of Welsh Jewry as a geographical whole, and brings the neglected histories of Wales’ smaller Jewish communities, particularly in north Wales, to our attention for the first time. This thesis is also unique because it is the first historical study of Welsh Jewry to draw extensively on oral history, a source which permits us to explore the everyday experiences and histories of ordinary Jews in Wales, as well as the official histories of synagogue functionaries and leaders. The history of Welsh Jewry has long been linked and synonymised with the Tredegar Riots of 1911. This is because Jewish-owned properties were damaged during the week-long riots, which has subsequently led a number of scholars to make wider claims of a long tradition of anti-Semitism in Wales. This argument has since been challenged by others, who have described the incident as ‘exceptional’ to prop up arguments about widespread philo- Semitism in the principality. Nevertheless, with so much attention paid to Tredegar, this brief event in Welsh history has come to erroneously represent the history of Jewish and non- Jewish relations in Wales more generally. This thesis points out that there is more to discover of this relationship, and by examining how non-Jews in the principality reacted to the presence of Jews in a broader context, it seeks to contribute to the ever growing scholarly literature which challenges perceptions of Wales as an inherently tolerant nation. Additionally, this thesis brings our attention to the powerful role played by ‘place’ in shaping the Welsh-Jewish experience and how particular aspects of Jewish life in Wales differed from other parts of the United Kingdom. In so doing, it is hoped that scholars of British-Jewish history, long referred to as ‘Anglo-Jewish’ history, will begin to appreciate the diverse make up of Jewish life in Britain, and understand that Jewish history in Wales was not simply a mirror-image of the Jewish experience in England. It is hoped that the following pages will enlighten the reader, for them to realise that Jewish life existed and continues to exist in Britain beyond Golders Green and Stamford Hill, even beyond Manchester and Leeds. It existed and continues to exist in early twenty-first- century Wales in such outposts of British Jewry as Bangor, Cardiff, Llandudno, Newport, and rural, isolated villages and towns such as Carmarthen and Welshpool. This thesis serves as a contribution to the field of both British Jewry and Welsh social and religious history, and hopes to inspire future research into this under examined, yet important, field. ii Acknowledgements A number of people have helped me as I have spent over three years exploring the history of the Jewish Diaspora in Wales. In Bangor, I am especially grateful for the support of my supervisors, Professor Nathan Abrams and Dr. Andrew Edwards. It was Nathan, with the support and backing of the late Professor Duncan Tanner, who originally came up with the research project and succeeded to win Bangor University’s first ever Arts and Humanities Research Council Collaborative Doctoral Award. Without him this project would never have existed, and I am extremely thankful for his enthusiasm. I am also grateful to Nathan for introducing me to Geoffrey Munn, Managing Director of Wartski’s of Llandudno; for involving me in both his Beacon Trust funded exhibition on north Wales Jewry, and a bilingual BBC Radio Documentary to commemorate the centenary of the Tredegar Riots of 1911. As my second supervisor, Andrew has been a constant source of encouragement and advice. I am grateful to both for their constructive feedback, and invaluable comments and suggestions. The collaborative nature of this project has enabled me to work closely with the Cardiff Reform Synagogue, where I have been involved in their Heritage Lottery funded exhibition project called, ‘Hineni’. The exhibition explores the life histories of both members and individuals associated with the Cardiff Reform Synagogue, and opened at the Cardiff Story Museum in August 2012. I am thankful for the support and advice given by my external supervisor, Colin Heyman, and for inviting me to events at the Reform synagogue. I also owe a particular debt of gratitude to Diana Soffa, who introduced me to a number of members of the Reform and Orthodox congregations in Cardiff, and Jewish families and individuals throughout Wales and the United Kingdom. Diana’s husband, Stanley, has also been a great help in finding out specific bits of information relating to the history of Cardiff Jewry. I am extremely grateful to both for their dedication and enthusiasm. Many individuals have shared their expertise, insights and materials with me and have offered encouragement. I especially wish to thank David Morris, Einion Thomas, Grahame Davies, Esther Roberts, Meic Birtwistle and Jasmine Donahaye, as well as the assistance of archival staff. In Wales: the West Glamorgan Archives, the Glamorgan Archives, the Caernarfon Record Office, Gwent Archives, the National Library of Wales, Wrexham Archives, BBC Wales Archive, the Archives at Bangor University and the Sound Archive at St Fagans National History Museum. In England: the London Metropolitan Archives, The Wiener Library, the Imperial War Museum, the Hartley Library at Southampton University, and the British Library. In the United States: the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City. Periods of travel to archives and conferences in both the United Kingdom and the United States were made possible by research grants from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Royal Historical Society, and Bangor University’s Duncan Tanner Prize. I am grateful to all bodies for their vision and generosity in funding academic research. iii Although much of this thesis is based on archival research, an invaluable source of information has been the testimony gleaned from a number of Welsh-Jews from around the world through personal interview, telephone, and e-mail correspondence. It would be impossible to name all participants, but I thank them all. I met many wonderful people, and had the chance to hear a number of fascinating stories. Unfortunately, personal, first hand memories disappear when people do, and it was following the deaths of some participants that the importance of oral testimony became clear to me. I was fortunate enough to record the life stories of the late Alan Schwartz MBE, who passed away in early 2012; and the late Paul Sugarman of Rhyl, who died in February 2013; but sadly missed out on others. It was a pleasure to meet the late Bernard Blank of Llandudno in June 2011, but he died before I had the opportunity to interview him. I would also like to thank BBC Wales and S4C for taking an interest in this topic, and allowing me to share my research with a wider non-academic audience. In June 2011, I worked as a Historical Consultant for a bilingual BBC Radio Documentary commemorating the centenary of the 1911 Tredegar Riots, while in 2012, I appeared as a ‘Talking Head’ for the programme ‘Welsh Towns’, where I discussed the history of the Wartski family of Bangor. I also provided historical advice for two BBC One Wales documentaries: ‘The Kosher Comedian’ and ‘Coming Home’, and appeared as a ‘Talking Head’ for S4C’s ‘Gwreiddiau: Yr Iddewes’. I have also enjoyed being part of the academic community at Bangor and thankful for the friendship of fellow postgraduate students Jennifer Krase and Marco Guidici, as well as Sociologist, Dr.