East Terrace Synagogue

The predecessor of Cathedral Road Synagogue

3.15 Miles

LOCATION: 22 East Terrace

East Terrace Synagogue

In 1858 a synagogue was opened in East Terrace to serve a community of perhaps 150 persons. The Synagogue adopted the title ‘Cardiff Hebrew Congregation’.  Its first Minister, Nathan Jacobs, served until June 1872.

1858 - 1872  East Terrace Synagogue

old plaque Cathedral Road Synagogue
Plaque from the Cathedral Road Synagogue.
Image credit Alan Schwartz.
 
Synagogues, during this period, could be very hierarchical and only people of means were able to devote the time and energy needed to hold office. The appointment of officials was a continual source of worry and upset. Most of the East Terrace Synagogue officers were substantial businessmen.
 
Old photo of east Terrace Synagogue interior Cardiff Figaro 1889
East Terrace Synagogue interior.
From Cardiff Figaro, 13 April 1889.
 
Picture showing Dennies East Terrace - copyright Cajex
East Terrace Synagogue.
Image credit Cajex: Magazine of the Association of Jewish Ex-service Men and Women (Cardiff), July 1951, p. 27.

1873  

Sometime around 1873, the synagogue was damaged by a fire and the congregation received an insurance pay-out of £21. In 1874, the synagogue was repaired and a new school room built, at a cost of £600.

old photo of a plaque from Cathedral Road Synagogue
Plaque
Plaque from the Cathedral Road Synagogue.
Image credit Alan Schwartz..

1880s  East Terrace congregation had developed a reputation for rigorous discipline.

By the 1880s, the East Terrace congregation had developed a reputation for rigorous discipline. In 1880, it was ’resolved that a policeman be present on the Yomtovim to prevent non-subscribers entering the Synagogue’. The discipline proved so severe that in 1886 the Chief Rabbi wrote to the synagogue advising that, although he would do his best to assist in recovering money owed by a congregant, it was not in his power to block this congregant’s daughter’s wedding! The production and distribution of kosher meat was a major concern. Disciplinary efforts often focused around breaches of protocol in serving non fee-paying congregants, who were charged an extra 2d per pound, to be paid to the synagogue.

1894 - 1897  East Terrace Synagogue was seen as the home of established Jewry in Cardiff.

Through the 1880s, widespread immigration from the Russian Empire increased Jewish numbers throughout the UK. Even though a rival synagogue had opened in Edward Place, by the 1890s East Terrace was becoming too small and, with the movement of the Jewish community to Grangetown, Riverside, and Canton, less practical. So in 1894, a new committee was set up and a site on Cathedral Road rented from the Marquis of Bute.
 
old photo of East Terrace Synagogue 1949
East Terrace Synagogue, 1949.
Image credit Adrian Victor Cohen.
 
East Terrace Synagogue was seen as the home of established Jewry in Cardiff. When Colonel A.E.W. Goldsmid came to Cardiff in 1894 as Colonel-in-Command, 41st. Regimental District, he naturally joined East Terrace. He became the prime mover in the project to build the new synagogue in Cathedral Road which was opened by F.D. Mocatta and consecrated by Chief Rabbi Adler on 11 May 1897.
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