Wales's Orthodox Synagogues: Constructing Jewish Communal Places and Spaces

Abstract

This article examines the Welsh contribution to the history of Britain's Orthodox synagogues between the late eighteenth and early twenty-first centuries. It draws on spatial theory to address the communal, constructive, and performative nature of Wales's synagogues and offers the first nationwide examination of the country's Jewish houses of worship. It also makes a plea for Welsh historians to consider the synagogue when discussing Wales's sacred places and spaces, as well as a call to scholars of Jewish studies, particularly those who employ England's metropolitan synagogues as metonyms for British synagogues, to appreciate the importance of both the shared and varied synagogal experiences of British Jewry. How the history of Wales's synagogues both resembled and differed from those found elsewhere in the British Isles is at the core of this article, as is the powerful role of geographical place and topography in shaping this experience. It also challenges established historical narratives of some of Wales's synagogues and examines their fluidity and transformational nature throughout the last two centuries.