The earliest mention of a Jewish presence in Llanelli is found in the London Gazette dated 23 August 1872. The article details the dissolution of a partnership between two brothers who had a pawnbrokers, jewellers and glass dealers in Murray Street. The business of Louis and Michael Newmark was dissolved on 11 January 1872, suggesting that they had already settled in Llanelli and established their business before this time.

A rather more romanticised version of the beginning of the community was told by Mr Harris Rubenstein in 1955. Harris had been treasurer at Llanelli Synagogue for 25 years, and he recounted that in 1880, his mother’s brother decided to emigrate to the USA. The ship drifted for three weeks before docking in Swansea instead of America. Only a few of the 600 people on board stayed in the area. By this time there were half a dozen Jewish families in Llanelli, but they had to travel to the synagogue in Swansea for festivals.

The area had become an attractive prospect for Jewish entrepreneurs due to the growth of the metal and mining industries in south Wales. In 1887, Isaac Benjamin arrived in Llanelli with his two brothers, Lewis and Morris, who were all glaziers. Ten years later in 1897, Harris Rubenstein along with his brother and the three Benjamin brothers began holy day services at what became the Albion Inn on Murray Street, and as their numbers grew, they moved to Castle Buildings which was also on Murray Street. Sabbath services were held in the parlour of Harris Rubenstein’s home.

The congregation was officially formed in 1900, with Isaac Benjamin as President and Harris Rubenstein as Treasurer. Mr. Lipman was the first paid official, followed by Isaac Solomon (Yitschok Shloime Solomon), who settled in Llanelli in around 1905. Isaac was a shochet (kosher butcher) and ba’al tefila (leader of religious worship in the synagogue). He accepted a call which took him from London to the newly formed Llanelli Hebrew Congregation. He received a weekly wage of £1. 5s. 0d. He and his wife, Kendy, regarded Llanelli as eck velt - the end of the world. Later, their family members also moved to Llanelli as they praised how the air was fresh and clean compared to the polluted air in London. Isaac learned to speak Welsh and owned a small grocer’s shop attached to his house to subsidise the low weekly wage for his religious duties. In his Llanelli Hebrew classes he taught many who went on to become rabbis all over the UK, from Edinburgh to Brighton. Solomon’s own son became the spiritual head of a community in California.

The Llanelli Hebrew Congregation was officially inaugurated in 1902, when there were still very few Jews in the area.

There is little evidence of any negative reactions of the local community to their new Jewish neighbours, but it is known that some converted Jews were brought to Llanelli to preach as part of the Christian revivalist effort there, and attempts were also being made in Llanelli to ban shechita (the act of ritual slaughter for kosher meat). An article from the Jewish Chronicle dated 7 February 1904, describes a meeting of the Lanelly Estates Committee, where the Veterinary Inspector said that the method of slaughtering used by the Jewish community at the Llanelli slaughterhouse amounted to cruelty because the animals were not stunned first.

In 1905, reports in the Jewish Chronicle state that Llanelli now had 70 Jews living there, compared to 400 in Swansea. They had no minister at this time, but Rev. S. Fine of Swansea became the visiting minister to the Llanelli community.

By 1908, the Llanelli Jewish community was established enough to build a synagogue capable of seating 200 people, at a cost of just over £600. It was located in Queen Victoria Road and was designed by Mr T. Arnold (Architect and Surveyor) and built by John Evans. The foundation stone of the building was laid in July 1908, by Mr Hyam Goldberg of Swansea. The ceremony was conducted by Rev. I. Solomon of Llanelli and H. J. Sandheim of Swansea. The event was attended by a large number of Christian clergy from Llanelli, and a speech by Mr Hyam Goldberg focused on the importance of keeping the synagogue worthy of the town. The congregation was congratulated for the “good feeling” that existed between Jews and non-Jews in the town.

The new synagogue on Queen Victoria Road was consecrated by the Chief Rabbi, Hermann Adler, on Tuesday 18 May 1909. The local Newspaper, the Llanelly Mercury and South Wales Advertiser, noted comments from the community stating that “We wish them every success in their synagogue, but we would be delighted to find that they had recognised our saviour as their saviour too”.

The synagogue was described as having an Ark on the east side with plush curtains with gold lining. Above was a large brass tablet inscribed with the Ten Commandments. The pulpit was to the right and facing the reading desk.

The Llanelli congregation embraced their Welsh home by celebrating St. David’s Day in the synagogue, including recitations of ‘Gwyl Dewi Sant’ by one of the children.

Llanelli Synagogue by Olwen Hughes.

Image: Cajex.

The original drawing is now in the collection of St Fagans National Museum of History.

By 1913, the community had found themselves in financial difficulty and the bank was threatening to call in the mortgage on the synagogue unless the remaining debt of £576 was substantially reduced. There were concerns that the synagogue would be closed unless the funds were secured. The members of the congregation were heavily taxed and extra weekly contributions were sought in an urgent appeal in 1914. The Llanelli Jewish community was still relatively small; according to the Jewish Yearbook of 1914, there were only 70 Jews in a population of over 25,000.

Although the congregation were struggling financially, they still pledged financial support and donations to help Belgian Jewish refugees and Queen Mary’s Fund in 1914, and weekly contributions were promised for the duration of the war. The children of Llanelli also formed a society to support Queen Mary’s Fund under the supervision of the rabbi in October 1914. In November 1915, they also collected for the financial relief of Polish Jewry, and by February 1916, they raised funds for relief of Jewish victims of war in Russia.

Llanelli did not have its own Jewish cemetery, instead using the Jewish cemetery in Swansea. Interestingly in April 1916, plans were submitted and passed at a meeting of the Rural Council for a Jewish burial ground at Five Roads, Llanelli. By May 1916, a follow up article in the Llanelli Star notes that a letter was sent from the Llanelli Jewish Community to the Rural District Council saying that they had read reports of the proposed cemetery in the press. The congregation wished to disassociate themselves from this as it was applied for without the permission of the whole congregation, and the application was made by a few “irresponsible members” of the community. It is likely that the congregation was too small to shoulder the costs of maintaining their own burial ground at this time.

It appears that this was not the only divide within the Llanelli Jewish Community, and an article from the Jewish Chronicle in November 1975, claims that Llanelli was a once proud, lively and scholarly congregation, but it also had quarrels, and there was an “opposition shul” established for a time. Unfortunately, the article does not elaborate on any further details about this second congregation and when it existed.

Several members of the Llanelli Jewish community fought in the First World War. A report in the Llanelli Star in September 1917, talks about the Jewish New Year celebrations at the synagogue, which included around a dozen members in khaki uniforms, including one invalid who was suffering from shell-shock. From a population of 70 Jews, it is believed that 20 young men volunteered for the armed forces, in one case there were three boys from the same household. One of the Jewish boys from Llanelli was also awarded the Military Cross. In October 1924, a tablet was unveiled at the synagogue in memory of the two sons of Mr Henry Cohen of Albert Street, who both lost their lives in the First World War.

In 1918, some tensions were revealed between the town and the Jewish merchants after a movement in Swansea called for the exclusion of Jewish and other drapers being allowed to compete at the market with established local drapers. Llanelli called for a similar movement as the market was now filled with drapery stalls kept by people from outside the town which was taking thousands of pounds from the local economy.

By March 1940, there were reportedly around 30 Jewish families in Llanelli. This did rise slightly during the Second World War when Jewish families from London came to Llanelli to escape the bombing. However, once the war ended, they returned to London or emigrated to Israel because there was so little for Jewish youngsters to do in Llanelli.

Louise Howard has told us that her father, Wally Howard, joined the tradition of selling clothes to Welsh villagers, who he said were incredibly kind and welcoming even though he spoke very little English or Welsh. He was a Holocaust survivor who had been liberated from Mauthausen Concentration Camp in Austria.

By 1955, although the community was still considered small with no more than 100 people, they continued to financially maintain their synagogue and had established clubs including a Ladies’ Guild, Ladies’ Benevolent Society and a Mizrachi group. Llanelli Synagogue also had its own mikvah (ritual bath).

Even though the community stayed active with religious and social activities, Llanelli now lacked any shops which provided kosher food. According to a member of the Franks family, when he was growing up in Llanelli in the 1940s there was no kosher butcher, so they would have to travel to Swansea where there were general stores which sold kosher food.

The synagogue was reconsecrated by the Chief Rabbi in 1955, but shortly after this, the Jewish community in Llanelli began to decline.

In August 1966, a group of Chasidim under the leadership of Rabbi Shmuel Kraus from Stamford Hill proposed moving to Llanelli to set up a yeshiva (religious school) in the now rarely used synagogue; however, members of the Llanelli Hebrew Congregation decided that this was not practical, as during the past month, daily services had been held and they intended to reinstate Friday evening services. It is now felt by some that if the yeshiva had been established it would have saved the community from its eventual closure.

There was still a small Jewish community in Llanelli in the 1960s. At this time there were less than 100 Jewish families in Swansea, Port Talbot and Llanelli combined.

By 1982 there were not enough people to continue holding services in the synagogue. Two of the Llanelli Torah Scrolls were given to the Cambridge Traditional Jewish Congregation on permanent loan in March 1982. By 1984 the synagogue had closed.

In August 1992, the organised Jewish community in Llanelli was officially terminated. The synagogue was sold for almost £23,000, which was then presented to Penylan House, the Jewish care home for the elderly in Cardiff. The once vibrant community had now come to a close, and any remaining members would now have to travel to Swansea to attend synagogue services;  so the community came full circle, ending the way it had begun in the late 1800s. The synagogue building is now a Free Evangelical Church.

The Llanelli synagogue building today.

Image: JHASW/CHIDC, 2023.

During the roughly 120 years that the Llanelli Jewish Community was in existence, it produced many notable figures, including Arnold Silverstone, a Conservative peer in the House of Lords, and his brother, Joseph Silverstone, who was also a member of the House of Lords, but as a Labour peer. Joseph also became the personal physician to Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Michael Howard, leader of the Conservative Party, also grew up in Llanelli and attended Llanelli Boys’ Grammar School. As well as influential politicians, the Llanelli Jewish community produced religious leaders, such as Rabbi Isaac Cohen who became the Chief Rabbi of Ireland, and Harry Landy who became Chairman of Mizrachi in Great Britain. It has been suggested that for its size and number of congregants, Llanelli has produced more clergy and religious leaders than any other community in Great Britain. Although there is no longer a Jewish community in Llanelli, those who were raised there left a considerable impression and legacy among British Jewry.

When the first Jewish families arrived in the late 1800s, most of the Jewish men in town earned their parnassa (livelihood) by going out on foot to the small mining communities dotted around Llanelli. They would carry packs strapped to their backs, filled with clothing and general household items. They would carry out this work in all weathers.

Renee Woolf was born in Llanelli in 1941. Renee grew up in a family of six children and they lived with their parents behind her mother’s clothing shop at 103 Station Road, Llanelli. Renee’s father was one of the tallymen who walked selling goods door-to-door. He was also a trained cantor and would lead services in Llanelli Synagogue.

The Jewish families in Llanelli had generally arrived with very little money and had to start from nothing to find a home, learn the language and make a living. Many lived day-to-day financially and an article in the Jewish Chronicle on 5 November 1909, records the first application by a member of the Llanelli Jewish community for poor relief; a local woman and her two children were struggling after her husband was imprisoned for disobeying a maintenance order. She was offered a place in the workhouse.

After years of selling door-to-door, many of the tallymen could afford a horse and cart or went on to establish small shops in the town centre where they would sell ‘on tick’ to the families of coal miners, copper smelters and other metal workers. Wages were low for most workers and they would often rely on credit from these stores to make ends meet each week.

Rabbi Yisroel Fine from Swansea recalls stories of his grandfather arriving in Llanelli and starting from scratch. He would drive a horse and cart through the valleys, offering credit, and he would tether his three horses in Llanelli Park when he came home.

Channah Hirsch (née Solomon) describes her childhood in the early 1900s in Llanelli. Her family ran a small hardware shop where they sold paraffin, soap, paint, cups and saucers, scrubbing brushes and other daily household items. The hardware shop was next door to the family home in New Dock Road and they also ran a small drapery business from their front room, selling blouses, socks, stockings and undergarments. Small Jewish businesses often suffered because of being closed on Saturday because it was forbidden to work on the sabbath. As Saturday was the main shopping day when workers received their wages, it was always difficult to hear the knock on the door to purchase goods and be unable to serve the customers until Monday. In Jewish tradition, sabbath ends when three stars are seen in the sky on a Saturday night. If customers turned up earlier than this they would not be served. If locals needed items over the weekend, they would come early on a Saturday evening and shout impatiently through the letterbox: “It’s alright, Mrs. Solomon, you can open up. I’ve seen three stars!”

On Thursdays, Channah recalls the Jewish women would go to meet the local train which brought women, who were bringing produce to the market, from the small surrounding villages to Llanelli. They would purchase live chickens and return home with them until the kosher butcher was available at 5.30pm and the chickens could be killed in accordance with kosher laws.

Pesach (the Jewish holiday of Passover) was an exciting event and participated in by the Jewish townsfolk of Llanelli. Every Jewish household would require kosher milk for Pesach. They would go to the farm of Mrs Williams (known as ‘Mrs Williams the Milk’), who would milk the cows directly into the kosher vessels provided by each family. Mrs Williams also understood the requirement to wipe the udders clean using a fresh cloth. She was very particular in her work and would fill everyone’s vessels with no questions asked. There was a lot of trust between the tradesmen of Llanelli and the Jewish townsfolk. Mrs Williams was understanding that any additional milk purchased during Pesach would be paid for after the festival, as it is prohibited for Jews to spend money during this time.

At this time, Christians in Llanelli numbered around 50,000; therefore, the ratio between the Christian community and the Jewish population was around 1000 to 1. This did not stop the communities from coming together, and Channah recalls a Christian neighbour, known as ‘Thomas the Bible’, who would frequently visit their home to discuss the Bible with her brothers, who were studying at a yeshiva in London.

The Jewish community also felt comfortable to practice their festivals out in the wider community, for example, on the festival of Simchat Torah they would parade through the streets of Llanelli in front of the non-Jewish population, singing and dancing all the way to the synagogue.

The heart and soul of Jewish Llanelli was centred around the synagogue. It was a small community but rich in culture, learning and observance. The women of the community would usually only attend three times a year due to commitments in the home. The men would attend every Friday night and Saturday morning, a welcome respite from their jobs carrying heavy packs around the villages.

After the newly arrived families had settled in Llanelli and built up their trades, most of their children did not carry on the family businesses of their immigrant parents. Many of the poorest families refused to take their children out of school to find employment and help make ends meet. A large emphasis was placed on education to the highest level possible, and many went to university or trained for a profession and did not return to Llanelli. If boys wished to pursue a further religious education after their bar mitzvah, there was no opportunity to attend a yeshiva in south Wales. They would therefore have to travel to London or other larger Jewish centres. The boys would often not return once they had experienced larger communities with more amenities. It is likely that this was a large contributing factor to the eventual decline and closure of the Llanelli Jewish community in the 1990s.

Channah Hirsch writes in her book, ‘My Llanelli: The Gateshead of Wales.’,

“Yes, the very success of the children of Llanelli brought about the demise of the Llanelli Hebrew Congregation. With every departure of a son, a part of the heart and soul of Llanelli was torn out, never to be replaced.”

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