The Jewish Community of Brynmawr, Wales

Abstract

At one time or another, there have been about 30 Jewish communities in Wales, most of them in South Wales. Broadly, they were located in two geographical lines: those along the coast, from Newport in the east to Llanelli in the west; and those from Brynmawr in the east to Ystalyfera in the west. Brynmawr (in what was then the county of Breconshire) was the most northerly of the southern communities as well as the highest town in Wales (its name in Welsh means ‘big hill’). There were three separate Jewish communities very near Brynmawr: at Ebbw Vale, Tredegar, and Abertillery; they were to have close relationships with that of Brynmawr. In other nearby places, there were small numbers of Jews — in Blaina and Beaufort, for example — which did not constitute formal congregations but who were associated with Brynmawr’s Jewish activities.