0:00:02 > 0:00:03LAUGHTER
0:00:03 > 0:00:06There was a big Jewish community in Port Talbot.
0:00:06 > 0:00:10but by the time I was born, my family was the only Jewish family there,
0:00:10 > 0:00:12but I've got to say, I never came up against any anti-Semitism.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15Apart from the occasional, jocular,
0:00:15 > 0:00:16"your people killed our Lord."
0:00:16 > 0:00:18LAUGHTER
0:00:18 > 0:00:20Bennett Arron is a Jew from Port Talbot.
0:00:20 > 0:00:22His stand-up comedy
0:00:22 > 0:00:25explores what it is like growing up as a Jew in Wales.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28I get things like, "What do you do with your sheep, then?
0:00:28 > 0:00:30"Shag them or sacrifice them?"
0:00:30 > 0:00:31LAUGHTER
0:00:31 > 0:00:34He's now on a journey to discover what's happened
0:00:34 > 0:00:38to the Jews who once lived in communities across Wales.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40I'm hoping to learn a lot more
0:00:40 > 0:00:43about my grandparents
0:00:43 > 0:00:47and why they came to Port Talbot
0:00:47 > 0:00:52and also what it was like living in the place I grew up
0:00:52 > 0:00:56when it had a large, thriving Jewish community.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59I think it's going to be an interesting experience.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03I think the whole thing's going to be fascinating, whatever I find out.
0:01:03 > 0:01:06Originally, there were over 6,000,
0:01:06 > 0:01:08but now numbers are dwindling.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11It is a community in decline.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14We're Welsh Jews. Quite simply.
0:01:14 > 0:01:15We know what team to support
0:01:15 > 0:01:18on a Saturday.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21He'll discover a sad period of anti-Semitism
0:01:21 > 0:01:23in South Wales.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27I warned you the Chief Constable was very anti-Jewish in what he said.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29Yeah, he didn't really hide that, did he?
0:01:29 > 0:01:32Since the mid-1800s, Jews have played
0:01:32 > 0:01:34an important part in Welsh society
0:01:34 > 0:01:37and have been able to practise their faith in synagogues
0:01:37 > 0:01:41across Wales. But their future here is in doubt.
0:01:57 > 0:01:59This vandalised cemetery
0:01:59 > 0:02:03is the final resting place for generations of Welsh Jews,
0:02:03 > 0:02:06including those from Bennett's hometown of Port Talbot.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08I haven't been here for...
0:02:08 > 0:02:10I can't remember the last time I came here.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12Too long ago.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15His dad Charles is one of the remaining handful of people
0:02:15 > 0:02:17struggling to care for the site.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23It's a cemetery that dates back to the 1700s,
0:02:23 > 0:02:25and over the last 20 years,
0:02:25 > 0:02:27it has been repeatedly desecrated.
0:02:27 > 0:02:32Unfortunately it was here they broke them all. You can see all of these.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36It's a shame the way everything has been damaged, you know.
0:02:37 > 0:02:39They throw things over.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43We had, at one time, there was glass on top of the walls.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45We had to take that down, because it's not allowed.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47Very upsetting.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51I always forget how huge a community it was,
0:02:51 > 0:02:54because growing up, going to the synagogue in Swansea,
0:02:54 > 0:02:57I know that it was always full.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00And I remember going there and I remember that sometimes
0:03:00 > 0:03:04the children wouldn't get a seat and you had to stand
0:03:04 > 0:03:08or wait until somebody would go to the loo, and you grabbed their seat.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11It was, it was absolutely packed.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15You just forget how many people were here.
0:03:15 > 0:03:16That's my dad.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20- He was only 64 when he died. - I didn't realise how young he was.
0:03:20 > 0:03:25When Bennett's grandfather came to Wales from Lithuania in 1913,
0:03:25 > 0:03:27he spoke hardly any English,
0:03:27 > 0:03:30but eventually became a well-respected pillar
0:03:30 > 0:03:32of the Port Talbot community.
0:03:35 > 0:03:37This is where the glazing company was
0:03:37 > 0:03:40that my grandfather had and then my dad after him
0:03:40 > 0:03:44and I used to work here in the summer.
0:03:44 > 0:03:45I was rubbish.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49He used to have his vans parked outside here.
0:03:49 > 0:03:50It was a good business.
0:03:51 > 0:03:53Nearby is his grandparents' home.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55This is where they lived and see that?
0:03:55 > 0:03:58My grandfather made that himself.
0:03:58 > 0:03:59Isn't that beautiful?
0:03:59 > 0:04:01So, he was an incredible craftsman,
0:04:01 > 0:04:04brilliant at business. I wonder why,
0:04:04 > 0:04:06of all the places he could have gone,
0:04:06 > 0:04:09he chose to come to Port Talbot?
0:04:15 > 0:04:16At Swansea library,
0:04:16 > 0:04:18an expert on Jewish history, David Morris,
0:04:18 > 0:04:21has been doing some investigating.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24In the West Glamorgan archives,
0:04:24 > 0:04:26he's discovered records of nearly all
0:04:26 > 0:04:29of Bennett's ancestors and even an account of the day his grandfather,
0:04:29 > 0:04:35Ben Arron, aged just 17, first arrived in Port Talbot.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37It's a local history book.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40This is the first reference that I can find to the Arron family
0:04:40 > 0:04:42in Port Talbot.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45The beginning of 1913,
0:04:45 > 0:04:48a timid young man arrived at Port Talbot General Railway Station
0:04:48 > 0:04:51and feeling unkempt after his long journey from Lithuania,
0:04:51 > 0:04:54one of his first acts was to visit a barbershop,
0:04:54 > 0:04:57where the thruppence he paid for a hair trim
0:04:57 > 0:04:59represented a week's wages in Kovna,
0:04:59 > 0:05:01an agricultural region of Lithuania
0:05:01 > 0:05:03and his birthplace, which he had now forsaken.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06I mean, it's an incredible story, really.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09I don't know much about my grandfather's life.
0:05:09 > 0:05:14I mean, he died before I was born. I know I was named after him.
0:05:14 > 0:05:15TRAIN WHISTLE SQUEALS
0:05:16 > 0:05:19His grandfather Ben decided to come here
0:05:19 > 0:05:21because he'd heard that Port Talbot was a booming steel town
0:05:21 > 0:05:24with great opportunities.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32There was a small group of people from this small little town,
0:05:32 > 0:05:34had come to this small little town in South Wales.
0:05:34 > 0:05:39I don't think this was random. I think this was chain migration.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42They came because other members of the family were here,
0:05:42 > 0:05:43so they came here.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47David has discovered Bennett's grandfather's application
0:05:47 > 0:05:49for British citizenship.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52Originally, his surname was Aronovitch,
0:05:52 > 0:05:55but he felt he had to Anglicize it to help fit in.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57And that's his signature there.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01We do Bs in the same way.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03Incredible you've got this. I mean...
0:06:07 > 0:06:11Bennett's grandmother Sarah was also from Lithuania.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14She was just a child, and with her father,
0:06:14 > 0:06:17they had to flee the country.
0:06:17 > 0:06:19There'd been brutal attacks on Jews,
0:06:19 > 0:06:22and the Russian authorities were preventing Jews from leaving.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25Can you imagine how scary it must have been for my grandmother,
0:06:25 > 0:06:28four or five years of age, smuggled out of Lithuania,
0:06:28 > 0:06:31away from the family she was living with, put onto a ship?
0:06:31 > 0:06:32She must have been petrified.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48My family's history represents the story of other Jews who came over.
0:06:48 > 0:06:52Some came over because they were fleeing persecution,
0:06:52 > 0:06:54some came over just to find fortune,
0:06:54 > 0:06:56and they had skills that were required.
0:06:56 > 0:07:01Some were shopkeepers, glaziers, builders.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04I wonder if there were any comedians.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10It's Bennet's experience of growing up as a Jew in Port Talbot
0:07:10 > 0:07:14which is the raw material for his stand-up act.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17My grandparents were very orthodox, very religious Jews.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19I don't know if you know much about religious Jews,
0:07:19 > 0:07:22but religious Jews are not about to do any work on a Saturday.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24You couldn't build or make anything.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26They couldn't even light a fire,
0:07:26 > 0:07:29because to light a fire you had to strike a match.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33Striking a match created a spark. Creating something constituted work.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36So each family would ask someone to come and light the fire for them,
0:07:36 > 0:07:39and the person who lit my grandparents' fire
0:07:39 > 0:07:41was the local baker, who came along with his young son,
0:07:41 > 0:07:44and that young son was actually Anthony Hopkins.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49I often wondered if he ever struck the match to light the fire,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52burned his finger, and suddenly went...
0:07:56 > 0:07:57By the mid-1920s,
0:07:57 > 0:08:03the population of Orthodox Jews in Port Talbot had grown to around 100.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07To accommodate the rising numbers, they opened a larger synagogue.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10Bennett discovered this from his grandmother,
0:08:10 > 0:08:13but had no idea that this building was once it.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18They'd have a big congregation here, and if you didn't come early,
0:08:18 > 0:08:21you wouldn't get a seat, which is unbelievable.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25Today, there is neither a synagogue nor a rabbi here.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27It's now a spiritualist church.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30Do you understand the name of Margaret? Five foot four,
0:08:30 > 0:08:33- five foot five, dark hair. - Yes, that's correct.
0:08:33 > 0:08:39When they took over the building years ago, they felt a presence.
0:08:39 > 0:08:40When the services used to go on,
0:08:40 > 0:08:42the medium that was up there taking the service
0:08:42 > 0:08:46always seen a rabbi coming up and down,
0:08:46 > 0:08:51and whatever medium come, he'd be disapproving. Didn't believe in us.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55But one year he did come back and he gave his approval.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58And it's OK. And from then on we've just thrived.
0:08:58 > 0:09:03Bennet's looking for any reminder of its Jewish past.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05You go up in the attic, there's a window there.
0:09:05 > 0:09:10- It was the original window of the synagogue.- Oh, really?
0:09:10 > 0:09:12- Can you get up there? - Oh, no, you won't get...
0:09:12 > 0:09:15You've got to go through that little hatch there.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17BENNETT LAUGHS
0:09:18 > 0:09:20This is really exciting.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23There's every chance my grandfather is the one that made this window.
0:09:32 > 0:09:33It goes right down, it does.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36The actual window's in there but no glass in it.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40In fact, I'm touching a piece of glass that's stuck in the corner.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44- Really?- Yeah. I'm actually touching it, yeah.
0:09:44 > 0:09:45Now it's all gone.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47- Nothing to see.- Nothing.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49Only the top part. Only the A-frame.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51Oh, what a shame.
0:09:51 > 0:09:52Thank you for looking.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56It's surprising just how little remains
0:09:56 > 0:09:59of the Jewish presence in Port Talbot,
0:09:59 > 0:10:02and how much has gone in such a short space of time.
0:10:04 > 0:10:05Even after World War II,
0:10:05 > 0:10:07there were still around 20 Jewish families here,
0:10:07 > 0:10:11but just 30 years later, there were insufficient numbers
0:10:11 > 0:10:12to keep the synagogue going.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19Bennett's family soon became the only Jewish family left,
0:10:19 > 0:10:23and eventually, they had to move from their Port Talbot home
0:10:23 > 0:10:27and became part of the active Orthodox community in Swansea.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33So I come from an Orthodox background,
0:10:33 > 0:10:36although I have lapsed slightly over the years,
0:10:36 > 0:10:39but I still go to the synagogue with my children
0:10:39 > 0:10:42and they go to Sunday school and I still keep kosher.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44I've never eaten pork or ham
0:10:44 > 0:10:48and my children aren't even allowed to keep their money in a piggy bank.
0:10:49 > 0:10:52And this is the synagogue he attended as a boy.
0:10:52 > 0:10:54The membership here is declined,
0:10:54 > 0:10:56which has resulted in the building being sold
0:10:56 > 0:11:01to a thriving Evangelical church.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04This whole place was the synagogue when I was younger,
0:11:04 > 0:11:09and it would be absolutely packed, especially on the Jewish festivals.
0:11:09 > 0:11:11You couldn't move here. It was standing room only.
0:11:13 > 0:11:15This has completely changed.
0:11:15 > 0:11:20This is where the women sit here and the men sat in front there,
0:11:20 > 0:11:24and my mum and my grandmothers and my auntie would sit here,
0:11:24 > 0:11:29and my dad in the front and my grandfather sat in the front also.
0:11:29 > 0:11:30Over there is where myself
0:11:30 > 0:11:34and all my contemporaries sat, trying to vie for space.
0:11:34 > 0:11:39Bennett and all the other children studied the Old Testament here.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42I can read Hebrew but don't really understand what I'm saying.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45Still, I read it well.
0:11:45 > 0:11:50And inside this new church property, the Swansea synagogue still remains,
0:11:50 > 0:11:54but now in a smaller room rented from the new owners.
0:11:55 > 0:12:00- His dad Charles and mum Joyce are here...- Hello.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02..along with family friend Norma.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09Behind this curtain is the synagogue's Holy Ark.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15Each of these ornate scrolls make up the Torah.
0:12:15 > 0:12:17These are the books of Moses,
0:12:17 > 0:12:21the laws by which Jewish life is defined.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25Which ones are from Port Talbot? Those two?
0:12:25 > 0:12:28These two, the ones that used to have little mirrors in there,
0:12:28 > 0:12:33we donated them here when our synagogue in Port Talbot had to close, unfortunately.
0:12:34 > 0:12:39For generations, the Swansea Jews have lived in relative harmony
0:12:39 > 0:12:44with their neighbours, but in 2002, the congregation here
0:12:44 > 0:12:47was badly shaken when the synagogue was the target
0:12:47 > 0:12:48of an anti-Semitic attack.
0:12:49 > 0:12:53This is what they did to the sacred scrolls.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55It was a terrible sight to see.
0:12:55 > 0:13:00There were graffiti for Combat 18, Ku Klux Klan,
0:13:00 > 0:13:05and they really did damage, and I felt very sad.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14But this wasn't the first time the Jewish community in Wales
0:13:14 > 0:13:16experienced a racially motivated attack.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20I've come to Tredegar.
0:13:20 > 0:13:26There were riots here in 1911 which were called the anti-Jewish riot,
0:13:26 > 0:13:29so I want to find out whether or not that was the actual case.
0:13:30 > 0:13:32150 years ago,
0:13:32 > 0:13:36this was one of the boomtowns of the industrial valleys.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39Local historian Peter Morgan-Jones
0:13:39 > 0:13:42is an expert of the town's Jewish history.
0:13:42 > 0:13:44- Heard a lot about you. Welcome to Tredegar.- Only good things.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47- Thank you very much. - It's an interesting little town.
0:13:47 > 0:13:49How big was the Jewish community here?
0:13:49 > 0:13:51About 150 people all told.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54This is where the synagogue was.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59It was small, but absolutely vital.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04They lived all over the town, and in the community,
0:14:04 > 0:14:06but they didn't become part of the community.
0:14:06 > 0:14:11If you can understand that Jews wearing their different costume,
0:14:11 > 0:14:15their different robes, long robes, for example, wearing long beards.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19They appeared to this community, appeared hostile.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22The appeared alien, should I say, not hostile.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26In 1911, riots broke out across the valleys,
0:14:26 > 0:14:31in the Rhondda, Ebbw Vale, Cwm and here, in Tredegar.
0:14:32 > 0:14:34A rail strike meant that coal could not be transported
0:14:34 > 0:14:39and thousands of miners were laid off without pay.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44The Jewish press reported that 20 Jewish shops were ransacked
0:14:44 > 0:14:46and looted and rioters sang Christian hymns
0:14:46 > 0:14:49as they wreaked havoc in the town.
0:14:49 > 0:14:54Some dismiss claims that it was a deliberate attack on Jews.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57One account says that a group of young man singing
0:14:57 > 0:14:58came in to this circle
0:14:58 > 0:15:01and marched across here to a shop that was just behind us
0:15:01 > 0:15:05and smashed the windows and started looting it.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08Whether that's true or not, we don't know, but it possibly was.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11Is it not true that the police informed Jewish residents
0:15:11 > 0:15:13the day before there might be problems?
0:15:13 > 0:15:16There were warnings about this.
0:15:16 > 0:15:17Surely if there were warnings,
0:15:17 > 0:15:19that means that it was pre-planned to some extent.
0:15:19 > 0:15:21They certainly warned Jews,
0:15:21 > 0:15:25"Your shops are likely to be attacked if any trouble breaks out."
0:15:25 > 0:15:27"It broke out in the Rhondda, it could break out here."
0:15:29 > 0:15:33For the local unemployed, the only way to raise cash to buy food
0:15:33 > 0:15:38was a visit to the pawnbrokers, some being run by Jews.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40They were well known, some of the pawnbrokers,
0:15:40 > 0:15:45well-known for being only too ready to retain goods
0:15:45 > 0:15:49which had been pawned when people had stopped paying the interest on the pawning.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52- Which is business, really. - Which is business.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54And to an extent, would've given grounds
0:15:54 > 0:15:59for some type of anti-Semitic feel. If you have Jewish people doing this,
0:15:59 > 0:16:01then obviously that's going to build up.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03Yes it would. Yes. Of course it was.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06Anti-Semitism was here but I maintain
0:16:06 > 0:16:09and I always have maintained that much of this would have taken place
0:16:09 > 0:16:11if the shops had been owned by Chinese.
0:16:11 > 0:16:15It must have been horrible. You're serving customers one day,
0:16:15 > 0:16:20the people in the town who are coming up and buying your furniture
0:16:20 > 0:16:24and your clothing and everything, and then the next day you go to work
0:16:24 > 0:16:29and your shop has been vandalised by those same customers.
0:16:29 > 0:16:30That's awful.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38Bennett's next stop is the town's library.
0:16:38 > 0:16:43These are some of the damage claims that went through the court.
0:16:43 > 0:16:48Archivist Janet Karn has discovered documents about the victims of the riots.
0:16:48 > 0:16:52We've got Cohen, which is my mum's maiden name.
0:16:52 > 0:16:57We got Cohen, we've got Eastman, Marks, Rosenbaum.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01I mean, very traditional Jewish names.
0:17:01 > 0:17:06Again, tailor, draper, outfitter, jeweller, cabinet maker.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10She's also found the Chief Constable's 1911 report
0:17:10 > 0:17:14citing Jewish business practices as a reason for the unrest.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18- What, that he thinks that the Jewish population here started it?- Yeah.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21His handwriting is not the best, I've got to be honest.
0:17:21 > 0:17:27He wrote, "They establish themselves in business and acquire houses and property.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30"They become landlords and they raise rents very high,
0:17:30 > 0:17:34"and I am told make their tenants deal at their shops."
0:17:35 > 0:17:40I did warn you that the Chief Constable was very anti-Jewish in what he said.
0:17:40 > 0:17:41Yeah, apparently so.
0:17:41 > 0:17:46You would never be allowed to get away with it today.
0:17:46 > 0:17:50Yeah, you know, you say that. I don't know that's so certain.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55Then, in a room packed with the objects
0:17:55 > 0:17:59that charts the town's history, there's a surprising find.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02Let's put some lights on in here for you.
0:18:02 > 0:18:04There you are. Look.
0:18:04 > 0:18:05Oh, wow. Gosh.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07How the gentleman got that, I don't know.
0:18:07 > 0:18:12- We might be able to get it out of the cupboard for you.- Really?
0:18:12 > 0:18:15It's all that remains of the Jews' presence here.
0:18:15 > 0:18:16And no-one knows for sure
0:18:16 > 0:18:19if this holy book should indeed be kept in Tredegar.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23Because when I saw it, I was scandalised.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25I didn't think we should have it.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33Wow, isn't this incredible?
0:18:33 > 0:18:351865.
0:18:35 > 0:18:37It is the Talmud,
0:18:37 > 0:18:40containing the laws governing Judaism
0:18:40 > 0:18:44and of scholarly discussion on the old Testament.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47All that is known is that this book came from the house
0:18:47 > 0:18:50of the last Jew in Tredegar.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54I don't think I've seen one this old before.
0:18:54 > 0:18:56What an incredible book.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59I think for the time being it's in the right place.
0:18:59 > 0:19:01Well, that makes me feel a little easier.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05Bennett leaves with copies of the documents
0:19:05 > 0:19:08about the Tredegar Jews for him to study further.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14As the Welsh-Jewish community prospered in the industrial valleys,
0:19:14 > 0:19:18many of their children were growing up with different aspirations
0:19:18 > 0:19:22and accents to their forebears.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25I've always had a strong identity of being both Jewish and Welsh,
0:19:25 > 0:19:27so I've been interested in my family's history,
0:19:27 > 0:19:30and generally, the history of Jews in Wales
0:19:30 > 0:19:32and I'd no idea how many lived here,
0:19:32 > 0:19:35especially in these small communities.
0:19:35 > 0:19:36It's been fascinating, really.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40And just for a short while, I've stopped being a Jewish-Welsh comedian
0:19:40 > 0:19:42and I've become a Jewish-Welsh historian.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48It's very funny, when I did research for this show,
0:19:48 > 0:19:51I contacted a lot of my friends from school on Facebook.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54I know a lot of them are here this evening.
0:19:54 > 0:19:55I asked them what they remembered about me
0:19:55 > 0:19:57being the only Jewish child in school.
0:19:57 > 0:19:59A lot of them remembered the same thing,
0:19:59 > 0:20:01that I played the part of Shylock,
0:20:01 > 0:20:04the Jewish moneylender, in the school play.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08Which was lovely, but it was a bit odd, as we were doing Peter Pan.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11LAUGHTER
0:20:11 > 0:20:14It was the Glan Afan comprehensive
0:20:14 > 0:20:17where Bennett first took to the stage.
0:20:17 > 0:20:19Did you used to have school productions in their?
0:20:19 > 0:20:21This is the first place I ever acted.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24The head teacher is keen that he isn't late for THIS class.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26Do you think I'm going to be told off?
0:20:26 > 0:20:28No, I don't think you're going to get told off.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35- This is Miss Farrer.- Hello, nice to meet you.- Hello there.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37This is something they do every year?
0:20:37 > 0:20:39Yes, it's is part of their GCSE history curriculum.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42Many of these do RE GCSE
0:20:42 > 0:20:45and they study Judaism as part of that as well.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47And we went to the Holocaust exhibition,
0:20:47 > 0:20:49which was harrowing, but interesting.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52When I was in school, this wasn't touched on at all.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55- It was never taught, was it? - Never taught, never mentioned at all.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58Well, I know obviously, about the Holocaust,
0:20:58 > 0:21:01but I never, knew, like, so much in-depth.
0:21:01 > 0:21:05- Right.- So, it's quite interesting to learn all about it now.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08- But it's still sad to me. - Yes, no, of course.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12Bennett's family were already in Wales
0:21:12 > 0:21:16when Jews were rounded up and sent to the concentration camps,
0:21:16 > 0:21:20where six million men, women and children were murdered.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26'When I was in Poland, I went to Auschwitz'
0:21:26 > 0:21:29and if you ever get the opportunity, it's not a theme park,
0:21:29 > 0:21:33but if you ever get a chance to go, it's just... really incredible.
0:21:33 > 0:21:38One of the most awful things I saw was that there's one room
0:21:38 > 0:21:45that's got, um, just a glass front, the whole wall is glass,
0:21:45 > 0:21:47you can see and behind it, is hair.
0:21:47 > 0:21:52Mainly women and children's hair that's been cut off.
0:21:52 > 0:21:54So, there's that room and then there's another room
0:21:54 > 0:21:58which is full of children's toys that were taken off them.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02The fact that they're working now on the Holocaust,
0:22:02 > 0:22:08and that's one of the things they do every year, is incredible.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11I mean, we didn't do it when I was here.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14And now even further away from the event happened,
0:22:14 > 0:22:18they're studying it and are interested in it.
0:22:18 > 0:22:19I wasn't expecting that.
0:22:24 > 0:22:26No Jews remain in Port Talbot
0:22:26 > 0:22:30and the Jews living in the valleys have also disappeared.
0:22:30 > 0:22:35Currently in North Wales, there are only about 50 Jews left,
0:22:35 > 0:22:39but hopes are that their numbers will remain stable.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43Most of Wales' Jews are still to be found in Cardiff,
0:22:43 > 0:22:46yet now they are only two synagogues,
0:22:46 > 0:22:50a massive decline from its zenith, when the principality boasted seven.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56Well, this is the Cardiff synagogue.
0:22:56 > 0:23:02And I'm going to see a Jewish-Welsh male voice choir.
0:23:02 > 0:23:03TRADITIONAL JEWISH MUSIC
0:23:08 > 0:23:09Good evening. Hello.
0:23:09 > 0:23:15These are members of Cardiff's last remaining orthodox Jewish congregation.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19- Nice to see you.- We last met at the comedy club. We came to see you.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21- At the Glee?- At the Glee, yes. - Of course.
0:23:21 > 0:23:23We were part of, in the audience.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25And your folks were there.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29- They were there.- That's right. - That was an interesting evening.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31- Grab a chair, Bennett.- What?
0:23:31 > 0:23:34- Grab a chair.- I'm not singing. Honestly.- Don't sing with us, we...
0:23:35 > 0:23:38THEY SING
0:23:49 > 0:23:51There was a time when the Cardiff choir
0:23:51 > 0:23:54were gigging all over the country.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57A few years ago, we produced and made a CD
0:23:57 > 0:24:01and there's one or two copies left if you're interested.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04One or two boxes. Hundreds left.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08Next door, the synagogue itself has a capacity of 150,
0:24:08 > 0:24:12but typically, fewer than 40 people attend on the Sabbath
0:24:12 > 0:24:17and these days, the choir too struggles to attract members.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20- How many are in the choir?- There are more than this, but this is, what,
0:24:20 > 0:24:24er, three, five, six, seven here tonight.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27And it's not just the synagogue's choir that struggles.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31Is there a growth in Cardiff, or is it also on a decline as other places?
0:24:31 > 0:24:34- Er, decline.- It is?
0:24:34 > 0:24:37The truth of the matter is it's declining everywhere.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43Bennett's realising that he's one of the many Jews
0:24:43 > 0:24:46who have abandoned Wales to seek their fortune elsewhere.
0:24:46 > 0:24:51And most, just like him, have gone to London.
0:24:51 > 0:24:52So, apparently it's the fault of me
0:24:52 > 0:24:56and my generation that there's such a decline of Jews in Wales.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01He heads back to Swansea to his parents' synagogue,
0:25:01 > 0:25:04where the decline is even greater than in Cardiff.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08Here, there are less than 20 people attending services.
0:25:08 > 0:25:13The synagogue's future is uncertain, as Jewish law requires a minion,
0:25:13 > 0:25:17a minimum of ten men over the age of 13
0:25:17 > 0:25:19to perform communal daily prayers.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22Somebody at the synagogue at the service the other day,
0:25:22 > 0:25:24because the men and women sit separately, you see,
0:25:24 > 0:25:26the men sit at the front.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30And second class citizens, which are the women, we sit behind.
0:25:30 > 0:25:31SHE LAUGHS
0:25:31 > 0:25:34And one man turned round and he started to laugh.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38I said, 'why are you laughing at me?' And I'm 71,
0:25:38 > 0:25:43and he said, 'You're the youngest member in the community at the service.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46Oh, my God, at 71 and it just,
0:25:46 > 0:25:49reached home to think that we're such an ageing community now.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53'People moved away, like the Bennetts of this world
0:25:53 > 0:25:59and all our children moved to go away for university,
0:25:59 > 0:26:02or for work or better prospects,
0:26:02 > 0:26:05found their marriage partners
0:26:05 > 0:26:11and made a life where there were more viable communities.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15So really, we've been left now as a very small community.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28I've only just realised the fact that in, what?
0:26:28 > 0:26:3130, 40 years' time,
0:26:31 > 0:26:35there might not be any Jews left in Swansea.
0:26:37 > 0:26:43So, from a huge community, to having nobody.
0:26:43 > 0:26:44At all.
0:26:47 > 0:26:48That's a sad thought.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59Bennett's studied the documents he's collected on his journey
0:26:59 > 0:27:02and discovered that his mother's grandparents
0:27:02 > 0:27:06are linked with the last surviving Jews of Tredegar.
0:27:06 > 0:27:11- You said to me that you had family there.- I did.- Who was there?
0:27:11 > 0:27:14Your great-grandmother was Ellen Fine.
0:27:14 > 0:27:16- And she married..?- Morris Cohen.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19Who wasn't from Tredegar and I don't know how they met.
0:27:19 > 0:27:21Well, that's the interesting thing.
0:27:21 > 0:27:27I was given a list of weddings that happened in Tredegar and look,
0:27:27 > 0:27:29March 26th...
0:27:29 > 0:27:32- Oh, my gosh.- Ellen Fine.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36- How old was she?- 22. Ellen Morris Cohen.
0:27:37 > 0:27:38- Oh...- There we go.
0:27:38 > 0:27:40Oh, it's amazing.
0:27:40 > 0:27:42- I'm so glad you've shown me this. - Good.
0:27:42 > 0:27:43Quite emotional.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48Uncovering the wider history of the Welsh Jews,
0:27:48 > 0:27:51as well as performing his stand up for the first time
0:27:51 > 0:27:55in his hometown has been a revealing experience for Bennett.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58I sometimes feel like I've got a rabbi on one shoulder
0:27:58 > 0:27:59and a dragon on the other,
0:27:59 > 0:28:02which would be a brilliant name for a pub, I think.
0:28:02 > 0:28:04The Dragon and Rabbi. GENTLE LAUGHTER
0:28:04 > 0:28:08It would only serve bitter and the head of the pint would be missing.
0:28:08 > 0:28:10LAUGHTER
0:28:10 > 0:28:12I talk about beer and I have this a lot.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14One of the other reasons I do this show
0:28:14 > 0:28:17is people say, "What's is it like? you're Jewish and you're not allowed to drink."
0:28:17 > 0:28:20Jews can drink. It's when I will let my Welsh side take over.
0:28:20 > 0:28:22LAUGHTER
0:28:22 > 0:28:27'Do you know what? It's been an emotional few days.'
0:28:27 > 0:28:29And it's been interesting learning about my family,
0:28:29 > 0:28:33been interesting learning about what happened to other Jews in Wales
0:28:33 > 0:28:37and it's been sad knowing what the future holds, really.
0:28:37 > 0:28:41Thank you very much for coming. I hope to see you again. Good night.
0:28:41 > 0:28:42APPLAUSE
0:28:44 > 0:28:46Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd