Cardiff United Synagogue will suspend all in-person services as Wales enters a two-week “fire-break” lockdown on Friday. 

Ministers will be permitted to enter religious buildings to broadcast services. Weddings and funerals in places of worship will be allowed “at the invitation of the organiser”.

Chair of the Cardiff shul Lisa Gerson told the JC that the emphasis would shift to virtual services, including a pre-Friday night Kabbalat Shabbat service and Sunday morning tefillin club. 

There would also be an online offering for shivah, yarzheit and Remembrance Sunday and the shul was “looking forward to recommencing our physical services when the fire-breaker lockdown ends on November 9.” 

Announcing the measures, Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford said the lockdown was “our best chance of regaining control of the virus and avoiding a much-longer – and damaging – national lockdown. We have a small window of opportunity to act. 

“We are all tired of coronavirus and the many rules and regulations we all have to live with. We all want to see an end to this pandemic and our lives returned to us. Unfortunately, we do not yet have a vaccine, which will allow us to do that.” 

Wales has seen a spike in cases in October, with a peak of 870 cases confirmed on  October 13. Cardiff had been the area most affected.  

Ms Gerson reported that services during the Yomtovim were “well attended and very well received”, and that even the most nervous congregants “felt safe and secure”. 

The shul had run a “Help Out to Shake Out” scheme for Succot – subsidising the cost of the arba minim by 50 per cent to make individual purchasing more affordable.