Margate Hebrew Congregation cancelled its Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services because of lack of numbers.
The Orthodox seaside community could once get a congregation of more than 100 at festival services. It now finds it almost impossible to attract a minyan.
“We would have loved to run a service but we don’t have the people,” explained synagogue chairman Geoffrey Gradus. “We can only get eight people together. It is very sad.”
Those who had died were not replaced as young Jews moved away “because there is nothing here for them”. For the few elderly Jews who remained, travelling to and from the synagogue was increasingly problematic.
