Annual visitors say ban on prayer candles in university accommodation has forced them to seek an alternative holiday destination
Orthodox Jews on holiday in Aberystwyth
Keith Morris
Hundreds of
Orthodox Jews who have visited Aberystwyth each summer for almost two decades
say they will be forced to go elsewhere because of new health and safety
regulations.
It comes after
Aberystwyth University – which provides their accommodation – said the
holidaymakers are no longer allowed to light candles on a Friday night to usher
in Shabbat.
The community
which rents around 120 vacant student houses at Pentre Jane Morgan said
lighting candles was part of their religion.
Members of
London and Manchester’s Jewish communities said they were “very disappointed
and upset” at a decision from the University and they will be forced to look
elsewhere for accommodation.
But Aberystwyth
University said it was refusing to allow candles in the houses on health and
safety grounds.
Jewish families
visit the seaside town for two weeks in July or August, using a yellow and
white striped tent as a makeshift synagogue.
But last year
they were told they would only be allowed to stay at Pentre Jane Morgan in 2013
if they agreed not to light candles.
The Orthodox
Jews have stayed for the past few years at Aberystwyth University's student
village
Keith Morris
The university
said its decision was based purely on health and safety grounds.
“The use of
candles/naked flames in all university residences is prohibited,” the
university said in a statement.
“This is clearly
set out in the terms and conditions which visiting groups are required to sign
and abide by during their stay.
“Unfortunately,
last year there was more than one incident involving lit candles with this
visiting group.
“During
negotiations regarding a proposed visit this year the university was asked to
remove the parts of the terms and conditions which referred to flames being lit
in accommodation and a suggestion was made by the group that covered flames
might be more acceptable to the university.
“In reaching its
decision not to allow candles to be lit in rooms the university has taken legal
and health and safety advice and been in dialogue with the fire service. It has
also undertaken its own risk assessment based on the local context and previous
incidents.”
The university
said it would be ‘delighted’ to host the group as long as it agreed to the
amended terms and conditions.
It comes weeks
after Aberystwyth suffered a fire which destroyed a section of roof at
the National Library of Wales.
Fire chiefs said
the blaze was started accidentally by a blowtorch.
Investigators at
Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service said a propane-powered device used
by workers set fire to wood behind some external cladding on a flat roof last
month.
Two workers had
been carrying out repairs at the library in Aberystwyth when the blaze started
on April 26.
As well as fire
damage caused to an area used as office space and for new acquisitions, water
damage is also said to have affected five floors of the building.
Pieces of an
historic collection damaged in the fire have been taken to Oxford by salvage
experts – though it is thought no “significant treasures” had been
affected by the blaze.
A spokeswoman
for the organisers of the Jewish group said they had found alternative
destination outside Wales this summer, but added the group preferred
Aberystwyth.
“We have found
another place to stay this year, but it’s not as nice as Aberystwyth.
“Lighting
candles on a Friday evening is part of our religion and being asked not to
light them is like asking us not to breathe.
“We are ready to
be safe – it’s in our interests to be safe.”
Last August the
community was hit by a tragedy when Rabbi Dov Berish Englander, 47, of Stamford
Hill, north London, drowned in the sea off Aberystwyth while on holiday in the
town.
In November an
inquest recorded a verdict of accidental death.
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