kosher

Something happened in 1656 that was "good news" for Jews - but what was it? To understand, we must look back before Oliver Cromwell and the "Whitehall conference" of that year, the event popularly considered the turning point.

In the late 13th century, the small Jewish community that existed in England became less useful to the monarch after it was hammered by successive rounds of swingeing taxation.

Edward I decreed in July 1290 that all Jews should leave England by 1 November. Apart from a small number in the Domus Conversorum (House of Converts) in Chancery Lane, that is exactly what happened.

A few centuries later, Jews in Europe faced a new threat from the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions.

Jewish refugees fled the Iberian Peninsula during the 15th and 16th centuries, seeking safer realms away from religious persecution.

By coincidence, in England, there was a king who found a different point of view useful. Henry VIII imported Jewish rabbinical advisors to help find a Biblical way out of his marriage to Katherine of Aragon, the first of his six wives. He also welcomed Italian Jewish musicians to his court.

And from the mid 16th century onwards, Jews entered England as Spanish and Portuguese merchants. They lived a double life: practising their true faith in secret while in public attending Lutheran churches.

Somehow they managed to observe feasts, fast-days and some dietary laws.

Even though their Jewishness was tacit knowledge in London and Bristol, a blind eye was turned to their private religious activities.

There was no Inquisition in England. In fact, Jews became a useful political tool for an English court at odds with Spain and Portugal. The throne found it was able to make good use of these exotic merchants with their overseas contacts.

It is impossible to say how many such "conversos" lived in England - perhaps they numbered no more than 100 at any one time - but without a synagogue or official recognition, they did not constitute a community.

In Rabbi Menasseh ben Israel, a scholar, publisher and ambassador for Jews, petitioned Oliver Cromwell in 1656, asking for his community to have the right to settle. That petition was a catalyst for change.

By the time of the Whitehall conference called to decide the issue, those in favour of the Jews may have had millenarian or mercantile aspirations, while those against, cited theology and the fear of competition.

The result was inconclusive - but perhaps the fact that the debate took place at all effected a change in the climate of tolerance.

Crucially, the conference accepted that the1290 Edict of Expulsion applied only to Jews resident in England at that date; technically there was no barrier to resettlement.

Furthermore, the renewed hostilities with Spain meant that it was safer to come out as a Jew than be taken for a Spaniard in London.

And so, in December 1656 Antonio Fernandes Carvajal, the leader of a small group of settlers, acquired land for a Jewish cemetery, a public statement of existence.

In 1657 his hitherto private synagogue in Creechurch Lane was extended to accommodate an influx of worshippers - and in 1659, his memorial service was attended by Samuel Peyps.

Ashkenazi Jews from Germany and Poland founded their first synagogue in 1692 in Broad Street, Mitre Square.

The magnificent Spanish and Portuguese Jews' synagogue in Bevis Marks, a road in the City of London, followed in 1701.

Despite intermittent attempts by some clerics and city merchants to have Jews banished once more, the presence of the small community appeared secure. The small group had become a community.

In the 350 years since the Whitehall conference, the relationship between the Jews and the host community has not always run smoothly.

The Jew Bill of 1753, drafted to enable foreign Jews to naturalise, met with violent opposition and had to be axed.

Civil rights came at a snail's pace in the 19th century - although that it is true for Catholics and dissenters too.

Today, most Jews in Britain regard themselves both as integrated citizens with a rich historical and cultural background.

But the fact that anti-Semitism remains alive - while more recent immigrants find themselves demonised by a bigoted minority - demonstrates that although Britain has become an increasingly multicultural society, there remains, in some quarters, an innate suspicion of difference.

Nevertheless, 2006 marked 350 years during which Jews have found somewhere they could come and find their feet, whether they were fleeing Russian pogroms in the 19th century, or the Nazis in the 20th. And that is something worth celebrating.

As reported by the BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5341424.stm

For a free copy of the following walking guide leaflets, please e-mail your name and address to tourism@towerhamlets.gov.uk or visit www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/data/discover to download a copy

Discover the Vanishing Jewish East End of London

The fantacinating history of the area is detailed in, Exploring the Vanishing Jewish East End, which included an nostalgic introduction by writer, actor and director Steven Berkoff, an East End resident and son of a Stepney tailor. The two self guided walks also introduce places that have been home to, and inspired, Jewish writers, artists and entertainers such as Bud Flangan. Amongst the wealth of history, pockets of thriving contemporary Jewish life are not forgotten with one walk leading to Rinkoffs, the only remaining Jewish Bakers in the East End, where visitors can indulge in a slice of delicious cheesecake.

This section is taken from:

MOVING HERE & is very informative about the Eastern European Ashkenazi immigration

Immigrant

seder

Moving Here catalogue reference (JML) 67.5

Newly arrived Jewish immigrants had a tendency to create close-knit, distinctive communities. They wanted to live and work near to their fellow Jews, especially

landsleit - people from the same original village - and within walking distance of a

synagogue, ritual baths and

kosher food shops. The language of the newcomers was

Yiddish.

Russell and Lewis's map of Jewish East London, 1900, shows street by street the density of Jewish settlement.

Moving Here catalogue reference (JML) 2002.25

The immigrants settled in inner city areas like the East End of London, the Leylands in Leeds, Strangeways in Manchester and the Gorbals in Glasgow.

In 1880 there were around 46,000 Jews in London, but by 1900 this figure had almost trebled to 135,000, and most were living within the two square miles of the East End.

In 1889 Charles Booth observed:

The newcomers have gradually replaced the English population in whole districts, Hanbury Street, Fashion Street, Pelham Street, and many streets and lanes and alleys have fallen before them; they have introduced new trades as well as new habits and they live and crowd together.

On 25 January 1911, the London Evening Standard published the first of a series of long Catarticles on 'the alien problem'.

By 1900 many of these streets were entirely Jewish. To non-Jews, the new arrivals presented a curious spectacle - they spoke a foreign language, wore different clothes, ate strange-smelling foods and practised an unfamiliar religion. Many non-Jews were horrified by what they saw as an 'alien invasion'. In his book Living London, GR Sims describes Whitechapel in 1904:

It is its utterly alien aspect which strikes you first and foremost. For the Ghetto is a fragment of Poland torn off from Central Europe and dropped haphazard into the heart of Britain.

By settling in tight-knit communities, the Jews were creating an environment for themselves in which they could retain their distinctive culture and tradition and slowly adapt to the difficulties of life in a new, often hostile, country. The East End historian William Fishman gives his own description of Jewish life in the teeming streets of Whitechapel:

The Jews formed their own self-contained street communities with workshops,

stiebels and all-purpose stores where the men would gather on Sundays to discuss the '

rabbi's' sermon, politics and local scandal. On Fridays, the eve of

Sabbath, the cloistered alleys and thoroughfares came to life as candles blazed from the front parlours of shabby one-storeyed cottages or tenements.

Cramped conditions in an immigrant home.

Moving Here catalogue reference (JML) 779.1

The immigrants were settling in areas already characterised by poverty and overcrowding. The flow of new arrivals only worsened the conditions of severe overcrowding, dirt and lack of sanitation.

In 1884, The Lancet reported the case of a Jewish potato dealer who lived with his wife, five children and a huge pile of potatoes in one room which measured only five yards by six! But the demand for accommodation, regardless of how bad it was, kept rents high.

'Jewesses taking the air'

Moving Here catalogue reference (LMA) SC/PHL/02/953/79/6356

The Jewish Board of Guardians, an organisation set up in 1859 to help the 'strange poor', tried to relieve the worst conditions. Other wealthy Jews pressed for improvements in the form of model tenement blocks.

In 1885 Lord Rothschild and others formed the Four-Percent Industrial Dwellings Company, which aimed to charge fair rents and build flats that were large enough to house families in more than one room. The largest of a series of tenement blocks built by the company were the Rothschild Buildings on Flower and Dean Street, clearing an area known as 'the foulest and most dangerous in the whole metropolis'. Read about Manchester Jewry

Synagogues

Early morning service at a chevra.

Moving Here catalogue reference (JML) 1997.1p258

Synagogues were of prime importance in the community life of the new immigrants. The existing synagogues, with their imposing interiors and anglicised services, were not popular with the new arrivals. It was not long before a network of small synagogues, also known as

stiebels or

chevras, sprang up all over the East End and other areas of new Jewish settlement.

The chevras were established in attics, back rooms and even former chapels. They were often named after the town or district in Russia or Poland from which their founders had emigrated, and they not only served as places of worship, but provided welfare help, study and mutual support.

Inside Philpott Street synagogue.

Moving Here catalogue reference (JML) 194.1

There were an enormous number of small synagogues in areas of dense Jewish population. Families living in the Rothschild Buildings were within walking distance of at least 15 synagogues in the neighbouring streets.

The writer Israel Zangwill

recognised the importance of the synagogue to the Jewish immigrant.

He commented:

They dropped in, mostly in their workday garments and grime, and rumbled and roared and chorused prayers with a zeal that shook the window panes, and there was never a lack of a minyan - the congregational quorum of ten.

Schewzik's Vapour Baths.

Moving Here catalogue reference (JML) 2002.27

In 1887, Sir Samuel Montagu, the Whitechapel MP, founded the Federation of Synagogues, which incorporated most of the East End chevras. By 1900, the Federation's membership was larger than the United Synagogue, which represented the synagogues of the existing Anglo-Jewish establishment.

Before attending synagogue on a Friday night, many men visited a bath-house. A local East End landmark was Schewzik's Vapour Baths in Brick Lane, offering the 'Best Massage in London: Invaluable relief for Rheumatism, Gout, Sciatica, Neuritis, Lumbago and Allied Complaints. Keep fit and well by regular visits'! Reverend Schewzik, the manager of the baths, also conducted Holy Day services at the Great Assembly Hall in Mile End.

Everyday Life

A bagel seller on Petticoat Lane.

Moving Here catalogue reference (MOL) IN2236

In the areas where Jews were concentrated, the community became almost entirely self-sufficient. In the East End, for example, the streets were thronged with Jewish shoppers, housewives, and children running errands. Everything they needed was available from the thriving street market centred round Petticoat Lane or the many small grocery shops selling pickled herring, smoked salmon and onion bread, which were often open till midnight.

Nearly all the shopkeepers and stallholders were Jewish. There was even a herd of cows just off the Whitechapel Road that supplied

kosher milk.

Kosher wine and grocery labels.

Moving Here catalogue reference (MOL) 2002.128/52

The established Jewish community frowned on the use of

Yiddish and encouraged the use of English as much as possible.

But among the newly-arrived community Yiddish predominated:

Shop signs and posters were in Yiddish
A range of Yiddish language newspapers and books were published
Yiddish theatre productions thrived.

From the late-1890s, the Pavilion Theatre in Whitechapel Road showed Yiddish language plays, and Yiddish theatre was its principal attraction from 1906 until its closure in 1935.

Community Support

Residents at Nightingale House, a home for elderly Jews in Wandsworth.

Moving Here catalogue reference (LMA) LCC/PH/GEN/4/253

During the 19th century, many charities were set up for the welfare of the community. The Jewish Board of Guardians, founded in 1859, provided help for those who had been in the country for over six months, prompted by both humanitarian motives and a reluctance to see Jews becoming a burden on the state.

The immigrants also wanted to look after each other in times of trouble, and set up charities such as the Russian Jews Benevolent Society in Manchester. Hundreds of

friendly societies, often associated with individual synagogues, were also established, as were homes for the aged, orphanages, and day nurseries.

A Jewish hospital movement led to the opening of the Manchester Victoria Memorial Jewish Hospital in 1904, and eventually the London Jewish Hospital in 1921.

Speeches at a

bar mitzvah party for a member of Tottenham Hebrew Congregation c.1965, with the Reverend Chazen standing far left. The congregation peaked at over 400 members in the mid-1950s, but has since declined

Moving Here catalogue reference (HMA) ldbcm2002.65

A new community establishes itself: the order of service for the laying of the foundation stone at the New Synagogue, Greenbank Drive, Liverpool 1936

Moving Here catalogue reference (LRO) 296 NHC 30/4 (6)

The playground at Darley School in Leeds c.1895, with a number of Jewish boys wearing

kippahs

Moving Here catalogue reference (WYAS) WYL5043/13/1

The problem of overcrowding began to improve in the early 20th century as Jewish families started to move away from the East End. The first step up the ladder was to adjacent areas like Hackney, Dalston and Islington, and then to the more suburban areas, such as Golders Green, Hendon, Cricklewood and Ilford that opened up with the expansion of the underground railway. As Jews moved into these areas, synagogues were founded, and the structure of a Jewish community became established.

Outside London, the settlement of Jewish families followed a similar pattern, with movement away from the inner cities into more desirable areas like Cheetham Hill in Manchester or Chapeltown in Leeds.

Refugees from Nazism

Memories of home: The first page of Gina Bauer's memories of life in Austria, written at Harris House, 1939-40

Moving Here catalogue reference (JML) Gina Bauer

The 50,000 or so Jewish refugees from central Europe who settled in England after fleeing from Hitler had a very different experience from their counterparts 50 years earlier. At first, many were scattered all over the country:

Kindertransport children were first housed together in Dovercourt Camp on the outskirts of Harwich in Essex, but were then separated and sent on to foster homes and hostels all over Britain:

Women arriving on domestic visas might find themselves employed in houses anywhere in the country
Children were evacuated, and many men were imprisoned as enemy aliens during the war years

Refugees outside Swiss Cottage station, London.

Moving Here catalogue reference (JML) 1341.1

The refugees soon began to cluster in particular areas, principally along the Finchley Road in North-West London, rather than the East End in which earlier generations of new arrivals had been concentrated. Many found homes in other cities like Manchester and Leeds. The new settlers had the support of immigrants from similar backgrounds, and organisations such as the Association of Jewish Refugees, founded in 1941, to help them settle in to their new life. They would be joined after the war by refugees scattered by evacuation, internment and war service, and in their turn helped them to settle in.

With its

émigré clubs and coffee houses, the Finchley Road area took on a Jewish character of its own, and bus conductors would call out 'Passports please' or 'Finchleystrasse' as the buses stopped there!

As Jews became more integrated into English society, they left behind the distinctive Eastern European flavour of their first areas of settlement. Today, there are very few Jewish people left in those parts, which have taken on a new character as immigrants from other parts of the world have moved in. The external Spitalfields and Whitechapel area of London, for example, is now home to a thriving Bangladeshi community, and what were once synagogues have been turned into

mosques.