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    Jews in Britain
    Jews in Britain
    Jews in Britain
    Ebook110 pages39 minutes

    Jews in Britain

    By Michael Leventhal and Richard Goldstein

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    About this ebook

    This book tells the epic thousand-year story of Britain's Jewish community, the country's oldest minority group, replete with the dark episodes of persecution and expulsion, but also with positive periods of acceptance and toleration. Some Jews came as wealthy traders, others as desperate refugees; some had to lead secret lives, and others in different times stood shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the nation against threats to the British way of life, which included the Nazis. The impact of Jewish culture on daily life – on language, on food, on religion, art and business – has been inestimable, and this book is a fully illustrated introduction and fitting tribute.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateMay 10, 2013
    ISBN9780747813606
    Jews in Britain
    Author

    Michael Leventhal

    Michael Leventhal is the publisher of Greenhill Books and Green Bean Books. TheChocolate King is his first book for children and won a PJ Library Author Incentive Award. Previously he founded Gefiltefest, a Jewish food charity which organized Europe's biggest Jewish food festival. He is co-author of Jews in Britain and edited The Hand of History (illustrated by Chris Riddell). You can see more of his work atwww.michaelleventhal.co.uk

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      Book preview

      Jews in Britain - Michael Leventhal

      INTRODUCTION

      THE JEWISH STORY of the British Isles is an absorbing and thrilling one, with a thousand-year history. It is replete with highs and lows, with shocking persecution as well as astonishing success. This book charts the major events, from the horrific oppression experienced by the medieval Jewish community, through expulsion and centuries of living in hiding, to readmission under Oliver Cromwell. It then continues through to the new prospering and growing acceptance of the Jews in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and follows the development of a thriving, integrated modern community.

      Many great books have been written by authors and historians on the history of the Jews in Britain. Some are lost in time or inaccessible for the modern reader. Other recent scholarly works have only had a limited readership. The history of the Jews in Britain remains a largely unknown one, even amongst the Jewish community. Vague generalities and key dates are known, but often little more than that.

      The plaque outside Clifford’s Tower, York, reads: ‘On the night of Friday 16 March 1190 some 150 Jews and Jewesses of York having sought protection in the Royal Castle on this site from a mob incited by Richard Malebisse and others chose to die at each other’s hands rather than renounce their faith.’

      This book is not intended as an in-depth or detailed recounting of Jewish history in Britain. However it will provide an accessible introduction to the rich and surprising history of Jews in Britain and will illustrate some of the many ways in which Jews have contributed to British society.

      Clifford’s Tower, in York, was the setting for one of the most tragic moments in the story of Britain’s Jews (see page 7).

      A woodcut from 1493, illustrating the so-called martyrdom of William of Norwich in 1144. This was the first case in Europe of a charge of ritual murder brought against the Jewish people; the blood libel which began here recurred frequently over the centuries.

      THE EARLIEST JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN ENGLAND

      THE DATE of the first Jewish community in Britain is unknown. Most historians suggest that the first Jews settled after the 1066 Norman Conquest, at the invitation of William the Conqueror. In fact, even though there is no irrefutable evidence predating a written reference in 1070, there is anecdotal evidence of Jewish settlements hundreds of years earlier. And oddly, the evidence is culinary.

      After the Romans destroyed the second Jewish temple in Jerusalem in AD 70, the Jewish population was dispersed over the Mediterranean region. Evidence suggests that communities were established in Germany and Gaul. Thanks to the Roman Empire’s expeditions, proof exists that other communities crossed the Channel and travelled to England.

      A maverick claim that Jews served in the Roman army has been widely rejected, but it seems likely that expelled Jews followed shipping routes that had been established before the Roman Empire. Through these trading patterns they would have found themselves in the south west of England, probably engaged in the Cornish tin-mining trade. To this day, communities in Devon and Cornwall cook cakes with saffron and use clotted cream. Such recipes bear a striking similarity to those used in Middle Eastern regions which had significant Jewish settlements.

      Beyond this anecdotal culinary evidence there are decorated pots from the period which seem to show etrogs – fruits used for Jewish rituals – but they could arguably be images of lemons. Other recovered glass objects may depict Old Testament scenes, but there is no way of establishing whether they were designed by Jewish or Christian artisans.

      Perhaps more compelling than the culinary suggestions from this period is the notable philological evidence – according to one study there are three hundred words in English that have a remarkable similarity to words in Hebrew. This similarity is too striking to be coincidental and suggests that, if a permanent settlement did not exist, then at the least there was contact between the Jews of the Roman Empire and those who lived in southern Britain’s coastal areas. In 740, Archbishop Egbert of York, issued a decree prohibiting Christians from from attending Jewish feasts: such a ban would have been unnecessary unless there was a clear Jewish presence in the land. however, no other corroborating evidence about these communities exists.

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