division b: the history of the jewish people / חטיבה ב: תולדות עם ישראל ||...

World Union of Jewish Studies / האיגוד העולמי למדעי היהדות

/ ההיסטוריוגרפיה של יהדות אנגליה בארבעים השנים האחרונות THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF ANGLO-JEWRY — THE LAST FORTY YEARS Author(s): AUBREY NEWMAN and אוברי ניומןSource: Proceedings of the World Congress of Jewish Studies / דברי הקונגרס העולמי למדעיחטיבה ב: תולדות עם / DIVISION B: THE HISTORY OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE ,היהדות, כרך חישראלpp. 73-78 תשמ"א / 1981Published by: World Union of Jewish Studies / האיגוד העולמי למדעי היהדותStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23528334 .

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THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF ANGLO-JEWRY — THE LAST

FORTY YEARS AUBREY NEWMAN

When Cecil Roth wrote his masterly History of the Jews in England he was content to finish with the political emancipation of the Jews; even in his third edition he regarded this as

virtually the last word, and he ended on an approving note with

regard to the cultural assimilation of Anglo-Jewry. But we have now come to realise the deeper significance of the period which

begins with the mid-Victorian period and to recognise the revol ution which has developed during that period of time. In addit ion fashions amongst historians are changing, so that historians are asking different questions of 'old' material and seeking new

interpretations. And as our concepts of British history have

changed so too have our concepts of Anglo-Jewish history changed.

My second point is that it was shortly after the Emancipation that there occurred that enormous population movement which was to affect so profoundly the fortunes of many western countries, not least of all Britain. Many of the emigrants passed through Brit ain en route for other countries, so that the impact upon Anglo Jewry was greater than the mere increase in the Jewish population might indicate. More recent problems of immigration into Great

Britain, allied with a desire to apply modern techniques of social

analysis to materials recently becoming available, have lent further impetus to studies of early migrations. Indeed, the whole

of modern Anglo-Jewish history and sociological analysis is now dominated by the facts created by the great migrations which have

shaped the patterns of settlement and of economic occupations, and it is a matter of real pride that the Jewish Historical Soc

iety of England has been actively participating in the research

which is now needed by providing a platform for publication and

by actively promoting meetings at which the results of such re

search can be exchanged and made available to a much wider aud

ience. In 1970 a conference concerned itself with Migration and

Settlement; in 1975 a second with Provincial Jewry in Victorian

Britain; and in last October we discussed The Jeuiish East End.

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AUBREY NEWMAN

2 1840-1939.

I da not intend ta deal with recent work on medieval Anglo Jewish history; it is not in my own field. But I must mention the eighteenth century; over the past forty years there has been a revolution in our understanding of the non-Jewish developments of this period. This revolution has found a place in the writing of Jewish history too. Todd Endelman has produced an outstanding analysis; he has managed to get deep into the economic, social, and even criminal life of the contemporary scene. Equally signif icant has been the work of Gedalia Yogev which has opened new vistas for many people, including non-Jewish historians. That is one of the features of Anglo-Jewish history in this post-Roth per iod. It is becoming understood by non-Jews that it is important to understand Jewish history in order to appreciate to the fullest the history of the non-Jewish community in which the Jews were members.3

Within this reappraisal there is one particular feature which has been largely ignored - life in the provinces. Perhaps in the eighteenth century a concentration on London Jewish life is excus able, but in a later period the lack of a provincial dimension is inexcusable. That growing shift of emphasis over the past twenty years has been one of the biggest revolutions in the study of

Anglo-Jewry. And yet one of the leading books in this field was that by Cecil Roth. His Rise of Provincial Jewry showed the life and development outside London, and the way in which provincial attitudes had repurcussions on such central institutions as the Chief Rabbinate. But it ended more or less in 1840, before the provincial communities were beginning to grow in size, change their general pattern of distribution, and were to become more mobile. ,The railways and the Jewish question' would be quite a significant piece of work which might indeed have an impact upon other areas of Jewish study. There has however been a consider able amount of work in the general area of provincial history. One of the most significant has been that done by Bill Williams and his Manchester Jewish Research Unit. His study of Manchester is based upon meticulous research, upon the discovery and exploit ation of very many new archives of Jewish interest, upon the need to relate Manchester Jewry to the general history of the region, and upon the passionately argued belief that the study of Jewish working-class urban populations should be based as much upon socio-economic studies as upon religious and ethnic factors.

74



THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF ANGLO-JEWRY

Equally significant has been the work of the amateur Birming ham Local Research Group. These largely untrained but extremely enthusiastic individuals have produced an excellent study of Birmingham in the 1050s. By analysising record material from

synagogues and other communal institutions and comparing the results with the records of the census of 1851 it has been poss ible to identify many of the Jewish families of the city, to anal

yse the socio-economic structure of the community, and to recon struct the patterns of trade and life. It has already, for

example, made it possible to examine the extent of ,local' migra tion within the United Kingdom. A recent work on the Jewish communities of the north-east has also raised a number of extreme

ly interesting questions, not least about the small ephemeral communities in the mining villages of the area. The questions of how and why they came into existence, from which group they re

cruited their members, the extent to which the factors which

vreated them were precisely those which brought about their de cline were matters which need a great deal of detailed attention

by a wide range of specialisms, but which have until recently not come under the microscope of the historian. In addition, few have cared to examine the central institutions of Anglo-Jewry from the

point of view of the provinces. From that viewpoint the Board of

Deputies or the Chief Rabbinate look very different indeed.5

A second area" of ,provincial' Jewry which needs detailed

study is that of London. Few would realise that London is far from being a homogeneous community, being built up of very separ ate synagogues and districts, each suspicious of the others and determined to maintain its own life. The East End Conference of 1980 made clear that there were many questions to be answered, and one of the most satisfying aspects of that conference was the call which has gone forth for the continuation of research on the area, for a street-by-street analysis. There has been some exciting new work, such as that by Jerry White on The Rothschild Buildings;

yet here again there is an instance of the pitfalls awaiting those not completely aware of the small print of Victorian London. He

is scathing about the extent to which a return represented ,real* philanthropy; but when it is recalled that there were many other contemporary companies giving much higher returns upon investments it is also possible to put Lord Rothschild's philan

thropy into its proper perspective. It is very clear now that

there is a need for detailed study of the immigrants, their

customs, the places from which they came, and the way in which

they acculturated to the two 'host' communities, the^Jews who had

eome earlier and the non-Jews among whom they lived.

75



AUBREY NEWMAN

The bigge9t need however, not only for London but for all

Anglo-Jewry, Is for a survey for which we need European help on a

major scale. This is a study of the Jews who began arriving after 1881. Precisely from which parts of Eastern Europe did they come? How did they arrive in the U.K.? Into what ports did they come? This would lead into a discussion of motives for migration, a study of their occupations both in Eastern Europe and in the countries which were to receive them, a study too, insofar as we can do it, of the differences between those we can identify as intending to

stay and those who intended to move on. Some of these questions may seem to be irrelevant or impossible to answer, but there are a certain number of potential pointers. A recent work on South African Jewry has indicated the significance of the Litvak presence there. But if we look at the shipping routes to South Africa and see the numbers coming from the U.K., if one looks at the various routes by which Eastern Europeans could reach the U.K., it becomes clearer why particular Eastern European groups should have found themselves in particular parts of the West. Equally well, one can look at a narrower problem, the Jews who arrived in Hull, and see why as a consequence there is a growth of Jewish communities in the towns served by the train routes crossing from Hull to Liver

pool. Examination of the Anglo-Jewish communities and various censuses etc., will give a great deal of light on this problem, as too would a detailed analysis of the records in London of the Temporary Shelter, indicating as they do the names, addresses, and

occupations of all those to whom the Shelter gave refuge.*

This, it seems to me, is the primary task facing historians of Angoo-Jewry, the study of the immigration and the emigration of the years between, say, 1871 and 191A. With all its side issues and implications it is not a task which we can do alone. Gideon Shimoni and Stuart Cohen have indicated the extent to which these newer arrivals not merely swamped in purely numerical terms the existing Jewish communities but also in terms of religiosity, leadership structure, and economic activities. We still do not have enough knowledge, for example, however of the institutions of the community and of the persons who were responsible for organis ation and direction. Above all, there is still no deep study of Zionist organisations in England, no analysis of the relations between those who ran these organisations and the communities in which they had their existance. Some work, indeed a great deal of work, has been done on these and allied topics. Lloyd Gartner has

opened our eyes to the existance of these problems, though he would be among the first to argue that much still remains to be

76



THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF ANGLO-JEWRY

done. John Garrard and Bernard Gainer have studied the Aliens' Act but have done so in terms of national and not local politics. Bill Fishman has looked at a small sector of radical movements in these years, while a theme uihich has recently come under the

microscope is that of 'anti-semitism' in Britain. But all of us are faced with the problems posed by the need to examine and

analyse the various official papers associated with the census of 1B81 and then of 1B91. That is where uie need the assistance of the social scientists.®

I have tried to give an impression of the ways along which the writing of the history of Anglo-Jewry has been proceeding over the past forty years. It is indeed very different from the

picture as seen in Cecil Roth's book. To me it seems that the most important work facing us relates to the developments of the

past century. And that has a further signification. If we are to understand fully the ways in which mass immigration and mass

transmigration affected Anglo-Jewry it becomes the more important that we see it as part of the general picture not only of Anglo Jewish but of world Jewish history. And we can only do that as a result of a gigantic collaboration of scholars from many countries and with many diverse skills to contribute. This session of the

Eighth World Congress of Jewish Studies held in collaboration with the Jewish Historical Society of England must serve to emphasise that very point. We seek to study Anglo-Jewish history to throw

light upon the history of Jews in Britain but in doing so we

inevitably throw light upon the history of Jews in other places, indeed in all other places. Once again it is clear, that all Israel are brothers.

77



AUBREY NEWMAN

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Cecil Roth, History of the Jews in England. Oxford. 1st. edn. 1941; 3rd. edn. 1964 (pbk. 1978).

2. a. Migration and Settlement: Proceedings of the Anglo American Jewish Historical Conference held in London ... July 1970. J.H.S., 1971

b. Provincial Jewry in Victorian Britain: Papers for a con ference ... 6 July 1975. J.H.S. 1975

c. The Jewish East End.1840 - 1939. Proceedings of a confer ence held on 22 Oct 1980. J.H.S. 1981

3. Todd M. Endelman, The Jems of Georgian England. 1714-1830.

3.P.S.A., Philadelphia, 1979. Gedalia Yogev, Diamonds and Coral: Anglo-Dutch Jgws and 18th Century Trade. Leicester University Press, 1978.

4. Cecil Both, The Rise of Provincial Jewry... 1740-1840,1950: Bill Williams, The Making of Manchester Jewry. 1740 -

1875. Manchester University Press, 1976.

5. See Provincial Jewry. Also (ed) Zol Josephs, Birmingham Jbbtv. 1749 - 1914, vol. i, Birmingham Jewish Research Group, 1980; L. Olsover, The Jewish Communities of Worth East England. Newcastle, 1980.

6. Jerry White, The Rothschild Buildings. 1981; A. Newman, The United Synagogue. 1870-1970. 1977; V.D.Lipman, A Cent urv of Social Service. 1859 - 1959, 1959.

7. G. Shimoni, Jews and Zionism: the Soth African Experience. 1910-1967. Oxford, 1980.

8. L. Gartner, The Jewish Immigrant in England. 1870-1914 1960; J.A.Garrard, The English and Immigration. 1880-1910, 1971; 8. Gainer, The Alien Invasion; the origins of the Aliens Act of 1905. 1972; B. Fishman, East End Jewish Radicals. 1875-1914. 1975; C Holmes, Anti-Semitism in British Society. 1876-1939. 1979; G. Lebzelter, Politi cal Anti-Semitism In England. 1918-1939. 1978• See also articles by S. Cohen, S.Sharott, and ■•Shimoni in Jewish Journal of Sociology vols XV, XVI,XIX, and XXII

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