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JEWISH HERITAGE EUROPE
An Online Resource Centre
UNITED KINGDOM NEWS PAGE
London - British Library exhibits rare Judaica
Restoration Project for Bath Jewish Cemetery
British Jews celebrate 350th Anniversary
Jewish communities were established in many parts of England after the Norman Conquest of 1066. In 1290, however, King Edward I issued an edict expelling all the Jews. Most of England's several thousand Jews then fled to France, Germany and Flanders. Oliver Cromwell tacitly allowed the Jews to return in 1656, permitting them to trade and practise their religion, after petitions from Menasseh ben Israel, a prominent Sephardi rabbi from Amsterdam.
A small display of rare documents and books was arranged by Ilana Tahan, Curator of Hebrew Collections at the British Library, to mark the 350th anniversary of the re-admission of the Jews to England. Significant books relating to the Jews' seventeenth-century campaign for re-admission were on show, together with rare Hebrew and Latin charters from before the original expulsion of 1290.
For more information, see
www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/whatson/exhibitions/topical.html.
(13 September 2006)
The Jewish Chronicle (28 July 2006) reports that an organisation has been established which plans to protect and restore the historic Jewish cemetery in Bath, England, which has been unused for many years. UKP40,000 (60,000Euro) is needed to fund the project.
The cemetery, in the Combe Down section of the city, dates back to 1812 - the original 1000-year lease having been recently rediscovered in Bath Record Office. The last burial was in 1921. The committee for the project is headed by Alex Schlesinger of the Bristol Hebrew Congregation. The project aims to restore the derelict Ohel [chapel], a rare early 19th century survival of this building type, to house an exhibition about Judaism and the history of the Bath Jewish community, which flourished in this fashionable spa town during the early 19th century.
Jews throughout Britain are celebrating 350 years of modern British Jewry with a variety of events. On 13 June 2006 the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, spoke at the 305-year-old Bevis Marks synagogue in London. Blair praised the Jewish community for its contribution to British life. Henry Grunwald, of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, acknowledged the success of British Jews in fully integrating into British society while maintaining a distinctive identity and cultural heritage.
Edward I expelled the Jews from England in 1290. Jews were tacitly allowed to return in 1656 following a petition by Rabbi Menasseh Ben Israel of Amsterdam to Oliver Cromwell. Thereafter they were able freely to practise their faith, although civil and political restrictions were not fully removed until the middle of the 19th century. Some 100,000 Jews immigrated from the Russian Empire, Austrian Galicia and Rumania in the period from the 1880s until the First World War. Earlier settlers had mainly been Sephardim. In the 1930s about 60,000 further Jews arrived, fleeing Nazi persecution. The result is an ethnically and culturally diverse Jewish population.
267,000 people identified themselves as Jewish in the 2001 national census. The largest synagogue grouping, the central Orthodox United Synagogue, plus the smaller Federation of Synagogues, probably represents a little more than half of synagogue-affiliated Jews. Other organizations included the strictly Orthodox (Haredim), represented by the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations - the fastest-growing sector - and the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain, the Masorti (Conservative) movement and the Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues.
Events and Publications to mark the 350th Anniversary
In Britain the annual Heritage Open Days in September will coincide with a fortnight of events to mark the anniversary, starting with European Jewish Heritage Day (European Day of Jewish Culture and Heritage) on Sunday 3 September and culminating in a public celebration in London's Trafalgar Square on Sunday 17 September, in conjunction with the Mayor of London's office.
The Jewish Museum of London has published an illustrated catalogue documenting the museum's extensive collections relating to Jewish cultural heritage. The catalogue, (Treasures of Jewish Heritage, May 2006, Scala publishing (UKP19.95/USD35.00/30 Euro), chronicles the history of British Jewry and is richly illustrated. The museum has also added a search component to their website, allowing interested parties to search their collection of more than 11,500 Jewish-related objects. See
The Jewish Museum of London.
The first ever authoritative guidebook to Jewish Heritage in England: An Architectural Guide by Sharman Kadish, Director of Jewish Heritage UK, will be published by English Heritage in November 2006. English Heritage is the Government's agency for the historic environment. The full colour guidebook contains entries on some 350 Jewish sites all over England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland (both Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic), the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, and features heritage trails around historic Jewish quarters in the East End of London, Manchester, Birmingham and Brighton. See
Jewish Heritage UK.
London's Royal Academy of Arts is displaying the work of Jewish painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani in Modigliani and His Models, from July until October 2006. Tickets to the Modigliani show are available online at Royal Academy of Arts or by telephone at +44 (0) 870 848 8484.
(26 August 2006)
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