Among the allied countries none is more influential than England. It
is perfectly natural, therefore, that the name of England should be on
everybody's lips, and that as Jews we should be particularly
interested in the relation that has existed between England and the
Jews.
For years there has been no country in the world whose Jewish
population had enjoyed a position of such great power and prosperity,
and such perfect recognition, as Great Britain. Ever since the middle
of the nineteenth century has this been the case. The Jews of England
have occupied positions of honor in their own country and its
colonies, and time and again their influence has made it possible for
them to come to the rescue of their fellow-Jews in other parts of the
world, as happened, for instance, at the time of the blood accusation
in Damascus, in 1840, when Moses Montefiore, with the support of the
English government, saved not only the Jewish community of that
far-off city, but also the honor of Israel the world over.
For over half a century the Jews have enjoyed such a condition of
confidence and happiness in England. Only the other day I ran across
in a German-Jewish journal of the year 1866--Samson Raphael Hirsch's
_Jeshurun_--a glowing account of the induction of a Jew into the
office of Lord Mayor of London. It referred to Benjamin Philips, who
was the second Jew to attain that honor. The writer was greatly
impressed with the marvelous pomp and grandeur of the occasion, but
what struck him above all was this: that though the newspapers for
days had discussed the event, not one of them singled out the fact
that the new Lord Mayor was a Jew. Such perfect naturalization of the
Jew obtained already in the year 1865, though it was only five years
after the complete removal of Jewish disabilities in England. So much
more a surprise might it be to learn by what a slow and laborious
process the Jew won his recognition in England, how many centuries the
struggle for his emancipation consumed, and that there was a time when
the Jews of England suffered humiliation and persecution unsurpassed
in any other part of the world.
As we take a bird's eye view of Israel's history in England, we see at
once that it falls into three distinct periods.
There is the first period, lasting from the arrival of the first
Jewish settlers who followed William the Conqueror from the Continent,
to the expulsion. Who would believe today that there was a time when
England expelled all her Jews? Yet, this is what happened in the year
1290. Moreover, when it did happen it came as a release and a
blessing, seeing that for more than a century before the expulsion the
life of the Jew in England was one drawn-out story of persecution and
every form of misery. It was a century during which the Jews of
England suffered the worst consequences of feudalism, when they formed
the prey and the sport of kings and priests alike, and when they added
to history some of the most tragic chapters of martyrdom for the sake
of faith. It was a century which began, after a period of comparative
security and happiness, with the attack upon the Jews of London and
the provinces, at the time of the Coronation of Richard I, because the
archbishop took umbrage at the temerity of some Jewish delegates to
the ceremony who ventured within the purlieus of the cathedral or the
palace; and with the self-immolation, in the year 1190, of the whole
community of York in the tower of that city--one of the most heroic
incidents in all history. The expulsion thus closed mercifully the
first period of Jewish history in England.
Then follows the period of the re-admission, in the middle of the
seventeenth century, under the leadership of Cromwell and Menasseh ben
Israel, though one is not to believe that in the interval there were
no Jews in England, for there surely were, as recent research has
shown.
Finally, we have the third period, which began with the gradual
removal of Jewish disabilities in the nineteenth century. During this
period we witness the Jews of England taking full part in the life of
their country and reaching that present-day position which opportunity
and complete recognition and integration in the national life have put
within their power.
If today the Jews of England form so integral a part of their country,
and if they are so whole-heartedly and single-mindedly devoted to its
welfare, it is not merely because they feel that they have wrought and
fought enough for their patrimony, but also because they are conscious
of their long association with England and her civilization, and of
the fact that their beginnings on English soil go back to earliest
times, to the very time that the Normans came to their shores and
William the Conqueror invited the Jew to follow him to his new domain.
Yet it would be an error to suppose that the emancipation and the
attainments of the Jews in England were due to mere accident. Rather
have they been due to certain characteristics of the English people,
and to those tendencies and qualities of English civilization which
have made it so distinguished and potent in the world. The rise of the
Jew in England may have been slow, but it has been sure, and it came
because it was inevitable under the conditions that have served to
make England herself great and strong and free. It is these facts we
must consider if we would understand the ascendency of the Jew in
England.
First of all, there is the fact of England's democracy. It has often
been observed that in no country is democracy more widespread and
secure than in England. One thing is certainly true, namely, that
England has led in the democratization of the world.
And nothing is more potent a lesson of history than that the Jew has
always been benefited by true democracy. There have been autocrats who
have been kind to the Jews, and there have been times when democracy
has betrayed the Jew; but these are exceptions. As a rule, the cause
of Israel in the world has gone hand in hand with the progress of
democracy--of true democracy. Democracy has been an invariable aid to
the Jew, and not because (as practical politicians assume sometimes)
its government depends on votes, and Jews might command votes; not at
all, but rather because under the protection and in the atmosphere of
democracy it is easiest for principles to be promulgated and for
ideals to penetrate. When we fight for the cause of democracy, when
our sons are preparing to shed their blood for it, when we are asking
for the support of it with our wealth and our work, let us remember
that we are fighting also for the cause of Israel in the world.
That is why the great movement for democratic freedom and justice in
England was bound to make for the recognition and liberation of the
Jewish soul. That is why Cromwell became a champion of the
re-admission of the Jews to England, and namely, of their re-admission
on the most honorable terms, and not, as some of his associates would
have it, surreptitiously and half-heartedly. Nay, that is why, some
forty years before Cromwell's effort, in the year 1614, when Leonard
Busher wrote his noteworthy tract on "_Liberty of Conscience_", he
demanded that such liberty be extended to all alike, including the
Jews. That is why, two centuries later, Thomas B. Macauley could not
help pleading for the removal of the disabilities of the Jews, as he
did in 1830 and 1834 supporting the noble efforts of Lord Holland and
Robert Grant. That is why Gladstone, at first opposed to Jewish
emancipation, could not help coming over to the more liberal view. It
was impossible for the democratic conscience to affirm itself and for
the democratic consciousness to grow in England, without freedom being
granted, and justice being done, to the Jew, seeing it is for freedom
and justice that democracy stands.
Another fact is England's interest in commerce. It is well known that
commerce has helped make England great. Now, the Jew throughout the
ages of his history in Europe has been one of the most important
factors in commerce. Everybody knows what historic conditions served
to bring about this result. The fact is that the Jew became perhaps
the most important commercial factor of Europe, which was responsible
both for his prosperity and persecution.
England has seldom failed to recognize this side of the Jew's
importance. This is why he was first asked to come to England. This is
why he was so often traded about by the feudal kings. This is why they
hated to see him go even when they mocked and mobbed him. This is
chiefly why Cromwell wanted him to return, and it is fear of his
commercial power that often arrayed against him his opponents. Often
short-sighted Englishmen were afraid that by giving equality and
rights to the Jews, they would make it possible for the latter, by
their commercial talent, to overwhelm the rest of the population and
to absorb all the wealth of Britain. It was even feared that the Jews
would buy up St. Paul's Cathedral and turn it into a synagogue! "You
say they are the meanest and most despised of all people," exclaimed
Cromwell, at the Conference on the Re-admission of the Jews. "So be
it! But in that case what becomes of your fears? Can you really be
afraid that this contemptible and despised people should be able to
prevail in trade and credit over the merchants of England, the noblest
and most esteemed merchants of the whole world?"
Cromwell's indignant question has been justified by history. Now,
years after their complete emancipation, the Jews have not yet
appropriated all the wealth of England, they have not yet dispossessed
the rest of Britain's population, nor yet has St. Paul's been turned
into a synagogue. At any rate, England's interest in commerce has
contributed greatly to the ascendency of her Jewish subjects.
Finally, there is the remarkable kinship between the English spirit
and the spirit of Israel.
Leroy-Beaulieu, in his celebrated book _Israel among the Nations_, has
pointed out that the claim of such kinship is made for many nations in
regard to Israel. But surely it is not without reason that some one
has called England the Israel of Europe. There is no modern country
that has been saturated more thoroughly with the spirit of Israel than
England.
No country, for one thing, has been so completely influenced by the
Bible. The English translation of the Bible is an English classic, as
well as Jewish. Insofar as the Puritans molded English civilization,
it meant the introduction of a strong and unmistakable Hebrew
influence. It is in England that Biblical learning, of a devout and
constructive kind, has flourished as nowhere else, there that a
society for the diffusion of the Scriptures first was founded, there
that most has been done for the exploration of Palestine, there that
some of the finest collections of Hebrew books and manuscripts are
found (in the British Museum and in the Bodleian Library at Oxford),
and there that even rabbinical learning has found its most earnest and
sympathetic devotees among non-Jews.
It would take us far afield to trace the relationship between the
English spirit and that of Israel. But we cannot think of it without
realizing why some people should believe that the English in reality
are descendants of the Ten Tribes, why the integration of Israel in
English life should have become so complete, and why the Jew should
finally have found such appreciation and happiness in England.
How about the future? What effect has the War had on the position of
the Jew in England?
It is whispered here and there that the War had created an increase of
anti-Semitism in England. This is impossible. It is true that in the
early days of the War some sensation-mongers tried to cast aspersions
on the Jews. It is true, also, that in those days a serious problem
was created by the presence of many Russian Jews who would not fight
for the old government of Russia, thus giving rise to some slurs upon
the patriotism of the Jews. No less true it is that some few fanatical
journalists seem to regard this as a good time for creating strife and
spreading anti-Jewish prejudice. But the futility of such an
enterprise is self-evident.
The Jews of England are as loyal as the most loyal. Their best sons
were among the first volunteers and martyrs. Their ablest men are
serving in all sorts of positions of trust and leadership, and are
occupying posts of supreme responsibility both at home and abroad. Nay
more, each and every one of them, however lowly and obscure, is ready
to die for England and her cause. These facts speak for themselves,
with a voice louder than fanaticism and bigotry.
As long as England remains true to herself--to her democratic spirit,
to her spirit of enterprise and fair-play, to her spirit of Freedom
and Righteousness, as long as she remains true to that genius for
democracy that has animated her for centuries, that has kept on
asserting itself within her against all handicaps and impediments,
that has kept on moving her toward the democratic goal often in spite
of herself,--as long, I say, as England remains true to democracy, so
long will Israel be safe and happy under her flag!