Spiritual Possibilities of Judaism Today Spiritual Possibilities of Judaism Today by Lily Montagu, 1898 • Liberal Judaism Archives This essay, on the Spiritual Possibilities of Judaism Today, was written by Lily Montagu in 1898. It comes from the Liberal Judaism Archives, which holds the communal records of the national movement which began as the Jewish Religious Union in 1902, was later renamed the Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues, and is now known as Liberal Judaism. The Hon. Lilian Helen “Lily” Montagu, CBE (22 December 1873 – 22 January 1963) was the first woman to play a major role in Progressive Judaism. She grew up in a pious Orthodox Jewish home, in an ethos of privilege and philanthropy, devoted to helping the poor and advancing Jewish institutions. Her eldest brother, Louis, a financier and political activist, founding the League of British Jews to lobby against the creation of the state of Israel. Influenced by Claude Montefiore, a reform-oriented philanthropist and scholar, in 1893 she founded the West Central Jewish Girls Club (which subsequently merged into the Jewish Girls’ Brigade). She was active in social improvement, particularly in respect to unemployment, sweat shops and bad housing. Lilian Helen Montagu • Liberal Judaism Archives In this essay, she asks all religiously committed Jews to help her form an association aimed at strengthening the religious life of the Anglo-Jewish community through the propagation of Liberal Jewish teachings. Membership would not necessarily demonstrate allegiance to Liberal Judaism but simply the recognition of its ability to awaken within many Jews a sense of spirituality and personal responsibility to God. The Jewish Religious Union (J.R.U.), established by Lily Montagu in February, 1902, instituted Sabbath afternoon worship services conducted along Liberal Jewish lines, and “propaganda meetings,” led by Montagu, to clarify and spread its teachings. Though Montefiore agreed to serve as the group’s official leader, thus strengthening its credibility, it was Lily Montagu who assumed responsibility for its major activities and daily affairs. In 1901 and 1902, Montagu lay the groundwork for the establishment of the Jewish Religious Union in London. In February 1902 she arranged the first meeting of the Jewish Religious Union for the Advancement of Liberal Judaism at her sister Henrietta Franklin’s house. The Union set up the first synagogue in Liberal Judaism in the UK and helped found the World Union for Progressive Judaism. Montagu was a founding member with her sister of the Jewish League for Woman Suffrage. She sat on the executive committee and led the meetings in prayer. Following the retirement of Leo Baeck, Montagu served for a brief stint (1955–1959) in her 80s as president of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. You can read more about her life in the Jewish Women’s Encyclopaedia. Discover more Hidden Treasures Hidden Treasures: Celebrating the documents, photos and artefacts in British archives that tell the story of Jews in Britain Liberal Judaism Archives Jewish Life | Local History | ReligionPartially online The Liberal Judaism Archives are open to members of the public by appointment and contain historical material from 1898 to the present […] Lily’s Legacy Project Family History | Jewish Life | Local History | ReligionPartially online The Lily’s Legacy Project is a heritage project organised by Liberal Judaism. It is deposited at the London Metropolitan Archive and online, […] Rainbow Jews Communal Records | Cultural | Jewish Life | Local HistoryPartially online Rainbow Jews is an archiving project by Liberal Judaism, and held at The London Archives. Launched in October 2012, Rainbow Jews is […]
1762 Plymouth Pinkus Pinkas record book from Plymouth Hebrew Congregation/Synagogue, c1762-1849 • Plymouth Archives, The Box This document, from 1762, is a real hidden treasure. It is the front cover of the earliest pinkus (or ledger containing the records of a community) of the long-standing Jewish community of Plymouth. It’s from the collection of The Box at Plymouth City Council. The document, written in Hebrew, says that it is ‘the regulations of our holy community of Plymouth’. Plymouth synagogue is itself the oldest Ashkenazi synagogue in the English-speaking world, built in 1762. Its first community members were immigrants from Germany and the Netherlands. Here’s a picture of it today: Plymouth Synagogue Discover more Hidden Treasures Hidden Treasures: Celebrating the documents, photos and artefacts in British archives that tell the story of Jews in Britain Plymouth Archives at The Box Communal Records | Local HistoryPartially online The Plymouth Archives at The Box hold the records of the Jewish community of Plymouth as part of the Local Government archives. […]
Iraqi Passport This treasure, from Sephardi Voices UK, is Niran Bassoon-Timan’s Iraqi passport. “This is my Iraqi passport. Until the age of 15, I did not know what Iraqi passports looked like because Jews were not allowed to carry passports. This is my first passport and my last Iraqi passport. With this, I was able to leave Iraq in 1973. This is the first page of my passport showing my picture, my signature, my name and it’s giving a list of countries that this passport can be used including Turkey and all the Eastern Europe countries, UK, Luxembourg and other places.” Niran was born in 1957 in Baghdad, Iraq. Her father was an eminent journalist and the family spoke the Baghdadi dialect of Arabic at home. She left Iraq in 1973. Today Niran is an activist, working with Arabic-speaking communities to tell the story of the Jews of Iraq. Sephardi Voices UK is an oral history archive giving voice to the stories of Jews from Arab-speaking countries who resettled in the UK. Visit their site here: https://www.sephardivoices.org.uk/. We love this treasure for the light it sheds on lesser-known communities and experiences of Jews who emigrated to Great Britain. Discover more Hidden Treasures Hidden Treasures: Celebrating the documents, photos and artefacts in British archives that tell the story of Jews in Britain Sephardi Voices UK Family History | Holocaust | Jewish Life | Middle Eastern JewryOnly online Sephardi Voices UK is a video and image archive held in the British Library. Its collection of interviews covers topics around family […]
‘Shifra’: A Voice for Jewish Feminists 'Shifra' logo and subscription rates from back cover, issues no. 3 & 4. Image credit Leeds University Library. With permission of Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah. Leeds was something of a hot-bed of Jewish radicalism in the 1980s, hosting the Ruach ‘alternative’ conference and seeing the establishment of JONAH (Jews Organised for a Nuclear Arms Halt and the beginnings of JCORE (Jewish Council for Racial Equality). Jewish women’s issues were particularly at the fore with the formation of Jewish Women’s Aid to assist victims of domestic violence and the publication of the magazine Shifra, a voice for Jewish feminists. This image is of the back page of an early edition and shows the subscription prices. Karen Sayers from Leeds University Cultural Collections, examines Shifra further: Founded in 1984, ‘Shifra’ magazine gave a voice to Jewish Feminists. The editors aimed to create ‘a Feminist home in the Jewish community and a Jewish home in the Feminist community’. ‘Shifra’ challenged how people outside the Jewish community perceived Jews, particularly women. Four issues were published from 1984-1986. The editors of ‘Shifra’ encouraged their readers to contribute material about every aspect of their lives. The content included articles, biographies, poems, recipes and photographs and ranged over contemporary and historical material. While not rejecting women’s traditional role in the Jewish community the magazine discussed how it could be modernised and made more racially and sexually inclusive. Many articles concern women’s relationships with the Jewish religion. In ‘Knowing no bounds’ Elizabeth Sarah explores her experience as a Jew and lesbian and her attempts to reconcile her religion and sexuality. She writes about a feminism which is far from welcoming of diversity. This allows women to be Jewish in a cultural but not a religious sense. In ‘Why I am not a Jewish feminist’ Dena Attar describes the suffering of Jewish women who in the name of religion are confined to particular familial roles and whose rights within the family are restricted. Attar’s feminism supports women trying to gain freedom from religious oppression be it Jewish, Catholic or Islamic. Many writers challenge the male dominated history of the Jews. They describe the experiences of their foremothers to recover women’s voices. Hedi Argent examines the life of her mother, Liza, praising her strength and determination. In the 1930s, Liza persuaded the Nazis to release her husband from prison. Another author recalls ‘The Rebbe of Lodemaria’. Born in 1815 she is a rare, perhaps unique, example of a woman who was a rabbi in the 19th century. ‘Illustration for ‘The Rebbe of Lodemaria’ p.13, Issue No. 1. Image credit Leeds University Library. With permission of Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah. ‘Shifra’ contains recipes and articles about traditional food from different Jewish cultures. Food has always been an outlet for Jewish women’s creativity and a way of participating in the Jewish religion. The editors embrace this as part of their modern identity. Traditionally women were responsible for the health of the body, and men for that of the mind. Many women ran Jewish shops, bakeries and businesses before coming to the UK and some started again in their new home. After two issues ‘Shifra’ had not fulfilled the editors’ aims. In the editorial to Number 3 they comment that too many of the articles they receive are historical. They ask contributors and readers to analyse current events and take ‘a more active role than the passive consumers of the present’. It is possible their request was not successful as the 4th issue of the magazine was the last. Most of the ‘Shifra’ papers held at Leeds University Cultural Collections are in the Marilyn Fletcher Collection in the Feminist Archive North. The archives include copies of the magazine, typescript proofs of articles and letters to, and from, the editors. Discover more Hidden Treasures Hidden Treasures: Celebrating the documents, photos and artefacts in British archives that tell the story of Jews in Britain University of Leeds Cultural Collections Communal Records | Cultural | Historical Documents | Jewish Life | Local HistoryPartially online The University of Leeds Cultural Collections is housed in the Brotherton Library, Leeds, and is open to public access. It contains a […]
“Poll Book”, 1847 Lionel de Rothschild's 'Poll Book' • The Rothschild Archive This treasure is a Poll Book, gifted to the trustees of The Rothschild Archive by N M Rothschild & Sons Limited. Lionel de Rothschild (1808-1879) was elected to serve as MP for the City of London in 1847. He would not be able to take his seat for another eleven years until the discriminatory legislation against Jews was removed. This volume is entitled ‘City Electors list’ 1847 and is a record of votes cast in the 1847 election. The volume records the names of the nine candidates who stood at the election, and the name and address of each individual who placed a vote. This volume appears to have been made privately and was retained for many years in the Partners’ Room at New Court. When Lionel de Rothschild eventually took up his seat in 1858 he became the first practising Jew to sit as a Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom. Jews had been MPs since Sampson Gideon in 1770, but had been required to convert to Christianity before entering Parliament. Prime Minister William Gladstone had initially proposed that Lionel be made a peer and sit in the House of Lords but Queen Victoria had refused, saying that to title a Jew would cause antagonism, and that it would be unseemly to ennoble someone whose success was based on what she called “a species of gambling” rather than legitimate trade. However, in 1885 the Queen did allow Lionel’s son Nathan to become the first Jewish member of the House of Lords. We are fascinated by this treasure for the insight it gives into the position of Jews in nineteenth century England. Despite his British political activities and philanthropy (for example: organising funding for the Crimean War, organising the relief effort for the Irish and Scottish Highland Potato Famine, organising the purchase of the Suez Canal) Lionel faced great obstacles taking up his seat. Discover more Hidden Treasures Hidden Treasures: Celebrating the documents, photos and artefacts in British archives that tell the story of Jews in Britain The Rothschild Archive Commercial | CulturalNot online The Rothschild Archive, based in London, is a private archive holding the commercial records and personal papers of members of the Rothschild […]
1734 Novo Cemetery Indenture 1734 Indenture Regarding Novo Cemetery • London Metropolitan Archives This treasure is an indenture, dated 14 February 1734, relating to the acquisition of the ‘Novo’ or ‘new’ burial ground in Mile End Road, East London. It comes from the archive of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews Congregation, held by the The London Archives. 1734 Indenture Regarding Novo Cemetery • London Metropolitan Archives By 1733 there was little room left in the congregation’s burial ground in Mile End Road, (now known as the ‘Velho’ or ‘Old’ Cemetery). The congregation therefore negotiated the purchase of two and a half acres of extra land further east along the same road and the ‘Novo’ (‘New’) cemetery was brought into use, paid for by wealthy members of the Congregation who put their names and seals to this indenture for the purpose. 1734 Indenture Regarding Novo Cemetery • London Metropolitan Archives By 1895 the cemetery was almost full, and it was closed for burials for adults in 1905 and for children in 1918. Today the surviving fraction of the cemetery is incorporated into land that is now part of Queen Mary University. It is one of only two exclusively Sephardic cemeteries left in England. What you see here is one fifth of the original five acres. Approximately 9,500 people were buried here between 1733 and 1918. Novo Cemetery at Queen Mary University The surviving graves are plain, reflecting Sephardic tradition that teaches we enter the world with nothing and exit it in the same way. The gravestones, though, are more decorated. Most are written in Hebrew and English. Many well-known English Jews are buried here. For more information about the Novo Cemetery, we recommend this photo essay from local community magazine Roman Road. In the summer of 2020, the Pascal Theatre Company, led by Julia Pascal, was set to launch One Lost Stone, a devised performance project about Sephardi British history to be performed in the Novo Cemetery. Due to Covid-19 the project became a digital historical travel guide which you can find here. Discover more Hidden Treasures Hidden Treasures: Celebrating the documents, photos and artefacts in British archives that tell the story of Jews in Britain The London Archives Immigration | Local History | Religion | SocialPartially online The London Archives (formerly London Metropolitan Archives) is a public archive, housing a broad collection of social, religious, and local history records. […]
Letter in Judendeutsch This is a letter written in Judendeutsch from Nathan Mayer Rothschild to his brothers in 1816. The five sons of Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744-1812), wrote daily to one another, their letters detailing the day’s business, market opportunities and prices, and family gossip. The use of Judendeutsch (words written in the German language and committed to paper in Hebrew characters) for their letters provided a useful means of protecting their missives from prying eyes, for although not in itself a code, the comparative rarity of understanding of the script meant that they could not easily be deciphered. This treasure is part of the Rothschild Archive, a London-based private archive holding the commercial records and personal papers of members of the Rothschild family, focusing on the records of London-based N M Rothschild & Sons and the French bank of M M de Rothschild Fréres. The archive is usually by appointment only and not open to members of the general public so we are delighted to feature it as part of Hidden Treasures. You can visit the archive’s website here. Gifted to the Trustees of The Rothschild Archive London by N M Rothschild & Sons Limited. Discover more Hidden Treasures Hidden Treasures: Celebrating the documents, photos and artefacts in British archives that tell the story of Jews in Britain The Rothschild Archive Commercial | CulturalNot online The Rothschild Archive, based in London, is a private archive holding the commercial records and personal papers of members of the Rothschild […] The Four Per Cent Industrial Dwellings Company Prospectus Prospectus for Nathan Rothschild’s private social housing company • The Rothschild Archive Silver Menorah Nathan Mayer Rothschild’s menorah • The Rothschild Archive
Kindertransport Travel Document Kindertransport Travel Document for Kurt Marx • AJR Refugee Voices Archive This treasure is a Kindertransport Travel Document, issued to fourteen-year-old Kurt Marx in Cologne, allowing him to travel to the UK as part of the Kindertransport scheme. Unusually, Kurt travelled to the UK with his school, the Jewish Jawne Gymnasium, arriving in January 1939. After the November pogrom (Kristallnacht) in 1938, the Jawne’s forward-thinking headteacher, Erich Klibansky, began arrangements to get Jawne students to Britain on a Kindertransport. Kurt remembers saying goodbye to his mother and father in the belief that they would soon meet in England when his parents got the necessary documentation. Very sadly this did not happen and Kurt did not see his parents again. Kurt and his school moved into a hostel in Willesden, London, sponsored by the Walm Lane Synagogue. You can read more about Kurt’s experiences, and see more of his incredible photos, here. The treasure comes from the AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive, a video-based oral history archive containing interviews with – and documents, photos and other artefacts from – more than 250 refugees from Nazi Europe who rebuilt their lives in Britain. It contains many images relating to the Kindertransport including British-issued travel documents like this one. You can see a selection here. Discover more Hidden Treasures Hidden Treasures: Celebrating the documents, photos and artefacts in British archives that tell the story of Jews in Britain AJR Refugee Voices Family History | Holocaust | ImmigrationOnly online AJR Refugee Voices is a digital archive created by the Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) and holds Holocaust survivor and refugee testimony. […] Elena Lederman’s Chocolates Celebrity chocolatier Elena Lederman with Elizabeth Taylor • AJR Refugee Voices Ruth Danson in the bluebell woods of Bunce Court School Ruth Danson & friends in the bluebell woods, 1939 • AJR Refugee Voices Archive
King Solomon This beautiful treasure is a portrait of King Solomon reading Torat Mosheh (Moses’s Torah). It comes from a North French Hebrew Miscellany, dated 1277-1324 and is part of the British Library’s Hebrew Collection. This archive was assembled over a 250 year period, initially by the British Museum and since 1973 by the British Library. It’s one of the most important Jewish-related archives in the world, encompassing all facets of Hebrew literature and a wide range of religious and secular area studies. All Hebrew manuscripts in the British Library’s collection have been fully digitised and are available free of charge on the British Library’s Digitised Manuscripts site. Discover more Hidden Treasures Hidden Treasures: Celebrating the documents, photos and artefacts in British archives that tell the story of Jews in Britain British Library’s Hebrew collection Cultural | Historical DocumentsPartially online The British Library’s Hebrew collection is held within the British Library, Britain’s national library. It is open to researchers and contains a […] Cosmological & Astronomical Chart Cosmological and astronomical chart • The British Library 8th Century Judaeo-Persian letter from Kaifeng, Henan province, China One of the earliest records of the Jewish community in China • British Library