There have been a few so-called golden eras in Jewish history that punctuated the almost constant dire history of the Jews in exile in the last 2000 years. Perhaps the most famous of these is the golden era of Spanish Jewry from 900-1200 CE. There was also a period from the late 18th century to the mid-19th century when, according to author Yochanan Petrovsky-Shtern, the shtetl of Eastern Europe was a powerful and independent unit (The Golden Age Shtetl – Princeton University Press 2014). Even Polish Jewry had a relatively peaceful time from the beginning of the 15th century until the Khmelnytskyi uprising in 1648 and subsequent Jewish massacres.
So, it appears that the cycle of Jewish history is that for limited periods of time, in various places in the world, Jews were tolerated, maybe accepted, and in some cases thrived, only for this so-called “golden age” to come to a crashing end.
So it is with modern British Jewish history. Jews emigrated to the UK in large numbers from the 1880s onwards, fleeing pogroms and the infamous May Laws in Russia. While in the early years, Jews were subjected to antisemitism and obstacles, by 1920 there were 250,000 Jews in Britain, and they began to thrive in commerce with entrepreneurial skills and began to make significant contributions to the country’s economy and culture.
The following generations, particularly the baby boomer generation (those born between 1946 and 1964 – of which I am one) felt very much at home in the UK. There was a sense of integration and acceptance. Jewish communities thrived, and antisemitism appeared to be a thing of the past.
I recall almost no antisemitism growing up in Manchester, the second-largest Jewish population in the UK. There were Jewish clubs, Jewish sports, Jewish social activities, and theater, all sitting side by side with their non-Jewish counterparts. I spent six years at university in London and had only one example of antisemitism, and that was not from a student, but a professor. This then was the Golden Age of British Jewry.
Jews in the UK no longer feel safe
Sadly, however, it has all come to a grisly end. Jews in the UK no longer feel safe. Lord David Wolfson, a Jewish Peer of the Realm, made a speech last week in the House of Lords in which he stated that he was more fearful for the safety of his daughter on London’s underground wearing a Magen David than he was for his son currently wearing the uniform of the IDF on the battlefront. This is a stark shift from the sense of security and belonging that once characterized the Jewish experience in the UK.
Pro-Palestine rallies in most of the major cities in the UK have become a breeding ground for hateful chants, including cries of “Jihad,” and these instances go unpunished. Despite strong statements from the home secretary, law enforcement is impotent to intervene. Quite simply, they are scared to enforce the law of the land. This leaves the Jewish community feeling vulnerable, and in some cases, actually terrified.
The Daily Mail recently reported that an under-14s football match between a non-Jewish team and a Jewish team had to be abandoned because the parents of the non-Jewish children refused to let their kids play against Jews – Jews I say, not Israelis – Jews. Imagine if that had been white kids refusing to play against black kids – what the reaction would have been?
But as English author David Baddiel famously wrote, “Jews don’t count” – not in the UK today, they don’t.
MY FORMER partner in my medical practice has a specialist circumcision clinic that services a very large Muslim clientele. This week his team was refused entry to a client’s house because they were Jews, notwithstanding the fact that they had previously successfully operated on their two older sons. Other clients sent them abusive messages, yet others wanted to know their political views before engaging their services.
A group of traditional Jews in London in a certain area all decided that they did not feel safe with mezuzot on their doors and have taken them down.
This is the UK in 2023, the so-called “enlightened multicultural society”, where Jewish schools and synagogues have a constant police presence (useless as it is), where children and adults have to hide their Jewishness for their own personal safety, where young gentile kids are told they cannot play with Jewish kids.
The experiences of British Jews in 2023 are a far cry from the “Golden Age” that many remember. For those who grew up in an era of relative acceptance and harmony, the current atmosphere is not only shocking but deeply saddening. The sense of displacement and insecurity that many British Jews feel today is a harsh reality check for a nation that has prided itself on its values of tolerance and diversity.
This is not the Britain I grew up in, and it is not the country I want my grandchildren to grow up in.
Yes, truly the Golden Age of British Jewry is well and truly over. I say this with a heavy heart because Britain has been good to me and my family. It provided a home when we had none, it gave us sustenance when we were hungry, it enabled us to obtain a first-class education – and we all gave back to the country willingly and abundantly, but sadly, it’s time to wake up and the smell the antisemitic coffee that lingers long in the nostrils.
Sadly, my UK friends and family, it’s time to leave – close the door behind you.
The writer, a rabbi, lives in Ramat Poleg, Netanya, and is a co-founder of Techelet – Inspiring Judaism.