According to M. Caimi the present Jewish communities of Greece are divisible into five groups: (I) Arta (Epirus) ; (2) Chalcis (Euboea) ; (3) Athens (Attica) ; (4) Volo, Larissa and Trikala (Thessaly) ; and (5) Corfu and Zante (Ionian Islands). The Greek constitution admits no religious disabilities, but anti Semitic riots in Corfu and Zante in 1891 caused much distress and emigration. In Spain there has been of late a more liberal attitude towards the Jews, and there is a small congregation (without a public synagogue) in Madrid. In 1858 the edict of expulsion was repealed. Portugal, on the other hand, having abolished the Inqui sition in 1821, has since 1826 allowed Jews freedom of religion, and there are synagogues in Lisbon and Faro. In Holland the Jews were admitted to political liberty in 1796. At present more than half of the Dutch Jews are concentrated in Amsterdam, be ing largely engaged in the diamond and tobacco trades. Among famous names of recent times foremost stands that of the artist Josef Israels. In 1675 was consecrated in Amsterdam the syna gogue which is still the most noted Jewish edifice in Europe. Belgium granted full freedom to the Jews in 1815, and the com munity has since 1808 been organized on the state consistorial system, which till recently also prevailed in France. It was not till 1874 that full religious equality was granted to the Jews of Switzerland.
In Sweden the Jews have all the rights which are open to non Lutherans ; they cannot become members of the council of state. In Norway there is a small Jewish settlement (especially in Chris tiania) who are engaged in industrial pursuits and enjoy complete liberty. Denmark has for long been distinguished for its liberal policy towards the Jews. Since 1814 the latter have been eligible as magistrates, and in 1849 full equality was formally ratified. Many Copenhagen Jews achieved distinction as manufacturers, merchants and bankers, and among famous Jewish men of letters may be specially named Georg Brandes.
The story of the Jews in Russia was a black spot on the Euro pean record. In the remotest past Jews were settled in much of the territory now included in Russia, but they were treated as aliens. They were restricted to the pale of settlement which was first established in 1791. Under the May laws of 1892 the congestion of the Jewish population, the denial of free movement, and the exclusion from the general rights of citizens were rendered more oppressive than ever before. Fierce massacres (pogroms) occurred in Nijni-Novgorod in 1882, in Kishinev in 1903, and elsewhere. Much was hoped from the duma, but this body proved bitterly opposed to the Jewish claim for liberty.
The Jews came to England at least as early as the Norman Conquest ; they were expelled from Bury St. Edmunds in 1190, after the massacres at the coronation of Richard I. ; they were required to wear badges in 1218. At the end of the 12th century was established the "exchequer of the Jews," which chiefly dealt with suits concerning money-lending, and arranged a "continual flow of money from the Jews to the royal treasury," and a so called "parliament of the Jews" was summoned in 1241; in 1275 was enacted the statute de Judaismo which, among other things, permitted the Jews to hold land. But this concession was illusory, and as the statute prevented Jews from engaging in finance—the only occupation which had been open to them—it was a prelude to their expulsion in 1290. There were few Jews in England from that date till the Commonwealth.
Charles II. in 1664 continued Cromwell's tolerant policy. No serious attempt towards the emancipation of the Jews was made till the Naturalization Act of 1753, which was, however, imme diately repealed. Jews no longer attached to the Synagogue, such
as the Herschels and Disraelis, attained to fame. In 1830 the first Jewish emancipation bill was brought in by Robert Grant, but it was not till the legislation of 1858-1860 that Jews obtained full parliamentary rights. In other directions progress was more rapid. The office of sheriff was thrown open to Jews in 1835 (Moses Montefiore, sheriff of London was knighted in 1837) ; Sir I. L. Goldsmid was made a baronet in 1841, Baron Lionel de Rothschild was elected to Parliament in 1847 (though he was unable to take his seat), Alderman (Sir David) Salomons became lord mayor of London in 1855 and Francis Goldsmid was made a Q.C. in 1858. In 1873 Sir George Jessel was made a judge, and Lord Rothschild took his seat in the House of Lords as the first Jewish peer in 1886. A fair proportion of Jews have been elected to the House of Commons, and Mr. (afterwards Sir) Herbert Samuel rose to cabinet rank in 1909. Sir Matthew Nathan has been governor of Hong-Kong and Natal, Lord Reading Viceroy of India, E. S. Montagu, Secretary of State for India, and among Jewish statesmen in the colonies Sir Julius Vogel and V. L. Solo mon have been prime ministers (Hyamson : A History of the Jews in England, Sec. ed., 1928, pp. 290 foil.).
It is unnecessary to remark that in the British colonies the Jews everywhere enjoy full citizenship. In fact, the colonies emancipated the Jews earlier than did the mother country. Jews were settled in Canada from the time of Wolfe, and a congrega tion was founded at Montreal in 1768, and since 1832 Jews have been entitled to sit in the Canadian parliament. There are some thriving Jewish agricultural colonies in the same dominion. In Australia the Jews from the first were welcomed on perfectly equal terms. The oldest congregation is that of Sydney (1817) ; the Melbourne community dates from 1844. Reverting to inci dents in England itself, in 1870 the abolition of university tests re moved all restrictions on Jews at Oxford and Cambridge, and both universities have since elected Jews to professorships and other posts of honour. The communal organization of English Jewry is somewhat inchoate. (See UNITED SYNAGOGUE.) Anglo Jewry is rich, however, in charitable, educational and literary in stitutions, full accounts of which are given in the Jewish Year Book published annually Jews made their way to America early in the 16th century, settling in Brazil prior to the Dutch occupation. Under Dutch rule they enjoyed full civil rights. In Mexico and Peru they fell under the ban of the Inquisition. In Surinam the Jews were treated as British subjects; in Barbadoes, Jamaica and New York they are found as early as the first half of the 17th century. Dur ing the War of Independence the Jews of America took a promi nent part on both sides, for under the British rule many had risen to wealth and high social position. After the Declaration of Independence, Jews are found all over America, where they have long enjoyed complete emancipation, and have enormously increased in numbers, owing particularly to immigration from Russia. The American Jews bore their share in the Civil War (7,038 Jews were in the two armies), and have always identified themselves closely with national movements such as the eman cipation of Cuba. They have attained to high rank in all branches of the public service, and have shown most splendid instances of far-sighted and generous philanthropy. For the religious organiza tions of the Jews in the United States see UNITED SYNAGOGUE, America.