40. ENGLISH JUDAISM. Historical Though the statements as to the presence of Jews in Roman and Saxon Eng land are more or less legendary, it is tolerably certain that William I brought a number of Jews with him from Rouen to England. Under the Normans, the Jews enjoyed some privileges; they developed a communal life of culture and distinction; but they were practically restricted to financial pursuits as a means of livelihood. Henry I granted them a charter, but at the coronation of Richard I serious massacres oc curred in London and elsewhere, especially at York, where the ordeal of martyrdom was heroically endured. The (Exchequer of the Jews° was then founded to preserve the Jews from some of the effects of such riots and to enable the Crown, as chief partner in the Jewish money-lending business, to secure its share of thegains. By the middle of the 13th century the Jews were chattels of the King, and their unpopularity on religious grounds was increased by the power they gave the King to obtain a revenue independently of barons and people. In 1275 the Statutum de Judairmo forbade the Jews to lend money, and as there was no other function for them in feudal England their ex pulsion followed as a matter of course in 1290. For the next three and one-half centuries a few Jews visited England from time to time; Queen Elizabeth had a Jewish physician. Toward the middle of the 17th century a number of Marano merchants came to the front in English colonies and in England itself. These men, who had escaped the Spanish Inquisition by assuming an outward garb of Roman Catholicism, now boldly asserted themselves as Jews, and in 1655 Cromwell, as a result of the Whitehall Con ference of that year, connived at the open re settlement of a Jewish community in England. But two centuries more were to ,pass before the English Jews obtained full civil and political emancipation. In 1753, Pelham prematurely passed a naturalization bill, which he was forced to repeal next year. The struggle recommenced in 1830. In the years 1828-29 Protestant Dis senters and Roman Catholics were relieved of most of their disabilities. But the Jews were still excluded from Parliament, from member ship of the University of Oxford, and from degrees and posts of emolument in the Uni versity of Cambridge. Nor could they occupy high posts in the army or navy. Political eman cipation was won in 1858. In 1870, following en the senior wranglership of a Jew, the Uni versity Tests Act conferred full scholastic rights on the English Jews. In 1858 Baron Lionel de Rothschild took his seat as a member of the House of Commons, and in 1885, his son, Sir Nathaniel de Rothschild was raised to the peerage — the first Jew so distinguished. Since 1858, many English Jews have sat in Parlia ment; there has been a Jewish Master of the Rolls; in 1915 Lord Reading, a Jew, became Lord Chief Justice of England; and in the civil, military and diplomatic services a goodly array of Jews has become prominent.
Statistics.— In 1290 the number of Jews who left England amounted to 16,000. At the Restoration of Charles II there were about 40 Jewish families in London. The increase was slow in the 17th century, but toward the end of the 18th century there was a larger immigra tion. Colquhoun estimated the Jewish popula tion of London as 20,000 at the beginning of the 19th century, which would bring the total for the British Isles to about 25,000. This esti mate is probably too high, for it is doubtful whether there were more than 60,000 Jews in the country before the Russian immigration of 1881. Mr. Jacobs calculated that in 1901 there were nearly a quarter of a million Jews in the British Empire, of which number 160,000 were in the British Isles. In 1915 there were about
245,000 Jews in the United Kingdom, with 200 synagogues.
Organization.— Since the dispersal of the Jews from Palestine in the first centuries of the Christian era, the organization of Jewish communities has been almost invariably on an independent congregational basis. Each congre gation in the medmval period constituted an independent unit. Sometimes there would be a combination of these units for certain pur poses, as in the famous council of Four Lands in Poland (c. 1550-1750). In the pre-expul sion period in England, there were officials who bore the title 'Presbyter Judmorum'o and who were the acknowledged leaders of the whole Anglo-Jewish community. Such officials were closely connected with the royal finances in so far as they affected the Jews, and were more or less responsible for assessments of talliages. When the Jewish community was re-established in the 17th century, the old congregational sys tem was restored. There was first the Sephar dim or eSpanish and Portuguese" Congregation which for long took the first place in the guid ance of the whole Jewish life of London. Founded by a body of men distinguished alike for culture and commercial capacity, this con gregation gave to English public life many a noble son. They bore a considerable part in developing Colonial trade. This congregation, whose present Bevis Marks Synagogue was consecrated in 1701, was governed by a Ma hamad or Council of Elders with an ecclesias tical head or Haham. The Mahamad claimed and exercised considerable power over all the individual members. Gradually, however, the leadership passed into the hands of the Ash kenazim or ((Germano Jews. At first each Ger man congregation was completely independent, and this condition continued with more or less completeness till 1870 when the United Syna gogue was founded. A large number of Metro politan Jewish congregations are constituents of this united body, but the Sephardim have maintained their complete independence, besides a few German congregations of old foundation which have remained outside the union, there was established in 1841 a West London Synagogue of British Jews which in troduced some ritual reforms and placed itself it still remains) in an independent position. he increase of foreign Jews had, however, led to the formation, especially since 1880, of a considerable number of smaller East End con gregations outside the Metropolitan Union. These were ((federated') in 1887. It is diffi cult to define the exact condition of the Jewish communal organization at the present time. The Chief Rabbi is the official head of the great bulk of the congregations of the British Empire, but except for statutory powers conferred over the constituent Syna gogues of .the united Synagogues by the act of 1870, the influence of the Chief Rabbi depends on the voluntary acceptance of his jurisdiction by the various congregations. As to the rest of the communal organization, it does not differ from that found in other Jewish centres all the world over. The distinctive mark of Anglo-Jewish arrangements is perhaps the tendency to centralization. In Germany and in America there are Rabbis for every sep arate congregation; in England there are "Ministers" who preach and teach rather than Rabbis who exercise judicial functions. But there are many indications that the centralisa tion is in process of breaking down. Certainly the organization of the English Jews on its re ligious side is now in a transitional phase. On the other hand, charitable and philanthropic organization is in a condition of first-rate efficiency.