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 Jew in London. 
 
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THE JEW IN LONDON 
 
THE JEW IN LONDON 
 
 A Study of 
 Racial Character and Present-Day Conditions 
 
 BEING TWO ESSAYS PREPARED 
 FOR THE TOYNBEE TRUSTEES 
 
 C. RUSSELL, B.A., and H. SfLEWIS, M.A. 
 
 WITH 
 
 An Introduction by Canon Barnett 
 
 AND 
 
 A Preface by The Right Hon. James Bryce, M.P. 
 
 With a New Map specially made for this Volume 
 
 GEO. E. ARKELL 
 
 NEW YORK 
 THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. 
 
 PUBLISHERS 
 
 igoi 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Preface . 
 Introduction . 
 Notes on Map 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ix 
 
 xix 
 
 xxxiii 
 
 PART I 
 
 THE JEWISH QUESTION IN THE EAST END 
 By C. RUSSELL, B.A. 
 
 I. Introductory i 
 
 II. The Social Question . . . . 12 
 
 III. The Industrial Question ... 46 
 
 IV. The Religious Question ... 91 
 V. Conclusion 137 
 
 Appendix A. — Population Statistics . . 149 
 
 PART II 
 
 ANOTHER VIEW OF THE QUESTION 
 
 By H. S. lewis, M.A, . . 155 
 
 Appendix B. ■ 
 
 Hours of Attendance at 
 
 CUEDER .... 
 
 237 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The Jewish nationality is so unique a 
 phenomenon in the history of the world, 
 by its antiquity and by its cohesiveness, as 
 to be one of the most interesting subjects 
 of investigation to which an inquirer can 
 address himself. It is certainly not less 
 so now than it was in the past, because 
 within the last hundred years it has entered 
 on a new phase, in which its power has 
 been better shown and in which also its 
 existence has begun to be more seriously 
 threatened than was ever the case before. 
 Nor is the inquiry anywhere more in- 
 teresting than in England, because England 
 is now pretty nearly the only country in 
 which Jews are subject to no sort of dis- 
 ability, either social or legal, and is also 
 
 ix 
 
X Preface 
 
 the country in which the struggle between 
 two tendencies that are at work in the 
 bosom of Judaism, the tendency to change 
 and the tendency to conservatism, is most 
 evident and active. 
 
 The subject of the two essays which 
 form this volume is, therefore, one which 
 deserves the attention of historians as well 
 as of sociologists. They are primarily an 
 attempt to describe the Jewish community 
 in London, and especially that large part 
 of it which consists of very recent immi- 
 grants from Eastern Europe, Germany, 
 Poland and Russia. One of the essays 
 describes these people as seen from the 
 outside by an observer, who, though fair 
 and even friendly, has no special personal 
 ground of sympathy with the Jewish race 
 or religion. The second essay, which is 
 to some extent a criticism and commentary 
 upon the first, is the work of a writer who, 
 himself a member of the race, is thus able 
 to enter fully into its feelings and aspira- 
 
Preface xi 
 
 tions, and to set these clearly before the 
 Gentile reader. He is, however, sufiSciently 
 detached and independent to perceive the 
 defects of his nation, and sufficiently candid 
 to admit these defects. Thus the two 
 studies, taken together, seem to contain 
 good materials from which a judgment 
 may be formed on a problem to which the 
 recrudescence of Anti-Semitism, everywhere 
 except in England, has given a new 
 significance. 
 
 The large immigration of foreign Jews 
 into England has hitherto attracted public 
 attention chiefly from the social and 
 economic side. An outcry was raised, some 
 years ago, that these immigrants were 
 injuring the English working-man by 
 unfair competition, were ousting him from 
 certain trades, were lowering the rate of 
 wages, and therewith the standard of 
 comfort and decency, were increasing the 
 burden of pauperism, which the lowest 
 quarters of our great cities, and especially 
 
xii Preface 
 
 of London, have to carry. To this it 
 was answered that, so far from injuring 
 trade they were helping it, by enabling 
 some branches of industry to be worked 
 so cheaply that other branches could be 
 developed for the benefit of English work- 
 people, that they were, as a rule, sober 
 and thrifty, as well as laborious in their 
 habits, and that they were, therefore, not 
 likely to come upon the rates or swell the 
 criminal class. These questions are dis- 
 cussed in the following pages with full 
 knowledge and with calmness. The con- 
 clusions reached do not entirely sustain 
 either of the views to which I have 
 referred, but they certainly seem to dis- 
 suade any attempt to check by law the 
 entry into England of these aliens. J The 
 immigrants are, no doubt, in some ways 
 unattractive, but they are highly intelligent ; 
 they are not prone to crime, and their 
 children, taught in English schools, soon 
 rise to the level of the English Jews, 
 
Preface xiii 
 
 whom no Englishman has proposed to 
 expel after the fashion of King Edward 
 the First, or of the more extreme Anti- 
 Semites in Russia or in France. The 
 picture of their character and habits given 
 here is a curious one, and enables the 
 reader to realize, vividly, the size and 
 variety of London, in whose immense mass 
 this community, large as it is, maintains its 
 separate life almost unnoticed, except by 
 its immediate neighbours in Stepney and 
 Whitechapel and Bethnal Green. 
 
 Two other questions of great interest 
 are dealt with in these essays. One is the 
 conflict within the Jewish body between 
 the forces that make for a persistence in 
 the old orthodoxy of belief and the old 
 regime of ceremonial usages, and the forces 
 which tend to abolish those usages , and to 
 reduce the religion of Israel to a sort of 
 philosophic theism, tinged, no doubt, by 
 that strong race feeling which the recollec- 
 tions of a long and striking history have 
 
xiv Preface 
 
 imprinted so deeply upon the Jewish mind. 
 No thoughtful Christian can be indifferent 
 to this conflict. It resembles, to some 
 extent, the struggle between the new and 
 the old which goes on within Christianity 
 also ; and it suggests many thoughts upon 
 the true interpretation of that part of 
 Israel's annals which is recorded in the 
 Old Testament. Jewish philosophers like 
 Spinoza, and Jewish men of learning (of 
 whom not a few have attained deserved 
 eminence in their treatment of Biblical 
 problems, within the last and present genera- 
 tion), have largely affected the movements of 
 religious thought ; and the results of their 
 writings remain significant for the theo- 
 logical and historical student of to-day. 
 In the present instance it is the English 
 element, and the more educated element, 
 that is penetrated by neological tendencies, 
 while, conservatism, as is natural, finds its 
 stronghold among the simple and humble 
 Jews who come from Eastern Europe, 
 
Preface xv 
 
 where isolation and persecution have bound 
 them closely to their Talmudic traditions. 
 
 The other question is ais to the per- 
 manence of Jewish nationality in the 
 future. This is a matter of practical con- 
 sequence as well as speculative interest. 
 If the race remains distinct and cohesive, 
 it will probably be a potent factor in 
 Europe for generations to come, not only 
 by its undoubted talents and energy, but 
 in virtue of its remarkable cohesion, vy^hich 
 so greatly increases the force its individual 
 men of wealth and ability can put forth. 
 If it becomes by degrees absorbed into 
 and merged in the general population of 
 the countries where it dwells, its influence 
 will be only such as that which the in- 
 fusion at one time of Franco- Norman, 
 at a much later time and to a smaller 
 extent of French Huguenot blood had 
 upon the population of England, the in- 
 fluence of a new and vigorous strain which, 
 notable for two or three generations, 
 
XVI Preface 
 
 presently passes away and is forgotten. 
 The writers of both these essays agree 
 in thinking that the essential feature of 
 modern Israel is to be found not in its 
 blood but in its religion ; and that its 
 continuance as a nationality will depend 
 on whether or no it clings to its religion. 
 This is the one thing that really marks 
 it off. If Judaism becomes merely theism, 
 there will be little to distinguish its pro- 
 fessors from the persons, now pretty 
 numerous, who, while Christians in name, 
 sit loose to Christian doctrine. The 
 children of Jewish theists will be almost 
 as apt as the children of other theists to 
 be caught up by the movement which 
 carries the sons and daughters of evan- 
 gelical Anglicans and of Nonconformists 
 towards, or all the way to, the Church of 
 Rome. Intermarriage between Jews and 
 Christians has already begun, even where 
 each consort retains his or her religion, 
 and it will spread much more quickly if 
 
Preface xvii 
 
 Judaism loses its external character. 
 Now the practice of intermarriage is by 
 far the most powerful solvent of racial 
 distinctions, acting with exceptional force 
 where the two races live intermingled in 
 the same city, and where one is so vastly 
 larger than the other that it necessarily 
 imposes its social habits and ideas upon 
 the smaller. A study of the phenomena 
 of race-contact in the past, therefore, 
 decidedly confirms the conclusion at which 
 both these writers have arrived, that the 
 religion of Israel is the ark of Jewish 
 nationality. Strongly marked as the race 
 is, it will dissolve like a lump of salt in 
 water unless it clings to its religion, and, 
 as has been already observed, the very fact 
 that it has been better received and is 
 better treated in England than anywhere 
 else in the Europe of to-day, exposes it 
 to a more severe strain than it has had 
 to experience before. 
 
 Whatever be the issue, one can dwell 
 
xviii Preface " 
 
 with unmixed satisfaction upon the absence 
 among ourselves of any recrudescence of 
 mediaeval intolerance towards a people 
 whose peculiar defects are fairly charge- 
 able upon what they have been forced in 
 the past to suffer, whose possession of 
 some peculiar merits cannot be denied, 
 and who have made within recent times 
 extraordinary contributions to learning and 
 philosophy, to science and to one, at least, 
 of the arts. Those who would trace the 
 source of these contributions to the special 
 training which the Jewish race receives, as 
 well as all who care for the study of social 
 and industrial phenomena, will find much 
 *■ to interest them in the present volume. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 The first Trustees of the Toynbee Trust, 
 appointed in 1884, were the Earl of 
 Dalhousie, Messrs W. Markbey, Arthur 
 Acland, Herbert Foxwell, Alfred Milner, 
 Henry Sidgwick and Robert Spencer 
 Watson. They transferred the Trust in 
 1892 to the Council of Toynbee Hall — of 
 which body Mr Lyttelton Cell, Lord Peel, 
 Lord Herschel, and Sir Charles Elliott 
 have been in succession chairmen. 
 
 The Trust was founded on the death 
 of Arnold Toynbee by some of his friends 
 as an expression of their affection for 
 himself and as a memorial of his aims. 
 Its object is stated to be 'for the promot- 
 ing the investigation and diffusion of true 
 principles of political and social economy,' 
 
 and the Trustees are, among other things 
 
 xix 
 
XX Introduction 
 
 authorised to provide for the delivery and 
 publication of lectures. 
 
 Under the Trust Messrs Price, T. U. 
 Smith, F. Maddison, M.P., A. Woodworth, 
 Lord Fitzharris, and others have investi- 
 gated, and either lectured or reported on 
 special subjects affecting the life and 
 industry of the people. 
 
 There is thus no necessary connection 
 between the Trust and Toynbee Hall, 
 which received its name not because the 
 founders wished the place to be a me- 
 morial of Arnold Toynbee, but because his 
 name seemed to express their hopes 
 of uniting men of culture with men of 
 industry. The friends or enemies — if 
 there be any — of Toynbee Hall must 
 not therefore, in taking up these essays, 
 associate with them any of the opinions 
 they may have formed about the place. 
 
 The subject of the present essays was 
 chosen because of its immediate interest, 
 and because of the facilities available for 
 
Introduction xxi 
 
 its study. The Jews by their inheritance 
 and by their experience are a ' peculiar ' 
 people. They inherit the mind both 
 philosophic and practical, which was formed 
 in a land where the Eastern man of dreams 
 came into contact with the Western man of 
 action. They by experience have habits, 
 virtues and vices formed by centuries of 
 opposition and persecution. They have 
 preserved these results within the hedge 
 of a Law, which keeps them distinct and 
 forbids union with the people among 
 whom they live. Their inheritance and 
 their training have had advantages and dis- 
 advantages which can be recognised in 
 their character and habits. 
 
 The poor Jew is, as a rule, more 
 capable of thinking than the poor Gentile ; 
 he can shape an ideal in his mind 
 with something of a poet's power. Hence 
 he is able to work with an intelli- 
 gence and a success which does not 
 always follow mere technical education, 
 
xxii Introduction 
 
 and he has dreams which he can 
 enjoy in his hours of leisure without 
 being driven to seek dreams through 
 drunkenness. He has a sense of equality, 
 which gives him self-confidence and en- 
 ables him easily to take the place he gains 
 in the world. He has a certain dignity 
 born of the consciousness of the past, he 
 treats his wife with respect, rarely calling 
 upon her to work at a trade or behaving 
 to her with brutal violence. His family 
 life is as a rule happy, his children are 
 often more judiciously fed than those of 
 his neighbours, and are brought up without 
 resort to so many scoldings and blows. 
 He is very persistent — he endures hard- 
 ships and faces opposition with a conquer- 
 ing perseverance. He takes up a new 
 pursuit, he enters on new conditions of 
 life, he begins again and again after 
 failures with an energy and resourceful- 
 ness, if not greater, certainly more patient 
 than that of the Anglo-Saxon. He is 
 
Introduction xxiii 
 
 essentially religious and has the conscious- 
 ness of a relationship between himself and 
 a higher power — a sort of spiritual intuition. 
 This is evident by a thousand signs — by 
 a vein of poetry in the most practical, by 
 the admiration for goodness in the hardest, 
 by a capacity for reverence, by the value 
 he sets on the sense of the communal 
 weal, by an interest in the unnecessary 
 and the ideal, by his turn for philosophy 
 and by his love for good music. He is 
 the child of men who wrote the Psalms, 
 but he is also the child of the modern 
 time, imbued with its spirit of inquiry 
 and impatient of all forms of unreason. 
 
 These advantages, due to tradition, in- 
 heritance and to training, are counter- 
 balanced by disadvantages. The Jew is 
 often timid and inclined to the subterfuge 
 of the timid. He rarely tries frontal 
 attacks, and his methods lead him to be 
 suspected of duplicity. He likes making 
 things easy for everyone, even for wrong- 
 
xxiv Introduction 
 
 doers, and he is disinclined to rouse ani- 
 mosity by openly punishing his enemy. 
 His charity errs in being kind rather 
 than remedial. He is essentially a town- 
 liver, kept off the land for so many years 
 and prevented by his Sabbath Laws from 
 so many forms of labour, he has been 
 driven to trade, and to trade he has 
 applied his natural intelligence and his 
 acquired persistency. He is thus a keen, 
 hard bargainer, following the scent of gain 
 through all the intricacies of exchange. 
 In his success he develops unlovely 
 qualities and is often a gambler. 
 
 His memory of persecution has made 
 him more conscious of rights than of 
 duties, at anyrate in his dealings with 
 the Gentiles. He will have what he has 
 paid for, and, if possible, a little more, 
 with one result among others, that he is 
 unpopular as a landlord even though he 
 may do no more than the law allows. 
 
 Often, however, his very vices seem 
 
Introduction xxv 
 
 to be a perversion of his virtues ; the 
 self-confidence of his dignity makes him 
 self-assertive and loud, his persistency 
 makes him hard, and even his spirituality 
 is apt to be perverted to materialism. 
 He goes after money as if it were his 
 god. He throws ardour into his enjoy- 
 ment of wealth, and he finds in the excite- 
 ment of speculation the life he misses in wor- 
 ship. The Jew, who is by nature spiritual, 
 tends to becomes material or sensuous, 
 and in East London is sometimes notable 
 for his coarseness and vulgarity. Altogether 
 he has not popular qualities. His virtues 
 raise him above his neighbours, his ability 
 enables him to pass them in the race for 
 wealth, and his manners give him the 
 appearance of superiority. The immigrant 
 Jew has, moreover, habits of living 
 acquired in other countries which offend 
 the prejudiced Englishman, who is apt 
 to call ' dirty ' whatever is foreign. 
 
 The Jew, thus distinct from his neigh- 
 
xxvi Introduction 
 
 bours, has lately become much more 
 prominent in the Industrial World. He 
 has taken his place as a workman among 
 other workmen. He has begun to adopt 
 the methods of Trade Unions, and in the 
 branches of certain trades he has become 
 supreme. He often takes an active part in 
 local government and even in 'sport.' He 
 gets on, and in the search after health 
 and wealth succeeds in being the most 
 healthy and the most wealthy. The Jew, 
 who thus becomes prominent, is not like 
 an Irishman or a German immigrant who 
 becomes prominent, he is the represen- 
 tative of a distinct people settled in the 
 community, a people with a peculiar history 
 and character, and related by close ties 
 with a kindred established in all parts 
 of the civilised world. 
 
 His prominence is thus a fact which 
 commands notice and cannot be left un- 
 noticed. 
 
 Will the Jew be absorbed in the 
 
Introduction xxvii 
 
 British as other races have been absorbed, 
 and yield to the meek forces of tolera- 
 tion what he has never yielded to per- 
 secution ? 
 
 Will he develop along his own lines, 
 preserve the type while he adapts it 
 to new surroundings, remain a Jew 
 while he becomes a better Jew, • and in 
 this way add a new element to the 
 British national life? 
 
 Will he arouse against him the jealousy 
 of his neighbours, and again in indirect 
 way bring upon himself persecution ? 
 
 These questions are being answered in 
 one way or the other. The answers in- 
 volve a policy in which everyone is 
 taking a part by his conversation or by 
 his action, inasmuch as everyone has 
 dealings with Jews. 
 
 The object of these essays is to assist 
 their readers to a right answer, and there- 
 fore to a right policy. 
 
 The writers have had special qualifica- 
 
xxviii Introduction 
 
 tions for their work. Mr Russell came 
 highly commended from the authorities at 
 Oxford. He had a year at his command 
 before undertaking the duties he now 
 performs in the Indian Education De- 
 partment. He spent much of this year 
 in and about Whitechapel, visiting at 
 the homes and clubs and meeting-places 
 of the Jews. He took pains to interview 
 officials and others concerned in the 
 administration of law or charity, and 
 having thus amassed his facts, he brought 
 a fresh mind to their study. 
 
 Mr Lewis has lived for many years 
 in Toynbee Hall. He is a Jew and 
 a Cambridge graduate, a Wrangler and 
 an Oriental scholar. He has as a 
 teacher in elementary schools, as a 
 visitor for relief, as a school-manager, as 
 an agent for the Children's Holiday Fund, 
 and as a member of the Whitechapel Dis- 
 trict Board of Works come into close and 
 various contact with his neighbours. He 
 
Introduction xxix 
 
 is familiar among all sorts and conditions 
 of people. 
 
 Mr Arkell has had the great advantage 
 of working with Mr Charles Booth, and 
 with him did the maps which illustrate 
 his Life and Labour of London. 
 
 Both Mr Russell and Mr Lewis had 
 at their command the resources of 
 Toynbee Hall. This place, representing 
 not one set of opinion but many sets, 
 having as its residents men of strong faith 
 and different faith, both political and religi- 
 ous, has generally avoided partisan suspicion. 
 Jews and Gentiles alike are therefore in 
 relation with its activities, and have been 
 ready to put their information at the 
 service of the essayists. They, sharing 
 in the life of Toynbee Hall, have re- 
 garded this effort as one in which they 
 are called to help, and have, when it has 
 been possible, provided an open door by 
 which the inquirers could enter. 
 
 But it is the residents of the place — 
 
XXX Introduction 
 
 the succession of the men from the Uni- 
 versities who follow one another in making 
 their home for a few years in Whitechapel — 
 from whom much help was obtained. These 
 men have an accumulation of experience, 
 impressions hardly noticed, memories inter- 
 woven with memories, opinions which have 
 grown without being formed, knowledge 
 which is perhaps most intimate because 
 unconscious. From them the writers in 
 familiar conversation have been able to 
 get light which has sometimes given 
 another aspect to facts, and they have 
 had, as it were, the use of many eyes, ears 
 and minds in forming their judgments. 
 
 The Council of Toynbee Hall — acting as 
 trustees for the fund — settled the subjects 
 and chose the writers. I have no authority 
 to speak for them, but speaking for myself, 
 I can express the hope that, whatever policy 
 in their dealings with the Jews these 
 essays may lead their readers to favour, 
 the chief effect will be to do away with 
 
Introduction xxxi 
 
 the prejudices which are founded either on 
 the selfishness which is jealous , of the 
 Jews' success or on the ignorance which 
 is irritated at their different habits and 
 opinions. 
 
 SAMUEL A. BARNETT. 
 
JEWISH EAST LONDON 
 
 Notes on Map 
 
 Since the days of Cromwell the Jews have 
 
 lived near the eastern boundary of the 
 
 City, but the great increase of their numbers 
 
 and their spread over a large part of East 
 
 London is a matter of comparatively recent 
 
 date. 
 
 The map of Jewish East London has 
 
 been prepared to show the extent of the 
 
 Jewish settlement, which has grown up 
 
 around the old Ghetto by the City walls, 
 
 and also the proportions of Jew and Gentile 
 
 resident in the district. While the map 
 
 embraces the great Jewish area of East 
 
 London, it has not been thought necessary 
 
 to extend it so as to include some minor 
 c xxxiii 
 
xxxiv Notes on Map 
 
 Jewish colonies, such as that in Dalston 
 around Sandringham Road or in Hackney, 
 north of Victoria Park. They have been 
 omitted as, although in these and a few 
 other outlying districts, the Jews are a 
 noticeable component of the population, 
 their numbers are small when compared 
 with the central mass, of their co-religionists, 
 and they are far from being the dominant 
 factor in the neighbourhood in which they 
 live. A district extending from Bow to 
 Limehouse on the one hand, to Shoreditch 
 and the City of London on the other is 
 thus included in the map. 
 
 The information possessed by the London 
 School Board, covering the whole area of 
 the inquiry, would, it was thought, form 
 the best basis for a comparative statement, 
 and our thanks are due to the Board for 
 kindly permitting their officers to assist in 
 the work, as well as to the Superintendents 
 of Visitors of the Tower Hamlets and 
 Hackney Divisions for their co-operation. 
 
Notes on Map xxxv 
 
 Nor must the intimate local knowledge- and 
 sympathetic help of the Visitors be forgotten, 
 for without these the work would have 
 been much more difficult. 
 
 The School Board Visitors' schedules 
 contain particulars of all families with 
 children of school age, and the officers make 
 a note of all infants as possible future 
 scholars, so that, practically, information was 
 available respecting all families with children 
 under fourteen years of age. 
 
 These particulars have been taken out 
 street by street, the Jewish families being 
 distinguished from the non-Jewish. The 
 characteristics of the Jews are many and 
 distinctive ; Christian name and surname, 
 the school to which the children go, the 
 observance of the Jewish holidays, etc. ; all 
 these tokens are so clear that it proved 
 comparatively easy to discriminate. 
 
 In dealing with the information thus ob- 
 tained an assumption has been made similar 
 to that made by Mr Charles Booth in his 
 
xxxvi Notes on Map 
 
 inquiry concerning London poverty, i.e., 
 that the proportion of Jews and Gentiles 
 in the homes where there are no children is 
 the same as amongst the families appearing 
 on the schedules. Jewish families being 
 usually larger than those of their fellow- 
 townsmen, the proportions have been calcu- 
 lated on the number of parents and children 
 instead of the number of families. Generally 
 the street is taken as the unit, but it was 
 found possible to deal with the longer streets 
 in sections, whilst local concentrations of 
 either Jew or Gentile have been treated 
 separately. Registered lodging-houses and 
 other places where family life does not 
 obtain were another source of possible error, 
 and for these, allowances have been made ; 
 while hospitals, workhouses and other large 
 public institutions have been left uncoloured. 
 For graphic representation the inhabitants 
 of the area have been divided into six classes, 
 each represented on the map by a separate 
 tint ranging from bright red to dark blue, 
 
Notes on Map xxxvii 
 
 the red tints becoming lighter and the 
 blues darker as the proportion of Jews in- 
 creases. Thfe scheme of colour is as under : 
 
 1. Less than 5 per cent, of Jews . . . Red 
 
 2. 5 per cent, and less than 25 per cent, of Jews, Lt. red 
 
 3. 25 per cent. „ 50 per cent. „ Pink 
 
 4. 50 per cent. „ 75 per cent. „ Light blue 
 
 5. 75 per cent. „ 95 per cent. „ Med. blue 
 
 6. 95 per cent, to 100 per cent, of Jews . Dark blue 
 
 While the dark blue and red represent 
 respectively a practically Jewish or Gentile 
 population, the five per cent, allowance in 
 classes six and one has been made so that the 
 presence of a single family diverse from 
 the rest might not create a false impression. 
 It will also be noted that in all the streets 
 coloured blue the majority of the people 
 are Jewish. 
 
 Within the area represented the propor- 
 tion of Jews varies ; the population being 
 almost entirely Jewish near the City, and 
 becoming gradually less so as we recede 
 from that centre, until at the extreme east 
 
xxxvili Notes on Map 
 
 this element is lo-t amid the mass of typical 
 East-enders. 
 
 The portion bounded on the City side 
 by the Minories, Houndsditch and Bishops- 
 gate, north by the Great Eastern Railway 
 and Buxton Street, and South by Cable 
 Street, forms the central Jewish area. 
 Within its bounds are several well-defined 
 intensely Jewish districts : 
 
 (i). That inclosed by Houndsditch and 
 Commercial Street, and Whitechapel 
 High Street and White's Row. 
 (2). The old Tenter Ground between 
 Great Alie Street and Great Prescot 
 Street. 
 (3). The portion of St George's North, 
 betwixt Cannon Street Road and 
 Backchurch Lane. This area is 
 even more Jewish than it appears, 
 the percentage of Jews in many 
 of the streets being nearly as high 
 as in the darker patches. 
 ^4). The triangle formed by Commercial 
 
Notes on Map xxxix 
 
 Street, Old Montague Street and 
 
 H anbury Street. 
 In these areas it will be noted that 
 the division between Jew and Gentile is 
 usually sharply defined. In Spitalfields 
 most of the red patches represent regis- 
 tered lodging - houses. In St George's 
 East the streets coloured red are strong- 
 holds of the London labouring people, 
 carmen, dockers, etc., mainly Irish, who 
 have no dealings >vith the Jews and will 
 not live with them. Broken windows and 
 other forcible arguments have not in- 
 frequently been used to convince the un- 
 lucky Jew, who has had the temerity to 
 take up his abode in these streets, that for 
 him, at least, they are not desirable homes. 
 Some of the smaller courts still resist 
 the Jewish tide, the landlords objecting 
 to Jewish tenants, and a similar prejudice 
 keeps the Jew out of a few block dwell- 
 ings, whilst in others, restrictions as to 
 family and other matters are equally 
 
xl Notes on Map 
 
 effective, although not imposed with this 
 object. 
 
 The gradual spread of the Jews, due 
 partly to immigration and partly to the 
 normal increase of a prolific people, has 
 followed what may be termed the path 
 of least resistance. From Whitechapel 
 the outflowing wave has moved along 
 the great highways, especially White- 
 chapel Road and Commercial Road, and 
 into the streets immediately off these 
 thoroughfares. In streets not directly 
 connected with the main roads, and not 
 readily reached, the influx has been slow 
 and is comparatively recent. In some 
 long streets directly connected with a 
 main road, a distinct difference may be 
 noted between the near and remote ends 
 of the street. Bancroft Road is an 
 exarnple of this kind. The same tend- 
 ency to spread along the main thorough- 
 fares is seen in the outlying portions, 
 smaller waves flowing along the Cam- 
 
Notes on Map xli 
 
 bridge Road, Green Street and Coborn 
 Road. 
 
 Besides the outward trend, due primarily- 
 to increase of population, other causes 
 affect the distribution, chief among these 
 being the ownership of the dwellings and 
 the displacements consequent on rebuilding. 
 Some landlords will not let to Jews, 
 whilst others invariably prefer Jewish 
 tenants because a higher rent can be 
 extracted from them, at least this is the 
 reason assigned by unkind critics. Re- 
 building is an important factor in the 
 movement, and whenever houses are re- 
 built or, as is more usual, replaced by 
 tenement dwellings, the proportion of 
 Jews sensibly increases. Numerous in- 
 stances of these variations might be cited 
 but a few will suffice. Displacements due 
 to change of ownership are frequently 
 concealed in the map, the property being 
 in small holdings, but it is noticeable 
 in small courts, where a single owner is 
 
xlii Notes on Map 
 
 usual. Challis Court, Waterloo Court, 
 Wellington Buildings and other courts in 
 St George's East, are examples of this 
 class of change. All were Christian until 
 a few years ago, but are now entirely 
 Jewish, the properties having been sold, 
 rents raised and the old tenants replaced. 
 Lucas Street is specially noticeable in 
 this connection ; the west side, owned 
 by Jewish landlords, being over sixty per 
 cent. Jewish as compared with twenty per 
 cent, on the other side. Of changes due 
 to rebuilding the eastern part of Under- 
 wood Street is an example, as are the 
 Ravenscroft Buildings near Hackney Road 
 and the dwellings off Stepney Green, 
 Perhaps the most noticeable instance is 
 the London County Council dwellings at 
 Shoreditch, more than half the inhabitants 
 being Jewish in Marlowe Buildings and 
 some other blocks, while in the old J ago 
 the Jew was hardly found. 
 
 Whilst these changes hasten the Judaisa- 
 
Notes on Map xliii 
 
 tion of East London, other causes resist 
 this general tendency in places. Race 
 prejudice is strong. The antagonism of 
 the Irish combined with geographical 
 and industrial causes, has kept Wapping 
 free from Jews, none being found between 
 the Gravel Lane and Wapping Bridges, 
 whilst, as already mentioned, there are 
 several streets in St George's East without 
 a Jew, in close proximity to strongly Jewish 
 streets. Houses are held by employers 
 for their work-people; most of the breweries 
 provide dwellings for some of their men. 
 The landlords' objection to Hebrew tenants, 
 especially in the case of large blocks of 
 dwellings owned by companies, is a potent 
 factor, as in the dwellings erected by the 
 Great Eastern Railway Company and 
 mostly occupied by railway men; also the 
 Albert and Metropolitan Buildings in Mile 
 End New Town, where Jews are not 
 admitted as tenants. 
 
 Of the future of these districts there 
 
xliv Notes on Map 
 
 is little doubt but that they must soon be- 
 come almost entirely Jewish. Within the 
 last four or five years the movement has 
 been rapid in the district east of Bedford 
 Street. Streets that a few years back 
 were English and non-Jewish, have now 
 a number of Jews, and the gradual process 
 of the substitution of a Jewish family for a 
 former occupant is transforming the neigh- 
 bourhood ; whilst, if a Jewish family remove, 
 the key of the house will certainly be 
 sold to a co-relisfionist. In addition to 
 this, the pressure due to demolitions of 
 houses near the City for warehouses, 
 railway extensions and business premises, 
 constantly compelling the inhabitants of 
 this district to seek new homes, tends 
 to increase rather than diminish, and with 
 it the change in the outer district may 
 be expected to keep pace. 
 
 There are signs, however, that future 
 growth may not follow the lines of the 
 past. The Jewish authorities have seen 
 
Notes on Map xlv 
 
 the evils of the crowded area in East 
 London, and are making efforts to induce 
 their people to settle in the outskirts. 
 The more reasonable rents demanded 
 in the outer suburbs add force to the 
 argument, and we may hope that, so far 
 as the central area is concerned, the con- 
 gestion of the Jewish colony has reached 
 its limits. 
 
 The information was collected between 
 March and October 1899, ^-nd the map 
 represents with fair accuracy the condi- 
 tion of things obtaining in the summer 
 of that year. Some changes have taken 
 place since then, the most noticeable 
 being the commencement of the clearance 
 of the courts and alleys between Middle- 
 sex Street and Bell Lane. 
 
THE JEW IN LONDON 
 
 I 
 
 By C. Russell, B.A. 
 
THE JEWISH QUESTION IN 
 THE EAST END* 
 
 I.— INTRODUCTORY 
 
 It would perhaps be correct to say that a cosmo- 
 politan 
 the Jewish question all over the world is Qn^tion 
 
 one and indivisible. None of the local 
 
 * The following essay is the result of studies and inquiries 
 ■which have occupied me for about a year. I have received 
 assistance from a great variety of sources, but especially from 
 many members of the Jewish community, whose Icindness and 
 courtesy in giving help has added greatly to the pleasantness of 
 my work. I must, however, content myself with a general 
 acknowledgment of my obligations. It is not only that detailed 
 ■acknowledgments would involve too long a list, but few, perhaps, 
 of those to whom my thanks are due would care to have even the 
 semblance of responsibility for my conclusions. As Mr H. S. 
 Lewis, however, speaks for himself, I may take this opportunity 
 -of confessing my indebtedness to him. Between my conclusions 
 and his the reader must be the judge. It is fair to explain that Mr 
 Lewis has an intimate and familiar knowledge of the Whitechapel 
 Jewry with which my brief experience cannot be compared. But 
 while there are, no doubt, advantages in seeing a subject from the 
 inside, it is also sometimes an advantage to see it freshly and with 
 wholly unbiassed eyes ; and this may possibly be a case in which 
 an outsider has a better chance of appreciating the broader tendencies 
 ■which are at work. 
 
 A 
 
2 The Jew in London 
 
 problems which the presence of a Jewish 
 population creates can be treated satis- 
 factorily in isolation from the rest. They 
 are all merged in a single huge problem. 
 Two features of the Jewish character are 
 mainly accountable for this ; and they are 
 among the commonplaces of the subject. 
 One is the peculiar 'solidarity' which 
 holds the Jewish race together ; the other 
 is the no less remarkable ' adaptability ' 
 which allows continuous changes to take 
 place in its character and distribution. 
 Thus the Jewish community of the East 
 End has on the one hand been largely 
 dependent, for the support of its institu- 
 tions and the guidance of its affairs,, 
 upon the Jews of Hampstead and Bays- 
 water. On the other hand, its condition 
 is affected even more by the amount of 
 foreign immigration. This in its turn is 
 largely determined by events in Russian 
 Poland. The Whitechapel problem thus 
 turns out to be European in scope, and 
 
Introductory 3 
 
 it is not much less bewildering in its inner 
 
 complexity than in the immense range 
 
 over which it spreads itself. Besides 
 
 being part of a larger question, it contains 
 
 a multitude of smaller ones, and opens up 
 
 a field of inquiry in which racial, industrial 
 
 and religious questions are bound up with 
 
 one another, and refuse to be dissociated. 
 
 There is one problem, however, the National- 
 isation 
 
 problem of the ' nationalisation ' of the 
 Jew, which recurs wherever the children 
 of Israel have pitched their tents. Super- 
 ficially, at any rate, they have a marvellous 
 faculty of adapting themselves to a new 
 environment. They are quick at picking 
 up new habits and ideas, and doubtless 
 they make genuine efforts to assimilate 
 themselves. But it is everywhere a 
 question how far they can be said to 
 really assume the nationality of their 
 adopted country. To the Gentile, at any 
 rate, this point is of central interest in all 
 Jewish affairs, and it is a point which, to 
 
4 The Jew in London 
 
 some extent, admits of isolated treatment. 
 Different experiments are being tried in 
 different parts of the world, and in each 
 case the result may be judged, more or 
 less provisionally, upon its own merits. 
 The following essay is an attempt to 
 indicate some of the bearings of this 
 problem as it presents itself in the East 
 End of London, and to estimate as fairly 
 as may be the results which are likely to 
 be worked out by the Anglo-Jewish 
 method of solving it. For it will readily 
 be seen that the Jewish question, as it 
 presents itself in the East End, has a 
 variety of peculiar features ; and it is fair 
 to add that in recent years it has been 
 presenting itself to the leaders of the 
 Anglo- Jewish community under circum- 
 stances of peculiar difficulty. 
 
 These circumstances may be said to 
 TheiRusso- date from the outbreak of Russian Anti- 
 
 Jewish In- 
 
 """^ Semitism in 1881, which let loose a flood 
 
 of Jewish immigrants. Huge numbers of 
 
Introductory 5 
 
 them arrived in London in a pitiable and 
 more or less destitute condition. Dirty, 
 poverty-stricken, and degraded alike in 
 morals and physique by the oppressive 
 conditions of their Ghetto-life in Russia, 
 they seemed by no means a promising 
 addition to the country's strength, and it 
 was hardly to be expected that they 
 would be received as welcome guests. 
 Their British co-religionists, however, 
 would not — perhaps did not dare to — 
 disown responsibility for them, and accord- 
 ingly found themselves confronted with a 
 very formidable task. The invasion of 
 the country by hordes of hungry Israelites, 
 who seemed unfairly qualified for success 
 in the industrial market by the combina- 
 tion of a sleuth-hound instinct for gain, 
 with 'an indefinitely low standard of life,' 
 naturally stirred up a certain amount of 
 jealous hostility among the working-classes. 
 To disarm this hostility, by removing all 
 just grounds for it, was a task that called 
 
6 The Jew in London 
 
 phiian- for tact and prudence, besides entailing a 
 
 thropic 
 
 Measures large expenditure. Through the Jewish 
 Board of Guardians, however, and the 
 Russo-Jewish Committee, the community- 
 took the matter in hand with admirable 
 shrewdness and energy, and if they cannot 
 be said to have stemmed the tide of 
 immigration, did very much to lessen its 
 evil effects. Numbers of immigrants were 
 sent on to America or the colonies, and 
 many of the least promising cases were 
 repatriated ; while every effort was made 
 to improve the conditions of those who 
 remained. Loans, allowances and relief 
 in various forms were granted to numbers 
 of the poorer applicants, and an inspector 
 was appointed to insure the better sanita- 
 tion of their homes. By a system of 
 hiring out sewing-machines, the industry 
 of the foreigners had already been directed 
 into a channel for which it proved itself 
 conspicuously qualified, and at the same 
 time was able to partially exonerate itself 
 
Introductory 7 
 
 from the charge of unfair competition with 
 English labour. Efforts were also made 
 to ' Anglicise ' the new arrivals in language, 
 habits and ideas, and these again (at any- 
 rate in the case of the rising generation), 
 have proved themselves astonishingly 
 successful. The crisis was thus tided over, 
 and a possible burst of Anti-Semitism was 
 averted ; but the situation is still one that 
 requires constant watchfulness on the 
 part of the English Jews. Their burden 
 was lightened, it is true, towards the end 
 of the decade, by a considerable slacken- 
 ing in the rush of immigration. But at 
 the present moment it appears to be 
 again increasing,* and in any case it 
 would be idle to imagine that the immi- 
 gration difficulty is disposed of, so long 
 as we are liable to be inundated afresh by 
 
 * There is no available material for anything like a trustworthy 
 statistical estimate of the number of immigrants who come here to 
 stay. Such evidence, however, as is obtainable, points to the fact 
 that the influx of Russian and Polish Jews has increased to a con- 
 siderable extent in the last few years (w. Board of Trade Report on 
 • Immigration and Emigration.') 
 
8 The Jew in London 
 
 any new or reactionary departure in the 
 policy of the Russian Government. And it 
 will appear further on that the British work- 
 man still has certain grievances against the 
 foreign Jew that are not wholly imaginary. 
 Scope and It is a subject that has hitherto been 
 
 Purpose of 
 
 this Essay generally treated from the economic side. 
 Whether the Jewish immigrant is, on 
 the whole, a blessing or a curse to the 
 East End, is not, however, by any 
 means a purely economic question. It 
 is commonly said that he contributes 
 nothing to the strength of the nation ; and 
 whether this charge is just depends 
 mainly on the extent to which he enters 
 into the nation's life. So long as the 
 Jews remain an isolated and peculiar 
 people, self-centred in their organisation, 
 and fundamentally alien in their ideas and 
 aims, the rapid growth of their community 
 can hardly be regarded with complete 
 satisfaction. The more prosperous and 
 successful they become, the more hostility 
 
Introductory 9 
 
 and jealousy are likely to be aroused by 
 their presence ; and it is conceivable that 
 they might develop into an actual source 
 of danger. A ' state within a state ' is 
 generally recognised as an undesirable 
 anomaly ; and so long as the Jews remain 
 independent and unabsorbed, they must 
 expect to be regarded as strangers in the 
 land. Now, it is obvious that as circum- 
 stances at present stand, the East End 
 Jews must be regarded as in effect an 
 alien community. A' considerable pro- 
 portion of them speak a foreign tongue ; 
 while in religion, in character and habits, 
 and in social and industrial organisation, 
 they are marked off from their neighbours 
 by peculiar features. It is the object 
 of this essay to inquire how far these 
 peculiarities appear to be of a permanent 
 or an eradicable nature, and how far 
 they constitute — or are likely in the 
 future to constitute — an impassable barrier 
 between Jewry and the outer world. 
 
lo The Jew in London 
 
 It is a question which presents itself under 
 three more or less distinguishable aspects. 
 There is : — 
 
 (i). The general social question : How far 
 do the Jewish and Gentile popula- 
 tion mingle with and mutually affect 
 one another ? Is there any ap- 
 preciable tendency towards a closer 
 amalgamation ? 
 
 (2). The industrial question : What is the 
 effect of economic conditions in 
 maintaining or diminishing on the 
 one hand the isolation, and on the 
 other the unpopularity of the Jewish 
 race? 
 
 (3). The religious question : How far is 
 the ' separateness ' of the Jewish 
 community due to the tribal and 
 exclusive character of Judaism ? 
 And how far is their religion likely 
 to exercise a lasting influence in this 
 direction ? 
 
 It is quite obvious — and perhaps it will 
 
Introductory 1 1 
 
 become even more obvious as we proceed — 
 that the three questions are intimately 
 connected. They overlap one another 
 along the whole line, and are bound to- 
 gether by numberless and intricate threads 
 of causation. But, for the sake of con- 
 venience, it is perhaps simpler to consider 
 each under a separate heading. 
 
II.— THE SOCIAL QUESTION* 
 
 pTuiation ^^^ ^°^^^ Jewish population of London may- 
 be very roughly estimated at 110,000, of 
 whom about 100,000 live in the East End ; 
 and out of these something like 60,000 have 
 been born abroad.! That their numbers are 
 rapidly increasing is beyond dispute ; though 
 it is questionable whether the bulk of this 
 increase is due to immigration or to the 
 extraordinarily prolific character of Jewish 
 marriages. There is little doubt, however, 
 that it is considerably augmented from both 
 sources. The area covered by the Jewish 
 quarter is extending its limits every year. 
 
 * For a concrete picture of social life in the East End Jewry the 
 reader is recommended to study Mr Zangwill's ' Children of the 
 Ghetto,' and to supplement it with Mrs Sidney Webb's admirable 
 sketch of 'The Jewish Community' in Life and Labour of the 
 People (Vol. III.) 
 
 t Appendix A. 
 
 12 
 
The Social Question 1 3 
 
 Overflowing the boundaries of Whitechapel, 
 they are spreading northward and eastward 
 into Bethnal Green and Mile End, and 
 southward into St George's-in-the-East ; 
 while further away in Hackney and Shore- 
 ditch to the north, and Stepney, Limehouse 
 and Bow to the east, a rather more pros- 
 perous and less foreign element has estab- 
 hshed itself, and formed new centres for 
 the growth of the community. And beyond 
 this there is a considerable migration into 
 remote parts of London, — notably into the 
 district of Soho, where the Jewish tailoring 
 industry is rapidly establishing itself over an 
 increasing area. 
 
 Dirt, overcrowding, industry and sobriety Effect on 
 
 the Neigh- 
 may be set down as the most conspicuous tourhood 
 
 features of these foreign settlements. In 
 many cases they have completely trans- 
 formed the character of the neighbourhood. 
 There are certain districts of Whitechapel, 
 which — before they were over-run by the 
 foreigners — were haunted by roughs and 
 
14 The Jew in London 
 
 criminals of the worst description, and had 
 as evil a reputation as any slums in London. 
 These are now exceptionally quiet and 
 orderly ; and, except in school hours, 
 generally alive with swarms of small 
 children whose brightness, decency of garb, 
 and apparent enjoyment of life give almost 
 a sunny aspect to their surroundings. The 
 change, indeed, is perhaps rather more super- 
 ficially striking than it deserves to be. It 
 must not be supposed that it is wholly from 
 black to white, or that the criminal element 
 has completely vanished. The foreign Jew 
 avoids the grosser and more outrageous 
 forms of crime ; but he errs in the direction 
 of what his enemies would call the meaner, 
 and his friends the less brutal vices. He 
 has few scruples and sometimes considerable 
 ability in such matters as perjury and swind- 
 ling ; and often rouses disgust in those who 
 come across him by what an English work- 
 man described to me as his 'crawlin' 
 under'and ways.' It is also well-known 
 
The Social Qtiestion 1 5 
 
 that he is an inveterate gambler. Nttmerous 
 police reports and the recent agitation for 
 a Jewish industrial school, further seem to 
 testify to the growth of a class of youthful 
 pick-pockets in the community. There are 
 many respects, in short, in which the 
 Judaised districts are still capable of im- 
 provement ; but it may be said that the 
 rufifian element and the hopelessly degraded 
 type of home have entirely disappeared. 
 There are, of course, other causes besides 
 the expansion of the Jewish quarter which 
 have contributed to this change ; but the 
 Jews are entitled to a share in the credit 
 There is something very typical of the 
 Jewish character in the way in which, under 
 the protection of a policeman's whistle, they 
 obtain a footing in such districts and quietly 
 displace the former population. I have 
 heard a bitter opponent of the foreign 
 immigrants (himself, by the way, an English 
 Jew) violently denouncing their masterful 
 progress and encroachment, and in the same 
 
1 6 The Jew in London 
 
 breath instancing certain streets' in Bethnal 
 Green, which are now inhabited by foreigners, 
 and a few years ago were so full of ruffians 
 that he hardly dared to pass through them, 
 even by daylight. It is a process in which 
 the meek effectively assert their title to the 
 inheritance of the earth. 
 Anti-Jew- In those districts on the edge of the 
 
 ish Feeling ^ 
 
 foreign quarter, where the native population 
 is thus being driven out, there is naturally 
 a considerable amount of hostile feeling. 
 And seeing that the method by which this 
 victorious progress is achieved commonly 
 High consists in paying abnormally high rents, 
 
 Rents and 
 
 Over- and defraying the expense, in defiance of 
 
 crowding jo ± 
 
 all laws of decency or sanitation, by taking 
 in a sufficient quantity of lodgers, the 
 indignation which is aroused is by no 
 means groundless or unjust. At the 
 present moment this is the most widespread 
 and acute grievance against the foreign 
 element ; and it is undeniable that it opens 
 up some very serious questions. The evil 
 
The Social Question 1 7 
 
 of a system of high rents maintained by 
 overcrowding is one that it would be hard 
 to exaggerate ; and under present conditions 
 there seems to be little hope of improvement. 
 For the landlords are to be reckoned with 
 as well as the tenants ; and a good deal 
 of house property has lately changed hands, 
 and been bought up — purely as an invest- 
 ment — by the shrewder and wealthier 
 among the foreigners themselves. As such 
 investments are extremely profitable, the 
 example of these small capitalists seems 
 likely to be followed ; and it appears 
 probable that rent in these districts may 
 go on rising indefinitely, and no doubt 
 ■causing a proportionate rise in all the 
 neighbouring districts. When there is a 
 very limited supply of house-room and a 
 rapidly growing demand, it is hardly to 
 be expected that rents will remain moderate. 
 A certain amount of weight, no doubt, is 
 thrown into the other scale by philanthropic 
 building enterprises ; but beyond this there 
 
 B 
 
1 8 The Jew in London 
 
 seems to be no remedy except in the 
 enforcement of the sanitary law ; and it 
 is a case in which it seems almost impos- 
 sible for inspection to be made thoroughly 
 efficient.* 
 Causes of The CEuscs of this abnormal demand for 
 
 Congestion . ^ . , 
 
 houses within the Jewish quarter are not 
 very far to seek. It is natural for a race 
 of strangers to herd together ; and in the 
 case of Jews who wish to observe strictly 
 the ordinances of their religion, it is 
 absolutely necessary for them to remain 
 in the region of synagogues and ' kosher ' 
 meat. Thus the newly-arrived immigrant 
 probably, in the first instance, takes up his 
 quarters with a relative or ' landsmann ' • 
 and in any case it is out of the question 
 for him to go far afield until he has mastered 
 Language the EngHsh language. And the Yiddish- 
 speaking community is at once so large 
 
 * Since the above was written the rent question has reached a much 
 more acute stage ; but a vigorous agitation has done something 
 to check many of the grosser evils of house-speculation. 
 
The Social Question 1 9 
 
 and so socially isolated that, for the adult 
 
 immigrant, there is little need to put himself 
 
 to this trouble. With the children, indeed, 
 
 who have passed through an elementary 
 
 school the case is very different ; but even 
 
 these after they have grown up, seem often 
 
 to remain in the district, out of regard 
 
 to the feelings of their parents, who are 
 
 perhaps dependent on them for support. 
 
 Beyond all this, there are naturally strong 
 
 inducements to remain in a district which 
 
 is full of Jewish institutions. Charitable charities 
 
 relief may there be obtained from a great 
 
 variety of sources, ranging from the Board 
 
 of Guardians in Middlesex Street down 
 
 to the free Medical Missions of the con- 
 
 versionist societies ; and there is every 
 
 facility for the training of their children, — 
 
 from the great Free School in Bell Lane, Free School 
 
 '^ and ' Che- 
 
 which provides free clothing and free meals, ■'"''"' 
 along with an admirable elementary education, 
 down to the small and frequently insanitary 
 ' Chedarim,' where a foreign ' Melammed ' 
 
20 The Jew in London 
 
 sometimes charges as much as two shillings 
 or half-a-crown a week, for instilling a pro- 
 bably ephemeral knowledge of the Hebrew 
 language. Amongst other attractions must 
 be reckoned the daily market in Wentworth 
 Street, where commodities and prices are 
 adapted to their demands. 
 Industrial A further cause of the permanent con- 
 gestion of the Jewish population is to be 
 found in industrial conditions. Whitechapel 
 is the great centre of the typically Jewish 
 trades ; and in these trades employment 
 in the slack season is generally so uncertain, 
 and the hours of work in the busy season 
 so long, that it is a great convenience and 
 advantage for a man to live in the immediate 
 neighbourhood of his work. And in the 
 tailoring trade, at any rate, it is almost 
 necessary for workshops to be within easy 
 reach of the Citj', as work is constantly- 
 being sent to and fro ; so that as far as 
 their industry is concerned there seems to 
 be little hope of any very wide dispersion. 
 
The Social Question 2 1 
 
 But beyond these special causes, a good ^■"T" 
 deal must be set down to the general char- character 
 acter and habits of the immigrants. In 
 the first place, they have no particular 
 objection to overcrowding. They have 
 been thoroughly inured to the worst con- 
 ditions in their native country ; and what 
 to an Englishman would be intolerable is 
 scarcely a hardship to the newly-arrived 
 immigrant from Poland. He does not 
 expect to live prosperously at once ; and 
 while he is occupied in gaining a footing 
 in his new home he is ready to lower his 
 standard of life indefinitely. And in the 
 second place, there is a strongly sociable and 
 clannish spirit among the Jews which naturallj'' 
 draws them together ; and in the case of the 
 fresh immigrant this is intensified by a sharp 
 distrust and suspicion — not only of all 
 'goyim' or Gentiles — but even of Enghsh 
 Jews, whom he regards as little better, and 
 as quite fallen away from the orthodox 
 tenets of Judaism. 
 
22 The Jew in London 
 
 Efforts at This local Concentration is, of course, a 
 
 Anglicisa- 
 
 tion great obstacle to the ' Anglicisation ' of the 
 foreign Jews. But in spite of this, a sur- 
 prising measure of success seems to attend 
 the efforts of the Anglo- Jewish community 
 in that direction. The system of apprentice- 
 ship adopted by the Board of Guardians 
 and the Location and Information Bureau 
 of the Russo-Jewish Committee, both make 
 it their object to relieve the strain upon 
 the ' congested ' industries and districts. It 
 is true that only a tiny proportion of the 
 community is directly affected by these 
 measures, and a considerable amount of 
 opposition is encountered, on the grounds 
 that they are likely to result in compulsory 
 Sabbath-breaking, and the consequent under- 
 mining of Judaism ; but on the whole they 
 seem to have quite an appreciable effect. A 
 similar suspicion seems to have been enter- 
 tained even in regard to the teaching of 
 English ; but the free evening classes 
 organised for that purpose by the Russo- 
 
The Social Question 23 
 
 Jewish Committee appear to be increasingly 
 effective. Thus according to a late report 
 ' the number of individual attendances at 
 the classes in the year 1896-97 amounted to 
 57,684, a number considerably larger than 
 the total of any year since the classes were 
 started,' and 'the Committee believe that a 
 certain prejudice which was experienced to 
 a limited extent when the classes were first 
 started has now entirely passed away, and 
 illusory ideas as to any possible religious 
 decadence being likely to result from the pre- 
 liminary step of learning English in the pro- 
 cess of becoming " Anglicised " are no longer 
 entertained.' Whether such ideas are quite 
 as ' illusory ' as is here maintained is a point 
 with which I propose to deal further on ; 
 but the decreased suspicion must be taken 
 as evidence of a gradual modification of tone 
 and attitude. 
 
 The ' Anglicising ' process, however, can- Their Suc- 
 
 ^ *-* ^ cess in Case 
 
 not be said to be very widely or thoroughly °^ children 
 effective, except in the case of the rising 
 
24 The Jew in London 
 
 generation. Here the transformation effected 
 by an English training is astonishing in its 
 completeness. All the children who pass 
 through an elementary school may be said 
 to grow up into ' English Jews ' ; and in 
 this phrase there is implied almost a world of 
 difference. This, in fact, is one of the central 
 features of the whole Anglo- Jewish question. 
 There appears to be almost a stronger line 
 English and of Severance between the English and 
 
 Foreign 
 
 Jews foreign Jew than between the English Jew 
 and Gentile. In habits, ideas and religion 
 they are fundamentally distinct ; and when 
 they come much into contact there is even 
 mutual hostility and contempt. In White- 
 chapel the bitterest enemies of the foreign 
 immigrant that I have come across have 
 been English Jews ; while the foreigners 
 are commonly shocked and scandalised at 
 the laxity in faith, and the shamelessly 
 ' non- observant ' lives of their English co- 
 religionists. Charges of hypocrisy on the 
 one side, and of flagrant impiety on the 
 
The Social Question 25 
 
 other, are freely preferred ; and in secular, 
 as in religious interests, the two sections 
 appear to have little in common. The 
 same line is drawn very clearly by public 
 opinion among the Gentile population. 
 English Jews I have found to be surprisingly 
 popular. They are pronounced to. be good 
 fellows, and 'just like us Christians.' They 
 spend their money freely and 'have the 
 best of everything ' ; and command respect, 
 especially amongst the habituds of the public- 
 house, by the. lordly style in which they 
 take their pleasures. Foreigners, on the 
 other hand, are for the most part, cordially 
 disliked. They are accused of cutting down 
 wages, of displacing British labour, of dealing 
 solely with one another, and generally of 
 being dirty and disreputable members of 
 society. It is true that this ill-feeling is 
 by no means universal, and does not, except 
 under special circumstances, amount to any- 
 thing like a bitter hostility; but it presents 
 a sufficiently marked contrast to the friendly 
 
26 The Jew in London 
 
 feeling which is generally entertained towards 
 the English Jews. 
 Drawbacks The process of 'Anglicising* foreign 
 
 of Anglici- 
 
 sation children is so far eminently successful ; 
 but, unfortunately, it can hardly be claimed 
 that it is a process of unalloyed improve- 
 ment. While outgrowing many of the 
 virtues of their fathers, they are apt to 
 pick up the fashionable vices of their 
 adopted country. If swearing, betting and 
 a passion for the turf are to be taken as 
 the hall-marks of our nationality, the young 
 English Jew of Whitechapel must be allowed 
 to be British to the core. Drunkenness, 
 it is true, he does not affect ; though he 
 drinks a good deal, he drinks circumspectly, 
 and rarely, if ever, falls a victim to the 
 passion for alcohol. He inherits, in fact, 
 the prudence, temperance and self-mastery, 
 which centuries of harsh discipline have 
 impressed on the Jewish character ; while 
 he loses much of the devotion, religious 
 enthusiasm and intense inner life which 
 
The Social Question 27 
 
 belong to the adherents of a persecuted 
 faith. The Ghetto-type is strangely com- 
 pounded of superstitions, meannesses and 
 ideal aspirations ; and the process of 
 emancipation is naturally ambiguous in 
 its results. What is gained in breadth is 
 lost in depth ; and it is perhaps question- 
 able whether, on the whole, the English- 
 bred Jews are as respectable a human 
 species as their foreign parents. But, 
 although the two types seem tolerably 
 well marked, there is, of course, a sufficient 
 gradation and variety of character in each 
 to make any reasoning upon such a question 
 more or less vague and unsatisfactory. 
 
 How far the peculiarities of the Jewish 
 mind and temperament are, on the one 
 hand, hereditary, and, on the other, due 
 to education and environment,* is too 
 
 * It would be interesting to work out the bearings of Jewish 
 history upon the scientific controversy concerning the inheritance 
 of acquired qualities. It is perhaps noteworthy that in ordinary 
 conversation upon any point of Jewish psychology, it is an almost 
 invariable assumption that such transmission has taken place. 
 
28 The Jew in London 
 
 large and complex a question to be fairly 
 within the scope of this essay. But the 
 part which education has played in the 
 formation and development of a Jewish 
 type is certainly too important to be 
 Education passed over. It is true that so far as 
 this education has been peculiarly Jewish, 
 it has always been religious rather than 
 secular in character ; and the discussion 
 of it should, therefore, perhaps be de- 
 ferred. But it is worth while to remark 
 the general agreement as to its efficacy 
 in sharpening the intelligence, and 
 developing that power of subtle and 
 abstract calculation, which has contributed 
 so largely to the competitive success and, 
 progress of the Jewish race. The Jews 
 have always been 'a nation of students.' 
 The Talmud sets the scholar above the 
 king ; and a thorough training in Hebrew 
 is still held a matter of the highest im- 
 portance. Five is recognised as the proper 
 age at which a child should begin to 
 
The Social Question 29 
 
 study the Law ; and a pious parent is 
 ready to make almost any sacrifice to 
 secure what is, in his eyes, a thorough 
 and competent instruction for his children. 
 It is true that this sort of education, Teaching 
 
 of Hebrew 
 
 being valued purely from the religious 
 standpoint, is apt to be mechanical and 
 superficial. The object in the first in- 
 stance is to enable the child to follow 
 the synagogue service, and understand 
 the portion of the Law which is appointed 
 to be read for each week. Hence the 
 faculty of speedy translation is apt to be 
 cultivated at the cost of thoroughness and 
 full comprehension. And, to an outsider, 
 at any rate, the rapid sing-song in which 
 the sacred writings are commonly read 
 and translated, appears hardly compatible 
 with a very intelligent grasp or apprecia- 
 tion of their meaning. This, however, is 
 a matter upon which a Gentile's impres- 
 sion is probably worthless ; and the educa- 
 tional value of this teaching certainly 
 
30 The Jew in London 
 
 seems to be well established by its results. 
 The foreign children at the East End 
 board schools are universally allowed to 
 be sharper and more intelligent than the 
 English, and they carry off a large pro- 
 portion of prizes and scholarships. There 
 can be little doubt that this is due, in 
 part at any rate, to the extra teaching 
 which they receive in Hebrew.* The 
 study of the Law is, in fact, a sort of 
 classical education for them ; and, no 
 doubt, it has something of the same effect, 
 on a narrower scale, as the study of 
 Greek and Latin has on the average 
 English schoolboy. Both are rather 
 mechanically imbibed, and to all practical 
 purposes forgotten very shortly after leav- 
 ing school; but both have some permanent 
 effect in the training and development of 
 the mind. The study of languages, indeed 
 — and in a special degree of dead languages 
 
 *Two other considerations, however, must be allowed some 
 weight : (i) the greater precocity of Jewish children ; (2) the greater 
 stimulus and encouragement afforded in Jewish homes. 
 
The Social Question 3 1 
 
 — seems to have an educational value that 
 can hardly be supplied from any other 
 source. The task of recognising ideas 
 which are disguised in a totally different 
 medium of expression involves a certain 
 degree of actual mental exercise that can 
 hardly be evaded. A boy is obliged to 
 use his head in a way that is quite un- 
 called for, so long as it is merely treated 
 as a passive receptacle for facts and 
 names. Moreover, it must be remembered 
 that the original and native language of 
 the foreign child is ' Yiddish ' — a ' jargon ' 
 which mainly consists of bad German — 
 and that besides learning English he has 
 this Hebrew education superadded. He 
 is thus practically a master of three 
 languages ; and it is evident that the 
 degree of mental activity which this im- 
 plies must be very considerable. There Defects of 
 
 Cheder 
 
 is little doubt, in fact, that it is, on the Training 
 whole, excessive. Such a training is too 
 purely intellectual, and involves too much 
 
$2 The few in London 
 
 strain upon the intellectual faculties. The 
 school hours of some of the children who 
 attend cheder as well as an elementary 
 school, seem to be almost incredibly long, 
 and have a very serious effect upon their 
 physique. Moreover, by the time a child 
 leaves school he is apt to be worn out 
 in mind as well as in body ; suc2i abnormal 
 and forced development of the brain- 
 power in early years is bound to be 
 followed by a reaction. 
 
 There is, however, a certain toughness 
 of fibre in the mental, as well as the 
 physical constitution of the Jew, which, 
 no doubt, makes the evil effect of such 
 a system much less considerable than 
 might have been anticipated. Still, its 
 net result is, in many respects, unsatisfac- 
 tory. The mental energy which it absorbs 
 might be directed into more profitable 
 channels. For the instruction thus given 
 seems to have little, if any, direct bearing 
 upon after-life. In Russia, of course, 
 
The Social Question 33 
 
 it is a necessary preparation for a life 
 in which almost every detail is regulated 
 by a religious code ; and in the eyes of 
 the Russian parent who has settled in 
 Whitechapel, this is still presumably its 
 end and purpose. But in England the 
 alien influences under which the child 
 grows up almost invariably seem to prove 
 too strong ; and as soon as he leaves 
 cheder, he practically leaves the Judaism 
 of the Polish Ghetto behind him ; and the 
 devout intentions of his parents are- frus- 
 trated. When the child has celebrated 
 his Barmitzvah or religious majority (at the 
 age of thirteen), his parents' responsibility 
 ceases, and with it, apparently, the growth 
 of the spiritual or Judaic half of his 
 nature. From that point his development 
 is upon purely secular lines. One or two 
 Melammediin (Hebrew teachers) have ad 
 mitted to me, mournfully, that Hebrew studies 
 are scarcely ever prosecuted beyond school 
 age ; and a very unfavourable contrast is 
 
34 The Jew in London 
 
 drawn between the state of things in Eng- 
 land and in Russia. There are, no doubt, 
 exceptions, but this seems to be a general 
 rule. The younger portion of the com- 
 munity bears a reputation for impiety, 
 which does not speak highly for the 
 efficacy of its cheder education. This 
 must be judged, therefore, wholly by its 
 value as an intellectual training. As 
 religious teaching, it appears that it does 
 not, as a rule, serve the purpose for which 
 it is intended ; and for what are commonly 
 called ' practical ' ends it is obviously quite 
 useless. 
 EfFectof But we are here mainly concerned with 
 as a Check its effects in modifying or retarding the 
 
 to Assimi- 
 
 iiation process of assimilation. The hours spent 
 in the cheder must have some tendency 
 to counteract the purely English training 
 of the elementary school. The child is 
 here impressed with the fact that he is 
 a Jew and different from English children ; 
 and, if he has any imagination, he is 
 
The Social Question 35 
 
 perhaps moved by the idea that his people 
 are exiles in a strange land. In a large 
 majority of the chedarim, moreover, the 
 teaching is given in 'Yiddish'; and in some 
 the standard of cleanliness and ventila- 
 tion is more Polish than English. Such 
 conditions, no doubt, exercise some degree 
 of retarding influence ; but, on the whole, 
 it does not appear to be considerable. 
 In many cases, no doubt, it is more than 
 counteracted by the disgust which children 
 acquire for all that is associated with 
 such surroundings. Among the orthodox 
 Jews of Whitechapel the increasing laxity 
 and indifference of the rising generation 
 is commonly recognised and deplored. As 
 they grow up and make money and 
 mingle with Christians, they bring them- 
 selves more and more under de-judaising 
 influences. They lose the sense of racial 
 and religious separateness, and, with English 
 habits and ideas, acquire something of 
 English stolidity and inertia. The idealistic 
 
36 The Jew in London 
 
 and enthusiastic elements of character which 
 their parents imported from Poland do 
 not seem to take root in English soil. 
 Nominally, they remain Jewish in religion; 
 but religion is no longer, one of the vital 
 and potent factors in their life. 
 
 Whether the transition should, on the 
 whole, be called an improvement depends 
 largely on the point of view. 
 The Angii- Whether the English jew 'is a bettef 
 
 cised Jew 
 
 man than his foreign parent is' open to 
 question, but it can hai"dly be disputed 
 that he is a better citizen. His secular 
 interests are less , bounded by his home 
 and family, and he plays his part in local 
 politics. There is a loss, no doubt, of 
 many of the finer qualities which are 
 bound up with a strong religious feeling ; 
 but there is a gain in cleanliness and self- 
 respect. The English Jew, moreover, is 
 often an ardent patriot ; he is proud of 
 being an Englishman, and seems generally 
 to regard his foreign co-religionists from 
 
The Social Question 37 
 
 the English rather, than the Jewish 
 standpoint. Except, perhaps, in business 
 matters, he has quite a different set of 
 virtues and vices. In business he re- 
 mains a • Jew in shrewdness and capacity, 
 and often in unscfupulousness as well ;* 
 though palpable lying and cheating are 
 less characteristic of him than of his 
 foreign brethren.' > Much of this change 
 of character is, of course, due to emergence 
 from poverty ; a fairly prosperous man 
 has little to tempt him into, many of the 
 meaner vices. He acknowledges a standard 
 of respectability which niay not be a very 
 lofty one, but none the less acts as a 
 safeguard against certain anti-social tend- 
 encies. Similarly, he has failings to which 
 poverty is not liable, 
 
 * The commonly received opinion that the standard of commercial 
 ethics as recognised by Jews is, on the whole, somewhat lower than 
 that acknowledged by the rest of the world may possibly be mere 
 ' prejudice ' ; and doubtless an element of prejudice often enters into 
 it. But if so, it is a prejudice not wholly confined to Gentiles. In 
 a recent interesting discussion in ' Young Israel ' of the supposed 
 unpopularity of Jews and its causes, there are some cogent remarks 
 on this point. 
 
38 The Jew in London 
 
 Significance Great importance must evidently be 
 
 of the 
 
 Change attached to this change in social character. 
 It would perhaps be difficult to exaggerate 
 the contrast between the typical immigrant 
 and the typical English Jew. It should 
 be remembered, however, that such a com- 
 parison must always be in some degree 
 misleading. The gradual character and 
 frequent incompleteness of the change is 
 apt to be left out of sight. In a great 
 number of cases the process is arrested at 
 various stages ; and the total change is, 
 perhaps, not generally accomplished in a 
 single generation. Many generations, in 
 fact, are likely to pass before all traces 
 of the Ghetto can be eradicated. Still, 
 up to a certain point, the process of 
 adaptation is marvellously rapid, and sug- 
 gests that a complete amalgamation with 
 Gentiles may be the final, and possibly 
 not very distant, solution of the Jewish 
 problem. 
 
 The present tendency in this direction 
 
The Social Question 39 
 
 certainly seems to be a strong one ; 
 although there are many counteracting 
 forces. A main obstacle is the rigid pro- 
 hibition of intermarriage which is one ofimer- 
 
 , marriage 
 
 the articles of the Jewish religion ; and 
 perhaps the safest test that could be used 
 to measure any such tendency would be 
 given by the number of mixed marriages. 
 But, unfortunately, it is a point on which 
 it is impossible to get any statistical 
 evidence. There seems, however, to be a 
 fairly general impression that the number 
 is increasing; and looking at the matter 
 from an a priori standpoint, it is certainly 
 hard to see how it can be effectually dis- 
 countenanced, so long as ' Anglicisation ' and 
 social intercourse with Gentiles are en- 
 couraged. In this respect, indeed, the policy Angio-jew- 
 adopted by those who are in authority in '^ " '"^ 
 the Anglo-Jewish community often seems 
 to be in contradiction with itself. Facts 
 seem to show that their two objects — of 
 converting Jews into Englishmen and of 
 
40 The Jew in London 
 
 keeping them rigorously 'separate' in their 
 Judaism — are fundamentally inconsistent. 
 The two methods of life are, of course, 
 just capable of combination ; and among 
 highly educated Jews there are, no doubt, 
 a few conspicuous examples of it. But to 
 expect that such a combination will ever 
 become general, especially in the poorer 
 classes, is to expect a very astonishing 
 piece of psychological development. 
 Mixture with Englishmen and the ab- 
 sorption of English ideas can hardly fail 
 to act as a dissolving force upon the 
 crude Judaism of the East End. The 
 question is, of course, primarily one of 
 religion, but it has other aspects which 
 are important enough to make it very 
 complex. There seems to be a strong, if 
 Tribal more or less unconscious, tribal instinct. 
 
 Feeling , . , . 
 
 which often persists after religion has lost 
 its vitality, and no doubt sometimes has a 
 reactive influence in strengthening a failing 
 creed. But it is not to be anticipated 
 
The Social Question 41 
 
 that such an instinct would long survive 
 the decay of the religious system which 
 has hitherto preserved it. Evidence, how- 
 ever, of its present strength seems to be 
 afforded by the rooted objection to inter- 
 marriage which persists even among the 
 laxer Jews. But it must be remembered 
 that what is now taking place in the 
 East End is virtually a new experiment, 
 and has not yet had time to show any 
 very marked or definite results. The vast 
 majority of East End Jews are not more 
 than a generation removed from a Russian 
 Ghetto ; and j naturally they still bear 
 more or less trace of their origin. 
 
 But the point which gives its chief 
 novelty and interest to the experiment is 
 the complete absence of Anti-Semitic feel- Absence of 
 
 . . Anti- 
 
 ing. This is one of the most striking semitism 
 features of the question as it presents 
 itself in Whitechapel ; it is considerably 
 truer of the British workman than even 
 of the richer classes. In the higher levels 
 
42 The Jew in London 
 
 of society there is still, no doubt, a certain 
 amount of racial prejudice ; it is not un- 
 common to meet with persons who have 
 an instinctive and quite unreasoned dislike 
 for Jews. But in the East End there is 
 hardly a trace of this ; against the Jew as 
 a Jew there seems to be no sort of hostile 
 feeling. The English Jew, as has been 
 remarked above, is surprisingly popular. 
 And such hostility as does exist towards 
 the foreign element is neither racial nor 
 religious in character. It is always based 
 either on some special grievance, whether 
 real or imaginary, or — much more rarely — 
 on mere insular objection to all foreign 
 and outlandish persons. That is to say, 
 that the ill-feeling which exists is not 
 properly Anti-Semitic in character. It is 
 true that on occasions it may seem to take 
 this form, but at bottom it is something 
 quite different. Thus an Englishman who 
 has a personal quarrel with a Jew may 
 very probably become an Anti-Semite for 
 
The Social Question 43 
 
 the time being ; and Jews and Christians 
 may occasionally find themselves ranged 
 into opposite parties upon some point of 
 political organisation or local government. 
 But such incidents are quite exceptional, 
 and do not indicate any deep or widely- 
 spread antagonism. 
 
 This absence of ill-will' may be said to 
 be a new feature in the Semitic problem ; 
 and it clearly has important bearings upon 
 the question of assimilation. Through 
 almost the whole of history, isolation has 
 been forced upon the Jews by the hostile 
 pressure of external forces, and the neces- 
 sity of combination in the face of common 
 dangers. When this pressure ceases the 
 task of maintaining their separateness is 
 likely to prove increasingly difficult ; in 
 the long run, it can hardly be safeguarded 
 except in an atmosphere of more or less 
 mutual hostility. But this safeguard, ap- 
 parently, is in the course of being broken 
 down, not only by the general drift of 
 
44 The Jew in London 
 
 social forces, but by the strenuous efforts 
 by which the Jewish community itself en- 
 deavours to remove all source of griev- 
 ances and to smooth the path of 
 Anglicisation. 
 Causes of It would be absurd, however, to imagine 
 
 Mutual 111- . . 11 . 1 A 
 
 Feeling that the questiou is at all simple. A certain 
 amount of mutual antagonism still prevails, 
 though it has ceased to be racial in 
 character, and arises from causes that are 
 likely to be more eradicable. On the side 
 of the Gentiles there are certain grievances, 
 apart from the house-rent question, which 
 are largely due to jealousy of the industrial 
 success achieved by the foreign Jews ; and 
 when Jewish competition is acutely felt, 
 these grievances, doubtless, often give rise 
 to a pronounced feeling of hostility. And 
 on the side of the foreign Jews themselves 
 there is a certain sense of alienation from 
 Gentiles, which is religious in its grounds, 
 and tends to maintain a traditional aloof- 
 ness from Gentile ways and Gentile 
 
The Social Question 45 
 
 society.* As far as public opinion on 
 either side is considered, these are the two 
 principal sources of estrangement ; and it 
 should be remarked that neither is ap- 
 preciably active in the case of the English 
 Jew — that is to say, of the Jew who is a 
 generation or more removed from a foreign 
 Ghetto. 
 
 So far, therefore, the ' social question ' 
 resolves itself partly into the economic and 
 partly into the religious ; and it is to be 
 hoped that further light may be thrown 
 upon it in the following chapters. 
 
 * The feeling of racial superiority is doubtless much stronger on 
 the Jewish than on the Gentile side, though, of course, it is much 
 more carefully concealed. It is perhaps rather characteristic of the 
 chosen people to preserve a humble demeanour in public, while 
 privately thanking God that they are not as other men are. On 
 the other hand, I have several times had it remarked to nje by 
 British workmen, that thS poor Jews are in many respects 'a 
 pattern to us.' 
 
III.— THE INDUSTRIAL 
 QUESTION 
 
 Scope of It is fortunately unnecessary to attempt a 
 
 Treatment 
 
 thorough treatment of the various economic 
 questions which have been raised by the 
 advent of the Jewish workman. To discuss 
 such a subject in all its aspects and bear- 
 ings would obviously be a colossal task ; 
 and here it is only necessary to consider 
 the condition and effects of Jewish industry 
 in so far as they influence the relations 
 between Jew and Gentile. The broad 
 question with which we are concerned is 
 this : — How far do industrial conditions tend 
 to maintain or dissolve the existing solidarity 
 and separateness of the Jewish community ? 
 It has been indicated already that there 
 
 are two principal economic considerations 
 
 46 
 
The Industrial Question 47 
 
 which help largely to keep up the severance 
 of Jew and Gentile, viz. : (i) the jealousy 
 and ill-feeling on the side of Gentiles 
 which is based upon economic grievances, 
 and (2) the confinement of Jewish labour 
 to certain specifically Jewish trades. 
 
 It must first then be asked how much Economic 
 
 Grievances 
 
 justice there is in the common outcry 
 against Jewish labour as an economic 
 nuisance ; and how far Jewish competition 
 in the labour market is likely to be 
 a source of permanent hostility among 
 English workmen? The question is im- 
 portant, because it appears that on the 
 answer to it may depend the possibility of 
 art outbreak of Anti-Semitism in England. 
 It may, at least, be safely said that there 
 is little danger of Anti-Semitism from any 
 other source. It has been contended, how- 
 ever, that in the East End, conditions are 
 almost ripe for a Juden-hetze ; and it is 
 worth while to carefully examine what actual 
 ground there may be for such an outbreak. 
 
48 The Jew in London 
 
 The whole question of the industrial 
 effects of Jewish labour has fortunately 
 been sifted very thoroughly in recent years ; 
 and in spite of the complexity and frequent 
 contradictoriness of the evidence which has 
 been produced, there seem to be certain 
 inferences which can be drawn with con- 
 fidence. 
 Inquiries The question of alien immigration was 
 Subject investigated in 1888 by a Committee of the 
 House of Commons, and in 1889 a very 
 exhaustive inquiry into the Sweating System 
 was carried out by a Committee of the House 
 of Lords. Various aspects of the question 
 are very ably treated in Mr Charles Booth's 
 ' Life and Labour of the People in London ' ; 
 and more recently the whole question of the 
 ' volume and effects ' of alien immigration, 
 with especial reference to the boot-trade 
 and women's labour, has been dealt with 
 in a report to the Board of Trade, pub- 
 lished in 1894. 
 Complexity One main result of these investigations 
 
 of the Issues 
 
The Industrial Question 49 
 
 is to show the untrustworthiness of any- 
 broad and simple generalisations on the 
 subject. They certainly do not bear out 
 the sweeping accusations which have been 
 brought forward against the alien immigrant. 
 ' Pauper competition,' ' cutting down of 
 wages,' ' displacement of labour,' are phrases 
 that become discredited by a cool examina- 
 tion of the facts. The picture of foreign 
 paupers driving British workmen into work- 
 houses or across the seas, which gives 
 plausibility to the anti-alien cry, has not 
 been justified. Nor, it should be added, 
 has the rival picture, as drawn by the 
 alien's friends, of the immigrant Jew as a 
 sheer benefactor, importing new industries 
 and astonishing virtues into the country. 
 The Jew does not suck the blood of the 
 British workman, but neither is he a dis- 
 guised angel, showering unmixed blessings 
 wherever he sets his foot. The whole 
 matter is, in fact, too complicated to be 
 disposed of in any such summary fashion. 
 
 D 
 
50 The Jew in London 
 
 When a new factor, such as Jewish labour, 
 is introduced into the huge and complex 
 machinery of the industrial world, its in- 
 fluence is felt, not in one but in many- 
 directions ; and to imagine that its total 
 effect can be made obvious by a few 
 simple considerations is to be ignorant of 
 the conditions of the problem. 
 The Case It is easy to understand the sources 
 
 against the 
 
 Immigrants of the hostile feeling which is naturally 
 aroused by the presence of these foreign 
 workmen ; and certainly a strong prima 
 facie case can be made out against them. 
 They arrive in an abject and sometimes 
 half-starved condition. They have been used 
 to living amid the vilest surroundings, and 
 are prepared to work for abnormally long 
 hours, and under conditions that an English 
 
 Low Stand- workman would not tolerate, for a wage 
 
 ard of Life 
 
 and Cheap that Will barely suffice to keep off starva- 
 
 Labour 
 
 tion. Cheap labour of this sort can, of 
 course, always find employment ; and the 
 result is naturally a deterioriation both of 
 
The Industrial Question 5 1 
 
 wages and skill. While ministering to the 
 consumer's passion for cheapness, it is fatal 
 to any sense of the dignity of a craft, and 
 tends to the degradation of workman and 
 product alike. It is not fair that the 
 better workman should be handicapped by 
 his self-respect, his sense of decency and 
 his habit of thorough and conscientious 
 craftmanship. Yet in a market where com- 
 petition is fast and furious and cheapness 
 an unfailing bait for purchasers, it may be 
 urged that in any community there will 
 always be sufficient temptation to produce 
 articles of inferior quality, without aggra- 
 vating the evil by importing alien labour 
 of a sort that is exactly calculated to fall 
 in with and profit by this mischievous 
 tendency. And the ability to live on a 
 starvation wage is not the only undesirable 
 quality which gives an unfair advantage 
 to the Jewish immigrant. The single eye 
 with which the Tew will always strive after Love of 
 
 -' ■' Profit 
 
 what is profitable is at the root at once 
 
52 The Jew in London 
 
 of his success, and of many of the mis- 
 chievous results which ensue from • it. It 
 gives him an advantage on the field of 
 industrial competition which is not ob- 
 viously earned by anything like a corre- 
 sponding degree of social utility. The 
 preference of the Jew for profit rather 
 than wages, is a matter of common obser- 
 competi- vation ; and the combination of this spirit 
 
 tive Indi- 
 vidualism with a strongly individualistic type of 
 
 character, and a keen competitive instinct 
 
 is apt to render his presence a common 
 
 factor in the degradation of industry. He 
 
 cuts his own way at the expense of the 
 
 community's broader interests. Small 
 
 Disorgani- masters, home work and the lack of 
 
 sation of. 
 
 Industry effcctive Organisation among the workmen 
 are among the characteristic features of 
 Jewish industry ; and they are obviously 
 connected with one another in a common 
 
 Resultant evil tendency. Such features combine to 
 
 Evils 
 
 depress the workmen's condition and keep 
 it on the lowest possible level, and are 
 
The Industrial Question 53 
 
 mainly responsible for the worst evils of 
 what is called the ' sweating system.' Low 
 wages, uncertain employment, excessive 
 hours of work and easy evasion of sanitary 
 laws are almost everywhere characteristic 
 of the small workshop ; and where work 
 is taken out to be done at home they are 
 even aggravated. The adoption of the 
 large factory system is generally recognised 
 as the remedy which is most likely to 
 prove satisfactory ; but the Jewish indus- 
 trial character is a force which must always 
 militate against such a change. 
 
 It is undeniable that Jewish workmen Defects of 
 
 Character 
 
 have many admirable qualities ; but they 
 have also certain failings which might 
 possibly be summed up as a lack of industrial 
 morality. Gain is, to many of them, an 
 object to be pursued at any cost. Their 
 attitude is thus always the attitude of a 
 bargain-driver ; and nothing that can be 
 a possible source of gain comes amiss to 
 them. They are, for the most part, quite 
 
54 The Jew in London 
 
 ready to lie and cheat, and have no sense 
 of shame in accepting charity. It is true 
 that charitable reHef does not generally 
 demoralise them, and that they rarely come 
 upon the rates ; but none the less many 
 
 •Pauper- among them are 'paupers' in the sense 
 that they do not entirely support themselves, 
 and are unfairly subsidised as competitors 
 with English labour. For while the Jews 
 as workmen are disunited and without 
 organisation, and so far at the mercy of their 
 employers, they have on the other hand 
 as Jews a strong sense of racial community, 
 and have organised systems of relief and 
 
 Jewish mutual help which give the less competent 
 
 Solidarity 
 
 among them a considerable advantage against 
 Gentiles. This is not only seen in the 
 admirably-managed system of Jewish charity ; 
 it also works in less obvious ways. Thus it 
 is a common complaint that, while an 
 Englishman will deal with Jew or Gentile 
 indiscriminately, the foreign Jews always 
 deal with one another ; so that there is 
 
The Industrial Question 55 
 
 a tacit combination which makes their 
 competition more formidable than it deserves 
 to be. If they mingled freely with the 
 general population and entered the industrial 
 market on the same terms as others, there 
 would be less cause for grievance ; but so 
 long as they remain an isolated and self- 
 contained community whose hand is, in 
 a sense, against every man's, it is only 
 natural that they should incur hostility and 
 that every man's hand should turn against 
 them. And however true it may be that 
 these objectionable features disappear as the 
 foreigners become Anglicised, it is no less 
 true that the evil is perennially renewed by 
 the r stream of immigrants. 
 
 Such, in brief outline, is the case against 
 the foreign Jews ; and it may be said that, 
 so far as they go, all the charges contained 
 in it are roughly true. But if it is put 
 forward as the whole truth it must be 
 pronounced a misleading and radically unfair 
 statement of the facts. And when it is 
 
56 The Jew in London 
 
 supplemented by all that is to be said on 
 the other side, it will perhaps be seen that 
 it furnishes a very inadequate basis for the 
 conclusions that have generally given rise 
 to the anti-alien cry.* 
 The other Thus ou the matter of the low standard 
 of living and consequent lowness of wages, 
 which are commonly supposed to prevail 
 among the immigrants, there is undoubtedly 
 a basis of truth in the anti-alien argument ; 
 but it is a matter on which there has been 
 considerable exaggeration. The 'greener' 
 certainly has a remarkable capacity for 
 living on the verge of starvation. According 
 to a witness before the Sweating Commission, 
 he is commonly able to cut down his daily 
 fare to a red-herring and a cup of coffee. 
 And that he works for terribly long hours 
 is equally undeniable. The continuous 
 
 * The rise in house-rent, for which the foreign element in 
 the East End is responsible, is dealt with elsewhere. Though 
 a much more real and more acutely felt grievance it is here 
 left out of account, as it hardly enters into the general 
 industrial question which is at the basis of the anti- alien 
 agitation. 
 
;res- 
 siveness ' 
 
 The Industrial Question 57 
 
 strain is not as intolerable to him as to 
 an Englishman ; and in order to increase 
 his earnings he will often ruin his health 
 by over-work. And living in this style 
 he is, of course, enabled to subsist upon 
 the minimum wage. But at the same time 
 it would be a mistake to suppose that this 
 contents him, or is accepted as other than«Progi 
 a stepping-stone to comparative prosperity. 
 It is, as a rule, only for a few months that 
 his wages remain extremely low. In the 
 meantime he is learning his trade and 
 looking about him ; and in a surprisingly 
 short time he becomes a fair workman 
 and commands a fair workman's price. 
 Generally shrewd and alert and fully alive 
 to his own interests, he scarcely ever quite 
 answers to the popular conception of the 
 sweater's helpless victim. His condition 
 is usually one of steady and continuous 
 improvement, and he rarely sinks into 
 that sodden and disheartened state which 
 means hopeless poverty. It is true that 
 
58 The Jew in London 
 
 chronic pauperism is not unknown in the 
 community, but it seems to be more generally 
 due to physical than to moral breakdown. 
 In the worst times he seems always to 
 remain ambitious and on the look-out for 
 Elasticity a chance of rising. His standard of life, 
 
 of Standard 
 
 in fact, as has been well pointed out, is 
 not to be called low so much as indefinitely 
 'elastic' He is less easily- starved than 
 the Englishman — but he is also less easily 
 contented ; and there are many respects in 
 which his way of life involves more expenses. 
 While he spends little in drink, he is apt 
 to fling away a good deal in gambling (though 
 on the other hand, no doubt, he may 
 occasionally supplement his earnings by 
 winnings). But apart from this, he marries 
 very early and almost invariably has a 
 large family ; and as he becomes fairly 
 well-to-do there are many calls upon his 
 purse. The Hebrew education of his children 
 has to be paid for ; and a certain amount 
 of income commonly goes in charity and 
 
The Industrial Question 59 
 
 synagogue subscriptions. His wife, more- 
 over, is probably a more costly encumbrance 
 than the Gentile's, as she very rarely, indeed, 
 brings in any wages,* and is generally 
 ambitious and fond of ostentation in the 
 matter of clothes. According to Mr J. A. 
 Dyche (an immigrant tailor who has recently 
 been contributing with considerable ability 
 to the Contemporary Review) Jewish women 
 are, for the most part, ' idle, wasteful and 
 extravagant. Amongf Tews again there Social 
 
 ° & J fc. Ambitions 
 
 appears to be a keener spirit of emulation 
 than among Gentiles ; they are continually 
 struggling after some improvement in social 
 position, which ordinarily has to be main- 
 tained by increased expenditure. This strife 
 for personal distinction seems to be one 
 of the main causes of that multiplication of 
 small organisations and institutions which 
 is such a marked feature of the East End 
 Jewry. It appears that the ambition of the 
 
 * Miss Collet's Report on Foreign Immigration in Relation to 
 Wotnen's Labour, p. 104. 
 
6o The Jew in London 
 
 well-to-do and rising immigrant commonly 
 soars after some kind of official dignity ; 
 and as he is willing to pay for it — or, at least, 
 to expend time and trouble in the per- 
 formance of its duties — it is natural that a 
 sphere should be readily found for the 
 fulfilment of his aspirations. Hence the 
 number of small synagogues or chevras, 
 friendly societies and miscellaneous institu- 
 tions, which spring up like mushrooms 
 wherever the foreign Jews are gathered 
 together. It should be clearly recognised 
 that they form a community which is not 
 stagnant in poverty, but everywhere bubbling 
 up with life and enterprise ; * and that even 
 the smallest manifestations of this vitality 
 are significant as comments upon that 
 damning charge of ' pauperism ' (with all 
 
 * The recent extensive purchases of land at Benfleet seem to be an 
 instance in which the enterprise of the foreign Jew has for once 
 outrun his shrewdness. A large proportion of the buyers at last 
 year's sales never paid more than the first deposit on their purchases. 
 They are interesting, however, as an illustration of his independent 
 and keenly speculative character. A less respectable illustration of 
 the same feature is afforded by the growth of the class of rack-renting 
 landlords. 
 
The Industrial Question 6i 
 
 that is vaguely implied in it), which is 
 commonly urged against the Jewish immi- 
 grant. 
 
 It must next be asked how far the Qualities of 
 success of the Jewish workman is really workmen 
 due to the inferior quality of his work. It 
 is a question which can hardly be treated 
 singly, as it requires a different answer for 
 each trade ; but there are a few general 
 considerations which may first be taken 
 into account. It is certainly true ' that 
 Jewish labour is not typical of the highest 
 class of skilled and conscientious work- 
 manship. Work done on a highly sub- 
 divided system and for a cheap market 
 does not admit of such qualities ; and it 
 is further obvious that the circumstances 
 of the immigrant 'greener' are calculated 
 to shut him out of the higher classes of 
 industry. Even if he has been a skilled 
 artisan at home, he has been accustomed 
 to work on Russian methods ; and apart 
 from that, his ignorance of the language 
 
62 The Jew in London 
 
 is sufficient to keep him out of English 
 Lack of workshops. He therefore drifts into one 
 raining ^^ ^^ typically foreign industries which 
 require no special training and are easily 
 learned. He works irregularly and for a 
 small pittance for a few weeks or months ; 
 and as soon as he has mastered the trade 
 and can earn a fair wage he aspires to 
 becoming a small employer on his own 
 account. Such an industrial training is 
 obviously not calculated to produce a first- 
 rate workman. Still it would be a great 
 mistake to suppose that Jewish work 
 differs from English, merely or mainly in 
 being cheaper, more slovenly and less 
 skilled. In certain qualities, such as neat- 
 ness and finish, it can at least hold its 
 own. But, on the whole, its success seems 
 Intelligence rather due to the fact that it is exception- 
 ally intelligent and well-organised. There 
 is a Mediaeval 'jargon' proverb which has 
 not yet lost its point : 
 
The Industrial Question 63 
 
 ' Save us from the Christian Koach (strength), 
 Save us from the Jewish Moach (brains).' * 
 
 It is largely his superior brain-equipment 
 which gives the Jew a flying start in the 
 industrial race. Good English labour, no 
 doubt, has the advantage in thoroughness 
 and solidity of workmanship ; but in the 
 Jewish workshop decidedly more judgment 
 seems to be shown in the distribution of 
 skill. It is commonly said, for instance, 
 that an English tailor will always put the 
 same amount of work into every part of 
 a garment ; whereas the Jew will content 
 himself with inferior workmanship wher- 
 ever good work is not required. Good 
 management, economy of skill and a keen 
 eye to the market are among the principal 
 elements which have ensured the success 
 of Jewish industry. It should be recog- 
 nised, however, that at bottom their suc- 
 cess is probably less a matter of skill and 
 management than a matter of character. 
 
 * Israel Abraham'syszczV^ Life in the Middle Ages, p. io6. 
 
64 The Jew in London 
 
 Character As regards the industry, sobriety and 
 thriftiness of the Jewish workman all 
 accounts are unanimous, and in these 
 respects the Englishman's inferiority is, 
 unfortunately, very conspicuous. ' Every- 
 one that striveth for the mastery,' said the 
 
 Sobriety Christian apostle, ' is temperate in all 
 things ' ; and the part which a temperate 
 habit of life has played in the victorious 
 progress of the Jewish workman can 
 hardly be over-estimated. Of all the cir- 
 cumstances which tell in his favour, the 
 fact that he does not get drunk is one 
 of the foremost. And although this 
 superiority to alcohol is doubtless in part 
 a matter of physical constitution, it must 
 also be regarded as partly the outcome 
 
 Tenacity of a disciplined and morally tenacious 
 character. The poor Jew is not easily 
 demoralised, and can spend his life with- 
 out respect of circumstances in the un- 
 flagging pursuit of an end. He has 
 learned to take fortune's buffets and 
 
The Industrial Question 65 
 
 rewards with equal thanks, and allows 
 neither to throw him off his balance. 
 He is governed, in fact, more by calcula- Long- 
 
 headedncss 
 
 tion than by impulse ; whereas an English- 
 man of the same class is slow in learning 
 to subordinate the present to the future. 
 Before the Sweating Commission a state- 
 ment was made by Augor Wilchinski, a 
 Polish tailor, which is curiously typical of 
 this quality : — ' I myself do not smoke, I 
 am a teetotaller, and I believe in every- 
 thing that will tend to make me better 
 off.' * It is the confession of a faith that 
 is likely to triumph in the industrial 
 world, and it is perhaps the dominant 
 creed among Jewish workmen. For al- 
 though few even of the poorest Jews are 
 total abstainers from either spirits or 
 cigarettes, these indulgences are rigidly 
 and almost universally subordinated to 
 the great aim of becoming ' better off.' 
 Such a type of character has, of course, 
 
 * Minutes of Evidence, 4084. 
 E 
 
66 The Jew in London 
 
 the defects of its qualities ; there is a 
 lack of generosity and impulsiveness, and 
 it is apt to generate a mean and profit- 
 seeking spirit which is the reverse of 
 attractive. Still its better points are 
 worthy of emulation ; and it must, I 
 think, be admitted that on the whole its 
 success in the struggle for existence is 
 due to its good rather than its bad 
 qualities. 
 
 It is time, however, to consider the effect 
 which the influx of alien labour has actually 
 had upon the trades into which it principally 
 Tailoring enters. Of these the tailoring trade is con- 
 siderably the most important. At the time 
 of the last census no less than one-third of 
 the total number of male Russians and Poles 
 in the country (over ten years of age), were 
 employed in this industry ; and, though it is 
 impossible to speak with any certainty, the 
 proportion seems to be fully maintained at 
 the present time. The question with which 
 we are concerned has here been very 
 
 Trade 
 
The Industrial Question 67 • 
 
 thoroughly investigated, and it cannot be 
 said that the Jewish tailor has been con- 
 victed of any very pernicious influence upon 
 the trade. He has introduced new methods 
 and a new type of workmanship ; and it 
 would be largely though not entirely true 
 to say that he does not actually compete 
 with the native industry. His work is 
 confined to certain branches, which he may 
 be said to monopolise. Jew and Gentile, separate 
 
 Jewish and 
 
 according to Mrs Sidney Webb, who centiie 
 
 *" •' Branches 
 
 speaks with authority, work ' in water-tight 
 compartments.' Thus in the East End coat- 
 making is a purely Jewish industry ; and it is 
 worth remarking that it is better paid than 
 any other branch of the trade.* Coats of 
 a certain class cannot be made except upon 
 a system which the Jews have practically 
 introduced, and which Gentiles either from 
 distaste or inability have never adopted. 
 
 * ' The number of Jewish vest and trouser-makers is very small. 
 The Jevfish coat-makers account for this on the^round that " it is 
 impossible to make a living on vests and trousers."' (Report by 
 Miss Collet on Foreign Immigration in Relation to Women's 
 Labour, 1894, p. III). 
 
68 The Jew in London 
 
 Machine- Work is donc by machine instead of by 
 
 made Coats 
 
 hand, and time and skill are economised by 
 extreme subdivision of labour. The result 
 is the cheap production of a fair quality 
 of coat. The highest class of coat-making 
 is still in the hands of the old-fashioned 
 English tailor ; and there is no direct com- 
 petition between the two sets of workmen. 
 At the same time there is unquestionably a 
 Indirect Certain amount of indirect competition ; and 
 tio™^^ '' there is no doubt that, on the whole, the 
 older and better-paid industry is losing 
 ground. Jewish tailors have established 
 themselves in Soho ; and much of the work 
 done in the West End is undoubtedly pass- 
 ing into their hands. From the consumer's 
 point of view, the fit, quality and durability 
 of the English-made garment seem to be 
 less of an attraction than the cheapness and 
 decent appearance of the newer article. 
 The competition, however, is not between 
 workmen, but between different classes of 
 goods ; and even here it can only be said to 
 
The Industrial Question 69 
 
 touch a limited section of the English trade. 
 In any case the wages of the highest class 
 of English tailor are quite unaffected by 
 foreign competition ; and the competitive 
 success of the new industry seems only to 
 be won at the expense of the inferior 
 qualities of English work. The Irish tailor 
 of Whitechapel, and the second-rate English 
 tailor of the West End are being driven 
 out of the market ; but this is perhaps an 
 instance in which the process of the survival 
 of the fittest is tolerably justified in its 
 results. Apart from this the only industry 
 which appears to have been very seriously 
 damaged by the introduction of Jewish 
 methods is the second-hand clothes' trade ; 
 and here, if tradition has any value, the 
 competition must have resolved itself 
 wholly into a struggle between Jew and 
 Jew. 
 
 Cheap production is of course a main cheapness 
 element in the success of the imported 
 industry ; but, at the same time, it would be 
 
70 The Jew in London 
 
 quite unfair to describe the Jewish coat- 
 maker as a mere slop-worker. In style, 
 finish and elegance, if not in the more 
 solid qualities, his work compares favourably 
 with that of his English rivals. He is 
 nimble with his fingers ; and it has been 
 said that he uses the machine like an artist. 
 And his prices in this instance do not 
 necessarily imply cheap labour. Highly- 
 skilled work can still command high wages, 
 though it is confined to a few processes and 
 only bestowed upon a small part of the 
 garment. It is said that a first-rate 
 machinist can sometimes earn as much as 
 two shillings an hour in the busy season. 
 That would of course be very exceptional ; 
 but, on the whole, the average rate of wages 
 throughout the industry does not appear to 
 be specially low. The cheapness of the 
 product is mainly due to the organisation 
 and elaborate subdivision of work. 
 Sub- There is much, no doubt, that might be 
 
 division 
 
 said on the advantages and disadvantages 
 
The Industrial Question 7 1 
 
 of the whole system of highly specialised 
 and subdivided labour. That it suits 
 the interest of the consumer is proved by 
 its success, but its effect upon the standard 
 of workmanship and the general morals 
 of the workman is perhaps more dubious. 
 Such a discussion, however, would here 
 be irrelevant ; the responsibility for the 
 new system cannot be put specially upon 
 the Jew. It is a stage in the evolution 
 of industry, and no one class of workmen 
 is to be specially praised or blamed for it. 
 If all Jewish tailors were to be swept out 
 of London to-morrow, the old-fashioned 
 industry could hardly be resuscitated to 
 take their place. Cheap clothes {i.e., of 
 the ready-made class), would be manu- 
 factured on the subdivided method either 
 in country factories or abroad, and would 
 simply be imported to supply the London 
 market. The change in the character ol 
 the industry which is generally associated 
 with Jewish labour is, in fact, due to 
 
72 The Jew in London 
 
 industrial conditions which (in London) 
 the Jew has been the first to see and 
 take advantage of. The truth seems to 
 be that the Jew has succeeded by adapting 
 himself to the new conditions ; while the 
 conservat- conservatism of the English workman 
 English has kept him to the old grooves. Thus 
 
 Workmen 
 
 an English tailor will often absolutely 
 refuse to use a machine, even when it is 
 admittedly superior to hand-work ; and 
 I have come across an instance of 
 an English tailor sending work which 
 required machining to a Jewish work- 
 shop. So far as this spirit arises 
 from the pride and tradition of good 
 workmanship, it is no doubt commendable ; 
 but so far as it proves unable to adapt 
 itself to the present condition of the 
 industrial environment, it cannot be ex- 
 pected to hold its ground. 
 Mantle- The ladles' jacket and mantle trade, 
 
 making 
 
 again, is an industry which the Jewish 
 immigrant has. virtually introduced into 
 
The Industrial Question 73 
 
 this country. So far, at least, as the 
 
 better class of work is concerned, the 
 
 peculiar skill and methods of the foreign An im- 
 ported 
 Jew place him quite above the reach of industry 
 
 native competition. To establish this it 
 is sufficient to quote the following interest- 
 ing letter from one of the largest whole- 
 sale houses, in answer to an inquiry by 
 Mr J. A. Dyche:— 
 
 ' St Paul's Churchyard, 
 'London, ■^ist Janitary 1898. 
 
 * Dear Sir, — In reply to your question Messrs 
 
 Hitchcock, 
 
 as to the effect upon the home labour- wiiuams 
 
 '■ & Co., on 
 
 market of the work done in London by JfT.'^''. 
 
 J Tailoring 
 
 foreign Jewish tailors, it is only fair to 
 remind you that the foreign Jewish tailors 
 introduced new methods of manufacture, 
 and created a trade which has become 
 a distinct gain to the country's commerce. 
 
 * We were, we believe, the first wholesale 
 mantle manufacturers in town to employ 
 foreign Jewish tailors in a factory, and 
 it is interesting to recall our reasons for 
 
74 The Jew in London 
 
 doing so. In the year 1885 the demand 
 for ladies' tailor-made jackets came into 
 vogue, and to meet the demand for our 
 British and Colonial trade we were com- 
 pelled to import large quantities of these 
 garments from Germany. They were 
 made of German materials by tailors in 
 and around Berlin. 
 
 ' We tried to produce those garments 
 in our own factories, but without success ; 
 our women workers were unable to 
 manipulate the hand-irons used by the 
 tailors, and we could not get them - to do 
 the work. As the fashion became more 
 pronounced larger orders went abroad, and 
 in 1888 _;^ 1 50,000 was sent to Germany 
 in payment of these accounts. 
 
 'In 1889 we decided to introduce foreign 
 Jewish tailors and their special methods 
 into a new factory we had recently built, 
 with satisfactory results. Their work has 
 been excellent, British material has been 
 used instead of German, and a large part 
 
The Industrial Question 75 
 
 of the money sent formerly to Berlin has 
 been distributed among British manu- 
 facturers and in wages. 
 
 ' The quality of the work has improved 
 year by year, the garments made in our 
 factory are better than those imported 
 previously. 
 
 ' Other English firms have followed our 
 lead, and to-day the German press admits 
 the loss of her trade, in those goods, with 
 England. 
 
 ' Our experience shows that these foreign 
 Jewish tailors do a class of work which our 
 workers cannot undertake with success, and 
 earn a high rate of pay. 
 
 ' Hitchcock, Williams & Co.' * 
 
 The boot trade is the second in import- Boot- 
 making 
 ance of the Jewish industries ; but here, 
 
 unfortunately, the Jewish workman does 
 
 not show to equal advantage. The class stronger 
 
 . Case 
 
 of work which he undertakes is distinctly against the 
 
 Jews 
 
 inferior to that done by Englishmen, and 
 
 * Quoted in the Jewish Chronicle, April 22, 1898. 
 
76 The Jew in London 
 
 it cannot be claimed that he has introduced 
 any very beneficial novelties in the way of 
 method or organisation. There is no doubt 
 that here the lower class of English work 
 has suffered considerably from foreign com- 
 petition ; but owing to the state of the trade 
 it is impossible to estimate, with any approach 
 to accuracy, the total effect which has been 
 produced by immigrant labour. Here, as in 
 tailoring, we find the old hand-sewn industry 
 persisting but steadily losing ground before 
 the cheaper production of machine-made 
 goods. But the case is complicated by the 
 introduction, not merely of sewing-machines, 
 but of machinery on a large scale, and the 
 ButTran- consequeut transition from small workshops 
 
 sitional c • jit r^ i 
 
 State of to factories. Such a transformation, of 
 
 the Trade 
 
 makes it course, involves a general readjustment of 
 
 difficult ' £> ^ J 
 
 thelfin-^'^ wages and methods, and when the total 
 
 uence pj-Qcess is SO large and complex, the part 
 
 played by such a factor as immigrant labour 
 
 * Report to Board of Trade by Labour Department, 1894, p. 
 68. 
 
The Industrial Question 'jy 
 
 is comparatively insignificant. Here it is 
 machinery and not Jewish immigration 
 which has introduced the principle of 
 subdivision ; and, in the long run, the 
 competition which is formidable to the 
 English industry in London, is not that 
 of the Jew so much as that of the large 
 provincial factory. Thus Mr Llewellyn Mr u. 
 
 Smith's 
 
 Smith, in the Report published in 1894, R^por' 
 insists that ' the general character of the 
 evolution of the boot and shoe trade has 
 been entirely independent of foreign im- 
 migration,' and the following is his sum- 
 mary of the effect of Jewish labour: — 
 
 ' If it be desired to summarise in a word 
 the influence of the Russian and Polish 
 Jew on the character (as apart from the 
 remuneration) of the boot and shoe trade 
 in this country, it may be said to consist 
 in this — that it has somewhat prolonged 
 the intermediate stage of transition from 
 hand-labour in small workshops to machine- 
 labour in factories, by the provision of a 
 
78 The Jew in London 
 
 supply of labour especially adapted to help 
 handicraft on the small scale, and with 
 sufficient powers of endurance and a suffici- 
 ently low standard of living to enable them 
 to make head (for a time at least) against 
 the enormously superior odds of the great 
 machine-industry.' * 
 
 Home- In the branches of 'lasting' and 'finish- 
 
 work 
 
 ing,' and in the 'sew-round' or slipper- 
 making trade there is no doubt that the 
 home-work, which is the province of the 
 Jewish immigrant, is often done under bad 
 conditions and for wretchedly low wages. 
 In 1890 a strong effort was made to remedy 
 this evil ; and a Jewish union was formed 
 which took a creditable part in a general 
 strike of boot and shoe operatives. The 
 The outcome of this was an 'agreement' be- 
 
 ' Indoor 
 
 Agreement' twcen workmen and employers, to the 
 effect that all manufacturers should provide 
 workshops and that all work (except sew- 
 round) should be done indoors. But since 
 
 *.p. 71. 
 
The Industrial Question 79 
 
 then the Hebrew branch of the National 
 Union has been dissolved, and the agree- 
 ment (so far as cheaper work is concerned) 
 may almost be said to have fallen to the 
 ground. In the last few years especially, 
 outwork has revived to an increasing extent. 
 It is also a trade in which the evil of ' slack 
 times' is a recurring source of misery. 
 These, however, are ills that seem mainly 
 to affect the immigrants themselves, and, 
 as far as competition is concerned, it does 
 not appear that they are very dangerous 
 foes to any class of English workmen. 
 The better class of work is still done by 
 Englishmen under ' statement ' prices ; and 
 in the lower grade the Jew is perhaps the 
 least formidable among the several com- 
 petitors. That he has lowered the con- 
 dition of the London trade is undeniable ; 
 but it appears probable that it is only in 
 virtue of these lowered conditions that the 
 trade in Londdn has been enabled to 
 survive. In cheapness of rent and the 
 
8o The Jew in London 
 
 consequent facilities for introducing large 
 machinery the provincial factories have 
 advantages against which it is hard for 
 London to compete. 
 Cabinet- In cabinetmakiog there are large numbers 
 
 making 
 
 of Jews employed ; and complaints are 
 occasionally heard of the effects of ' greener ' 
 labour. The better class of work, however, 
 does not seem to have suffered appreciably, 
 as the workmen are strongly organised, and 
 Jew and Gentile alike can command good 
 wages. A good deal of inferior work, no 
 doubt, is done by foreigners in small work- 
 shops ; but this seems hardly to have 
 affected the general condition of the trade. 
 Cheap furniture has for the most part 
 created its own market, and does not 
 compete to any considerable extent with 
 the better class. There has been in late 
 years a large increase in the export trade, 
 which seems to be mainly due to the 
 introduction of the foreign industry.* 
 
 * Board of Trade Returns. 
 
The Industrial Question 8 1 
 
 There are other trades such as cigar and 
 cigarette-making, furriery, tin-working and 
 street-selling, in which a fair proportion of 
 foreign Jews are to be found. None of 
 them, however, can be said to present any 
 sufficiently remarkable features to call for 
 special notice ; and it is worth while to 
 consider briefly a general source of com- 
 plaints against Jewish workmen, which 
 perhaps constitutes a more serious indict- 
 ment than any that has yet been mentioned. 
 
 This is their alleged incapacity for trade- The j. 
 
 Trade- 
 organisation. It is a charge which is unionist 
 
 certainly not groundless ; but at the same 
 
 time it must be insisted that unqualified 
 
 statements are no less misleading here than 
 
 elsewhere. It must be remembered that 
 
 trade-unionism is a new thing to the Polish 
 
 Jew ; and it is natural that he should hold 
 
 aloof from it until he has been educated 
 
 into some sort of sympathy with English 
 
 ideas upon the subject. And from the 
 
 number of Jewish unions which have sprung 
 
 ew as 
 Trade- 
 
82 The Jew in London 
 
 into existence in the last few years, it is 
 evident that English ideas are not wholly- 
 thrown away upon him. In the Jewish 
 Year Book there is published a list of fifteen 
 Jewish unions in London. Those in the 
 mantlemaking, cabinetmaking, and cigar 
 and cigarette-making trades are in a fairly 
 flourishing condition. None of the others, 
 however, seem to be of much account ; and 
 the number of organisations in itself is in 
 part a sign of weakness. The presence of 
 rival unions in the same trade indicates a 
 disunited state ; and possibly points to a 
 radical incapacity for organisation on a large 
 scale. Thus in the cabinet trade only 
 half of the Jewish unionists belong to the 
 Hebrew branch of the Alliance Cabinet- 
 makers' Association, which is the principal 
 organisation in the trade and has branches 
 all over the kingdom ; the other half were 
 unwilling to submit to the control of a 
 central executive and founded an ' Inde- 
 pendent' union of their own. Similarly in 
 
The Industrial Question 83 
 
 the tailoring trade there are only about 
 forty members of the' Hebrew branch of the 
 Amalgamated Society of Tailors,* and the 
 Jewish ' London Tailors', Machinists' and 
 Pressers' Union,' in which the ' Independent' 
 and 'International' unions were merged has 
 quite recently again divided its ranks. That 
 the state of Jewish unions is generally un- 
 stable is an inference which is unmistakably 
 forced upon anyone who has tried to 
 gather information by visiting their secre- 
 taries or going the round of their meeting- 
 places, as given in the tables last published 
 by the Board of Trade. Even out of the 
 list given in the Jewish Year Book 
 (published in August 1898), three had 
 disappeared before November 1898, or 
 were at least untraceable, one had had a 
 ' split ' and one was reduced in membership 
 to the secretary and treasurer. The truth 
 appears to be that the foreign Jew is easily 
 
 * This branct, by the way, is not included in the Jewish Year 
 Sook's list. 
 
84 The Jew in London 
 
 roused to enthusiasm upon the subject, but 
 is at once too quarrelsome and too impatient 
 for results to be a 'good unionist.' He 
 does not like paying so many pence a week 
 without any prospect of a prompt or sub- 
 stantial return ; and he seems to have a 
 shrewd distrust both of fellow-unionists and 
 officials. Each is too bent on playing for 
 his own hand, and efiforts at organisation 
 are not backed by any real feeling of 
 solidarity. As, however, the foreigner be- 
 comes thoroughly Anglicised, he seems 
 generally to grow into sympathy with 
 English ideas, and is able to shake off this 
 reproach. It must also be remembered that 
 the Jew has a genius for individual bargain- 
 driving which goes far to counterbalance 
 the lowering effect which his incapacity for 
 organisation might have upon the rate of 
 wages. Nor would it be quite fair to say 
 that this cuts both ways when the employers 
 are Jewish ; since it means that master and 
 men can already deal with one another 
 
The Industrial Question 85 
 
 upon tolerably even terms — a condition 
 which English workmen can only assure by 
 combination. 
 
 By way of summarising a somewhat summary 
 desultory review of a large question, it 
 will be as well to gather up briefly the 
 points which are specially relevant to the 
 present inquiry. As regards the economic 
 grounds of Jew-hatred, it must be pro- 
 nounced that the general arguments against 
 Jewish labour are inconclusive and based 
 on a partial view of the facts. The pro- 
 gress of the Jew as a successful competitor 
 in the labour-market is, no doubt, a source 
 of some ill-feeling, which is accentuated by 
 his ' aloofness,' and by certain unattractive 
 features of his character. But in industrial 
 conditions there do not seem to be any 
 crrounds of permanent antagonism. In 
 certain branches of work the Jews have 
 the field to themselves, and, no doubt, in 
 the process of establishing themselves in 
 these industries they have made them- 
 
86 The Jew in London 
 
 selves unpopular by (directly or indirectly) 
 'displacing' English labour. Ill-feeling on 
 this score is, however, in the nature of 
 the case likely to be transitory ; and it may 
 be added that almost all causes of ill- 
 feeling are so far transitory that they dis- 
 appear with regard to the English-born 
 generation. It should be added ' that, 
 apart from the justice of its grounds, 
 the actual amount of ill-feeling is less 
 than might be expected, and probably 
 much less than is generally supposed. 
 Attitude British workmen are, perhaps, the most 
 
 of the 
 
 British tolerant class in the world. They have 
 
 Workman 
 
 a good-humoured way of recognising that 
 even a Jew must live, and among the 
 best of them there is a good deal of 
 generous pride in the feeling that England 
 is and should be 'a free country.' The 
 outcry against the ' pauper alien ' seems, 
 in fact, to be commoner, and on the 
 whole more bitter in political than in 
 industrial circles. A curious comment 
 
The Industrial Question 87 
 
 upon the anti-alien movement was afforded 
 by a recent debate in Toynbee Hall, which 
 was opened by a gentleman from the 
 West End, who advocated restrictive 
 legislation. The hall was mainly filled 
 with English workmen, but not a single 
 one supported the speaker ; * and at the 
 end of the debate he confessed (with 
 almost unique honesty), that his own 
 convictions on the subject were shaken. 
 The meeting was certainly not fairly 
 typical of East End opinion, but it repre- 
 sented an attitude which is very common 
 among the more thoughtful members 
 of the working classes, f 
 
 * The only expression of anti-alien sentiment was from a man 
 who was heard after the debate had terminated, protesting that, 
 for all that might be said, these foreigners were ' too damned 
 artful,' — a protest which may also be taken as representing one 
 section of public opinion. 
 
 t The question of the real expediency of restrictive legislation is 
 one on which a volume might be written. But without entering 
 upon the question at all fuUy, it may be worth while to set down 
 briefly one or two relevant considerations. On the one hand, 
 merely in view of the overcrowded state of East London, and the 
 evil of increasing house-rent, any diminution in the flow of 
 immigrants would certainly be so far for the public advantage. On 
 the other hand, the charges against the immigrants merely as 
 industrial competitors are, at any rate, not sufficiently well 
 
88 The Jew in London 
 
 concentra- III regard to the other question of the 
 
 tion and ^ , 
 
 Dispersion confinement of Jewish labour to specific 
 
 of Jewish 
 
 Labour trades, it appears that there are only two 
 trades (viz., coat-making of the cheaper 
 class and mantlemaking), to which the 
 character of Jewish work is especially 
 adapted, and of which it is, therefore, 
 likely to have a permanent monopoly. 
 Of bootmaking it is difficult to speak 
 
 established to call for legislation ; and it appears that some more 
 satisfactory remedy might be discovered for the evil of over- 
 crowding. Or again, if home-work could be effectually discouraged 
 and a check put upon the demand for cheap and unskilled labour, 
 the volume of immigration might be reduced without recourse 
 to a measure so repugnant to English traditions. It is further 
 obvious that it is hardly possible to frame a measure which could 
 distinguish between desirable and undesirable immigrants. 
 
 It is a case, perhaps, in which more weight than usual ought to 
 be allowed to what are often called 'sentimental' considerations. 
 If the non-sentimental arguments are at all fairly balanced it would 
 assuredly be a beggarly policy to shut the door which has stood 
 open for so many generations. And some account, at least, should 
 be taken of the moral effect upon a certain proportion of our own 
 working classes. Indulgence in fine sentiments is not a failing to 
 which the British workman is ordinarily very prone ; and the 
 sentiment about England being 'a free country,' which is fairly 
 common among the more intelligent of the working classes, is 
 certainly one that deserves to be respected. Pride in one's own 
 country is bound up in it together with a generous feeling towards 
 foreigners, and such a combination of ideas is an element of liberal 
 education which is worth retaining. A policy which would make 
 this particular vein of patriotism impossible seems certainly to de- 
 mand a strong justification. 
 
The Industrial Question 89 
 
 positively ; but on the whole the tendency 
 of altering conditions seems to be towards 
 the exclusion rather than the attraction 
 of foreign labour. The advantages of 
 proximity to the City in the bespoke tailor- 
 ing and bootmaking trades are, of course, 
 a cause of local congestion which must not 
 be underrated. In other trades, again, 
 there seems to be no dividing line between 
 Jews and Gentiles. They do (approxi- 
 mately) the same branches of work, and 
 are brought together in the workshop as 
 competitors on even terms. And in such 
 trades, wherever there is a tendency in 
 favour of large factories as against small 
 workshops and home-work, it must tend 
 also to throw Jews and Gentiles into con- 
 tact. But on the whole a slow process of 
 dispersion seems to be taking place ; the 
 alien population is gradually spreading into 
 different trades and over a wider area. 
 It must be remembered that efforts are 
 continually being made by the Jewish Board 
 
90 The Jew in London 
 
 of Guardians and Location and Information 
 Bureau of the Russo-Jewish Committee 
 to promote this dispersion, and though 
 necessarily conducted on a small scale, 
 their operations in this direction seem to 
 be attended with a fair measure of success. 
 Here, as elsewhere, assimilating forces 
 begin to work mainly upon the second 
 generation, as is shown by the fact that 
 there are no specifically Anglo- Jewish 
 trades. 
 
IV.— THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION 
 It has already, perhaps, become fairly importance 
 
 of the 
 
 evident that the question of the fusion R=i'eio"s 
 
 ^ Element 
 
 or continued separateness of the Jewish 
 community is ultimately a religious question. 
 It is in virtue of their religion, with its 
 rigid system of observances, and its jealously 
 tribal and exclusive character that the Jews 
 have been, and still remain, a peculiar 
 people. The orthodox Jew is continually 
 kept in remembrance of his Jewishness Separatism 
 by the observance of a unique code of 
 prescribed and forbidden actions ; and 
 throughout the year he celebrates a series 
 of fast and holy days, designed to celebrate 
 and symbolise various episodes In the history 
 of his race. It is brought home to him 
 by numberless observances that he is not 
 
 91 
 
92 The Jew in London 
 
 as other men are ; and it is part of the 
 duty of his people to keep itself 'un- 
 spotted by the world.' The dietary laws 
 are in themselves an effectual hindrance 
 to social intercourse with Gentiles. Meat 
 that is good enough for Christians is un- 
 clean and an abomination to the Jew ; and 
 it is almost as hard for him to eat at a 
 Christian's table as to give his daughter 
 in marriage to a Christian. He is never 
 allowed to forget that he belongs to a 
 chosen people, exalted above the nations, 
 and consecrated and set apart for a peculiar 
 mission. And when the isolative influence 
 of such a religion is enforced by a general 
 community of character and interests and 
 a strong sense of racial fellowship, it is 
 obviously a very potent factor. But, as 
 has already been suggested, there are 
 circumstances which make it appear doubt- 
 ful whether its past influence can be per- 
 manently maintained. 
 
 The future of Judaism as a religion 
 
The Religious Question 93 
 
 is, of course, an immense problem ; and 
 it would be audacious to prophesy with 
 any confidence. At the best only vague 
 tendencies can be indicated. But it is 
 impossible to discuss any Jewish question 
 without taking some account of the re- 
 ligious aspect of Jewish life ; it is inti- 
 mately connected with all other aspects, 
 and is certainly too vitally important a 
 
 matter to be disregarded. And it is the Disorgan- 
 ised and 
 more necessary to go into the question Transi- 
 
 *^ ^ tional State 
 
 with some thoroughness, because at the "^ J"''^'^™ 
 present moment it seems evident that 
 English Judaism is in a state of unrest 
 and instability, if not of rapid transforma- 
 tion. The community is split up and 
 disunited ; and the common religion which 
 should hold it together assumes widely 
 divergent forms in different sections. For 
 it must be remembered that the Jews in 
 England do not form a homogeneous com- 
 munity ; Polish immigration has intro- 
 duced a new type, which differs from 
 
94 The Jew in London 
 
 the English in reHgion almost as much 
 as in habits and appearance. The religion 
 which the Polish immigrants bring here 
 is the religion of the Ghetto ; it has been 
 at once intensified and narrowed by ages 
 of persecution, and consists largely in a 
 devotion to the letter of the Law, which 
 Effect of is by no means shared by those who 
 
 Exodus 
 
 from the have ffrown accustomed to a freer atmo- 
 
 Ghetto ° 
 
 sphere and a wider range of thought. At 
 the same time it must be emphasised that 
 the Ghetto-creed and the Ghetto type of 
 character are pre-eminently typical of all 
 Judaism. Judaism owes its strength and 
 persistence, as well as its narrowness and 
 impenetrability, to the stress of persecu- 
 tion. So far, indeed, as it is rigidly 
 orthodox modern Judaism is the fruit of 
 the Ghetto ; and what may be the effect 
 of its transference to a new environment 
 is a problem which history has hardly as 
 yet had time to solve. For the position 
 of English Jews appears to be something 
 
The Religious Question 95 
 
 almost new in Jewish history. It is not 
 merely that they are tolerated, and share 
 in all the privileges of citizenship ; nor 
 that they are receiving an English educa- 
 tion, and breathing an atmosphere of 
 Western thought. The period happens 
 also to be one of almost universal re- 
 ligious disintegration. The barriers between 
 creeds are everywhere breaking down ; 
 and orthodox Judaism does not appear 
 to be a creed specially capable of resist- 
 ing the dissolving influences which critical 
 thought can bring to bear upon it. And 
 apart from the intellectual solvents, an 
 even more powerful influence is perhaps 
 brought to bear by the change to an 
 easy and prosperous life ; a change which 
 often seems to be dangerous, if not fatal, 
 to a religion which has proved itself so 
 marvellously adapted to the needs of the 
 poor and afflicted. But whatever may 
 be the causes, there is little question 
 about the fact that Judaism has, to a great 
 
96 The Jew in London 
 
 extent, lost its hold upon English Jews. 
 It is generally recognised in Jewish circles 
 that the stronghold of orthodoxy is in 
 the East End where the foreign Jews 
 congregate. And in the East End itself, 
 the division between English and foreign 
 Jews is roughly a division into the lax 
 and the orthodox ; and within the ranks 
 of the latter there are numerous gradations 
 of orthodoxy, which (also very roughly) 
 correspond to the degree of Anglicisation 
 and length of residence in England. It 
 is, moreover, generally recognised that 
 the foreigners themselves are less strict 
 observers of their religion than was the 
 case ten years ago ; and this is doubtless 
 due to the number who have become 
 acclimatised to English habits in the 
 Angiicisa- meantime. It can hardly be doubted that 
 
 tion and 
 
 Orthodoxy it is One of the results of the very praise- 
 worthy efforts which the Anglo- Jewish 
 community has made to 'Anglicise' the 
 foreign immigrant. It was not, of course, 
 
The Religious Question 97 
 
 intentional ; interference with religion is 
 the last thing which the leaders of the 
 community would be likely to attempt. 
 But it appears to be an inevitable result 
 of such efforts; and, although those in 
 authority are naturally fain to deny it, 
 there is an amount of feeling on the 
 subject among the foreign population, 
 which is strong evidence that the pro- 
 cess of Anglicisation is apt to prove fata] 
 to orthodoxy. Among the strictest sect 
 of the new arrivals it is denied that 
 there is such a thing as orthodoxy at 
 all among the English Jews ; they are all 
 regarded as 'reformers,' and the Chief 
 Rabbi himself has been declared to be 
 the 'Chief Reformer.' And to the ears 
 of the devoutly orthodox such phrases 
 perhaps carry a weight of sarcasm that 
 .a Gentile can scarcely appreciate. 
 
 A striking manifestation of the depth The West 
 
 End Jews 
 
 and extent of this hostile piety was ^°'' *f 
 
 ■*• ■' Chedarim 
 
 recently evoked by a discussion of the 
 
 G 
 
98 The Jew in London 
 
 chedarim, which took place at a West 
 End conference on Jewish education. The 
 cheder system was there rather sharply, 
 but not unsympathetically, criticised ; but 
 East End the result was an astonishing outburst of 
 
 Protest 
 
 indignation in the East End, A meet- 
 ing was held at the Jewish Working 
 Men's Club, at which the bitterest speeches 
 were delivered ; and a resolution was carried 
 ' amidst a scene of tumultuous enthusiasm ' 
 to the effect, — 
 
 ' That we East End Jews protest against 
 the discussion upon the chedarim and 
 Talmud Torah at the Elementary Educa- 
 tion Conference. 
 
 ' We further do not recognise the West 
 End Jews as authorities upon Hebrew 
 and religious education.' 
 
 In the course of his speech, the mover 
 of this resolution, the Rev. H. Orleansky 
 (according to the report in the Jewish 
 Chronicle) ' made a violent attack upon 
 English Jews, especially the clergy who,' 
 
The Religious Question 99 
 
 he said, 'were ignorant of the Torah and 
 the Talmud, and who did nothing for the 
 East Enders. They had no right to find 
 fault. Let them mind their own business. 
 The Chief Rabbi was their Rav, to decide 
 upon questions of ritual law, but not to 
 interfere beyond. Whatever the English 
 Jews had done had been wrong. They 
 had pulled down a synagogue before build- 
 ing another. They had a free dispensary 
 which was not free. The East End de- 
 sired to be left alone. He protested 
 against "reformers" dictating to those 
 who were orthodox upon religious matters. 
 They wanted men to criticise their actions 
 who were learned in the Law, and 
 could speak with- authority upon religious 
 matters.' * 
 
 It seems probable, moreover, that the strength 
 
 the Ultra- 
 logic of the situation is on the side of orthodox 
 
 Position 
 
 these ultra-orthodox foreigners. They ac- 
 cept the whole system of Rabbinical 
 
 * Jewish Chronicle, July 22, 1898, 
 
lOO The Jew in London 
 
 ordinances, and frankly recognise that the 
 whole duty of a Jew consists in the scrupul- 
 ous observance of them. And they refuse 
 to be lured from their path by the snares 
 of ' Anglicisation ' and Western culture, to 
 which their English co-religionists have 
 fallen victims. They are at least consistent 
 in their narrowness ; while it may be that 
 English Jews are attempting an impossible 
 compromise. It is undeniable that a 
 number of English Jews know very little 
 about the Talmud ; that their children, as 
 a rule, get a very inadequate religious 
 education ; and that a very small pro- 
 portion of them are regular attendants at 
 synagogue. But an important and, from 
 the orthodox standpoint, a disquieting con- 
 sideration is that each of these foreign 
 immigrants commonly becomes responsible 
 for a large family of Anglo-Jewish children. 
 It is true that Polish orthodoxy is con- 
 tinually recruiting its ranks with new 
 arrivals ; but in this country it seems to 
 
The Religious Question loi 
 
 be a phase that rarely outlasts a single 
 generation. 
 
 But whatever may be the stability of Militant 
 
 Ortliodoxy; 
 
 the ultra-orthodox elerhent, it must be 
 credited with energy and enthusiasm ; 
 and the strength of its protest is evidence 
 of the real gap which severs English from 
 Polish Judaism. It is quite recently, how- 
 ever, that this protest has taken the shape 
 of a formal secession from the English 
 community. In September 1898, at the 
 beginning of the Jewish New Year, a 
 new synagogue was opened in Spitalfields, The 
 by a society styling itself the Mahazike ^'"''^«f* 
 Haddath (or ' Supporters of the Law '), 
 which repudiates the authority of the Chief 
 Rabbi, and takes its stand upon principles 
 of the strictest orthodoxy. The new syna- 
 gogue is the largest in the East End, 
 and has accommodation for two thousand 
 worshippers ; and next door to it is a 
 Talmud Torah school, in which teaching 
 is given to nearly one thousand children 
 
I02 The Jew in London 
 
 in Hebrew, through the medium of Yiddish. 
 The initial cost of the two institutions was 
 about ;^6ooo ; and practically the whole sum 
 was raised by the subscriptions of East End 
 foreigners. It is obvious that a movement 
 which can count on as much effort and sacri- 
 fice as this implies must have a strong 
 raison ditre ; and it testifies to a deeply-seated 
 spirit of revolt. The same spirit is shown 
 in a constant suspicion and jealousy of 
 West End interference. The East End 
 Jew is very far from considering himself 
 the inferior of his wealthier co-religionists, 
 iiide- and often displays a keen resentment at 
 
 pendent 
 
 th"'E^8t °*^the idea that he is regarded mainly as 
 ^""^"^ an object of charitable schemes. He is 
 fond of announcing that he does not want 
 patrons and benefactors ; and sometimes 
 he seems to have a lurking suspicion that 
 charity may cloak schemes for the sub- 
 version of his religion. It should be ex- 
 plained, however, that it is mainly among 
 the upper strata of the foreign community, 
 
The Religious Question 103 
 
 who are comparatively prosperous, that 
 this independent spirit is to be found ; 
 and that there is a fairly large section to 
 whom no amount of charity comes amiss. 
 But even in such cases there seems to 
 survive something of the spirit of Mr 
 Zangwill's ' schnorrer ' ; and assistance is 
 accepted as something rightfully due to 
 them, rather than with any deep sense of 
 gratitude or obligation.* Certainly, so far 
 as the East End Jewry can be said to 
 take up a common attitude at all towards 
 their wealthier brethren, it is an ostenta- 
 tiously independent if not a defiant atti- 
 tude. And it cannot be doubted that 
 their sense of alienation is grounded on 
 a difference of religion. 
 
 The secession of the Mahazike Haddath Bearings 
 
 upon the 
 
 has important bearings on the question of A'simiia- 
 assimilation. When such a division has Q£=s''on 
 been made and can no longer be dis- 
 
 * A feature which may partly account for the generally acknow- 
 ledged fact that charity does not ' demoralise ' them. 
 
I04 The Jew in London 
 
 guised, the gap between the two sections 
 is likely to widen. On the one hand, no 
 doubt, the new synagogue will be a 
 powerful force on the side of orthodoxy. 
 It will probably attract a considerable 
 proportion of new immigrants, and so far 
 as these are concerned, will be an influence 
 retarding their Anglicisation. But, on the 
 other hand, by accentuating the breach 
 between orthodox and unorthodox, it is 
 likely to have the opposite effect upon 
 those whom it fails to attract. For, 
 apart from the question of orthodoxy, 
 most immigrants are moved with the 
 ambition to become Englishmen ; and 
 seven or eight years' residence in this 
 country is often enough to fill them with 
 contempt for 'foreigners.' English Jews 
 have a higher social standing ; and, 
 naturally, it is the parvenu of the East 
 End who most despises the Yiddish- 
 speaking part of the community. Now 
 a part of the effect which must be pro- 
 
The Religious Question 105 
 
 duced by this schism in the congregation, 
 will be to emphasise the association of 
 extreme orthodoxy with the speech, habits 
 and general social inferiority of foreigners. 
 That is to say, in a majority of the 
 community, and especially in the rising 
 generation, it will serve to hasten the 
 process of alienation from strict Judaism. 
 
 In many quarters, indeed, orthodoxy has Mutual 
 
 Esteem of 
 
 already fallen into contempt through being the Two 
 
 Sections 
 
 associated with foreigners of the lowest 
 social grade. I have met an English Jew 
 who assured me, with a grave counten- 
 ance, that orthodoxy and dirt always 
 went together ; and that the former was 
 invariably found to vanish under the 
 influence of soap and water. This is an 
 epigrammatic statement of the case, but 
 it has a remote basis of truth, and it 
 certainly indicates the sort of feelings 
 which the newly 'Anglicised' Jew is apt 
 to entertain on the subject of his re- 
 ligion. The contempt, however, which the 
 
io6 The Jew in London 
 
 ' Englishman ' of the Jewish community 
 entertains for the 'foreigner' is heartily 
 reciprocated. Each, in his own eyes, 
 stands on a pinnacle above the other. 
 They recognise totally different standards 
 of human worth, and despise each other 
 respectively for dirt and irreligion. The 
 Mahazike Haddath is at once the outcome 
 of this estrangement, and a force likely to 
 perpetuate it. In it the ultra-orthodox part 
 have cut themselves adrift from the body 
 of the English Jewry, and are, therefore, 
 no longer likely to check it in what seems 
 its natural progress towards assimilation. 
 Enli™ '° ^ somewhat similar testimony to the 
 strength of the forces which make for 
 assimilation, is afforded by the Zionist 
 party. For it seems fairly plain that in 
 England Zionism is in its essence a revolt 
 against this tendency ; and it appears to 
 differ widely in aim and motive from the 
 Zionism of the Continent. Emigration to 
 Palestine and the foundation of a Jewish 
 
The Religious Question 107 
 
 State is there regarded principally as an 
 answer to Anti - Semitism, and the only 
 possible refuge from an intolerable state 
 of things. Whereas in England the state 
 of things is not intolerable ; and accord- 
 ingly the movement has here awakened 
 a comparatively feeble response. Among 
 English Jews proper, in fact, there can 
 hardly be said to be any Zionism at all. 
 It has been estimated that there are ten 
 thousand Zionists in England ; but practi- 
 cally all of them seem to be foreign immi- 
 grants. English Jews are for the most 
 part either indifferent or hostile ; and those 
 in authority have generally set their faces 
 against it. The Chief Rabbi, for instance, 
 has declared the movement to be ' an 
 egregious blunder ' ; and it is generally 
 deprecated as chimerical and extravagant. 
 The Zionists, however, attach little im- 
 portance to such expressions of Anglo- 
 Jewish opinion, and look to the Continent 
 for their lead, without apparently recognis- 
 
io8 The Jew in London 
 
 ing that within their own ranks there is 
 any divergence of ideas. Yet on the 
 question of assimilation there is a signifi- 
 cant difference of tone in the utterances 
 of English and Continental Zionists. 
 Thus Dr Herzl, at the Basle Con- 
 gress, spoke of 'our efforts of assimila- 
 tion, the unsuccess of which has brought 
 us again together'; whereas to the Jewish 
 World, the organ of the English Zionists, 
 it is the glory of Zionism, that 'it has 
 called a halt to the assimilators.'* It 
 should be said in fairness that the con- 
 tradiction is probably not so sharp as 
 might appear, because the word 'assimila- 
 tion ' is somewhat ambiguous ; but there 
 is, undoubtedly, a broad difference of atti- 
 tude. It is significant that the same word 
 should, in England, stand for an imminent 
 disaster to Judaism, and on the Continent 
 for a heaven out of reach. Similarly,, 
 it appears that in England Zionism is 
 
 * Jewish World, September 2, 1898, p. 241. 
 
The Religious Question 109 
 
 closely identified with extreme orthodoxy ; its 
 
 1 f^-t , /^ Religious 
 
 the Chief Rabbi of the Mahazike Haddath Basis 
 is one of the prominent figures in the 
 movement ; and at Basle it was Dr 
 Gaster, the Chacham* of the Spanish and 
 Portuguese congregation in England, who 
 insisted that 'the religious element lies 
 at the very foundation of the movement,' 
 and moved a resolution to the effect that 
 ' Zionism will not undertake anything which 
 would be contrary to Jewish religious law.' 
 On the Continent the religious aspect of 
 the movement (so far, at any rate, as 
 its leaders are concerned) is quite over- 
 shadowed by the political ; and neither 
 Dr Herzl nor Dr Nordau are supposed 
 to be very specially concerned about the 
 survival of orthodoxy. An attempt, indeed, 
 was made at a recent meeting of Zionists 
 in East London, to criticise Dr Herzl 
 for his lack of reference to religion ; and 
 
 * Chacham (lit. wise man), the oiEcial title of the Chief Rabbi 
 of the Spanish and Portuguese congregation. 
 
no The Jew in London 
 
 although the speaker failed to obtain a 
 hearing, he undoubtedly touched a point 
 of difference which is likely to become 
 more acute as the movement develops, 
 and ceases to be a matter of mere en- 
 thusiasm. Here, however, the peculiar 
 character of English Zionism is of interest 
 mainly as evidence of the progress which 
 the English Jewry has made towards 
 assimilation ; it shows that in the opinion, 
 at least, of a section, this process has 
 reached a point at which it becomes a 
 menace to Judaism. Zionism and the cult 
 of the ' National Idea,' are here proclaimed 
 as a refuge against absorption among the 
 Gentiles. Assimilation, it is held, must in 
 the long run prove fatal to Judaism, and 
 would be an ignoble end of Jewish history. 
 The One effect of Zionism is evidently to 
 
 Zionist as 
 
 a Patriot raise in an emphatic form the old question, 
 ' Can Jews be patriots ? ' According to 
 the most outspoken Zionists, Jews are not 
 Englishmen and cannot regard England 
 
• The Religious Question 1 1 1 
 
 as their home. This was stated pretty- 
 unequivocally by Dr Gaster at the East 
 End meeting : — ' Some of our Anti-Zionist 
 friends have said that they prefer to remain 
 citizens of a big nation to becoming 
 members of a puny Jewish state. That 
 is merely a matter of sentiment. As far 
 as I am concerned I would rather live in 
 a hut of my own than be a guest in a 
 grand palace.' And the same thing has 
 been put even more trenchantly by a 
 correspondent of the Jewish World: — 
 'There is no such thing as an English 
 Jew, just as there is no such thing as a 
 German Chinaman.' Such a statement 
 is commendably frank and honest ; and it 
 is certainly hard to see how a Zionist can 
 at once burn with enthusiasm for the 
 National Idea of Israel, and at the same 
 time profess himself to be heart and soul 
 an Englishman. In fact, the position of 
 those who do so seems to be barely 
 respectable, and it is not improved by 
 
112 The Jew in London 
 
 their attempts to justify it, which commonly 
 consist in the quaintly sophistical plea 
 that devotion to two countries is as easy 
 a matter as devotion to two parents ; they 
 have a father-land and a mother-land, and 
 their patriotic ardour is divided impartially 
 between the two. Such an argument can 
 hardly be very convincing even to those 
 who employ it ; and there is something 
 questionably ambiguous in their whole 
 position. To put the case quite baldly, it 
 would appear that they are anxious to 
 share the status, the goodwill, and the 
 privileges of English citizenship, but at 
 the same time steadily refuse to throw in 
 their lot for good and all with the English 
 nation. They wish, in fact, to stake out 
 a claim in the Promised Land without 
 renouncing the flesh-pots of Egypt. It is 
 an attitude of which the motive is more 
 intelligible than the logic, but it is hardly 
 an attitude which can be permanently 
 maintained. 
 
The Religious Question 113 
 
 To discuss the probable future of Zionism 
 •would take us too far afield, but it is worth 
 while to emphasise one or two points in 
 which it illustrates the main contention 
 of this essay. English Zionism is at 
 bottom a religious rather than a political a Protest 
 
 against 
 
 movement, and appears to be mainly the 4'^™''^" 
 outcome of a conviction that, in the long 
 run, ' Anglicisation ' is not compatible with 
 the preservation of Judaism. The Religious 
 Idea and the National Idea, it is said, are 
 one and inseparable, as the body and soul 
 of Judaism, and the one can only be main- 
 ' tained by a revival of the other. Zionism 
 is offered as the sole alternative to complete 
 absorption. And it is remarkable that 
 this line of argument seems never to have 
 been fairly met by the Anti- Zionists. The 
 movement has been abundantly denounced 
 'on prophetical, political and financial 
 grounds.' It has been decried as im- 
 practicable and as alien to the true 
 ' mission of Israel.' But this particular 
 
 H 
 
1 14 The Jew in London 
 
 argument, either because it is unanswer- 
 able or for some other reason, appears 
 to have been passed over in silence. 
 
 To show that the above account is not 
 a mere caricature of the position taken up 
 by the representatives of Zionism and 
 orthodoxy, it is worth while to quote at 
 length the following striking paragraph 
 from the leading article in a recent number 
 of the Jewish World. The article is one 
 dealing with some remarks made by Mr B. 
 L. Cohen, until lately President of the Board 
 of Guardians, deploring the present apathy 
 in communal affairs, and the insufficient 
 support given to communal institutions : — 
 The 'The effects proceed from a cause, and 
 
 fForid on haviog expressed the full measure of our 
 
 Angliciaa- 
 
 tion sympathy with Mr Benjamin Cohen, let us 
 
 look for a moment to the cause that has 
 made his grievance possible. Who dares 
 deny that we owe the present condition of 
 affairs to the spirit of Anglicisation run wild ? 
 The present generation of Jews of the upper 
 
The Religious Question 115 
 
 middle class has been brought up 
 " Anglicised," i.e., has been trained directly 
 or indirectly to sever itself from the rites 
 and customs of orthodox Judaism. Know- 
 ing little or nothing of Hebrew, it finds 
 our services dull, having little reverence for 
 old-time customs, the attractions of the 
 synagogue no longer attract, and cultured 
 Hedonism marks all too many of the 
 younger generation. Sometimes we see 
 the Hedonism without the culture. The 
 generation has lost its Judaism and con 
 sequently has nothing for the development 
 of its ideals and sense of duty. We would 
 not for a moment believe that the ardent 
 advocates of superficial " Anglicisation " at 
 any cost ever reckoned what the disastrous 
 result of their work would be. They did 
 not realise that it would scatter the very 
 flower of Jewry, dispel its faith and leave 
 it helpless to save or be saved. They did 
 not realise that the immediate effect would 
 be seen in the community, that because the 
 
1 1 6 The Jew in London 
 
 fathers had eaten sour grapes, the children's 
 teeth would be set on edge. Even now 
 though we hear lamentations and regrets, 
 though the community stands publicly re- 
 buked, there is little or no endeavour to 
 grapple with the real problems, the problems 
 whose solution will make or mar the whole 
 English-Jewish community within the next 
 generation.' * 
 Testimony Zionism appears so far to corroborate the 
 
 to the 
 
 Strength of testimonv to the decay of orthodoxy which 
 
 Assimila- ' ' ' 
 
 tive Forces ^^g fumlshed by the Mahazike Haddath. 
 Both are witnesses crying out against the 
 de-Judaising influence of English life ; and 
 if they are right, the comparative weakness 
 of the Zionist movement in England, and 
 its^j^almost exclusively foreign character show 
 that the danger to Judaism is a very 
 serious one. The apathy and aloofness of 
 the'^ great body of English Jews is a sign 
 that they have lost both national and 
 religious enthusiasm. In a word, they 
 
 * Jewish World, October 14, 1898, p. 41 
 
The Religious Question 117 
 
 have become Englishmen at the cost of 
 their Judaism. 
 
 It may be, of course, that the Zionists and its vaiue 
 the ' Supporters of the Law ' are wholly 
 mistaken. Zionism, after all, has more the 
 character of an enthusiasm than of a 
 reasoned policy ; and the ultra-orthodox party 
 are too narrow and fanatical in their views 
 to be credited with a very large outlook 
 upon the future. Their hostility towards 
 their Anglicised brethren may be grounded 
 on mere prejudice ; and the religion of 
 which they are so jealous perhaps consists 
 in little more than a superstitious adherence 
 to old forms. But it must be remembered 
 that it is the ceremonial element in Judaism 
 which has for centuries been the principal 
 barrier between Jew and Gentile, and has 
 thus maintained the Jewish race and re- 
 ligion in something like its original purity. 
 And although it is common to hear English 
 Jews distinguishing between the ' essence ' 
 and the forms of Judaism, the attempt to 
 
1 1 8 The Jew in London 
 
 sever them is perhaps Hkely to prove a 
 perilous experiment. The policy of preserv- 
 ing the spirit and abrogating the letter has 
 been criticised as an attempt to break the 
 vessel without spilling the wine ; and it 
 certainly appears that a Judaism shorn of 
 all ceremonial adjuncts would have a poor 
 chance of survival. Yet an increasing 
 neglect of observances seems everywhere 
 to accompany the process of Anglicisation ; 
 and it cannot be said that there are signs of 
 any spiritual awakening sufficient to coun- 
 teract the destructive influences which are 
 at work. 
 Other Allowing then that the apprehensions of 
 
 Indications , „. , 
 
 the Zionists and the ultra-orthodox are not 
 to be dismissed as groundless, it is worth 
 while to consider some of the more specific 
 indications of the process on which these 
 apprehensions are based. One of the points 
 which first presents itself is the increasing 
 Sabbath- laxity in the observance of the Sabbath, 
 
 observance 
 
 The religious question is here complicated 
 
The Religious Question 119 
 
 by industrial conditions which have made 
 observance of the Law a matter of peculiar 
 difficulty. Thus the dispersion of Jews into 
 a number of non-Jewish trades, which is a 
 main feature in the policy of the Board of 
 Guardians and Russo- Jewish Committee, is 
 obviously a process which must lead almost 
 directly to Sabbath-breaking. Even though 
 Sabbath-observance is made a condition of 
 apprenticeship, it is none the less likely to 
 prove a stumbling-block after the term of 
 apprenticeship has expired. But even in 
 the most Jewish of trades, such as tailoring 
 and bootmaking, the fact that the press of 
 work generally comes on at the end of the 
 week is a temptation to Sabbath-breaking, 
 which seems to have proved too strong for 
 many Jewish employers. And even when 
 there is no actual work done, the Law is 
 often violated by the payment of wages 
 on Saturday. No doubt so far as this 
 laxity has arisen from industrial conditions, 
 it was originally more or less compulsory ; 
 
I20 The Jew in London 
 
 but naturally it has had a demoralising- 
 effect, and wilful Sabbath-breaking is un- 
 doubtedly on the increase. Thus in White- 
 chapel Road there is a small music-hall * 
 called ' Wonderland,' which is mainly pat- 
 ronised by foreign Jews and supports a 
 company of Yiddish actors ; and perform- 
 ances are given on Monday, Friday and 
 Saturday nights and on Saturday afternoon. 
 Similarly in the Standard Theatre, Shore- 
 ditch, Saturday afternoon is commonly 
 selected for the performance of a Yiddish 
 play — presumably as being the date likeliest 
 to attract a Jewish audience. An amusing 
 illustration of the neglect into which the 
 Sabbath sometimes falls is given by the 
 following story (told in the columns of 
 Young Israel by the Rev. Harris Cohen), 
 ' The disregard of the Sabbath in some 
 homes was never more painfully illustrated 
 than in a reply I received from a child in 
 
 * Since this was written 'Wonderland ' has been deprived of its 
 licence, by order of the London County Council. 
 
The Religious Question 121 
 
 an infant school. "Who can tell me why 
 God rested on the seventh day ? " I asked. 
 For a little while there was perfect silence 
 in the room, but soon there came the 
 answer, "'Cos it was Sunday."'* 
 
 Special emphasis ought to be given to 
 this particular form of laxity, because 
 Sabbath - observance is a central feature 
 in Jewish religion, and its neglect is apt 
 to involve the neglect of much else along 
 with it. It is written in the Talmud that 
 'if a man breaks the Sabbath it is as if 
 he broke- the whole Law ' ; and though it 
 may be questioned how seriously this is 
 meant to be taken, there is a sense in 
 which its truth seems to be borne out by 
 the practical consequences of Sabbath- 
 breaking. The following extract from an The cwef 
 
 Rabbi's 
 
 official circular issued by the Chief Rabbi circular 
 on the subject is evidence of the extent 
 and seriousness of this form of back- 
 sliding : — 
 
 * Young Israel, April, 1 898, p. 29. 
 
122 The Jew in London 
 
 ' We cannot but be profoundly pained 
 by the knowledge that the Divinely in- 
 stituted Sabbath is no longer viewed by 
 all Members of the House of Israel with 
 the olden awe and the olden reverence. 
 
 ' I believe that this disregard is due not 
 so much to a relaxation of religious senti- 
 ment as to the fierce struggle for existence 
 which now prevails, and the keen competition 
 that pervades every walk of life. 
 
 ' But the fact cannot be gainsaid that 
 neglect of the Sabbath with its sweet calm 
 and peace, and the incentive it gives to 
 attendance at Divine worship, is calculated 
 to lead to entire estrangement from Judaism, 
 and is, therefore, fraught with the gravest 
 spiritual peril both to us and to our 
 children. ' 
 Synagogue- The proportion of regular attendants at 
 
 Attendance 
 
 synagogue would afford further indication 
 of the extent to which the East End Jewry 
 is lapsing from orthodoxy ; but it is not 
 easy to give any trustworthy estimate. 
 
The Religious Question 123 
 
 That the number of habitual absentees, 
 however, is considerable, is shown by the 
 insufficiency of accommodation on the one 
 occasion in the year on which all Jews 
 flock to the synagogue. This is the Day of 
 Atonement, the great fast-day of the Jewish 
 calendar. Not only are all synagogues, 
 most of which have been very sparsely 
 attended throughout the year, filled to over- 
 flowing ; but theatres, schoolrooms and 
 public halls are transformed for the occasion 
 into impromptu places of worship. Thus 
 on the last Day of Atonement it has been 
 estimated that 4000 Jews attended service 
 at the Paragon Theatre, 3000 at the Jews' 
 Free School, 3000 at Shoreditch Town Hall, 
 1700 at Beaumont Hall ; and an immense 
 number of smaller rooms and halls were 
 lent or hired for the occasion. There is, in 
 fact, a whole class, upon whom the nick- The 'Yom 
 
 K-ippur 
 
 name of 'Yom Kippur Jews' has been jews' 
 bestowed, where observance of the Day of 
 Atonement is the sole remaining link with 
 
124 The Jew in London 
 
 the synagogue. It is true, of course, that 
 the persistence of this one observance 
 testifies almost as strongly to the strength 
 of Judaism, as the number of those whose 
 whole religion it constitutes testifies to its 
 weakness. But as one of the preachers on 
 last ' Yom Kippur ' insisted ' there is no 
 denying the fact that they (the " Yom Kippur 
 Jews ") have narrowed down to a terribly 
 dangerous limit, that which ought to animate 
 the whole of a man's life.'* 
 
 Such inferences, however, as can be 
 drawn from the decrease of synagogue- 
 attendance and the increase of Sabbath- 
 breaking apply indiscriminately to the whole 
 East End community. There is no doubt 
 that it is mainly the English or Anglicised 
 Jews who set the fashion of non-observance ; 
 but, though public opinion is unanimous on 
 this point, it is less easy to find any definite 
 test by which the effect of Anglicisation 
 
 * The Rev. A. A. Green (in a sermon preached at Hampstead), 
 V. Jewish Chronicle, September 30, 1898. 
 
The Religious Question 125 
 
 in this direction may be measured. A fair Hebrew 
 
 Teaching 
 
 indication, however, is afforded by the 
 amount of Hebrew education which is 
 deemed necessary for their children by 
 English as compared with foreign parents. 
 The ckeder, or private Hebrew school, is 
 practically a foreign institution. The Hebrew The 
 
 Cheder 
 
 teaching given at elementary schools and 
 in synagogue classes, which is sufficient for 
 the English Jew, is, in the eyes of the 
 foreigners, shamefully inadequate, and they 
 have imported the cheder from Poland to 
 supply the deficiency. The cheder has 
 already been discussed from the educational 
 point of view (z/. sup.) ; and here it need 
 only be taken as an illustration of the 
 difference in the standard of religious educa- 
 tion as recognised by English and Polish 
 Jews. Some figures obtained at the Stepney 
 Jewish schools, where a considerable majority 
 of the children are of English parentage, 
 will be enough to show the foreign character 
 of the chedarim. Eight classes were visited, 
 
126 The Jew in London 
 
 and in these there were seventy-three boys 
 altogether who attended cheder, or other- 
 wise received extra teaching in Hebrew ; 
 and out of these only seven were the 
 children of English parents. And when it 
 is remembered that this extra teaching 
 frequently entails a great sacrifice upon the 
 poorer foreigners, whereas the English Jews, 
 being for the most part comparatively 
 prosperous, could easily afford to pay for 
 it, it is obvious that the difference of re- 
 ligious feeling which such figures indicate 
 must be very considerable. That the 
 patrons of the cheder are fully conscious 
 of this was emphatically shown by the 
 character of their response to the criticism 
 offered by the Educational Conference, It 
 is true that, judging from the character of 
 the rising generation, the cheder does not 
 seem to be as powerful a bulwark of ortho- 
 doxy as its defenders would fain believe. 
 Still it is an institution that bears witness 
 to the strength of the religious spirit which 
 
The Religious Question 127 
 
 animates those parents and others by whose 
 contributions it is supported. 
 
 Apart from the general influence of English 
 education and an English environment, there 
 are one or two minor influences which are 
 just worth taking into account. Among Socialism 
 
 as a 
 
 them Socialism deserves to be briefly noticed Disruptive 
 
 ^ Force 
 
 as one of the disruptive forces with which 
 East End Judaism has to reckon. Jewish 
 Socialists are for the most part Freethinkers ; 
 and as the leaders of Jewish Socialism have 
 generally been also the pioneers of trade- 
 unionism, they have obtained a certain 
 amount of influence over a fairly large section 
 of the Jewish workmen. Still the spread 
 of Socialism among the foreign community 
 does not seem to have been considerable. 
 The Jew is an individualist by nature ; and 
 though he is enough of a dreamer to be 
 attracted by almost any remote ideal, there 
 seems to be peculiarly little in the programme 
 and promised Utopia of Socialism that is 
 really congenial to him. Even those who 
 
128 The Jew in London 
 
 have been Socialists in Russia do not seem 
 to find much that is to their taste in the 
 Socialism of English workmen ; it is not 
 flamboyant or revolutionary enough to kindle 
 their enthusiasm. Moreover, in Jewish 
 circles, it is the correct thing to disapprove 
 of Socialism ; it is vaguely associated with 
 Atheism, and the word ' Socialist ' is perhaps 
 most commonly employed as a term of 
 abuse. 
 Conver- Socialism therefore need not be con- 
 
 sionist 
 
 Societies sidered a very formidable antagonist to 
 the Jewish religion ; and the same may be 
 said with more emphasis of the Christian 
 conversionist societies. It is questionable, 
 in fact, whether they would not be more 
 truly described as disguised allies. They 
 are certainly at the root of a good deal 
 of suspicious and hostile feeling towards 
 Christianity ; and so far go to strengthen 
 the jealous watch which the Jew keeps 
 
 A Prop to over his religious birthright. Nothing 
 
 Judaism ? 
 
 could be much better calculated to keep 
 
The Religious Question 129 
 
 the great body of Jews united and the spirit 
 of Judaism alive than the constant presence 
 of a common Qnemy. On the whole, then, 
 it is perhaps fortunate that the uniform 
 unsuccess of these missions causes them 
 to be viewed with contempt rather than 
 with alarm or active hostility. The number 
 of conversions is so few, and the genuine- 
 ness of most of them so questionable, that 
 the conversionist movement is not regarded 
 in the light of a serious menace to Judaism. 
 The Jew who loses his own religion does 
 not commonly become a Christian, but 
 remains (as Sheridan put it) ' like the blank 
 leaf between the Old and New Testament.' 
 Of those who actually do embrace Christi- 
 anity, at least a large proportion appear 
 to be 'professional converts,' to whom their 
 new faith appeals solely as the avenue to 
 a lucrative calling. It is fair, however, 
 to say that most of the missions seem to 
 aim less than formerly at securing a record 
 of baptisms, and more at merely spreading 
 
130 The Jew in London 
 
 a knowledge of New Testament history 
 and teaching ; and in this way a certain 
 amount of useful educational work may 
 be accomplished. But it is to be feared 
 that their total effect is mischievous rather 
 than beneficent. It is an ungrateful business 
 to find fault with those who support or 
 carry on the work of these institutions \ 
 and their motives are, no doubt, in many 
 cases entitled to respect. But it is neces- 
 sary to protest against the expenditure of 
 such enormous sums of money upon work 
 that is, from every point of view, unprofit- 
 able. The ' London Society for Promoting 
 Christianity Among the Jews ' has an income 
 of about ;^40,ooo a year ; and a perusal 
 of the Society's own reports is enough to 
 convince most people of the wastefulness 
 of such undertakings. One of the boasts 
 of the Society is that 'nearly five million 
 missionary publications have been placed 
 in the hands of Jews ' ; and the same 
 Society ' claims to have been the first to 
 
The Religious Question 131 
 
 establish English medical missions in the 
 world.' * The account g-iven of the working- 
 of the medical missions is instructive. The 
 proceedings begin with ' a short evangelistic 
 service ' in jargon, before the doctor arrives ; 
 while the applicants wait their turn to see 
 bim, ' the missionaries talk with them in- 
 dividually,' and 'as each comes from the 
 doctor he gives his name and address 
 to another missionary in a private room, 
 who then has a splendid opportunity of 
 pressing home the Gospel as he talks with 
 him alone.' t There may be a standpoint 
 from which such tactics appear justifiable ; 
 but, to say the least, they seem to be 
 scarcely worthy of the cause which they 
 are intended to serve. On the Jewish 
 side, a work which is carried on by such 
 methods is more calculated to create than 
 to remove prejudices, and is not likely 
 
 * Missions to the Jews. A handbook of reasons, facts and figures. 
 By the Rev. W. T. Gidney, M.A., p. 58. 
 
 + Jewish Mission Work in London, or the Metropolitan Mission 
 of the London Society for promoting Christianity among the 
 Jews, p. 15. 
 
132 The Jew in London 
 
 to convey a very desirable impression of 
 the dignity of the Christian Church. There 
 is, in fact, little doubt that if the total effect 
 of these institutions is taken into account 
 they must be put down among the obstacles 
 to fusion. 
 
 There are, of course, a number of retard- 
 ing influences which offer an amount of 
 resistance that it would be easy to under- 
 estimate. Judaism is much more than a 
 
 The -' 
 
 ^'^mL ceremonial religion ; and its complex and 
 oMuTaism many-sided character give it a remarkable 
 strength and vitality. Those who have 
 given up all observances rarely abandon its 
 monotheistic basis ; and though it is of 
 course impossible to say how much vital 
 faith is generally left in such a creed, it 
 suffices to justify them in a nominal ad- 
 herence to Judaism. But even those who 
 are wholly and frankly irreligious cannot 
 generally quite shake off their Jewishness ; 
 Religion a^j^(j g^ racial instinct — a sense of tribal 
 exclusiveness — often seems to survive even 
 
The Religious Question 133 
 
 when nothing is left that could be called 
 religion. In the rooted objection to inter- 
 marriage which is common among all 
 classes of Jews, there seems to be a racial 
 as well as a religious element ; and no 
 doubt it is a repugnance which can only 
 be eradicated in the course of generations. 
 Assimilation will not be complete until 
 intermarriage becomes common ; but if the 
 assimilative forces are on the whole as 
 preponderant as they seem, the objection 
 to mixed marriages, which is at present un- 
 doubtedly strong, can hardly be more than 
 a phase in the transition which is taking 
 place. As social intercourse increases, and 
 religious prohibitions lose their authority, the 
 policy of continued isolation must become 
 increasingly difficult. The remnant of re- 
 ligious and racial sentiment which survives 
 
 O 
 
 the decay of orthodoxy is in itself a vague 
 and perishable thing, and could hardly out- 
 last for many generations the system of forms 
 and ceremonies in which it has hitherto 
 
134 The Jew in London 
 
 been embodied. Shape, solidity and per- 
 manence can hardly be assured to it except 
 through ordinances and institutions ; and if 
 these break down it must give way in time 
 before the slow encroachment of alien habits 
 and ideas. And it seems almost certain 
 that they are gradually losing their hold 
 upon the great mass of Jews. 
 Strength of There is one feature, however, which 
 
 Judaism on 
 
 Financial ^^^ strongly iu favour of Jewish communal 
 ^"'^ institutions.. They are for the most part 
 excellently managed ; and on the financial 
 side their affairs are admirably regulated. 
 The prominence, indeed, of financial topics 
 at committee meetings has given rise to a 
 good deal of sarcastic comment in the 
 Jewish press and elsewhere. One of the 
 characters in Mr Zangwill's Children of 
 the Ghetto describes the State Church of 
 the Jews as 'simply a financial system to 
 which the doctrines of Judaism happened 
 to be tacked on,' and goes on to prophesy 
 that 'long after Judaism has ceased to exist 
 
The Religious Question 135 
 
 excellent gentlemen will be found regulating 
 its finances.'* It is a feature which has its 
 humorous side ; but none the less it is a 
 decided element of strength, and can hardly 
 be dismissed as unimportant. Even here, 
 however, the state of things seems recently 
 to have been growing less satisfactory. 
 Complaints are not uncommon that the whole 
 management of communal affairs is passing 
 into too few hands, and that the younger 
 generation are not coming forward to take 
 up their share of the burden. The ex- 
 President of the Board of Guardians, in a 
 speech which has already been referred to, 
 recently spoke in strong terms of the 
 gloomy prospects of the Board owing to 
 the decrease at once of workers and of 
 contributions ; and the Jewish World, it 
 will be remembered, put down this state of 
 affairs to 'the spirit of Anglicisation run 
 wild.' Whatever may be its exact cause, 
 such a grievance- must certainly be regarded 
 * p. 242. 
 
136 The Jew in London 
 
 as a symptom of decreasing life and 
 solidarity in the Anglo-Jewish community ; 
 and it is at least possible that it may be con- 
 nected with the decay of orthodox belief. 
 Final Con- It is easy, no doubt, to underestimate 
 
 siderations 1 r /- 1 • 1 • 1 
 
 the Strength of many of the ties which 
 bind even the least orthodox of Jews to 
 their race and religion. And no doubt 
 one who approaches the question from the 
 outside is a poor judge of the force and 
 vitality which may still inhere in senti- 
 ments and associations that do not lie 
 upon the surface. Butj allowing for this, 
 it is difficult to imagine that there can 
 be sufficient power in them to form a 
 lasting barrier. It is a case undoubtedly 
 in which there are strong factors on the 
 side of conservatism ; but on the whole 
 the array of social forces which are working 
 towards a change seems to be immensely 
 preponderant. And there are certainly 
 abundant indications of the direction in 
 which this change is likely to take place. 
 
v.— CONCLUSION 
 
 The attempt which has been made in Practical 
 
 Interest 
 
 the foregoing chapters to deal with soof'^^ 
 
 Assimila- 
 
 large and difficult a question as Jewish q^^^jj^^ 
 assimilation can perhaps only be justified 
 by the pressing importance of the problem. 
 The answer to it must largely determine 
 our attitude towards the Jewish community 
 which lives among us ; for until it has 
 been answered, it is impossible to say 
 whether this Jewish element is likely in 
 the long run to prove an advantage or 
 a burden to the country. If the Jews 
 are always to remain separate they are 
 likely also to remain a constant source of 
 disquietude and offence. But if, as has 
 been contended, they are on the way to 
 complete (or virtually complete) absorption 
 in the national life, the verdict must un- 
 
 137 
 
138 The Jew in London 
 
 doubtedly be a strong one in their favour. 
 Whatever may be thought of the Jewish 
 character in itself, there is no doubt that 
 an infusion of Jewish blood would intro- 
 duce an admirable strain into the breed of 
 Englishmen. 
 
 The conclusion which has been forced 
 upon us is that, on the whole, the present 
 tendency is strongly in the direction of 
 absorption. There are a variety of ex- 
 pansive forces from within the Jewish 
 community, and of assimilative forces from 
 without, which all seem to be working 
 Cautions— towards the same end. At the same time, 
 
 I. Incon- . . 
 
 ciusiveness It IS a subject upou which one must be- 
 
 of Many 
 
 Local Con- ware of crude and hasty inferences. In 
 
 siderations 
 
 confining our attention to the East End 
 of London, we have only explored a 
 corner of a large question ; and the total 
 Jewish problem is one that cannot satis- 
 factorily be treated piecemeal. The White- 
 chapel Jewry, however, has some instructive 
 features, and the transformation which is 
 
Conclusion 139 
 
 taking place in it is perhaps typical of a 
 wider process which is taking place in 
 many quarters of the world.* It exempli- 
 fies the immense difference between the 
 Jew of the Ghetto and the emancipated 
 Jew, and at the same time shows the 
 effect of contact between the two types 
 under conditions of freedom. The newly- 
 arrived Russo-Jewish immigrant is, in all 
 essentials, a mediseval product, and his 
 children grow up into something like the 
 type of modern Englishmen. The evolu- The 
 
 White- 
 
 tion which the older Anglo-Jewish families chapei 
 
 Experiment 
 
 have accomplished by the growth and effort 
 of hundreds of years, is in Whitechapel 
 being compressed into a single generation. 
 And it appears that such a sudden and 
 radical metamorphosis, with its accompany- 
 ing breakdown of old habits and traditions, 
 is likely enough to have more far-reaching 
 
 ' ^. Le Roy Beaulieu. Israel among the Nations, ^.■s!a. Liberal 
 treatment of the Jews, however, which appears to be one of the main 
 factors in ' assimilating ' them, seems at the present moment to be 
 -almost confined to England. 
 
140 The Jew in London 
 
 consequences than any that have yet 
 manifested themselves. 
 2. A A second and equally necessary caution 
 
 Question 
 
 of Degree jg x.0 avoid being led astray by phrases. 
 The word ' assimilation ' is apt to convey 
 too hard-and-fast a meaning ; and it would 
 of course be absurd to prophesy anything 
 like the complete extinction of the Jewish 
 race. ' Assimilation ' is, in fact, largely a 
 matter of degree ; it is a process which has 
 been operating in a greater or less degree 
 through the whole of Jewish history. And 
 the question before us is mainly how far 
 this process seems likely in the future to 
 expand or contract its sphere of operation. 
 
 Summary. It has been seen that the social isola- 
 tion which preserves the Yiddish-speaking 
 community from all the contaminating 
 influences of intercourse with Gentiles is 
 no longer maintained in the case of the 
 English - born generation. The English 
 training, and the inculcation of English 
 habits and ideas, goes far towards robbing 
 
 Social 
 
Conclusion 141 
 
 them of their Jewishness. They consider 
 themselves Englishmen, and do not ap- 
 parently attach any very great sanctity or 
 importance to the racial and religious ties 
 which bind them to their fellow-Jews who. 
 have immigrated from foreign lands. And 
 the reality of this change is at once 
 -attested and emphasised by the cordial 
 feelings with which English Jews are 
 commonly regarded even by the most 
 bitterly anti-foreign among the East End 
 Gentiles. The barrier of social prejudice, 
 in fact, may be said to have broken down. 
 
 Similarly the economic grievance against z.Ecoaomic 
 Jewish labour was found to be on the whole 
 unjustified, and unlikely to become a source 
 of permanent estrangement or antagonism. 
 The Jewish workman has both good and 
 bad qualities, and in certain respects his 
 influence upon the standard of industry has 
 been the reverse of beneficial ; but it has 
 <;ertainly not been proyed against him that 
 (to any appreciable extent) he really takes 
 
142 The Jew in London 
 
 the bread out of English mouths. In 
 workshops, indeed, there appears to be little 
 mixture of foreign Jews with Englishmen ; 
 but even here, with the decrease of Sabbath 
 observance, which is a main cause of this 
 industrial feeparateness, the obstacles to 
 fusion are losing their power. 
 3. Religious Obviously, however, it is upon religion 
 that the whole matter ultimately hangs. 
 'What is Jewish separatenes,' asks Mr O. 
 J. Simon, 'when the Jewish religion has 
 ceased to operate ? It is nothing but a 
 short-lived relic' * And it is here that we 
 have the most striking evidence of the 
 process of transformation which is taking 
 place. On such a subject it would doubt- 
 less be unwise to base any very trenchant 
 conclusions on as superficial a study as has 
 here been made ; but, so far as we have 
 seen, all the facts seem to point in the same 
 direction. The English and the Polish Jew 
 are a bye-word and an astonishment to one 
 
 * Fortnightly Review, 1896, p. 579. 
 
Conclusion 143 
 
 another for laxity and superstition respec- 
 tively. It is almost evident that the old 
 Judaism of the Ghetto cannot survive in 
 anything like its original shape ; in England 
 the ' hardshell ' Jew — the ' Oriental Israelite 
 Hebrew Jew ' — of the traditional pattern 
 is a dying type. The process of assimila- 
 tion, in fact, has set in, and there is no 
 apparent reason why it should stop at any 
 particular point. To drop any fraction of 
 the organised system of beliefs and observ- 
 ances which make up Judaism is to be 
 on the way to losing the whole. And 
 throughout the Jewish community this 
 tendency seems to be very generally re- 
 cognised. On the one side the Zionists and 
 the Mahazike Haddatk are hostile witnesses 
 to its strength ; while on the other side 
 there is a small but highly-intelligent party 
 which even hails the prospect of assimilation 
 with approval. 
 
 The present state of things, from a 
 Jewish standpoint, is obviously unsatis- 
 
1 44 The Jew in London 
 
 factory. It is beginning to be realised that 
 communal affairs are getting into a parlous 
 state, and it can hardly be disguised that 
 religious orthodoxy is steadily losing its 
 hold upon the community. ' Manifold are 
 the perils which beset Judaism,' was the 
 burden of a sermon recently delivered by 
 the Chief Rabbi,* while, in the Fortnightly 
 Review, we find one of the descendants 
 of Aaron proclaiming that ' Among the 
 many gross mistakes current about the 
 Jews, none is so great as the belief that 
 they are a religious people.' t It is easy 
 no doubt to over-emphasise such utterances, 
 but quotations to the same effect could be 
 multiplied, and taken in connection with 
 other facts, they certainly seem significant 
 of the times. 
 A Practical pQr the Tewish community, of course, the 
 
 Question ■' ^ ' 
 
 jTw]"^ whole question is one of practical politics, but 
 unfortunately one of the ' communal defects ' 
 
 * Jewish Chronicle, Oct. 14, 1898, p. 21. 
 
 t Fortnightly Review, 1896, p 624., Herman Cohen. 
 
Conclusion 145 
 
 most commonly deplored is the lack of 
 statesmanship in such matters. Doubtless 
 the number of discordant factions in the 
 community would make it almost impossible 
 to frame a policy which would be generally 
 acceptable, but in many quarters there seems 
 to be a general unwillingness to face the 
 real issues and grapple squarely with the 
 facts of the situation. And although there 
 is a general sense of instability and dis- 
 satisfaction with the present state of things, 
 it cannot be said that there is much life or 
 urgency in the demand for change. The 
 condition of Judaism, as seen from the 
 standpoint of the average English Jew, 
 might perhaps be summed up in Dogberry's 
 words as ' very tolerable, and not to be 
 endured.' The feeling seems to be mainly 
 one of stolid and resigned dissatisfaction. 
 Apart from the Zionists, the Mahasike ^i^ii 
 
 Pro- 
 
 Haddath and the Reformed Congregation, grammes 
 there is no suggestion of a remedy. Of 
 these parties, the two first are practically 
 
 K 
 
146 The Jew in London 
 
 confined to the foreign part of the com- 
 munity, while the Reformers are neither 
 very numerous nor very enthusiastic. They 
 offer, indeed, a more or less progressive 
 policy, and would adapt Judaism to the 
 changed conditions of the time, but it is 
 shrewdly suspected that ' Reform ' would 
 only open the door to assimilation, and 
 that this would mean the ultimate death 
 and burial of Judaism. Yet there is only 
 the choice of going forward or backward. 
 Judaism may either shake off all its tribal 
 features, and emerge purely as a religion, 
 or it may creep back into the shell of 
 nationalism and establish itself in Zion or 
 elsewhere as the nucleus of a state. 
 Reform or Reform and Zionism are the broad alter- 
 
 Zionistn 
 
 natives. But to the majority of English 
 Jews neither course seems to recommend 
 itself; the one is shunned as dangerous 
 and the other as retrogressive. And while 
 concerned to retain their Jewishness, they 
 are also, for the most part, keenly alive 
 
Conclusion 147 
 
 to the necessity of proving their patriotism 
 and conciliating Gentile opinion. Hence 
 one occasionally comes across what Dr 
 Herzl caustically describes as ' the efforts 
 of amphibious - minded men to combine 
 ancient tradition with an exaggerated imi- 
 tation of national customs.'* One of the Policy of 
 
 Drift 
 
 main results of this state of things is a 
 general reluctance to taking up a decided 
 attitude upon any question. The com- 
 munity, as a whole, is thus without a 
 policy, and so far at the mercy of external 
 forces ; and the drift of circumstances ap- 
 pears to set strongly in one direction. 
 
 It is easy to understand the antipathy 
 which the great body of Jews naturally 
 feel towards the prospect of assimilation. 
 They have too much pride of race to 
 relish the idea of complete absorption. 
 But (at least from the Gentile standpoint) The 'Be 
 
 'Jure'* 
 
 it is no less hard to see the justification Question 
 than the practicability of a policy of con- 
 
 " Contemporary Review, 1897, p. 588. 
 
148 The Jew in London 
 
 tinued separatism. There is doubtless a 
 loss in every departure from historic 
 traditions ; but if these traditions have out- 
 lived their value and purpose, or even 
 acquired a mischievous tendency, the loss 
 may be more than counterbalanced. It is 
 pitiful also, no doubt, to witness the 
 decay of a religion which has gone far in 
 many lives to transfigure, or at least to 
 render tolerable, the harsh conditions of 
 slum-life ; but in another aspect there is 
 to be taken into account (if I may borrow 
 the words of a recent contributor to Young 
 Israel) 'the legacy of bigotry and super- 
 stition of the narrow-souled denizens of 
 dark and noisome Ghettos.'* And, on the 
 whole, if the gains and losses of assimila- 
 tion could be reckoned against one another, 
 there seems little doubt on which side the 
 balance would be found. 
 
 * Young Israel, August 1898, p. 52. 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 POPULATION STATISTICS 
 
 Anything like a trustworthy estimate of the 
 Jewish population of London seems to be im- 
 possible. The materials which are available are 
 of such dubious value that no calculation based 
 on them can have much claim to be considered 
 accurate. The census returns are almost useless,. 
 as they do not take account of religious distinc- 
 tions; and any calculation based on the official 
 records of deaths and marriages is made uncertain 
 by the presence and constant influx of a large 
 immigrant element which throws out the ordinary 
 proportions between old and young. For a review 
 and criticism of the various methods of making 
 an estimate, the reader must be referred to Mr 
 Llewellyn Smith's treatment of the subject in 
 Life and Labour of the London People (Vol. III., 
 p. 103). No elaborate calculations are here 
 attempted, and the result, roughly indicated, may 
 be taken for what it is worth. 
 
 149 
 
150 The Jew in London 
 
 There are three various sets of statistics on 
 which estimates may be based : — viz. (i) Marriages ; 
 (2) Deaths ; (3) Children at elementary schools. 
 
 The following figures are quoted as abridged 
 from the Jewish Year Book: — 
 
 (i) AND (2) 'RETURNS MADE TO BOARD OF 
 DEPUTIES':— 
 
 
 
 LONDON. 
 
 
 
 Seatholders. 
 
 Marriages. 
 
 Deaths 
 
 1873 
 
 2,289 
 
 331 
 
 847 
 
 1874 
 
 2,287 
 
 309 
 
 875 
 
 1875 
 
 2,498 
 
 317 
 
 817 
 
 1876 
 
 2,435 
 
 27s 
 
 755 
 
 1877 
 
 2,860 
 
 297 
 
 878 
 
 1878 
 
 2,972 
 
 in 
 
 985 
 
 1879 
 
 3,378 
 
 325 
 
 1,068 
 
 1880 
 
 3,199 
 
 349 
 
 883 
 
 1881 
 
 3,4i8 
 
 364 
 
 970 
 
 1882 
 
 3,274 
 
 372 
 
 930 
 
 1883 
 
 3,397 
 
 381 
 
 959 
 
 1884 
 
 3,428 
 
 439 
 
 991 
 
 1885 
 
 3,521 
 
 462 
 
 1, 06 1 
 
 1886 
 
 3,689 
 
 472 
 
 1,148 
 
 1887 
 
 3,573 
 
 443 
 
 1,119 
 
 1888 
 
 4,108 
 
 589 
 
 1,129 
 
 1889 
 
 4,458 
 
 613 
 
 1,215 
 
 1890 
 
 4,578 
 
 654 
 
 1,450 
 
 1891 
 
 5,502 
 
 724 
 
 1,431 
 
 1892 
 
 5,669 
 
 743 
 
 1,625 
 
 1893 
 
 5,594 
 
 788 
 
 1,792 
 
 1894 
 
 6,561 
 
 839 
 
 1,620 
 
 1895 
 
 6,250 
 
 864 
 
 1,905 
 
 1896 
 
 6,625 
 
 963 
 
 1,738 
 
 1897 
 
 7,601 
 
 937 
 
 1,804 
 
Appendix A 
 
 151 
 
 (2) JEWISH CHILDREN IN ELEMENTARY 
 SCHOOLS. 
 
 1894. East End 
 
 Other parts of London 
 
 Total . 
 
 1897. East End 
 
 Other parts of London 
 
 Total . 
 
 1898. East End 
 
 Other parts of London 
 
 Total . 
 
 Total. 
 
 Born 
 
 Born in England 
 of 
 
 Abroad, Foreign Native 
 Parents. Parents. 
 
 14.592 4,528 7,141 2,923 
 1,372 271 718 383 
 
 15,964 4,799 7,859 3,306 
 
 16,849 4,938 8,295 3,516 
 1,589 281 922 386 
 
 18,438 5,219 9,217 3,902 
 
 17,954 5,171 9,125 3,658 
 1,488 291 821 376 
 
 19,442 5,462 9,946 4,034 
 
 With these figures may be compared the follow- 
 ing, which, however, were collected unofficially 
 and are less exhaustive {v. Joseph Jacobs — 
 Statistics of Jewish Population in London, etc. — 
 1873-1893- 
 
 i833t 1886. 
 
 East End 
 
 Other parts of London 
 
 Total 
 
 6,024 
 90s 
 
 6,929 
 
 8,990 
 1,031 
 
 10,021 
 
 From these various starting-points (with the 
 help of dubious assumptions) the following results 
 may be worked out, taking the 1898 figures: — 
 
 (i.) The marriage returns (assuming that the 
 
152 The Jew in London 
 
 London marriage-rate for 1896 (of 18 persons 
 married per 1000) is a near enough approxima- 
 tion) give a population of about 104,000. 
 
 (2.) The burial returns (taking the London death- 
 rate of 18.2) give 99,120. 
 
 (3.) The school children figures (following Mr 
 Llewellyn Smith's method of multiplying by 6) 
 give 116,600. It seems probable that this is, on 
 the whole, a rather nearer approximation than 
 that given by either of the other methods. The 
 influx of adults probably has the effect of depress- 
 ing both the marriage * and death-rate ; and in 
 the latter case, while allowing for their congestion 
 in the East End of London, something also must 
 be allowed for the superior longevity of the Jewish 
 race. On the other hand, though the school-period 
 of Jewish children may possibly be rather shorter 
 than the average, the larger size of Jewish families^ 
 and the comparative rarity of unmarried Jews and 
 Jewesses, make it probable that the figures arrived 
 at by the third method are excessive. On the 
 whole it may be conjectured — not very hazard- 
 ously — that the total Jewish population of London 
 is- something between 105,000 and 115,000. 
 
 The third method would further give a Jewish 
 
 population of 107,700 to the East End ; but this 
 
 * Out of 28 1 1 inmates of the Poor Jews' Temporary Shelter in 
 1896-97, 1446, or more than half, were married. As, however, a 
 large proportion of the unmarried remnant would be of marriageable 
 age, the effect upon the marriage-rate is very open to question. 
 
Appendix A 153 
 
 is certainly a larger proportion than is just. The 
 list of schools given in the Jewish Year Book is 
 obviously less complete for other districts than for 
 the East End. 
 
 It is worth while to compare the above figures 
 with the results of previous inquiries, though these, 
 of course, are of very diverse value {v. Life and 
 Labour of the London People, Vol. III., p. 104), 
 viz. : — 
 
 1858, 
 
 -27,(XX3 (^Jewish Chronicle). 
 
 1864. — 18,000 {London Labour and the London Poor). 
 1S71. — 35,000 (calculated from burial returns). 
 1883. — 46,000 {Jewish Chronicle). 
 1885. — 45,000 (Mr Lionel Alexander). 
 1888. — ' Over 60,000, and possibly as many as 70,000' (Mr 
 Llewellyn Smith). 
 
 1891. — 6ii^2%o {Jewish Year Book). 
 
II 
 
 another view of the 
 question- 
 By H. S. Lewis, M.A. 
 
 Mr Russell in his able essay has made a 
 wide survey of the various aspects of the 
 Jewish question. I am in agreement with 
 much that he has written, and do not wish 
 to cover the same ground again. I think, 
 however, that there are some misconceptions 
 in his essay which vitiate the general 
 conclusion to which his argument is directed. 
 I shall endeavour to establish that the 
 Jewish race, as a separate entity, has a 
 future ; that its mission as such is far from 
 completed, and that it can look forward 
 
156 The Jew in London 
 
 to something better than the painless 
 euthanasia to which Mr Russell apparently 
 condemns it. 
 
 A personal consideration may be permitted 
 at the outset. Mr Russell occupies a position 
 of mental detachment to which I cannot 
 pretend. The future of Judaism may be 
 a theme for curious sociological inquiry to 
 the Anglo-Saxon ; to the Jew it is an in- 
 tensely practical question. If his race has 
 hitherto maintained its separate existence, 
 it has been at the cost of constant and 
 painful effort. Is this effort to be continued, 
 or shall we rather welcome absorption in 
 the larger life of the world around us? 
 The early associations of a Jew, and his 
 pride in a past full of glorious memories, 
 strongly induce him to answer this question 
 emphatically in the affirmative. At the 
 same time it may be fairly argued that 
 the mere observer of Jewish life will be 
 unable to gauge the strength of feelings 
 and attachments which he sees from the 
 
The Jew in London 157 
 
 outside, and which to the Jew himself are 
 bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. 
 
 One fact must be borne in mind when 
 we consider the changes produced in the 
 Hfe and thought of the Jew as he comes 
 under EngHsh influences. The separateness 
 of the Jewish race has struck the observer 
 in all ages, but their imitativeness has 
 always been a no less remarkable feature. 
 To show that this is no new thing it is 
 only necessary to glance through the pages 
 of the Talmud. The Jew, say the Rabbis, 
 brought back from Babylon the names of 
 the angels and the names of the months.* 
 As a matter of fact, the post-exilic angelology 
 was mainly an exotic growth. Again, the 
 Rabbis praised certain customs of the 
 Medes and Persians,t and we find a 
 certain 'chief of the exile' who decided a 
 civil dispute in accordance with the 
 principles of Persian law.;]: The influence 
 
 * Talmud. J. Rosh Hashshanah I. 5. + Berachoth, 8 b. 
 
 X Bava Kama, 58 b. 
 
158 The Jew in London 
 
 of Greece and Rome on the Rabbis was 
 still closer. Not only are many of the 
 principles of Talmudic legislation directly 
 derived from Roman law, but some of the 
 technical terms used are merely transliter- 
 ated in Hebrew, without being translated.* 
 Indeed, a certain readiness to assimilate 
 foreign ideas is a feature found throughout 
 Jewish history, and we need not wonder if 
 we meet with this phenomenon in our own 
 times. Unfortunately the Jew does not 
 always adopt those ideas and practices which 
 are worthy of imitation. Mr Russell has 
 reminded us of that not infrequent type of 
 Jew who adopts betting and swearing as 
 the hall-marks of English citizenship. The 
 Rabbis of old had, in like manner, to re- 
 proach those of their brethren who acted 
 after the fashion of the Gentiles and always 
 chose the worst examples. But the in- 
 fluence on the Jews of other races has 
 sometimes been an equally strong force 
 
 * For example, iTrodiiK% iiriTpoiros, Karfiyopos. 
 
The Jew in London 159 
 
 for good. If the modern Jew strives to 
 absorb the highest culture of the age, he 
 need not necessarily lose hold of his faith. 
 The step he is taking is quite analogous 
 to that of his mediaeval forbears who 
 were foremost in absorbing the teaching 
 of Aristotle and his successors, which was 
 then the most powerful instrument for the 
 progress of human thought. 
 
 To forecast the future is always a 
 hazardous undertaking, and it must be a 
 matter of conjecture whether the Jews will 
 continue to maintain a separate existence. 
 Past experience, however, certainly justifies 
 us in believing that we shall be able to 
 resist assimilation. Even if one admitted 
 the accuracy of Mr Russell's survey of 
 present conditons, a wider generalisation 
 would be required before one predicted 
 that the Jewish race had survived nearly 
 two thousand years of dispersion only to 
 disappear at last. Nor can it be admitted 
 that present conditions are essentially 
 
i6o The Jew in London 
 
 different from those which prevailed in 
 former times. Martyrdoms and persecu- 
 tions form the most striking chapters in 
 the history of Israel, but, after all, they 
 have nearly always been exceptional occur- 
 rences. The victims of the first Crusade 
 recognised this fact and declared that 
 God had sent a portion of the chastise- 
 ment due for the sins of Israel on their 
 generation, because by its constancy and 
 steadfastness it was capable of enduring 
 so severe a trial. The records of mediaeval 
 Jewry are by no means coloured with 
 uniform gloom. Not only did the com- 
 munity possess a vigorous internal life, 
 but the relations between Jew and Gentile 
 were at times far from unsatisfactory.* 
 There could, of course, be no question 
 of political emancipation, but, after all, the 
 bulk of the native population were equally 
 dependent on their social superiors. Jewish 
 
 * See Israel Abrahams' Jewish Life in the Middle Ages, 
 <:h. xxiii. 
 
The Jew in London i6i 
 
 separation has doubtless been accentuated 
 by persecution, but it has not been 
 found incompatible with the maintenance 
 of friendly relations with the outside 
 world. 
 
 We must not fail also to do justice to 
 the wonderful recuperative powers of 
 the Jewish race. Its mere physical power 
 of multiplication is, doubtless, a source of 
 strength, although it may become, as here 
 in London, a source of temporary per- 
 plexity, and even of danger. But Judaism 
 has also a subtler faculty of recovering 
 lost ground. The Jew cannot discard his 
 nature and the racial sympathies which 
 lie latent in his heart, even when he 
 seems hopelessly estranged from his 
 religion and his kindred. Even in those 
 families where assimilation has gone far 
 we find frequent reversions to the hereditary 
 type. Israel, say the Rabbis, is like the 
 sand of the sea-shore, in which, if a hole 
 be dug over night, the space is filled up 
 
 L 
 
1 62 The Jew in London 
 
 before the morning,* or, to adopt an 
 earlier metaphor, our nation is like a tree 
 which remains alive although it sheds its 
 leaves.t This doctrine of Isaiah as to 
 the faithful remnant in whom the true 
 life of the nation is in reality embodied, is 
 indeed essential to the understanding of 
 Jewish history in all ages. 'What is it to 
 me that the ten tribes are lost untraceably, 
 or that multitudes of the children of Judah 
 have mixed themselves with the Gentile 
 populations as a river with rivers? Behold 
 our people still ! Their skirts spread afar \ 
 they are torn, and soiled and trodden on,^ 
 but there is a jewelled breastplate.' J 
 
 The whole argument of Mr Russell may 
 be summed up conveniently in one 
 sentence. He maintains that as the East- 
 End Jew becomes an Englishman, he 
 ceases to remain a Jew. To test the 
 accuracy of this statement it may be well 
 
 * Fesikta (Ed. Buber), ch. ii. -j- Isaiah vi. 13. 
 
 X Daniel Dcronda, ch. xlii. 
 
The Jew in London 163 
 
 to consider first the characteristics of the 
 Jewish workman who has been domiciled 
 in England for several generations. 
 Numerous examples of this class are to 
 be met with in Stepney, in the model 
 dwellings between Houndsditch and Com- 
 mercial Street, and in some of the streets 
 and courts within the same area. The 
 typical Jew, of the class we mention, has 
 certainly been thoroughly Anglicised, al- 
 though he may bear a Dutch name which 
 indicates the country from which his 
 family came originally. He thoroughly 
 identifies himself with England, and takes, 
 at any rate at election times, a keen and 
 occasionally an intelligent interest in 
 politics. If, as is often the case, he is a 
 cigar-maker, he probably belongs to the 
 Trades' Union, a peculiarly well and 
 soberly managed society. On the other 
 hand, he continues to regard himself as 
 a Jew, although he is not usually very 
 observant of the minutiae of his religion, 
 
164 The Jew in London 
 
 arid only attends synagogue a little more 
 regularly than the average Christian 
 workman attends church. His attach- 
 ment to his race and creed continues, 
 however, to be strong, and may, indeed, 
 be as real as that of his foreign co- 
 religionist, although it is partially con- 
 cealed by that acquired quality of British 
 stolidity of which Mr Russell speaks. The 
 English Jew, it may be added, rarely 
 gives encouragement to the efforts of the 
 conversionist agencies which are so active 
 in East London. Such influence as these 
 bodies may obtain is practically limited 
 to a section of the foreigners. In social 
 morality the English Jew of the working 
 classes is in no wise inferior to the 
 ordinary Englishman, and I regret that 
 Mr Russell should have given currency 
 to the vulgar prejudice that Jews are 
 commonly disposed to sharp practice and 
 unscrupulousness. We have our black 
 sheep as have other people, but it is a little 
 
The Jew in London 165 
 
 hard that we should suffer the discredit of 
 all their malpractices. The friendly feeling: 
 existing between Jewish and Christian 
 working men, to which Mr Russell himself 
 testifies, could hardly have grown up in 
 the face of earlier prejudices, except as the 
 result of favourable experience. 
 
 Of course the English Jew of the 
 working-classes has his faults. The most 
 prevalent of these is betting and other 
 forms of gambling. I shall have occasion 
 to recur to this subject when I speak of 
 the immigrants, but it must be at once 
 admitted that the trading instinct in Jewish 
 character is an impelling force towards 
 speculation, both as a business and an 
 amusement. This feeling is illustrated 
 by the extent to which Jews have taken 
 up the sale of perishable articles, such as 
 fruit and fish, where the opportunities for 
 considerable profit are balanced by the 
 possibilities of heavy loss. The pro- 
 fessional bookmaker, of whom there are 
 
i66 The Jew in London 
 
 too many specimens in Stepney and Bow, 
 brings up his children to his own business 
 without any apparent sense of moral 
 degradation. The perfectly sober and 
 respectable workman will indulge in an 
 occasional bet without much scruple, 
 although he is seldom so reckless as to 
 ruin himself by betting. The English 
 Jew frequents the public-house more than 
 his foreign co-religionist, but he is very 
 rarely a drunkard. Public opinion amongst 
 his class condemns this form of in- 
 temperance. 
 
 The attitude of the English Jew towards 
 Christians is a curious mixture of respect and 
 contempt. He is naturally disposed to look 
 up to a dominant race, and he desires the 
 good opinion of his neighbours. On the other 
 hand he still regards the non-Jew ox goyvt'vCa. 
 some suspicion, and considers his own people 
 superior in acuteness, in family affection and 
 in freedom from superstition. He regards 
 Christians with perfect good feeling and 
 
The Jew in London 167 
 
 mingles with them on neutral ground, but 
 he seldom enters their homes or invites 
 them to his. In short, they are rather his 
 acquaintances than his friends. 
 
 Mixed marriages are admittedly rare, and 
 I doubt the accuracy of Mr Russell's state- 
 ment that they are increasing, at any rate 
 amongst the working classes. It is notice- 
 able, also, that it is very unusual in East 
 London for a Christian to marry a Jewess. 
 Marriages between a Jew and a Christian 
 woman are not quite so uncommon. Usually 
 the wife is nominally converted to Judaism, 
 and the children are brought up as Jews. 
 
 The attitude of the English Jew towards 
 the foreign Jew is similarly a mixed one. 
 On the one hand, the latter is sometimes a 
 trade rival, who is suspected to have brought 
 down prices and to have taken the bread out of 
 the mouth of the native-born workman. The 
 foreigner has been also, as we shall see, an 
 important factor in raising rents in many 
 parts of East London, and his willingness to 
 
1 68 The Jew in London 
 
 overcrowd is patently injurious to all his 
 neighbours. But the English Jew often ex- 
 presses himself more strongly on these points 
 than he really feels. It is almost proverbial 
 that Jews love to criticise their fellows, and 
 some of Mr Russell's informants on this point 
 have probably availed themselves of the oppor- 
 tunity to indulge in this pleasure. Practically 
 the English and foreign Jew feel themselves 
 more in sympathy with each other than with 
 the outside world. They are found, to a 
 greater extent, in the same workshops, 
 notably in various branches of the boot 
 trade, and intermarriages between them are 
 common. 
 
 The English Jew is most anxious to send 
 his children to a Jewish school. He prefers 
 such a school as the Stepney Jewish, where 
 a fee is charged, to the numerous free schools 
 in the same neighbourhood. In a large 
 majority of instances he does not, like the 
 foreigner, give his boys additional instruction 
 in Hebrew at the cheder. He does not be- 
 
The Jew in London 169 
 
 come a paying member of a synagogue 
 unless he reaches a certain level of pro- 
 sperity, and he attends but rarely, except at 
 times of family festivity or sorrow. He is 
 particularly regular in his attendance during 
 the eleven months of mourning for a deceased 
 parent and on the ' Yahrzeit ' or anniversary 
 of the death. It must be sorrowfully ad- 
 mitted that the religious heads of the 
 synagogue have done little to adapt the 
 service to his needs. We shall sum up the 
 situation by stating that Judaism has not 
 weakened its hold on the English Jew of 
 East London as a racial bond. As a religion 
 it has become weaker and less intelligent, 
 because it has cause to need an inspiration 
 which has yet to be supplied. 
 
 The foreign Jews are much more difficult 
 to appraise correctly ; for one thing, they are 
 so numerous that any generalisation will be 
 most perilous. Intellectually they are often 
 superior not only to native-born workmen, 
 but also to many native-born merchants 
 
170 The Jew in London 
 
 and stockbrokers. Their interests are less 
 purely personal ; they mostly have an ac- 
 quaintance, however superficial, with some 
 of the masterpieces of Rabbinic literature. 
 Their morality is a strange mass of con- 
 tradictions. They love their children, for 
 whose welfare they will make almost any 
 sacrifice. Their domesticity is remarkable, 
 and they spend their leisure at home. They 
 seldom allow their wives to work for them* 
 and yet wife-desertion is one of their common 
 offences and gives rise to a difficult type of 
 case with which the Jewish Board of 
 Guardians has constantly to deal. The 
 foreign Jew has a greater sense of generosity 
 than of justice. The 'greener,' just arrived 
 in London with scanty resources, will be 
 sure to meet with hospitality from some 
 'landsmann.' If a poor family loses all its 
 belongings in a fire, some kind friend will 
 often make a collection amongst the neigh- 
 
 * This is almost as true of the English Jew, and in strong contrast 
 with the numerous cases where Christian women in London go out 
 to work after their marriage. 
 
The Jew in London 171 
 
 bours to supply what has been lost. In 
 times of sickness and death one sees most 
 touching examples amongst the foreign 
 Jews of unselfish help, of sacrifices freely 
 given both of time and money. On the 
 other hand, we find evil qualities, chiefly, 
 no doubt, the result of persecution, but 
 none the less unlovely. One is sometimes 
 tempted to conclude in despair that the 
 bulk of the Polish immigrants have no 
 sense of truth whatever. No more painful 
 spectacle can be witnessed than the hearing 
 of a summons at an East-End police court, 
 where the parties concerned are foreign 
 Jews. Obvious perjury, on the smallest 
 provocation, is committed in case after case. 
 The comments of Judge Bacon at the 
 Whitechapel County Court on this fact 
 have been at times severely criticised by 
 the Jewish press. His generalisations may 
 have been too sweeping, being based 
 on his experience of petty litigation, where 
 the seamy side of life is necessarily pro- 
 
172 The Jew in London 
 
 minent. At the same time, his remarks 
 have been based on a substantial sub- 
 stratum of truth. It is the experience of 
 most visitors amongst the foreign poor for 
 charitable societies, that although absolute 
 imposture is exceptional, falsehoods with 
 regard to the details of cases are constantly 
 met with. 
 
 It is to this taint of untruthfulness that 
 most of the other defects of the foreign Jews 
 are to be traced. I fear that it cannot be 
 denied that their standard of business 
 morality is often defective. A statement 
 of this kind may be regarded as unfair, 
 and it is, of course, difficult to put it to 
 any exact test. An illustration is, however, 
 afforded by the return of convictions, 
 periodically issued in the minutes of the 
 London County Council, for the use of 
 false weights and measures, and kindred 
 offences. Judging by the names of the 
 offenders, an altogether undue proportion 
 of them appear to be foreign Jews. We 
 
The Jew in London 173 
 
 meet also, in East London, with far too 
 many cases where the Bankruptcy laws 
 are evaded by persons who pass through 
 the courts and reappear in business with 
 suspicious celerity and without apparent 
 loss. 
 
 The foreign Jew as landlord is a new and 
 unwelcome figure. The Chief Rabbi, in a 
 recent sermon, tells the story of an East- End 
 Jew who exclaimed to him, 'Thank God I 
 live under a Christian landlord.' This state- 
 ment illustrates quite fairly the evil reputa- 
 tion that Jewish landlords have acquired 
 amongst their own co-religionists. The 
 condemnation is undoubtedly too sweeping. 
 In East London there are good Jewish 
 landlords, some of whom are foreigners, 
 whose excellent qualities are acknowledged 
 by their tenants. But harshness, oppression 
 and even fraud are too often associated with 
 foreign Jews who have recently invested 
 in house property. Considering this ques- 
 tion, at the moment, as illustrating the sense 
 
174 The Jew in London 
 
 of morality of the offenders, it must be noted 
 that many of them cannot be considered as 
 bad men in the ordinary relations of life, 
 whilst, in several notorious instances, they 
 make professions, probably not consciously 
 insincere, of charitable and religious zeal. 
 The root of this inconsistency is the notion, 
 too often entertained, that business stands 
 apart and is governed by different rules from 
 those prevailing in the other relations of life. 
 One of my friends asked a landlord how he 
 came to oppress one of his tenants, a very 
 poor man and a Jew like himself ' When I 
 go to synagogue,' was the reply, ' I am a 
 Jew ; when I come for my rent I am a goyJ 
 This inconsistency is, of cqurse, common 
 enough outside the Jewish community ; it has 
 been a favourite theme of satirists in all 
 ages. It is, however, peculiarly offensive in 
 the followers of a religion which teaches, 
 above all others, that a man should con- 
 secrate all the activities of life to the service 
 of the Supreme. 
 
The Jew in London 175 
 
 It must be noted, on the other hand, that 
 the proportion of convictions for serious 
 crime amongst the Jews, native and foreign, 
 is far smaller than amongst the general 
 population. The number of Jewish convicts 
 has, of course, increased in recent years 
 with the growth of the Jewish population, 
 but it is still inconsiderable. In 1897, 485 
 Jewish prisoners, convicted or awaiting trial, 
 were admitted into English prisons.* The 
 offences most commonly committed by 
 them are larceny and receiving stolen 
 property. The great majority have been 
 born abroad. Thus, of the twenty - four 
 Jews who were imprisoned in Wormwood 
 Scrubbs in April 1899, eighteen were from 
 Poland or Russia, some having arrived from 
 one to six months from abroad. Habitual 
 criminals are rare.t 
 
 * These figures are taken from the Report of the Overseers of the 
 United Synagogue for 1897. I have been unable to obtain later 
 figures. 
 
 t Thus, of the twenty-four in Wormwood Scrubbs in April 1899, 
 fourteen were imprisoned for a first offence ; five for a second ; two 
 for a thurd ; two for a fifth ; one for a sixth. Rev. M. Adler, who 
 
176 The Jew in London 
 
 On the other hand, the increase of 
 juvenile crime amongst the Jews of White- 
 chapel has, of late, attracted the serious 
 a,ttention of the magistrates and has 
 necessitated the foundation of a Jewish 
 industrial school. Even so, the boys 
 concerned are in reality few ; it is just 
 because crime rarely occurs amongst the 
 Jews that their doings have attracted so 
 much attention. The process by which 
 large districts of East London have been 
 invaded by foreign Jews may be regarded 
 with mixed feelings ; it is certain that, in 
 many streets, it has replaced a thoroughly 
 vicious class by hardworking and re- 
 spectable persons.* 
 
 lias visited the prison since 1892, informs me that he has only met 
 five men who may be called habitual criminals, It may be added 
 that there never have been more than six Jewesses at one time at 
 Wormwood Scrubbs ; and the officials can only remember four who 
 have been sent there more than once. 
 
 * The following streets, which, in Mr Charles Booth's map, com- 
 piled in 1887, were coloured black as being inhabited by the 'vicious 
 ■and semi-criminal,' are now Jewish and respectable : — In White- 
 chapel and Spitalfields — part of Plough Street, Thrawl Street, 
 Flower and Dean Street (a few bad houses remain here). In St 
 •George's-in-the-East — Ship Alley, St George's Court, now Challis 
 
The Jew in London 177 
 
 I have little to add to Mr Russell's 
 remarks about Jews and public-houses. It 
 is, of course, a commonplace that drunkards 
 and teetotallers are about equally uncommon 
 amongst us. It is rare indeed to see a 
 drunken Jew in the streets, and cilthough 
 Jewish publicans are common enough, 
 their houses are nearly all conducted re- 
 spectably. Trade societies habitually hold 
 their meetings in public-houses — a fact 
 which one is disposed to regret; but there 
 is no reason to suppose that this leads 
 to any actual excess. A few public- 
 liouses, owned by Jews, on the borders 
 of the City, have an evil reputation for 
 iDeing used for the purpose of betting, 
 Taut they are certainly not frequented by 
 foreigners. 
 
 ■Court (William Street), Matilda Street, Matilda Place, Turner's 
 "Buildings, part of Little Turner Street, Bamett Street. In Mile 
 End — John's Place (Baker Street), part of Adelina Grove, Eagle 
 Place, part of Oxford Street and Newark Street. In Bethnal Green — 
 •Code Street and Butler's Buildings. In Great Pearl Street and 
 Little Pearl Street, Spitalfields, a large proportion of the vicious 
 jjopulation has been replaced by Jews. 
 
 M 
 
178 The Jew in London 
 
 A word must be said of gambling, which 
 is so common a failing of the foreigners, 
 as it is of other sections of the Jewish com- 
 munity. Card-playing, at home or at one 
 of' the cook-shops which abound in White- 
 chapel, is a favourite form of dissipation, 
 possibly harmless in itself but very likely 
 to be carried to excess. A brisk trade in 
 foreign lottery tickets is also carried on ; 
 it is not uncommon for a Jewish workman 
 to spend ;^5 a year in the purchase of 
 these. The restraining force of prudence 
 prevents all but a small section of persons 
 from reducing themselves to actual destitution 
 by gambling, but it cannot be doubted that 
 this unhealthy form of excitement exercises 
 a deleterious influence on those who suc- 
 cumb to it. 
 
 We cannot deny therefore the existence 
 of certain signs of moral degeneration in 
 the Jewish immigrants from Russia and 
 Poland. Their defects are to be attributed, 
 however, almost entirely to the influence 
 
The Jew in London 179 
 
 of generations of persecution. The Jew 
 living in Russia has to fight with a hostile 
 government for a bare subsistence. I have 
 heard from quite reliable informants that 
 they have been forced to abandon business 
 after business owing to malicious interference 
 on the part of the Russian police. When law 
 and order thus become the foes of the honest 
 man, the belief is inevitably induced that any 
 evasion is allowable. Just as a forty years' 
 wandering in the desert was needed to wean 
 the Israelites of old from the defects of 
 character induced by Egyptian bondage, so 
 will the discipline of experience alone avail 
 to remove the Ghetto taint. 
 
 Let us remember also that the foreign 
 Jew possesses many valuable qualities both 
 moral and intellectual. I have already said 
 something about that generous charity which 
 is nowhere more displayed than amongst the 
 foreign Jews of East London. ' I sleep but 
 my heart awaketh,' exclaims the Shulammite 
 woman in the Song of Songs, who typifies 
 
i8o The Jew in London 
 
 the congregation of Israel. ' Though I sleep,' 
 explain the Rabbis, ' with respect to the 
 fulfilment of other precepts, my heart is 
 awake in performing acts of kindness to 
 my fellow-men.' The Polish Jew rarely 
 loses his Jewish sympathies. One of my 
 friends, living in St George's-in-the-East, 
 had a neighbour who married one of his 
 daughters to a Christian and another to 
 a ' Socialist,' * while his wife would sometimes 
 curse in the yard like a ' devil, not a man.' 
 Yet this family would take poor Jews into 
 their home and support them for days at 
 a time. Besides performing individual acts 
 of neighbourly kindness, we find that the 
 foreign Jews organise a number of charitable 
 societies which depend almost entirely on 
 local support. The larger communal insti- 
 tutions do not, in most cases, obtain any 
 considerable proportion of their income from 
 East-End sources, but the chief cause of this 
 
 * See Mr Russell's remarks (p. 128) on the connotation of this 
 term as employed by the foreign Jews. 
 
The Jew in London i8r 
 
 is that they do not cater for weekly sub- 
 scriptions — the most favourite method of 
 contributing to societies, and indeed the 
 only one possible for persons of limited means. 
 The success of the Orphan Aid Society, 
 which collects funds for the Jewish Orphan 
 Asylum at Norwood, will illustrate the value 
 of East-End support. This Society contains 
 1300 members, and contributed last year 
 ;^388 to the funds of the parent institution. 
 At least 1 1 50 of its members belong to 
 East London. 
 
 The beauty of Jewish home life has 
 always struck the outside observer. This 
 is primarily due to religious influence ; for 
 Judaism consecrates the home, which is 
 the sphere of some of its most touching 
 ceremonials. Friday evening, which ushers 
 in the Sabbath, is in particular a family 
 festivity, as all readers of Daniel Deronda 
 will remember. Jewish children, sent for 
 a fortnight's holiday in the country, and 
 living for the time amongst Christians, 
 
1 82 The Jew in London 
 
 have often told me how they miss the usual 
 family gathering, when the Sabbath lamp is 
 lighted, the cup of wine is drunk, and the 
 father pronounces a blessing upon his 
 children. It is no exaggeration to say that 
 the happiest hours of a Jew's life are those 
 spent within his home ; and family ties are 
 in consequence much stronger amongst us 
 than in the outside world. This fact will 
 help to explain one of the means by which 
 Judaism resists the tendency to assimilation. 
 Although neither the knowledge nor the 
 practice of religion comes by inheritance, 
 yet Judaism is strengthened by forces of 
 early association and ancestral love. 
 
 The zeal of Jewish parents for their 
 children's advancement is very noticeable. 
 For this end they will make every sacrifice. 
 Nor is it simply their ambition that their 
 children should make money. They regard 
 a good education as valuable for its own 
 sake. They take a great interest in their 
 children's progress at school. The high 
 
The Jew in London 183 
 
 percentages of attendance in the Jewish 
 voluntary schools, and in Board schools 
 largely attended by Jewish children, are 
 as creditable to the parents as they are 
 to the teachers. In a Jewish home, however 
 humble, intellectual interests are never en- 
 tirely absent. It is most pathetic to see 
 the zeal with which scholars of the Jews' 
 Free School, sometimes members of a 
 family occupying only one room, will struggle 
 with the difficulties of home lessons amidst 
 all the interruptions of crying babies and 
 other household distractions. Jewish parents 
 have availed themselves most eagerly of 
 the opportunities for secondary teaching 
 given to promising children by means of 
 the scholarship ladder of the Technical 
 Education Board. We shall have occasion 
 to speak presently of their zeal for the 
 religious education of their sons, but we 
 may note in passing that the almost in- 
 variable presence of intellectual interests 
 amongst Jews causes degraded types of 
 
184 The Jew in London 
 
 poverty to be of rare occurrence amongst 
 them, 
 
 Jewish law is very strict in requiring the 
 utmost honour and obedience to parents. 
 Scripture teaches that the fear and honour 
 of parents is a duty only comparable with 
 reverence for God himself. A son may not 
 sit on his father's seat or contradict his 
 words. He must honour his parents by 
 providing them with all necessaries, treating 
 them with the utmost respect although 
 they may be entirely dependent upon him.* 
 These principles secure from Jews far 
 more than a mere theoretical adhesion. 
 Undutiful children are cjuite an exception 
 in our community, and it may be added 
 that if any comparison be made in this 
 respect between English and foreign-born, 
 such comparison will certainly be favourable 
 to the latter. It is true that childish dis- 
 obedience and rudeness to parents are 
 common enough. The child in Poland 
 
 * See Kidduskin, 31. 
 
The Jew in London 185 
 
 probably enjoys less freedom than he does 
 in Whitechapel, where his playground is 
 the street with all its promiscuous comrade- 
 ship. Added to this fact, Jewish parents 
 are usually indulgent and sometimes very in- 
 discreet in the management of children, so that 
 we need not be surprised if they sometimes 
 lament that ' englische Kinder ' — i.e., children 
 .brought up in England — are inferior to 
 those educated abroad. The injudicious 
 mother who bribes her children by frequent 
 gifts of farthings is a common enough 
 figure in East London. On the whole, 
 however, disobedience is exceptional and 
 evanescent, and respect for parents is pre- 
 served even after the critical age when the 
 boy or girl goes out to work and gradually 
 becomes self-supporting. Grown-up children, 
 living at home and unmarried, contribute 
 a fair proportion of their earnings to the 
 family exchequer, sons usually giving over 
 half, whilst daughters, who spend more 
 money on clothing, often content themselves 
 
1 86 The Jew in London 
 
 with paying their parents about five shillings 
 a week. A large majority of parents, when 
 past work, are willingly supported by their 
 children, although, of course, there are other 
 cases where the task is beyond the means 
 of the children and the assistance of the 
 Jewish Board of Guardians or of a home 
 for the aged becomes necessary. It is most 
 unusual for the aged poor of the Jewish 
 community to come upon the rates, even 
 in those parishes where out-door relief is 
 given. 
 
 The conjugal relations of the foreign 
 Jews present some difficult problems, but 
 they must be pronounced to be generally 
 satisfactory. The Jew is a born critic, 
 but he seldom finds fault with his wife, 
 and he is, as a rule, blessed with domestic 
 happiness. The Jewish husband spends 
 most of his leisure at home, and, possibly 
 owing to this fact, his wife's advice and 
 influence count for much with him. As 
 I have already stated, Jewish women are 
 
The Jew in London 187 
 
 seldom allowed by their husbands to go 
 out to work, although, if the family has 
 a shop, much of its management devolves 
 on the wife, and interferes very little 
 with the performance of ordinary home 
 duties. The Jewish husband is generous 
 to his wife so far as his means will 
 allow, and he does not retain a large 
 proportion of his wages as pocket-money. 
 So far as household expenses are con- 
 cerned, the wife is chancellor of the 
 ■exchequer. The result is that the 
 husband seems often more liberal in his 
 ideas of money than the wife, who is 
 weighted with the responsibility of avoid- 
 ing a deficit in the family budget. Poverty 
 necessarily makes home life more difficult, 
 and the absence of privacy for members 
 of a family who have only one or two 
 rooms of their own must often tempt 
 them to seek distraction elsewhere. It 
 is all the more remarkable that foreign 
 Jews, whose houses are so often over- 
 
1 88 The Jew in London 
 
 crowded, are able to conquer adverse 
 influences and to set such an example of 
 happy and contented home life. 
 
 I must revert to the question of wife- 
 desertion, which is an evil sufficiently 
 common amongst foreign Jews to detract 
 from the almost completely favourable 
 judgment which one would otherwise pro- 
 nounce on their conjugal relations. The 
 evil is one dating far back in Jewish 
 history ; it was, and often is, caused by 
 the husband's necessity and not his choice. 
 Commenting on the verse which declares 
 that the daughter of Zion 'has become 
 as a widow,' the Rabbis explain that she 
 is not actually widowed, but is as one 
 whose husband has departed to lands across 
 the sea, intending to ultimately return.* 
 The idea was doubtless suggested by 
 the experience of their own times. The 
 following remarks by Mr Israel Abrahams 
 on wife - desertion in the Middle Ages 
 
 * Taanith, 20a. 
 
The Jew in London 189 
 
 will help us to understand present day- 
 conditions : — 
 
 ' Wife - desertion was an evil which it 
 was harder to deal with, for, owing to 
 the unsettlement of Jewish life under 
 continuous persecution, the husband was 
 frequently bound to leave home in search 
 of a livelihood, and, perhaps, to contract 
 his services for long periods to foreign 
 employers. The husband endeavoiared to 
 make ample provision for his wife's main- 
 tenance during his absence, or, if he failed 
 to do so, the wife was supported at the 
 public cost and the husband compelled 
 to refund the sum so expended. These 
 absences grew to such abnormal lengths 
 that, in the twelfth century, it became 
 necessary to protect the wife by limiting 
 the absence to eighteen months, an interval 
 which was only permitted to husbands who 
 had obtained the formal sanction of the 
 communal authorities. On his return the 
 husband was compelled to remain at least 
 
190 The Jew in London 
 
 six months with his family before again 
 starting on his involuntary travels,'* 
 
 These statements require modification if 
 they are to be applied to Modern England, 
 where persecution is non-existent and the con- 
 trol of the ' communal authorities ' has become 
 weak. It still, however, continues true that 
 the absent husband has often left in search 
 of work and intends to return or to send 
 for his wife in his new home when cir- 
 cumstances become more favourable. The 
 Jewish Board of Guardians finds at tirties, 
 in alleged cases of desertion, that there is 
 collusion between husband and wife, and 
 that they are in regular communication with 
 each other. It may happen also that a man 
 is compelled to leave England by a doctor's 
 orders and that his wife has to remain 
 behind until he has established himself in 
 America or South Africa. Undoubtedly, 
 however, there are cases where a Jewish 
 husband loses his work and tries to escape 
 
 * Jewish Life in the Middle Ages, ch. v. 
 
The Jew in London 191 
 
 his responsibilities by flight. The excuse 
 which he sometimes makes is that he cannot 
 bear to see his wife and children starving, 
 and perhaps he imagines that, if he goes, 
 charitable assistance will be forthcoming 
 on their behalf. The Jewish Board of 
 Guardians has frequently the painful duty 
 of refusing such relief, which, if freely given, 
 would encourage desertion in other cases. 
 As an explanation of the worst type of cases 
 of wife-desertion, it must be remembered 
 that foreign Jews have been accustomed to 
 a greater facility of divorce than is permitted 
 in England, and the unscrupulous amongst 
 their number wish to evade the provisions 
 of English law. Cases of wife-desertion, as 
 opposed to those of temporary absence, are, 
 however, comparatively few in number. 
 
 The masterly picture, drawn by Mr 
 Russell, of the Jew as workman may be 
 accepted as substantially correct. Un- 
 doubtedly he is industrious, sober and, in 
 a sense, reliable; but, on the other hand, 
 
192 The Jew in London 
 
 an inveterate individualist, whose ambition 
 is usually for himself rather than for his 
 class. He desires almost invariably to 
 become ultimately a small master, a dealer 
 or a shop-keeper ; to live, in short, on 
 profits rather than on wages. This fact 
 diminishes his powers of combination, and 
 few permanent successes can be recorded 
 in the history of Trade Unionism amongst 
 the foreign Jews resident in England. The 
 prevalence of the ' sweating system ' in such 
 specifically Jewish trades as tailoring, boot- 
 making, cabinetmaking, arises largely from 
 these peculiarities of character, although 
 trade conditions have, of course, a most 
 important influence on methods of produc- 
 tion. I only propose to consider how far 
 social life and the ' sweating system ' are 
 mutually interdependent. 
 
 One important aspect of the case must 
 not be forgotten. In the small workshop 
 there is practically no class distinction be- 
 tween master and man. They are usually 
 
The Jew in London 193 
 
 also united by a common religion and by 
 numerous associations, which tend to 
 humanise even business relations. It will 
 often be found that the master, in select- 
 ing his hands, gives a preference to his 
 'landsmann' who hailed originally from 
 the same town in Poland. This will not 
 always prevent the master from imposing 
 hard or even unfair terms, but it remains 
 true that, in the small workshop, there 
 usually exist far more kindliness and good 
 feeling than in the large factory. Journey- 
 men out of work often receive much 
 assistance from their former employers, and 
 many small acts of kindness, which do 
 so much to sweeten human relations, are 
 some set-off to the criticisms which can 
 be justly levelled against the 'sweating 
 system.' 
 
 There is another special peculiarity of 
 the foreign Jew which has tended to create 
 and to perpetuate this method of production. 
 Whilst possessing undoubted industry and 
 
 N 
 
194 The Jew in London 
 
 powers of endurance, he is with difficulty 
 disciplined into the orderly regularity and 
 steady methods which are essential to the 
 large factory. The long hours for which 
 tailors and bootmakers work are not quite 
 so exhausting as they seem. The pressure 
 is by no means equal. At certain times it 
 is undoubtedly very intense — Thursday 
 evening, for example, often brings with it 
 a great press of work. But there are 
 intervals also in which very little is done ; 
 when cigarettes are smoked and topics are 
 discussed in the workshop which would 
 surprise those who have not been initiated 
 into the vigorous intellectuality that often 
 lurks behind the unpromising exterior of 
 the Polish Jew. It might be much better 
 for his health to work steadily for ten hours 
 a day in a factory, but not only are his 
 powers as an industrial machine un- 
 doubtedly greater under the present system, 
 but he finds life fuller and richer in interest. 
 It must be noted also that the difficulties of 
 
The Jew in London 195 
 
 Sabbath observance are lessened for those 
 who work for small masters. 
 
 Social relations between Christians and 
 foreign Jews are very limited in extent, 
 even when they are employed in the same 
 workshop. The question whether they 
 compete together in the labour market to 
 a serious extent has been often discussed, 
 and a summary of the arguments on both 
 sides is stated very fairly by Mr Russell. 
 Personally, I do not believe that any 
 antagonism which may exist between them 
 is caused by a mutual feeling that they 
 are trade rivals. 
 
 Two other motives are much more 
 powerful in this respect. The Jews of 
 London are insignificant in numbers com- 
 pared with the whole population, but in 
 some parts of East London they are in 
 an overwhelming majority. Their numbers 
 are undoubtedly increasing rapidly, less 
 through immigration from abroad than from 
 the natural increase of population which is 
 
1 96 The Jew in London 
 
 exceptionally great amongst them, because 
 they usually marry young and have ex- 
 tremely large families. This growth of 
 population has been otvious to those who 
 have only been able to observe it for a 
 few years. Whole streets, formerly Gentile, 
 have within the last three years become 
 almost completely foreign. In St George's, 
 in Stepney, and in the south-west division 
 of Bethnal Green, the change has been 
 most marked. The density of population, 
 too, within the Jewish district is much 
 increased ; the two-storied tenement houses 
 having been often displaced by the lofty 
 model dwellings, which shelter some 
 hundreds of families upon a comparatively 
 narrow site. Thus the Jew is more in 
 evidence than ever before, and, being 
 naturally self-assertive and fond of display, 
 he does not allow his presence to be for- 
 gotten. He overcrowds his home, and can 
 therefore afford to pay a higher rent 
 than that previously obtained, and he 
 
The Jew in London 197 
 
 therefore gradually displaces the Gentile 
 population. The facts of the situation have 
 been rapidly grasped by certain house specu- 
 lators, who take merciless advantage of eco- 
 nomic conditions. The housing problem is 
 common to London as a whole, but it will 
 be seen that in the Jewish districts it 
 presents features of its own which render 
 anti-Semitism a very real danger. On the 
 other hand, the Jewish community is 
 awakening to its responsibility in the 
 matter, and will probably do its share in 
 providing, through private enterprise, house 
 accommodation for the working classes at 
 reasonable rents. 
 
 But, temporary causes apart, such feel- 
 ings of dislike, or rather of mistrust, as 
 exist between the Christian and the 
 foreign Jew depend less on logic than on 
 sentiment. Holy Writ commands us to 
 'love the stranger,' but the natural man 
 finds it difficult to obey this injunction. 
 We all tolerate, with reluctance, any 
 
198 The Jew in London 
 
 departure from the type to which we 
 ourselves belong. Firm persistence in the 
 maintenance of separate religious rites is, 
 in itself, unpopular ; although consistency, 
 even in an unpopular cause, wins respect 
 in the long run. External differences 
 probably weigh more with the general run 
 of man than those which depend on 
 doctrine or ritual. Mere dissimilarity of 
 appearance, language, ideas in itself 
 produces antagonism. Even the townsman 
 and the countryman are in imperfect 
 sympathy with each other, and where 
 differences are more essential distrust will 
 be correspondingly greater. Years ago 
 I heard Ben Tillett say of the foreign 
 Jews, 'Yes, you are our brothers and we 
 will do our duty by you. But we wish 
 you had not come to this country.' I 
 think that these words represent not 
 unfairly the views of a large section of 
 London workmen. Undoubtedly the 
 foreign Jew, on his side, regards the 
 
The Jew in London 199 
 
 Christian as his inferior both morally and 
 intellectually. The healing influence of 
 time may not produce uniformity of type, 
 but it will gradually bring about a better 
 mutual understanding between Jew and 
 Christian which will enable them to work 
 out their destinies side by side. 
 
 Hitherto I have chiefly been consider- 
 ing the external relations of the East- End 
 Jew. I turn now to the consideration of 
 his inner spiritual life. The question is at 
 once fundamental and extremely difficult ; 
 I cannot pretend to do more than indicate 
 certain tendencies which appear to be at 
 work. 
 
 I must admit that Mr Russell makes out 
 his point that Sabbath observance and 
 synagogue attendance are both diminish- 
 ing, although his statements appear to be 
 somewhat exaggerated. In such specific- 
 ally Jewish trades as tailoring and boot- 
 making, it seems clear that over half of 
 
200 The Jew in London 
 
 those employed abstain from work on the 
 Sabbath. A circular on Sabbath observance, 
 sent by the Chief Rabbi in 1897 to the 
 principal merchant tailors who employ 
 labour in their own workshops or give 
 out work to middlemen, elicited many 
 encouraging replies. Some extracts from 
 these may be of interest. ' The Jewish 
 tailors and tailoresses who work on these 
 premises are paid on Friday afternoon 
 ... no difficulty is created by the company 
 calculated in any way to prevent such 
 workpeople from attending to and enjoy- 
 ing their religious duties.' ' Our own 
 factory in . . . Street we have closed for 
 some years past on Saturday as regards 
 members of your community.' 'We always 
 do all we can to meet our Jewish em- 
 ployis as regards their religion, and as far 
 as we know none work on Saturday.' 'We 
 have always done our utmost to enable our 
 Jewish work hands to keep their Sabbath ; 
 workshops, devoted entirely to Jews, are 
 
The Jew in London 201 
 
 closed from Friday afternoon at about four 
 o'clock and the whole of Saturday. These 
 are open on Sundays.' ' Our factory is 
 closed on Saturdays and festivals, so that 
 our Jewish workmen can keep the Sabbath,' 
 A master tailor, living in Princelet Street, 
 Spitalfields, who is in a large way of busi- 
 ness, informs me that in his own immediate 
 neighbourhood very few employers open 
 their workshops on the Sabbath. On the 
 other hand, the customer tailor, who ob- 
 tains orders at irregular intervals, which 
 have to be executed at short notice, often 
 finds it practically impossible to avoid 
 Sabbath labour. In the various branches 
 of the furniture trade — cabinet-making, up- 
 holstering, polishing — there is much dese- 
 cration of the Sabbath. In many cases 
 also where a Jew engages in trades in 
 which the bulk of those employed are 
 Christians, he finds it difficult to observe 
 a day of rest different from that of his 
 fellow-workmen. This fact is illustrated 
 
202 The Jew in London 
 
 by the result of an inquiry into the ap- 
 prenticeship system of the Jewish Board of 
 Guardians recently conducted by Mr Ernest 
 Morley and myself. After examining 115 
 cases of lads whose indentures had ex- 
 pired for about two years, we found that 
 a large majority were working at the trade 
 to which they had been apprenticed and 
 were doing well. We felt it our duty, 
 however, to make the following remarks 
 on the subject of Sabbath observance : — 
 
 ' We thought it wiser to make no 
 systematic inquiries as to whether ex- 
 apprentices were working on the Sabbath. 
 Two apprentices complained that they got 
 inferior work and wages because they 
 refused so to work. One states that he 
 works on Sabbath and obtains New Year 
 and the Day of Atonement with difficulty, 
 and another actually lost a situation through 
 refusing to work on those festivals. In ad- 
 dition, a considerable number volunteered 
 the information that they worked on 
 
The Jew in London 203 
 
 Sabbath but regretted the necessity of 
 doing so, and although we are unable to 
 produce statistics we are practically certain 
 that the majority do as a fact (whether of 
 their own free will or otherwise) work on 
 Saturdays. One Christian master mentioned 
 that he kept on his apprentice because he 
 was satisfactory, but that he found it very 
 inconvenient because the latter did not 
 work on Sabbath, while his Jewish trade 
 rivals were less scrupulous.' 
 
 Jewish shopkeepers in the bye-streets 
 of the Jewish districts nearly all close 
 their shops on the Sabbath. Wentworth 
 Street — which has inherited the name and 
 traditions of the old ' Petticoat Lane ' — en- 
 joys a Sabbatical calm and quiet which is 
 unknown to it during the remainder of 
 the week. On the other hand, many 
 Jewish shopkeepers, in main thoroughfares 
 such as the Whitechapel Road, carry on 
 business on the Sabbath ; and the same is 
 true of Jewish costermongers who are 
 
204 The Jew in London 
 
 dependent on Gentile custom — those, for 
 example, who trade in Watney Street, St 
 George's - in - the - East, or in Brick Lane. 
 In many cases this desecration of the 
 Sabbath arises from a quasi-compulsion, 
 and has been preceded by an effort to 
 observe the day of rest, only abandoned 
 after serious loss has been sustained. 
 
 Mr Russell has mentioned the wilful 
 desecration of the Sabbath practised by 
 those who frequent places of amusement on 
 that day. Although this laxity is un- 
 doubtedly increasing, it is generally con- 
 demned by Jewish public opinion, and it 
 is practised by a comparatively small section 
 of the community. It should be mentioned 
 that the morning performances in Yiddish, 
 on Saturday afternoons and Jewish Festi- 
 vals, at the Standard Theatre, are only 
 given very occasionally. 
 
 I agree with Mr Russell that an increas- 
 ing proportion of Jews attend synagogue 
 irregularly, although a considerable number 
 
The Jew in London 205 
 
 of new places of worship, including the 
 synagogue recently opened by the Maha- 
 zike Haddath* are well filled. It is certain 
 that the number of foreign Jewish workmen 
 attending synagogue is far greater than 
 that of churchgoers amongst any sections 
 of Christians other than the Catholics. 
 Again, whilst in most church congregations 
 there is a large preponderance of women 
 and children, they are in a minority in the 
 East-End synagogue. Judaism does not, 
 in spite of all assertions to the contrary, 
 regard women as inferior, but there has 
 certainly been a tendency amongst Jews t 
 to consider that the proper sphere of female 
 influence is rather the home than the 
 synagogue. At any rate, the wife of the 
 East-End orthodox Jew does not attend 
 synagogue very often. Her chief duty 
 is to train up her children well and re- 
 
 * See p. loi. 
 
 t I say advisedly ' tendency amongst Jews ' rather than of 
 Judaism. The Biblical narrative tells of as many heroines as of 
 heroes. 
 
2o6 The Jew in London 
 
 ligiously, to keep a kosher house, and to 
 practise that bestowal of kindness to which 
 Judaism attaches more importance than 
 to mere almsgiving. 
 
 East-end synagogues are perhaps not 
 calculated to impress favourably a casual 
 visitor to whom the whole service is 
 unintelligible. There is no decorum, and 
 during parts of the service there is 
 much talking and noisy movement. 
 But, none the less, the little synagogue, 
 sometimes insanitary and built with 
 unlovely surroundings, is the seat of deep 
 devotion — a devotion full of self-abandon- 
 ment, supplying the worshipper with 
 an inspiration which transfigures his life 
 and makes him feel that he too has a 
 share in the traditions and in the hopes 
 of the chosen race. It is indeed difficult 
 to realise how strong is the affection 
 which the Jewish liturgy excites amongst 
 those who have grown up under its in- 
 fluence. The ground-work of the service 
 
The Jew in London 207 
 
 is almost without exception simple and 
 sublime ; even in a translation its beauty 
 can be appreciated.* On the festivals and 
 chief Sabbaths this is supplemented by a 
 number of poetical compositions, sometimes 
 beautiful, sometimes quaint and curious, occa- 
 sionally absurd, often endeared to the wor- 
 shippers by familiar and touching melodies. 
 And we must note that none of the activities 
 of life are considered common and secular. 
 The Jewish poet dares to praise God, on 
 occasion, for instructing us in the weights 
 and measures ; t he converts the Ptolemaic 
 system of cycle and epicycle into an ode 
 of touching sublimity, in which he re- 
 hearses, as far as his knowledge permits, 
 how the heavens declare the glory of God.| 
 A large majority of Jews understand their 
 
 * I would refer the English reader to the Authorised Daily 
 Prayer-Book, with an excellent translation by Rev. S. Singer. 
 
 t Kalir in a long poem for the Sabbath of the Shekels. 
 
 Z Solomon Gabirol in his Kingly Crown, which is included by 
 some Jews in the ritual for the Day of Atonement. Parts of it have 
 been translated into English verse by Mrs Lucas in her Jewish 
 Year. She leaves out, however, most of the astronomy. 
 
2o8 The Jew in London 
 
 liturgy very imperfectly. Many of the 
 poems contained in it were written by 
 the learned for the learned, and presuppose 
 some degree of familiarity with allusions 
 to Talmud and Midrash. The simple- 
 minded orthodox Jew of modern times 
 will read them without understanding them 
 very much, and perhaps associating them 
 chiefly with the tuneS to which they are 
 chanted. At the same time, he is in full 
 sympathy with the spirit of the service, 
 and he feels a spiritual glow as he repeats 
 the words which his father tatight him, 
 and which link him with so many past 
 generations of Jewish worshippers. Where 
 the meaning of the words is hidden his 
 imagination will supply the gap. It may 
 not be the highest form of worship, but 
 it is better than the attitude of the cold 
 critic who does not worship at all. 
 
 The English Jew has been trained in 
 another manner, and he finds the existing 
 service of the synagogue unsatisfying. In 
 
The Jew in London 209 
 
 the West End he may show his dis- 
 satisfaction by active protest at congre- 
 gational meetings or by writing letters to 
 the Jewish papers. He asks for shorter 
 and more intelligible services, for omission 
 of allusions which he regards as antiquated, 
 and for a more extended use of the verna- 
 cular. The English Jew of East London, 
 with no leisure for religious controversy, 
 usually protests, when he feels so disposed, 
 by simply absenting himself from the 
 synagogue. The Yam Kippur Jew, to 
 whom Mr Russell alludes,* is certainly to 
 be found both in East and West London. 
 On the Day of Atonement one sees many 
 persons in the Whitechapel Road who 
 refrain from work and food, but spend 
 most of the day in wandering a,imlessly 
 about the streets. The need for a more 
 elastic service, appealing to the hearts of 
 those brought up under the altered con- 
 ditions, is sufficiently clear. It is widely 
 
 * Seep. 123. 
 O 
 
2IO The Jew in London 
 
 recognised, and in West London especially 
 something has been done to satisfy modern 
 requirements. But officialdom moves slowly, 
 and besides, the orthodox resent not un- 
 naturally every concession made, and desire 
 that the Judaism of the Talmud and of the 
 mediaeval codifiers should alone be re- 
 cognised in the service of the synagogue. 
 These ritual disputes are therefore more 
 fundamental than they appear on the 
 surface, and indicate varying conceptions 
 of Jewish dogma. Sufficient unity of 
 feeling continues, however, to exist between 
 the various sections of the community to 
 lead one to hope that Judaism will continue 
 to possess that solidarity which has enabled 
 it in the past to avoid sectarianism whilst 
 preserving full freedom of speculation for 
 all within its fold. 
 
 Jewish history has always been marked 
 by much controversy but no abiding 
 division. This principle will probably be 
 exemplified again by the future history of 
 
The Jew in London 211 
 
 the Mahazike Haddath. The secession of 
 these ' upholders of the law ' was, at bottom, 
 a protest against undue centralisation — 
 against the government of the foreign Jews, 
 who are the most numerous section of the 
 community, by English Jews, who are in 
 imperfect sympathy with them. The leaders 
 of the movement wished to have an eccle- 
 siastical head of their own, independent of 
 the Chief Rabbi, who has done wonders 
 in holding the community together, but has 
 naturally offended many extremists. The 
 foreign Jew complains that his native-born 
 co-religionist preaches to him constantly 
 about the duties of English citizenship, but 
 is deplorably lacking in ' Yiddish-keit ' — 
 Jewish observances and Jewish feeling. He 
 speaks contemptuously, in moments of bitter- 
 ness, of the ' West- End ^ojj/,'* and desires to 
 be independent of him in religious matters. 
 This general sentiment of distrust has been 
 complicated by irritating disputes about the 
 
 * Goy, z.«., heathen. 
 
212 The Jezc in London 
 
 licensing of Jewish butcliers and the 
 slausfhter of animals for food. Some of the 
 orthodox have expressed distrust with the 
 precautions taken by the ecclesiastical 
 authorities to ensvire the proper method of 
 slaughter and to remove forbidden fat from 
 the carcases exposed for sale. None of the 
 questions that have arisen would excuse a 
 prolonged breach. The healing influence of 
 time will lessen divergence of sentiment and 
 enable native-bom and foreigner to cultivate 
 a better understanding. The practical 
 grievances of the secessionists w411 probably 
 be ultimatelv remedied bv the recoPTiition 
 of their rights and that of their Rabbi to 
 exercise a defined measure of independent 
 control. 
 
 Whilst giving every credit to the earnest- 
 ness of vaaxiy who have identified themselves 
 with the Mahazike Haddath, and to the en- 
 thusiasm which enabled them, during the 
 autumn of 189S, to open a large synagogue in 
 Spitalfields, it cannot be doubted that diere are 
 
The Jew in London 213 
 
 other elements in the movement besides re- 
 ligious zeal. An independent foreign com- 
 munity, if created, would give scope to the 
 ambitions of many men who feel themselves 
 now unappreciated. The size and importance 
 of the new synagogue have attracted new 
 members who had hitherto held aloof. It 
 must be added that the past record of some 
 prominent leaders in the movement is far 
 from inspiring confidence. 
 
 The formation of the Stepney Orthodox 
 Synagogue also deserves mention as illus- 
 trating divergent currents of opinion in the 
 community. In Stepney there is a place of 
 worship under the control of the United 
 Synagogue, a body to which are federated 
 the chief metropolitan synagogues. The 
 members are chiefly English Jews, and the 
 minister is a very zealous and open-minded 
 man, who takes an active share in communal 
 and philanthropic work. In the hope of 
 enlisting the interests of the younger mem- 
 bers of the congregation in synagogal 
 
214 The Jew in London 
 
 matters, he organised in December 1895, 
 with the approval of his board of manage- 
 ment, a voluntary choir, partly composed of 
 girls. This step is in conflict with orthodox 
 custom,* and it led to the secession of a 
 certain number of members, who founded 
 the Stepney Orthodox Synagogne, which 
 continued to acknowledge the jurisdiction of 
 the Chief Rabbi. In the long run this 
 secession has proved beneficial, although it 
 caused locally some temporary bitterness. 
 Judaism, like the Church of England, can 
 only preserve its catholicity by admitting 
 varieties of service and ritual suited to the 
 ideas of the various sections of the com- 
 munity. In this particular instance the 
 gaps in the membership of the older place 
 of worship have been filled up t and the two 
 synagogues are both prospering side by side. 
 One of the most striking features in the 
 
 * Some would say that it is in conflict with orthodox law, but I 
 do not think that this can be established except on the Talmudic 
 principle that ' a custonn of Israel is law.' 
 
 t Before the secession there were 306 male seatholders; at the 
 end of 1898 there were 324. 
 
The Jew in London 215 
 
 foreign Jew is his anxiety that his children 
 should receive sufficient instruction in 
 Hebrew. Quite poor parents frequently 
 pay a shilling a week for each of their 
 sons to the melammid, or teacher, who 
 instructs them in the Hebrew school or 
 cheder. The boy attends there from the 
 time when he is six years old, or earlier ; 
 and he nearly always leaves at the age 
 of thirteen, when Jewish law regards him 
 as responsible for his actions and bound 
 to perform all Mosaic commands. During 
 this time he learns in succession Hebrew 
 reading, the translation of the Pentateuch, 
 and easy passages in the commentary on 
 the Pentateuch, written by Rashi, an illus- 
 trious French Rabbi of the eleventh century. 
 He also gains familiarity with the funda- 
 mental portions of the liturgy, although, 
 unfortunately, he is sometimes taught to 
 'daven,' or repeat his prayers, without 
 understanding them. In some of the better 
 chedarim Hebrew grammar is taught, and 
 
2i6 The Jew in London 
 
 the more advanced pupils study the 
 elements of ritual law. Moral instruction 
 is given by the more enlightened teachers, 
 but is often neglected. The teaching 
 given is usually very earnest and effective ; 
 boys attending cheder acquire a far 
 greater knowledge of Hebrew than those 
 whose training in that subject is only 
 derived from Jewish voluntary schools or 
 from the religious classes attached to 
 those Board schools which are principally 
 attended by Jewish children. 
 
 Mr Russell has given an adequate de- 
 scription of the attack directed against the 
 cheder at the conference on religious educa- 
 tion held in 1898. This attack has been 
 more recently renewed by Lord Rothschild, 
 who sent a circular to the parents of the 
 scholars of the Jews' Free School, of 
 which he is president, begging them not 
 to endanger their children's health by the 
 excessive hours of the cheder, and assur- 
 ing them that the managers of the school 
 
The Jew in London 217 
 
 would be willing themselves to give ad- 
 ditional facilities for more suitable religious 
 teaching. The issue of this circular led to 
 an outbreak of angry feeling amongst the 
 parents, and a subsequent conference be- 
 tween the parents and a representative 
 of the managers, who invited them to 
 send delegates to confer with Lord Roths- 
 child, broke up in confusion. 
 
 The chief complaints made against the 
 cheder are that Yiddish is used as the 
 medium of instruction, that the rooms used 
 are insanitary, and that the hours are too 
 long. A few remarks on each of these 
 points may be desirable. 
 
 It is complained that the use of Yiddish 
 in the cheder arrests the process of Angli- 
 cisation. Now it is perfectly true that in 
 only a few ckedarim is instruction given in 
 Eng^lish.* This arises chiefly through the 
 
 * Five such chedarim are known to me in Whitechapel, besides 
 others in outlying districts. The average number of pupils in each 
 is SO, whilst a large majority of children, taught in Yiddish, attend 
 chedarim conducted on a much smaller scale. 
 
2 1 8 The Jew in L ondon 
 
 lack of suitable teachers who can speak 
 English, and partly, doubtless, through the 
 preference of the parents. Parents, who 
 themselves speak Yiddish only, like to 
 hear their boys repeat on Saturday what 
 has been learnt during the week. Many 
 of , them, too, entertain the prejudice that 
 Hebrew can be better taught through the 
 medium of Yiddish, or even imagine that 
 this jargon has more holiness than English. 
 A prejudice of this kind tends, however, 
 to cure itself, and quite equally foolish is 
 the idea of the West- End Jew that instruc- 
 tion in Yiddish will arrest the inevitable 
 process of AngliciSation. It stands to 
 reason that the boy brought up in this 
 country, and attending an English schbol, 
 will grow up an Englishman. As a matter 
 of fact, the influence of the day school,' 
 in training English citizens, has in no way 
 been impaired through the attendance of 
 boys at cheder. None the less, it may be 
 hoped that the use of Yiddish will be 
 
The Jew in London 219 
 
 gradually discontinued. One gentleman, 
 whose experience with East-End boys is 
 very great, has assured me that the 
 religious influence of the cheder is far 
 more permanent when the teaching fs in 
 English, for the child brought up in 
 England regards Yiddish with contempt. 
 I have myself met boys who had been 
 taught to translate Hebrew which they 
 did not understand into Yiddish, which was 
 equally unintelligible to them. But, admit- 
 ting that English is a far better medium of 
 instruction, it cannot be denied that Yiddish 
 is at present a necessity, and that much 
 good work has been done by means of it. 
 With regard to the alleged insanitary 
 condition of chedarim, after having visited 
 many, I believe that the case against them 
 breaks down almost entirely. The larger 
 cheder is fitted up with desks as a school- 
 room ; it is not used for living purposes, 
 and is seldom overcrowded or badly venti- 
 lated. The objectionable chedarim are 
 
220 The Jew in London 
 
 those established on a small scale by 
 'greeners,' who arrive in England without 
 any means of livelihood, and supplement a 
 precarious living as hawkers, or sellers of 
 foreign lottery tickets, by teaching a few 
 children sent to them from charitable 
 motives by their neighbours and friends. 
 A cheder of this kind is held in a liv- 
 ing-room, sometimes in an underground 
 kitchen. The only excuse — a most in- 
 adequate one — that can be urged for it 
 is that it is usually not more unhealthy 
 than the home from which the child comes. 
 A very small proportion, however, of the 
 children attending chedarim are educated 
 under these conditions, and it is most un- 
 fair to condemn all on account of a 
 defective minority which should be dealt 
 with by the local sanitary authorities. 
 
 I do not think that the statistics of the 
 hours of attendance at cheder, collected by 
 the late Mrs N. S. Joseph * and quoted by 
 
 * I regret to express dissent with the able paper written by Mrs 
 
The Jew in London 221 
 
 Mr Russell, are correct These figures 
 were obtained by questions put to boys 
 whilst in attendance at the day-schools. I 
 believe that the children stated the time 
 that the cheder is open and not the time 
 that they themselves attended ; in some 
 cases, too, they had no idea whatever of 
 time. Thus one boy, who is a pupil at 
 one of the best chedarim, said that he 
 went there for eighteen hours a week. As 
 a matter of fact, he attended, theoretically, 
 for two hours on five days of the week, 
 and in practice, through being always late, 
 he was only there about one hour a day.* 
 As to the general charge that children 
 suffer in health through attendance at 
 cheder, I would repeat an argument used 
 by Mr Cohenlask, president of the society 
 o^ cheder teachers, in a letter addressed by him 
 to xh& Jewish Chronicle. Foreign Jews do not 
 
 Joseph on chedarim, more especiaUy at a time when her death is 
 lamented by aU sections of the Jewish community, and by none more 
 than the poor, of whom she was snch a feithfnl and wise friend. 
 * See Appendix B. 
 
22 2 The Jew in London 
 
 send their daughters to cheder, yet there 
 is no reason to suppose that East-End girls 
 enjoy better health than their brothers. 
 It is eminently desirable to improve the 
 health and physique of the East-End Jew, 
 but the abolition of the cheder is not one 
 of the methods to be attempted. 
 
 Besides the children attending cheder, a 
 considerable number are taught by visiting 
 masters. Collectors of East- End provident 
 and philanthropic societies often supplement 
 their earnings by taking a few such pupils. 
 
 Side by side with the cheder there exists 
 the Talmud Torah* or institution for 
 teaching Hebrew and religion, supported 
 partly by pupils' fees and partly by sub- 
 scriptions, and managed by a committee of 
 subscribers. The two principal institutions 
 of the kind are situated in Whitechapel. 
 The larger of the two is now closely con- 
 nected with the Mahazike Haddath. There 
 are about a thousand pupils, and instruction 
 
 * Talmud Torah, a Hebrew phrase meaning ' Study of the Law,' 
 
The Jew in London 223 
 
 is given in Yiddish. The other has over 
 six hundred pupils and instruction is given 
 in English. Both institutions are quite 
 full and children have to be refused ad- 
 mission for want of room. The fees paid 
 vary according to the circumstances of 
 the parents, but average about twopence 
 per child. The children attend for about 
 two hours each evening. Classes at the 
 Talmud Torah are much larger than at 
 a cheder. A single master has often to 
 teach forty pupils, and of course cannot 
 give much individual attention. The 
 teaching given, however, is very efficient, 
 and has met with the approval of many 
 educational experts. The results of the 
 instruction, as measured by the progress 
 made by the scholars, must be pronounced 
 satisfactory. The subscriptions obtained for 
 the support of both institutions are derived 
 almost exclusively from the East End. 
 
 I have perhaps given details of the 
 cheder and Talmud Torah to too minute an 
 
224 The Jew in London 
 
 extent, but these facts are instructive as 
 showing the sacrifices which the foreign 
 Jew is wilHng to make for his children. 
 It is quite true that complex motives are 
 at work. Even when the Polish Jew is 
 not religious he wishes to see his child 
 grow up amongst Jewish surroundings. 
 Quite unobservant persons frequently send 
 their children to cheder. In one instance 
 which has come under my notice, a child 
 at cheder was rebuked by his master for 
 not wearing tsitsith* On the next day 
 the father called and stated that he was 
 an atheist who did not wish his boy to 
 become religious, but sent him to cheder 
 for the sake of the knowledge which he 
 acquired there. This is an extreme case, 
 but undoubtedly many children sent to 
 cheder witness much laxity of religious 
 practice in their homes, I do not agree 
 
 ' Tsitsith, i.e., fringes worn in accordance with the Mosaic precept 
 in Numb. xv. 38-39. They are attached to the tallith or praying 
 shawl worn in the synagogue, and to the arba canfoth, or garment 
 of four corners, worn under the ordinary clothing. 
 
The Jew in London 225 
 
 with Mr Russell, who denies altogether 
 that the cheder has any permanent religious 
 influence. This statement contains, how- 
 ever, an element of truth, as many of the 
 cheder teachers would themselves admit. 
 Remembering what they see at home, some 
 children, on being told that Judaism re- 
 quires them to say their prayers and to 
 keep the Sabbath, will retort, ' Is my 
 father not a Jew?' On the other hand, 
 many boys remain faithful to the lessons 
 which they have learnt at cheder, especially 
 when home influences have tended in the 
 same direction. A cheder teacher has told 
 me that one of his old pupils, on going to 
 a remote part of Australia, was able to 
 organise the religious life of the community 
 there and to establish public worship. In 
 some cases an irreligious parent is brought 
 back to orthodoxy by his child's example. 
 
 I do not wish to say much about efforts 
 directly anti- Jewish, such as those brought 
 to bear by conversionist agencies. Their 
 
226 The Jew in London 
 
 influence is undoubtedly small, although 
 many poor people are willing to accept 
 from them material benefits. In order to 
 induce Jews to be converted to Christianity, 
 they are offered medical missions and soup 
 kitchens, Sunday-school treats and mothers' 
 meetings. I cannot think that this ig a 
 right policy from any point of view. There 
 is nothing more noble than the missionary 
 spirit, but men and women cannot be bribed 
 into the way of salvation. Whilst giving 
 the promoters of these missions credit for 
 honesty of purpose, I deplore their tactics 
 in encouraging hypocrisy and double-dealing. 
 It is indeed sad to detect families where 
 young and old alike play the part of good 
 Jews to their own people, but are ' Christian 
 inquirers ' when the district visitor calls 
 from the parish church. If they were 
 genuine converts, moved by real enthusiasm 
 for Christianity or any other ennobling 
 religion, one could view the situation with 
 far greater acquiescence. Mr Russell'g;', 
 
The Jew in London 227 
 
 idea that the missionaries check assimila- 
 tion seems to me somewhat far-fetched. 
 The antagonism which they excite has 
 very Httle influence on the relations between 
 Jews and Christians generally. 
 
 Socialism represents revolt against the 
 injustices of society, and although it does 
 not necessarily involve hostility to the 
 accepted forms of religion, it frequently co- 
 exists with such hostility. The Socialism of 
 the foreign Jews is peculiarly apt to assume 
 this anti-religious form. In common with 
 the Latin races, the foreign Jews who are 
 Socialists usually prefer anarchy to col- 
 lectivism. An Anarchist paper, printed in 
 Yiddish, called the Arbeiter Freund, is . 
 published weekly in London. The Trades 
 Unions of the foreign Jews are often directed 
 by Socialist leaders — a fact which is due 
 to the weakness of these organisations 
 rather than to the attractive force of Social- 
 ism. I am inclined to think, although I 
 make the statement with some hesitation, 
 
228 The Jew in London 
 
 that foreign Jewish Socialists, as they be- 
 come AngHcised, drop their Socialism. 
 However this may be, Socialism has so 
 little influence amongst the foreign Jews 
 that it need not be reckoned amongst the 
 forces of disintegration which seriously 
 threaten Judaism, 
 
 The question of Zionism is more funda- . 
 mental than any which we have hitherto 
 discussed. I do not propose to dwell on 
 the details of this extraordinary agitation 
 which has caused such searchings of heart 
 throughout the Jewries of Europe ; still less 
 am I tempted to give any estimate of 
 Zionist financial schemes. I agree, how- 
 ever, with Mr Russell that, if Judaism has 
 a future, that future will be attained by 
 pursuing an ideal substantially at one with 
 that of the Zionists. I define that ideal, 
 as embodied in the watchword ' Israel a 
 nation,' and it is nobly expressed by George 
 Eliot's Jewish hero: 'The idea that I am 
 possessed with is that of restoring a politi- 
 
The Jew in London 229 
 
 cal existence to my people, making them 
 a nation again, giving them a national 
 centre, such as the English have, though 
 they too are scattered over the face of the 
 globe.' * 
 
 The question of Jewish nationality is, in 
 a sense, a more serious one for modern 
 Israel than it was in mediaeval times. 
 Formerly, however sad might be the 
 prospect without, the Jew knew no doubt 
 and could rest his soul in the study of 
 the Law and the performance of its precepts. 
 The whole of life was governed by circum- 
 scribed rules, in the performances of which 
 there was alone perfect freedom. It might 
 be occasionally necessary to justify Judaism 
 to the outside world, but the Jew himself 
 knew full well that he must obey that 
 Law, which was the divine emanation of 
 the Supreme, existing before the world 
 began, written in 'black fire upon white 
 fire,' and embodying celestial mysteries in 
 
 * Daniel Deronda, ch. 69. 
 
230 The Jew in London 
 
 every stroke. So long as this conviction 
 remained, assimilation with the Gentiles 
 could only be regarded as the base sur- 
 render of a divine birthright. In our age, 
 however, this belief has become impossible 
 for most people. Simple believers (would 
 that our portion were amongst them !) still 
 retain the old sense of confident certitude, 
 but most of us realise that the Bible and 
 the traditions contaia a human element, 
 and thalt only gleams of divine light shine 
 upon the ' dimmed mirror ' of our hearts. 
 Judaism still remains as an expression 5f 
 pure monotheistic belief, but its centre of 
 gravity has changed ; its peculiar institutions 
 are. no longer completely divided in kind 
 from those of other races. If Israel is a 
 nation, the essential elements in our dis- 
 tinctive laws, such as the prohibition o 
 intermarriage, are invested with a purpose, 
 which justifies their preservation. On any 
 other hypothesis I doubt whether a con- 
 tinuation of separateness will be found 
 
T/te Jew in London 231 
 
 desirable or possible. I do not undervalue 
 the impulse given to true religion by a 
 small band of English Jews who, taking 
 little heed of ceremonialism or the racial 
 tie, have emphasised the need for a deeper 
 spiritual life. They have done good service 
 in combating the comfortable materialism 
 which is quite compatible with a theoretical 
 orthodoxy. At the same time a spiritual 
 monotheism, divorced from the principle of 
 nationality, has so little in common with 
 the old historical Judaism that it may well 
 fail, in the long run, to keep a separate 
 place in the commonwealth of religions. 
 
 It is hardly the object of this essay to 
 express personal preferences, and I am 
 therefore more concerned to show that 
 the Jewish race is likely to cherish the 
 national ideal rather than to discuss 
 whether such an ideal is a desirable one. 
 Now, however, when the principle of nation- 
 ality, which was belittled by an older school 
 of economists and politicians, has established 
 
232 The Jew in London 
 
 itself so firmly, it should be readily admitted 
 that whilst every race should contribute to 
 the common good of humanity, each should 
 go forward in its own separate line of de- 
 velopment, preserving its distinctive qualities. 
 ' The strength and wealth of mankind de- 
 pend on the balance of separateness and 
 communication,' * The qualities of the 
 Jewish race are worth preservation, and 
 only require scope for free development. 
 The world would be poorer without 
 them. 
 
 But how is one to estimate the trend 
 of Jewish feeling on this subject? The 
 strength of the Zionist movement shows in 
 itself how much Jewish national feeling has 
 been lying latent. The growth of Zionism 
 is the more remarkable because most of 
 the leaders of the community have set their 
 faces against the movement.! Many persons, 
 
 * Daniel Deronda, ch. 60. 
 
 t Mr Russell is not justified, however, in representing Zionism 
 in England as deriving almost all its strength from the adherence of 
 immigrants. The intellectual force of the movement is mainly 
 furnished by English-born Jews. 
 
The Jew in London 233 
 
 also, who hold aloof or have seceded from 
 Zionism, only differ on points of detail. 
 It is after all a minor question whether 
 Palestine should be at once made a ' legally- 
 assured home' for the Jewish race or 
 simply a centre of Jewish colonisation. 
 Political Zionism may be a passing phase ; 
 but the ideas on which Zionism is based 
 are eternal. The sense of solidarity which 
 unites Jew with Jew, which opposes inter- 
 marriage, which is presupposed by such 
 national festivals as the Passover, will remain 
 after all the controversies provoked by Basle 
 and London congresses have been forgotten. 
 It should be added that the growth of 
 Jewish national feeling is not out of harmony 
 with the claims of English citizenship. 
 It may be a curious question for casuists 
 whether a conflict between the two obli- 
 gations might arise in any conceivable 
 circumstances. For practical men it is 
 enough that our adopted country, to which 
 we owe so great a debt of gratitude, does 
 
2 34 The Jew in London 
 
 not require us to be worse Jews in order 
 that we may be better Englishmen. We 
 will not conceal the fact that our ultimate 
 aspirations are fixed on the home of our 
 fathers and that we believe that the genius 
 of the Jewish race will be best developed 
 on Jewish soil. But, for many generations 
 to come, migration to Palestine must be 
 a slow process, and perhaps the Holy Land 
 can never be more than the centre of Jewish 
 life. Meanwhile our home is here, and 
 we have to show ourselves worthy of the 
 hospitality which we enjoy. The distinct 
 but not divergent claims of citizenship and 
 Jewish nationality may be exceptional, 
 but so is the whole history of Israel. 
 
 After all, however, Zionism is only one 
 side of Judaism, and although it may prove 
 of supreme importance in shaping the history 
 of our race, it has not become, as yet, the, 
 determining factor in Jewish life and 
 thought. Present-day Judaism owes much 
 to those who regard their faith as a lofty 
 
The Jew in London 235 
 
 spiritual influence and not as the rallying- 
 ground of a nation. All honour to the 
 faithful service rendered to the community 
 by many who hold this view ! 
 
 There are indeed many indications of 
 strong vitality within our community, 
 refuting the charges of materialism and 
 spiritual stagnation so often brought against 
 us. The success of Jewish social and 
 philanthropic institutions is not due only 
 to their excellent financial management. 
 There is more personal service and more 
 social work amongst the poor than there 
 was a generation ago. Materialism and 
 indifference are common enough, alas ! but 
 there are also abundant signs of religious 
 zeal displayed by the unorthodox, as by the 
 orthodox sections of the community. Even 
 the unrest apparent in many quarters 
 is a healthier sign than the spiritual 
 stagnation of a generation back. In the 
 past, when communal life was more compact 
 and Jews were solely dependent on each 
 
236 The Jew in London 
 
 other for social intercourse, a mechanical 
 conformity was preserved without there 
 necessarily being any sense of conviction. 
 That censorship which one Jew exercised 
 over another has become impossible, and he 
 has now to be guided in his religious 
 observance by- conviction rather than by the 
 dictation of others. This is a much healthier 
 state of things, and although^ it involves 
 more heterodoxy, it is calculated to produce 
 a worthier religious life. If absorption comes 
 it will only be through indifference ; by 
 cultivating active and elevating ideals of 
 national and religious life we shall avoid all 
 risks of mere selfish isolation and make 
 our race indeed ' a blessing in the midst 
 of the earth.' 
 
APPENDIX B 
 
 HOURS OF ATTENDANCE AT 
 CHEDER 
 
 The following facts with regard to three typical 
 chedarim may be of interest : — 
 
 id) Cheder attended by thirty-five pupils, taught 
 by two teachers. Three pupils come at various 
 times before morning school and remain for about 
 half an hour to say their prayers. Six come at 
 dinner-time, either to say the short afternoon 
 service, to read a psalm or two, or, being backward, 
 to receive individual attention in reading. None 
 remain for more than a few minutes. In the 
 evening the pupils are divided into two classes, 
 one of which is held from five until a quarter to 
 seven, and the other from a quarter past six until 
 half-past seven, a few of the older pupils remaining 
 until a quarter past eight. The pupils do not attend 
 on Friday or Saturday, but come for two hours 
 on Sunday afternoon. 
 
 (^) Cheder attended by forty pupils taught by 
 one master. About six come for half an hour in the 
 morning, and one or two others come for half an 
 hour at dinner-time. In the evening the pupils 
 are divided into three classes, attending respectively 
 237 
 
238 Appendix B 
 
 from five to six, six to eight, eight to nine. On 
 Fridays some boys come for a short time ; none 
 attend on Saturday ; they all come for two hours 
 on Sunday afternoon. 
 
 (r) Cheder attended by fifty pupils taught by 
 a master and his grown-up son. Three children 
 attend for half an hour in the morning to say 
 their prayers. None attend at dinner-time. In 
 the evening they are divided into four classes, 
 attending respectively from four-thirty to five, five- 
 fifteen to seven, four-forty-five to six, six-thirty to 
 eight-thirty. They do not come on Friday or 
 Saturday, but receive some instruction on Sunday 
 afternoon. 
 
 Similar figures hold generally good elsewhere ; 
 but in some cases children attend for two hours on 
 Saturday, and twice on Sunday — from eleven to 
 one, and four to six. The time in the evening 
 when instruction closes may be gathered from the 
 fact that when meetings of the society of cheder 
 teachers are held, members are all present at half- 
 past eight. The existence of exceptional cases of 
 over-pressure, especially in some of the smaller 
 chedarim, cannot be denied ; but even in the worst 
 cases that have come under my notice, children 
 do not remain at cheder more than three hours 
 in an evening. 
 
 THE END 
 
KS