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Curzon
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Curzon

Date

January 30th, 2006

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The History of the Jews in England

Perusing Wikipedia I came across this fascinating article on the history of the Jews in England. It’s full of facts I never knew: that the first Jews came with the Norman Conquest in 1066; that the Jews were expelled in 1290 and didn’t return until the 17th century; and the return was marked by a rapid advancement of political rights and social status, culminating with Benjamin Disraeli becoming Prime Minister in 1868, the first (and thus far only) person of Jewish descent to become the head of government in Great Britain.

Comments to this entry

Mutantfrog
January 30, 2006
1:02 pm
You could also mention that Jews in England today are known for being among the most assimilated and least culturally distinct Jewish communities in the world.
Fabian
January 30, 2006
11:57 pm
I once read a theory that the boy Jesus visited England with his rich uncle, Joseph of Arimathea no less who was there to inspect his tin mining interests.
lirelou
January 31, 2006
2:15 am
Begad, sir! you never read Ivanhoe?
Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace
January 31, 2006
2:20 am
It is a fascinating, and at times appalling, article. Disraeli was indeed Prime Minister, but he was baptised into the Church of England at age 13. When you read the trouble the first "openly Jewish" MP had to take his oath of office http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_de_Rothschild you can imagine that D'Israeli might not have been so successful without that baptism (and subtle name change!)
More recently, Michael Howard was leader of the Conservative Party, albeit at a time when New labour had a lock on political power.
Curzon
January 31, 2006
2:32 am
Queen Victoria: "Mr Disraeli, what is your real religion? You were born a Jew and you forsook your great people. Now you are a member of the Church of England, but no one believes that you are a Christian at heart. Please tell me, who are you and what are you?"

Disraeli: "Your Majesty, I am the blank page between the Old Testament and the New."
Mutantfrog
February 2, 2006
6:08 pm
Here's a related question that seeing Disraeli's name reminded me of, does anyone think that having the super-Jewish Liberman as his running mate lost Gore any votes? I'm well aware that there are still a number of anti-Semites (although having grown up around New York City, I've never really encountered any, despite being Jewish), but is there any chance they would've voted for Gore even without a Jew running mate?

Personally I can't stand Liberman anyway, but that's not really relevant...
Curzon
February 2, 2006
11:54 pm
MF: It was a smart political move. TIME had a regional breakdown, and most people in most regions of the country said it made them more likely to vote for Gore except in one part of the country, the Deep South, which he wasn't going to win anyway, and it helped him in Florida which he [almost?] won.
ComingAnarchy.com » Blog Archive » The history of ♥
May 13, 2007
3:53 pm
[...] serious of this type have previously covered Jews in England, salt, and chili [...]