A Return After Centuries: How the Jews Came Back to England

Following the expulsion of Jews from England in 1290, for 350 years, no Jewish foot stepped in England. Unlike other expulsions in Europe that were occasionally not enforced in subsequent generations and gradually diminished (in Prague, for example, Jews returned after the expulsion of 1542, and about a thousand "unofficial" Jews settled there), the natural isolation of England and the entry strictly through sea ports helped enforce the expulsion in an almost airtight manner.

The English essentially did not see Jews and did not know what they looked like. The Netherlands welcomed the Jews expelled from Spain because, as experienced maritime traders, they boosted Holland's economy until it competed with Spain, which declined after the expulsion. However, the English did not welcome traders. On the contrary, they feared the covert infiltration of the Dutch, so they did not seek out the Jews and, in fact, did not know them at all.

In the 16th century, Protestant Christianity also spread to England. Protestants promoted self-reading of the Bible without the mediation of the Church. King Henry VIII, who enthusiastically embraced the idea, established two Hebrew lectureships in 1540 in his name, where students would learn Hebrew and could read the Bible themselves. Young Englishmen were excited about their ability to read the language in which the world was created. They were exposed to Kabbalistic ideas about the meaning of Hebrew letters and read Jewish philosophical literature. This period was called the "Era of Hebraism."

In 1618, English preacher John Trask was so inspired by the story of the Exodus he read in the Book of Exodus, that he decided the Christian Easter was inaccurate, and henceforth matzah should be eaten in the month of Nisan, as it is written in the Torah. He was brought before the court and forced to recant his "sins," but the affair caused a significant stir in England.

In 1644, Antonio Montezinos came to Amsterdam from the New World, America. According to him, he discovered a Hebrew-speaking Jewish tribe in Bolivia, part of the lost ten tribes of the Kingdom of Israel. Jews across Europe believed this was a sign heralding the coming of the Messiah and that Jews worldwide should awaken.

Rabbi Menasseh Ben Israel, one of the great sages of Amsterdam, met with Antonio Montezinos, and as a result, became inspired to search for Jews in remote places. He then discovered that there was a hidden Jewish community in England. In East London, there was a group of Sephardic Jews who behaved as Marranos — not overly austere since there was no Inquisition in England, but their Jewish identity was unknown to the authorities. He conceived the idea of urging all nations to support the Jews in anticipation of the approaching Messiah, and he wrote a book named "Hope of Israel," essentially a letter to the London Parliament, with whom he had commercial ties. In his book, he describes the Jewish community that was discovered, at least as they believed then, in Bolivia. He mentions that there is a Jewish community in London and requests Parliament to renew the Jewish community in England, explaining the spiritual and material benefits England would gain from this.

In England of that time, there was not much antisemitism, due to the reasons mentioned above — learning Hebrew and the Scriptures in their original form and the absence of Jews altogether, so his words were met with an attentive ear. He was invited to Oliver Cromwell, the all-powerful ruler of England. On September 22, 1655, the eve of Rosh Hashanah, Rabbi Menasseh was received with honor in his palace. He participated in various discussions in the English Parliament about the Jews, and it was agreed to convene a special committee on the subject, known as the "Whitehall Conference." At this conference, legal experts determined that there was no law prohibiting Jews from living in England, as the expulsion was not established by English law but was only the king's decree.

Gradually, Jews returned to England and integrated meteoricly into the economy and high society. Within a year, they received approval to become brokers on the commodities exchange and constituted about 10% of England's brokers. Subsequently, Solomon de Medina, a Jew from Spain, was knighted. In London, two communities developed, Sephardic and Ashkenazic, with separate synagogues and cemeteries. The English did not agree to recognize the Jews as a separate entity, so there were no restrictive laws against them.

The rabbi of the Sephardic community was Rabbi Jacob Sasportas, who later became the chief opponent of the false messiah Shabbetai Zvi. Life wasn’t always easy for Jews in England, but they enjoyed relative prosperity. During World War II, while Jews in all European countries suffered from Nazi persecution and extermination, in England, Jews remained almost unscathed and even received many refugees from other European countries.