Posted on 09/24/2006 7:10:26 PM PDT by dennisw
The London of John Gross's childhood seems like a pleasant place to grow up. In his memoir, "Double Thread", Mr. Gross, a former editor of the Times Literary Supplement, describes a Jewish immigrant community in the East End during the first half of the 20th century. It was a place where extended families lived close together, where crime was low, where children received decent education, and where Jews felt protected from the horror that plagued them in the rest of Europe. They also found themselves taking their place--not always easily but with ever greater degrees of success--in the mainstream of British society.
This year marks 350th anniversary of the resettlement of Jews in England, and the community is marking the occasion with lectures, concerts and exhibitions. One purpose of these events, according to British Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, is to express "thanksgiving for all Britain has given the Jews, for safe refuge." But in the midst of the celebration, British Jews are also wondering how much longer their good fortune will last.
Earlier this month, Parliament released report, bristling with statistics and expert testimony, saying that anti-Semitism was on the rise in "mainstream society" and that British Jews are "more vulnerable to abuse and attack than at any other time for a generation or longer." In short, the kind of Britain that Mr. Gross knew may be fading.
One is tempted to put history on hold to focus on current problems, not least the influx of Muslim immigrants in recent years. But it is worth reflecting for a moment on Britain's long and sometimes difficult relation to its Jewish population. Jews were expelled by royal decree in 1290, but a few returned in the early 1500s, fleeing the Spanish Inquisition. These were Marranos, crypto-Jews forced to hide their real identity.
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
I was in Golder's Green for a week and a half. This was a few years ago and the greatest danger I had was being hit by motor vehicles because they always drove on the wrong side of the street.
Did the Nazis differentiate between practicing and nonpracticing?
The Nazis didn't differentiate.
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