Britain: Good for the Jews or Bad for the Jews?

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Britain: Good for the Jews or Bad for the Jews?: The unique situation of Jews in Britain has had upsides and downsides

For the last few hundred years Jews have not faced overt persecution or anti-Semitism. Though welcomed into society, the casual stigmatization they faced often forced them to abandon their unique identity as Jews. While individual Jews prospered in England, Judaism and the Jewish community has fared less well.

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By Todd M. Endelman

Todd M. Endelman is the William Haber Professor of Modern Jewish History at the University of Michigan. He specializes in the social history of Jews in Western Europe and in Anglo-Jewish history. He is the author of The Jews of Georgian England, 1714-1830: Tradition and Change in a Liberal Society (1979), Radical Assimilation in Anglo-Jewish History, 1656-1945 (1990), and The Jews of Britain, 1656-2000 (2002).

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Albert Benhamou Radlett, England December 17, 2013

Britain and Persia What we witness in Britain and in Western countries who welcomed the Jews is to be paralleled with the Persia of Mordechai and Esther. In these times too, Cyrus the Great declared emancipation of the Jews and the end of their captivity at the hand of Babylon. But he had at least the will to see them return to Sion (unlike Britain in the Mandate). Most Jews however preferred to remain in the Persian Empire and enjoy this new Persian "citizen" status and freedom. Many were successful and climbed up in the Persian society. But ultimately this led to catastrophe and near-annihilation at the hand of Haman. Our 3000 years history is a series of repeated patterns of emancipation, which led to assimilation (or adopting foreign customs), and is followed by persecutions, and there is ultimately redemption at the hand of Hashem. Since the mid 19c, emancipation and assimilation have also walked hand in hand, but Hashem has allowed the return to Sion/Israel... Who will listen to His voice? Reply

The unique situation of Jews in Britain has had upsides and downsides