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The Sephardim of England

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  • Subtitle:  A History of the Spanish and Portuguese Community, 1492-1951
  • Author:  Albert Montefiore Hyamson
  • Publisher:  Methuen, 1951 – 468 pp.
  • LOC Permalink:  http://lccn.loc.gov/52001423
  • Availability:  out of print, but reprints are available from the Society of Heshaim

Review

This book is bursting with information on the Western Sephardic experience in England since the late 16th century.  Over nearly 500 pages of florid prose and notes, it recounts the successes, failures, and key personalities of the Sephardim in England from their first arrival down to the mid-20th century.  In a break from congregational norms of filiopietism, Hyamson includes many salacious scandals in his account, which sheds new light on areas of communal life that had been swept under the rug.  Following the main text is a section of very useful appendices, including one that lists every lay leader recorded to have served on the Mahamad during the preceding three centuries.

In spite of the many strengths of Hyamson's presentation, for which he deserves everlasting credit, the book is weakened by its outdated methodology and by limits of focus that do not live up to the promises of the title.  The glory days of the Bevis Marks' early years consume the lion's share of the text, to the visible detriment of West London and Manchester.  Meanwhile, the final century under study takes up a scant 10% of the narrative section, with regrettable results.  Haham Moses Gaster and Ab Bet Din Shemtob Gaguine are hardly mentioned, although the former had been dead for thirteen years by the time of publication, and the latter had faithfully served the community for the preceding three decades.  While no other synthetic history of England's Sephardim has eclipsed Hyamson's foundational work, the time is ripe for a second attempt.


Contents

The Earliest Sephardim in England
The origins of the present community
The organization of the community
Set-backs and advances
The enlargement of the synagogue
A new Haham and a new synagogue
Some 18th century personalities
External affairs
The Sephardim beyond the seas
The great period in Sephardi history
The internal life of the Sephardim
More personalities
The turn of the century
The first decades of the 19th century
    1
  10
  24
  36
  53
  74
  98
123
145
163
182
199
220
240

The great secession
The Sephardim and the Ashkenazim
Sir Moses Montefiore
A threat to Bevis Marks
The penultimate half-century
The last fifty years
Appendices:
   Changes in the synagogue service (1664-1950)
   The founders of the congregation
   Seatholders in 1682
   The earliest list of elders
   The members of the Mahamad (1663-1951)
Glossary
Index
269
296
332
357
378
403

416
422
423
425
426
455
459