Israel Finestein examines the contrasts between the realities of Jewish life in what was - at the end of the last century - described as the lower strata of the community and the aspirations of the self-consciously anglicized Jewish leadership. The author seeks to unfold the springs of action of these years, and reveal the onset of those problems of identity, purpose and assmiliation which are under debate at the end of the millennium.

Israel Finestein examines the contrasts between the realities of Jewish life in what was - at the end of the last century - described as the lower strata of the community and the aspirations of the self-consciously anglicized Jewish leadership. The author seeks to unfold the springs of action of these years, and reveal the onset of those problems of identity, purpose and assmiliation which are under debate at the end of the millennium.

This volume consists of articles by Israel Finestein written over a period of more than fifty years. He was throughout a close observer of the Jewish scene and latterly a prominent participant. These wide-ranging studies graphically present significant features of Jewish public life in Anglo-Jewry or bearing upon that community. They include appraisals of conflicting attitudes within both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; the author's contemporary impressions of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, of which he first became a member in 1945, written in 1948-9; his assessments of...

This volume consists of articles by Israel Finestein written over a period of more than fifty years. He was throughout a close observer of the Jewish scene and latterly a prominent participant. These wide-ranging studies graphically present significant features of Jewish public life in Anglo-Jewry or bearing upon that community. They include appraisals of conflicting attitudes within both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; the author's contemporary impressions of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, of which he first became a member in 1945, written in 1948-9; his assessments of...

Why did the leaders of former times show indifference to the levels of Jewish scholarship in England and make do with minimal educational standards for the young of the community? How did the mutual tensions between East End and West End affect communal policy and aspiration? In the light of such questions Finestein looks at the notable careers of Lionel Louis Cohen MP (principal founder of the United Synagogue), Albert Jessel QC (dominant Vice-President at the turn of the century) and Sir John Simon QC, MP (a Reform leader and champion of Roumanian Jewry in Parliament). He also examines the...