LONDON LABOUR ANd the lonDON POOR. 125 not tramp with the juveniles of the other sex-ceremonies, as is set forth in the following extract no, not in the proportion of one to a hundred in comparison, he said with a laugh, with "young women of the Christian persuasion." My informant had means of knowing this fact, as although still a young man, he had traversed the greater part of England hawking perfumery, which he had abandoned as a bad trade. A wire-worker, long familiar with tramping and going into the country-a man upon whose word I have every reason to rely-told me that he could not remember a single instance of his having seen a young Jewess "travelling" with a boy. (which shows also the mode of government) from a Jewish writer: "The Spanish and Portuguese Congregation of Jews, who are also called Sephardin (from the word Sepharad, which signifies Spain in Hebrew), are distinct from the German and Polish Jews in their ritual service. The prayers both daily and for the Sabbath materially differ from each other, and the festival prayers differ still more. Hence the Portuguese Jews have a distinct prayer-book, and the German Jews likewise. "The fundamental laws are equally observed by There are a few adult Jewesses who are itinerant both sects, but in the ceremonial worship there traders, but very few. I met with one who carried exists numerous differences. The Portuguese Jews on her arm a not very large basket, filled with eat some food during the Passover, which the glass wares; chiefly salt-cellars, cigar-ash plates, German Jews are prohibited doing by some Rabblue glass dessert plates, vinegar-cruets, and such bis, but their authority is not acknowledged by like. The greater part of her wares appeared to the Portuguese Rabbis. Nor are the present be blue, and she carried nothing but glass. She ecclesiastical authorities in London of the two was a good-looking and neatly-dressed woman. sects the same. The Portuguese Jews have their She peeped in at each shop-door, and up at the own Rabbis, and the German have their own. windows of every private house, in the street in The German Jews are much more numerous which I met her, crying, "Clo', old clo' !" She than the Portuguese; the chief Rabbi of the bartered her glass for old clothes, or bought the German Jews is the Rev. Dr. Nathan Marcus garments, dealing principally in female attire, and Adler, late Chief Rabbi of Hanover, who wears almost entirely with women. She declined to say no beard, and dresses in the German costume. anything about her family or her circumstances, The presiding Rabbi of the Portuguese Jews is except that she had nothing that way to complain the Rev. David Meldola, a native of Leghorn; about, but-when I had used some names I had his father filled the same office in London. Each authority to make mention of-she said she would, chief Rabbi is supported by three other Rabbis, with pleasure, tell me all about her trade, which called Dayamin, which signifies in Hebrew she carried on rather than do nothing. "When 'Judges.' Every Monday and Thursday the I hawk," she said with an English accent, her face Chief Rabbi of the German Jews, Dr. Adler, being unmistakeably Jewish, "I hawk only good supported by his three colleagues, sits for two hours glass, and it can hardly be called hawking, as I in the Rabbinical College (Beth Hamedrash), swop it for more than I sell it. I always ask for Smith's-buildings, Leadenhall-street, to attend to the mistress, and if she wants any of my glass we all applications from the German Jews, which come to a bargain if we can. O, it's ridiculous to may be brought before him, and which are see what things some ladies-I suppose they must decided according to the Jewish law. Many disbe called ladies-offer for my glass. Children's putes between Jews in religious matters are settled green or blue gauze veils, torn or faded, and not in this manner; and if the Lord Mayor or any worth picking up, because no use whatever; old other magistrate is told that the matter has already ribbons, not worth dyeing, and old frocks, not been settled by the Jewish Rabbi he seldom inworth washing. People say, 'as keen as a Jew,' terferes. This applies only to civil and not to but ladies can't think we're very keen when they criminal cases. The Portuguese Jews have their offer us such rubbish. I do most at the middle own hospital and their own schools. Both conkind of houses, both shops and private. I some-gregations have their representatives in the Board times give a little money for such a thing as a shawl, or a fur tippet, as well as my glass-but only when I can't help it-to secure a bargain. Sometimes, but not often, I get the old thing and a trifle for my glass. Occasionally I buy out right. I don't do much, there's so many in the line, and I don't go out regularly. I can't say how many women are in my way-very few; O, I do middling. I told you I had no complaints to make. I don't calculate my profits or what I sell. My family do that and I don't trouble my. self." OF THE SYNAGOGUES AND THE RELIGION OF THE Jews in this country are classed as "Por- of Deputies of British Jews, which board is ac- The Jews have eight synagogues in London, besides some smaller places which may perhaps, adopting the language of another church, be called synagogues of ease. The great synagogue in Duke's-place (a locality of which I have often had to speak) is the largest, but the new synagogue, St. Helen's, Bishopgate, is the one which most betokens the wealth of the worshippers. It is 126 LONDON LABOUR AND THE LONDON POOR. rich with ornaments, marble, and painted glass; the pavement is of painted marble, and presents a perfect round, while the ceiling is a half dome. There are besides these the Hamburg Synagogue, in Fenchurch-street; the Portuguese Synagogue, in Bevis-marks; two smaller places, in Cutlerstreet and Gun-yard, Houndsditch, known as Polish Synagogues; the Maiden-lane (Covent-garden), Synagogue; the Western Synagogue, St. Alban's-place, Pall-mall; and the West London Synagogue of British Jews, Margaretstreet, Cavendish-square. The last-mentioned is the most aristocratic of the synagogues. The service there is curtailed, the ritual abbreviated, and the days of observance of the Jewish festival reduced from two to one. This alteration is strongly protested against by the other Jews, and the practices of this synagogue seem to show a yielding to the exactions or requirements of the wealthy. In the old days, and in almost every country in Europe, it was held to be sinful even for a king-reverenced and privileged as such a potentate then was-to prosecute any undertaking before he heard mass. In some states it was said in reproach of a noble or a sovereign," he breakfasts before he hears mass," and, to meet the impatience of the Great, "hunting masses," as they were styled, or epitomes of the full service, were introduced. The Jews, some eight or nine years back in this country, seem to have followed this example; such was the case, at least, as regards London and the wealthier of the professors of this ancient faith. out of a hundred Jews you find that only ten of them care for their religion, how many out of a hundred Christians of any sort will care about theirs? Will ten of them care? If you answer, but they are only nominal Christians, my reply is, the Jews are only nominal Jews-Jews by birth, and not by faith." Among the Jews I conversed with-and of course only the more intelligent understood, or were at all interested in, the question-I heard the most contemptuous denunciation of all converts from Judaism. One learned informant, who was by no means blind to the short-comings of his own people, expressed his conviction that no Jew had ever been really converted. He had abandoned his faith from interested motives. On this subject I am not called upon to express any opinion, and merely mention it to show a prevalent feeling among the class I am describing. The street-Jews, including the majority of the more prosperous and most numerous class among them, the old-clothes men, are far from being religious in feeling, or well versed in their faith, and are, perhaps, in that respect on a level with the mass of the members of the Church of England; I say of the Church of England, because of that church the many who do not profess religion are usually accounted members. In the Rabbinical College, I may add, is the finest Jewish library in the world. It has been collected for several generations under the care of the Chief Rabbis. The public are admitted, having first obtained tickets, given gratuitously, at the Chief Rabbi's residence in Crosby-square. OF THE POLITICS, LITERATURE, AND AMUSE- PERHAPS there is no people in the world, possess The synagogues are not well attended, the congregations being smaller in proportion to the popu lation than those of the Church of England. Neither, during the observance of the Jewish worship, is there any especial manifestation of the service being regarded as of a sacred and divinely-ing the average amount of intelligence in busy ordained character. There is a buzzing talk among the attendants during the ceremony, and an absence of seriousness and attention. Some of the Jews, however, show the greatest devotion, and the same may be said of the Jewesses, who sit apart in the synagogues, and are not required to attend so regularly as the men. I should not have alluded to this absence of the solemnities of devotion, as regards the congregations of the Hebrews, had I not heard it regretted by Hebrews themselves. "It is shocking," one said. Another remarked, "To attend the synagogue is looked upon too much as a matter of business; but perhaps there is the same spirit in some of the Christian churches." As to the street-Jews, religion is little known among them, or little cared for. They are indifferent to it not to such a degree, indeed, as the costermongers, for they are not so ignorant a class-but yet contrasting strongly in their neglect with the religious intensity of the majority of the Roman Catholic Irish of the streets. In common justice I must give the remark of a Hebrew merchant with whom I had some conversation on the subject:"I can't say much about street-Jews, for my engagements lead me away from them, and I don't know much about street-Christians. But if communities, who care so little for politics as the general body of the Jews. The wealthy classes may take an interest in the matter, but I am assured, and by those who know their countrymen well, that even with them such a quality as patriotism is a mere word. This may be ac counted for in a great measure, perhaps, from an hereditary feeling. The Jew could hardly be expected to love a land, or to strive for the promotion of its general welfare, where he felt he was but a sojourner, and where he was at the best but tolerated and often proscribed. But this feeling becomes highly reprehensible when it extendsas I am assured it does among many of the rich Jews-to their own people, for whom, apart from conventionalities, say my informants, they care nothing whatever; for so long as they are undisturbed in money-getting at home, their brethren may be persecuted all over the world, while the rich Jew merely shrugs his shoulders. An honourable exception, however, exists in Sir Moses Montefiore, who has honourably distinguished himself in the relief of his persecuted brethren on more than one occasion. The great of the earth no longer spit upon the gabardine of the Jewish millionaire, nor do they draw his teeth to get his money, but the great Jew capitalists, with powerful influence in 127 LONDON LABOUR AND THE LONDON POOR. hence their concerts are superior to the general run of cheap concerts, and are almost always got up" by their own people. 66 and Sussex-hall, in Leadenhall-street, is chiefly supported by Israelites; there the "Jews' and General Literary and Scientific Institution" is established, with reading-rooms and a library; and there lectures, concerts, &c., are given as at similar institutions. Of late, on every Friday evening, Sussex-hall has been thrown open to the general public, without any charge for admission, and lectures have been delivered graon literature, science, art, general subjects, which have attracted crowded audiences. The lecturers are chiefly Jews, but the lectures are neither theological nor sectarian. The lecturers are Mr. M. H. Bresslau, the Rev. B. H. Ascher, Mr. J. L. Levison (of Brighton), and Mr. Clarke, a merchant in the City, a Christian, whose lectures are very popular among the Jews. The behaviour of the Jew attendants, and the others, the Jews being the majority, is decorous. They seem "to like to receive information," I was told; and a gentleman connected with the hall argued that this attention showed a readiness for proper instruction, when given in an attractive form, which favoured the opinion that the young Jews, when not thrown in childhood into the vortex of money-making, were very easily teachable, while their natural quickness made them both ready and willing to be taught. I was told by a Hebrew gentleman (a professional man) that so little did the Jews them-tuitously, selves care for "Jewish emancipation," that he questioned if one man in ten, actuated solely by his own feelings, would trouble himself to walk the length of the street in which he lived to secure Baron Rothschild's admission into the House of Commons. This apathy, my informant urged with perfect truth, in nowise affected the merits of the question, though he was convinced it formed a great obstacle to Baron Rothschild's success; "for governments," he said, "won't give boons to people who don't care for them; and, though this is called a boon, I look upon it as only a right." When such is the feeling of the comparatively wealthier Jews, no one can wonder that I found among the Jewish street-sellers and old-clothes men with whom I talked on the subject and their more influential brethren gave me every facility to prosecute my inquiry among them-a perfect indifference to, and nearly as perfect an ignorance of, politics. Perhaps no men buy so few newspapers, and read them so little, as the Jews generally. The street-traders, when I alluded to the subject, said they read little but the "Police Reports." Among the body of the Jews there is little love of Literature. They read far less (let it be remembered I have acquired all this information from Jews themselves, and from men who could not be mistaken in the matter), and are far less familiar with English authorship, either historical or literary, than are the poorer English artizans. Neither do the wealthiest classes of the Jews care to foster literature among their own people. One author, a short time ago, failing to interest the English Jews, to promote the publication of his work, went to the United States, and his book was issued in Philadelphia, the city of Quakers ! The Amusements of the Jews-and here I speak more especially of the street or open-air traders are the theatres and concert-rooms. The City of London Theatre, the Standard Theatre, and other playhouses at the East-end of London, are greatly resorted to by the Jews, and more especially by the younger members of the body, who sometimes constitute a rather obstreperous gallery. The cheap concerts which they patronize are generally of a superior order, for the Jews are fond of music, and among them have been many eminent composers and performers, so that the trash and jingle which delights the costermonger class would not please the street Jew boys; No. XXXIV. My old-clothes buying informant mentioned a Jewish eating-house. I visited one in the Jew quarter, but saw nothing to distinguish it from Christian resorts of the same character and cheapness (the "plate" of good hot meat costing 4d., and vegetables 1d.), except that it was fuller of Jews than of Christians, by three to two, perhaps, and that there was no "pork" in the waiter's specification of the fare. OF THE CHARITIES, SCHOOLS, AND EDUCATION THE Jewish charities are highly honourable to If a Jew be worn out in his old age, and unable to maintain himself, he is either supported by the contributions of his friends, or out of some local or general fund, or provided for in some asylum, and all this seems to be done with a less than ordinary fuss and display, so that the I 128 LONDON LABOUR AND THE LONDON POOR. recipient of the charity feels himself more a pensioner than a pauper. rably well educated; they are indifferent to the The Jews' Hospital, in the Mile-end Road, is an extensive building, into which feeble old men and destitute children of both sexes are admitted. Here the boys are taught trades, and the girls qualified for respectable domestic service. The Widows' Home, in Duke-street, Aldgate, is for poor Hebrew widows. The Orphan Asylum, built at the cost of Mr. A. L. Moses, and supported by subscription, now contains 14 girls and 8 boys; a school is attached to the asylum, which is in the Tenter Ground, Goodman's-fields. The Hand-in-Hand Asylum, for decayed old people, men and women, is in Duke's-place, Aldgate. There are likewise alms-houses for the Jews, erected also by Mr. A. L. Moses, at Mileend, and other alms-houses, erected by Mr. Joel Emanuel, in Wellclose-square, near the Tower. There are, further, three institutions for granting marriage dowers to fatherless children; an institution in Bevis-marks, for the burial of the poor of the congregation. "Beth Holim;' a house for the reception of the sick poor, and of poor lying-in women belonging to the congregation of Although the wealthier Jews may be induced the Spanish and Portuguese Jews; Magasim to give money towards the support of their poor, Zobim," for lending money to aid apprenticeships I heard strong strictures passed upon them conamong boys, to fit girls for good domestic ser- cerning their indifference towards their brethren vice, and for helping poor children to proceed to in all other respects. Even if they subscribed to foreign parts, when it is believed that the change a school, they never cared whether or not it was will be advantageous to them; and "Noten Le- attended, and that, much as was done, far more bem Larcebim;" to distribute bread to the poor was in the power of so wealthy and distinct a of the congregation on the day preceding the Sab-people. "This is all the more inexcusable," was bath. 66 said to me by a Jew, "because there are so many I am assured that these institutions are well-rich Jews in London, and if they exerted and exmanaged, and that, if the charities are abused by being dispensed to undeserving objects, it is usually with the knowledge of the managers, who often let the abuse pass, as a smaller evil than driving a man to theft or subjecting him to the chance of starvation. One gentleman, familiar with most of these establishments, said to me with a laugh, "I believe, if you have had any conversation with the gentlemen who manage these matters, you will have concluded that they are not the people to be imposed upon very easily." There are seven Jewish schools in London, four in the city, and three at the West-end, all_supported by voluntary contributions. The Jews' Free School, in Bell-lane, Spitalfields, is the largest, and is adapted for the education of no fewer than 1200 boys and girls. The late Baroness de Rothschild provided clothing, yearly, for all the pupils in the school. In the Infant School, Houndsditch, are about 400 little scholars. There are also the Orphan Asylum School, previously mentioned; the Western Jewish schools, for girls, in Dean-street, and, for boys, in Greek-street, Soho, but considered as one establishment; and the West Metropolitan School, for girls, in Little Queen-street, and, for boys, in High Holborn, also considered as one establishment. Notwithstanding these means of education, the body of the poorer, or what in other callings might be termed the working-classes, are not even tole ercised a broader liberality, as they might in instituting Jewish colleges, for instance, to promote knowledge among the middle-classes, and if they cared more about employing their own people, their liberality would be far more fully felt than similar conduct in a Christian, because they have a smaller sphere to influence. As to employing their own people, there are numbers of the rich Jews who will employ any stranger in preference, if he work a penny a week cheaper. This sort of clan employment," continued my Jew informant, should never be exclusive, but there might, I think, be a judicious preference." 66 I shall now proceed to set forth an account of the sums yearly subscribed for purposes of education and charity by the Jews. The Jews' Free School in Spitalfields is supported by voluntary contributions to the amount of about 12001. yearly. To this sum a few Christians contribute, as to some other Hebrew institutions (which I shall specify), while Jews often are liberal supporters of Christian public charities— indeed, some of the wealthier Jews are looked upon by the members of their own faith as inclined to act more generously where Christian charities, with the prestige of high aristocratic and fashionable patronage, are in question, than towards their own institutions. To the Jews' Free School the Court of Common Council of the Corporation of London lately granted 1007., through the exertions of Mr. Benjamin S. Phillips, of Newgate-street, a LONDON LABOUR ANd the LONDON POOR. member of the court. The Baroness Lionel de Rothschild (as I have formerly stated of the late Baroness) supplies clothing for the scholars. The school is adapted for the reception of 1200 boys and girls in equal proportion; about 900 is the average attendance. The Jews' Infant School in Houndsditch, with an average attendance approaching 400, is similarly supported at a cost of from 800l. to 1000l. yearly. The Orphan Asylum School, in Goodman'sfields, receives a somewhat larger support, but in the expenditure is the cost of an asylum (before mentioned, and containing 22 inmates). The funds are about 15007. yearly. Christians subscribe to this institution also-Mr. Frederick Peel, M.P., taking great interest in it. The attendance of pupils is from 300 to 400. It might be tedious to enumerate the other schools, after having described the principal; I will merely add, therefore, that the yearly contributions to each are from 700l. to 1000l., and the pupils taught in each from 200 to 400. Of these further schools there are four already specified. The Jews' Hospital, at Mile End, is maintained at a yearly cost of about 3000/., to which Christians contribute, but not to a twentieth of the amount collected. The persons benefited are worn-out old men, and destitute children, while the number of almspeople is from 150 to 200 yearly. The other two asylums, &c., which I have specified, are maintained at a cost of about 800l. each, as a yearly average, and the Almshouses, three in number, at about half that sum. The persons relieved by these last-mentioned institutions number about 250, two-thirds, or thereabouts, being in the asylums. The Loan Societies are three: the Jewish Ladies Visiting and Benevolent Loan Society; the Linusarian Loan Society (why called Linusarian a learned Hebrew scholar could not inform me, although he had asked the question of others); and the Magasim Zobim (the Good Deeds), a Portuguese Jews' Loan Society. The business of these three societies is conducted on the same principle. Money is lent on personal or any security approved by the managers, and no interest is charged to the borrower. The amount lent yearly is from 600l. to 7001. by each society, the whole being repaid and with sufficient punctuality; a few weeks' "grace" is occasionally allowed in the event of illness or any unforeseen event. The Loan Societies have not yet found it necessary to proceed against any of their debtors; my informant thought this forbearance extended over six years. There is not among the Jewish street-traders, as among the costermongers and others, a class forming part, or having once formed part of themselves, and living by usury and loan mongering, where they have amassed a few pounds. Whatever may be thought of the Jews' usurious dealings as regards the general public, the poorer classes of their people are not subjected to the exactions of usury, with all its clogs to a struggling man's 129 well-doing. Sometimes the amount required by an old-clothes man, or other street-trader, is obtained by or for him at one of these loan societies. Sometimes it is advanced by the usual buyer of the second-hand garments collected by the street-Jew. No security in such cases is given beyond -strange as it may sound--the personal honour of an old-clothes man! An experienced man told me, that taking all the class of Jew street-sellers, who are a very fluctuating body, with the exception of the old-clothes men, the sum thus advanced as stock-money to them might be seldom less in any one year than 3007., and seldom more than 500. There is a a prevalent notion that the poorer Jews, when seeking charity, are supplied with goods for street-sale by their wealthy brethren, and never with money—this appears to be unfounded. Now to sum up the above items we find that the yearly cost of the Jewish schools is about 70007., supplying the means of instruction to 3000 children (out of a population of 18,000 of all ages, one-half of whom, perhaps, are under 20 years). The yearly outlay in the asylums, &c., is, it appears, 58007. annually, benefiting or maintaining about 420 individuals (at a cost of nearly 147. per head). If we add no more than 2001. yearly for the minor charities or institutions I have previously alluded to, we find 14,000l. expended annually in the public schools and charities of the Jews of London, independently of about 2000., which is the amount of the loans to those requiring temporary aid. We have before seen that the number of Jews in London is estimated by the best informed at about 18,000; hence it would appear that the charitable donations of the Jews of London amount on an average to a little less than 17. per head. Let us compare this with the benevolence of the Christians. At the same ratio the sum devoted to the charities of England and Wales should be very nearly 16,000,000l., but, according to the most liberal estimates, it does not reach half that amount; the rent of the land and other fixed property, together with the interest of the money left for charitable purposes in England and Wales, is 1,200,000. If, however, we add to the voluntary contributions the sum raised compulsorily by assessment in aid of the poor (about 7,000,000l. per annum), the ratio of the English Christian's contributions to his needy brethren throughout the country will be very nearly the same as that of the Jew's. Moreover, if we turn our attention to the benevolent bequests and donations of the Christians of London, we shall find that their munificence does not fall far short of that of the metropolitan Jews. The gross amounts of the charitable contributions of London are given below, together with the numbers of institutions; and it will thus be seen that the sum devoted to such purposes amounts to no less than 1,764,7331., or upwards of a million and three-quarters sterling for a population of about two millions! |