Wednesday, December 28, 2005
BBC: 350th anniversary of the re-admission of Jews to Britain
During 2006 Jewish communities throughout the country will be celebrating one of the most remarkable turning points in British history.
They will come together under the banner '3andahalf Centuries of British Jewish Life' for a stream of landmark events to celebrate Jewish life including exhibitions, concerts, plays, and dinners.
Expulsion
Britain became the first European country to expel Jews in 1290 after a long period of persecution.
Jews were accused by their Christian neighbours of ritual killings, desecrating the host, poisoning wells and spreading the plague. Each fresh claim gave rise to new massacres.
It wasn't until the 17th century after Oliver Cromwell came to power that Jews were allowed back to Britain...
I'm not so sure of how great things are in Britain today -- home of the blood libel. Further, it was 366 years between expulsion and re-admission, and over 500 years between expulsion and formal emancipation. Will it take that long for the Arab and Muslim world to work it out?
And this, after all, is the country that has the loathesome, anti-Semitic BBC as its main news organization.
Cromwell was also not representative of British opinion. His perspective grew out of a combination of Puritan thought (which was more sympathetic to Judaism (or at least, ancient Judaism) than either the Catholic or high Anglican churches were) and an awareness that religious toleration was the best option for England's future. This idea was not particularly accepted for generations -- and even then it was more of a pragmatic recognition of facts than any change in belief. While I applaud Cromwell for this particular action, I don't find it surprising that the British public was not completely onboard, nor is it yet.