The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841-1991

359 Pages·1994·9.36 MB·English

by  David Cesarani

Founded in 1841, the Jewish Chronicle is the oldest continuously
published Jewish newspaper in the world. A force for change, a forum for
debate and a shaper of Jewish identity, it has played a central part in the
development of modern Anglo-Jewry. More than just a mirror of Anglo-
Jewish mores, registering waves of immigration and social change, the JC
has been an active player in historical events. Its editors have intervened
decisively in communal history and debated with British statesmen. No
historian can understand the inner life of British Jews without looking at
the social reports, the sports column, the arts and cultural coverage and
the advertising that the paper has carried. This book, written by a noted
British Jewish historian, gives an insight into the working of a newspaper,
the struggles between editors and directors, and the boardroom politics.
It is the story of a publishing adventure that became an institution and
helped to shape the destiny of an entire community.

The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841-1991

The Jewish Chronicle
and
Anglo-Jewry, 1841-1991
David Cesarani
11 CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
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Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521434348
© Cambridge University Press 1994
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 1994
Reprinted 1995
This digitally printed first paperback version 2005
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
Cesarani, David.
The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1841-1991 / David Cesarani.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0 521 43434 3 (hardback)
1. Jewish Chronicle (London, England: 1841) 2. Jews - Great Britain -
historiography. I. Title.
PN5650.C47 1994
072'.l'089924-dc20 92-43753 CIP
ISBN-13 978-0-521-43434-8 hardback
ISBN-10 0-521-43434-3 hardback
ISBN-13 978-0-521-01913-2 paperback
ISBN-10 0-521-01913-3 paperback
Contents
Plates between pages 146 and 147
Preface page ix
A cknowledgemen ts xiii
Introduction 1
1 Origins and pioneers, 1841-1855 1
Jacob Franklin and Isaac Vallentine, 1841-1844 1
Joseph Mitchell and Marcus Bresslau, 1844-1855 14
Foreign intelligence, 1841-1855 28
2 Defining an identity: the Jewish Chronicle and mid-Victorian
Anglo-Jewry, 1855-1878 32
Abraham Benisch, 1855-1868 32
Foreign coverage, the Mortara Affair and Palestine, 1855-1868 40
Jews, religion and culture in mid-Victorian Britain 45
Michael Henry and the perils of Liberalism, 1868-1875 50
Benisch redivivus and the Eastern Question, 1875-1878 60
3 The era of Asher Myers and Israel Davis, 1878-1906 67
Asher Myers, the Russian Crisis and the immigration debate 67
Anglo-Jewry and the immigrants 75
The rise of modern anti-Semitism and Zionism 82
The high noon of Anglo-Jewry 88
Israel Davis and the struggle over the Aliens Act, 1902-1906 95
4 The hegemony of Leopold Greenberg, 1907-1931 103
The new Jewish journalism, 1907-1914 103
Doing its bit: the Jewish Chronicle in the First World War 114
The Jewish Chronicle and the Zionist Movement, 1907-1931 122
Anglo-Jewry between inner city and suburb, 1918-1931 133
5 Discordant interlude: J. M. Rich and Mortimer Epstein,
1932-1936 142
6 Ivan Greenberg and the crisis years, 1937-1946 158
The deluge begins, 1937-1939 158
The Second World War and the Holocaust 165
The Jewish Chronicle and the struggle for Palestine, 1937-1946 183
vii
viii Contents
1 The post-war era: J. M. Shaftesley and David Kessler,
1946-1958 193
The establishment of Israel, 1946-1948 193
Reconstruction and the emergence from austerity, 1946-1958 196
Covering the Jewish world, 1946-1958 204
8 The Jewish Chronicle under William Frankel, 1958-1977 210
Angry young men and Anglo-Jewry, 1958-1967 210
Israel, the Six-Day War and after, 1967-1977 226
9 The Jewish press in a divided community: Geoffrey Paul,
1977-1990 236
Conclusion 248
Notes 254
Bibliography 299
Index 315
Preface
For long stretches of its one hundred and fifty year history, the Jewish
Chronicle held a monopoly of the Jewish press in Great Britain. Even when
it faced competition it remained pre-eminent and lived up to its title 'The
Organ of Anglo-Jewry', a position of privilege that carried with it the
burden of public duty. The paper provided an indispensable medium
between British Jews and the wider society, interpreting matters of Jewish
interest (as understood by the paper), and offering a response that
amounted, virtually, to the view of Anglo-Jewry. If a significant portion of
Jewish opinion dissented from its news coverage or interpretation of
events, this was usually reflected by the letters page or in opinion pieces.
Barring a few extraordinary episodes in its history the Jewish Chronicle
succeeded in maintaining a consensual position, and it was this which gave
it such commanding authority. It is a testament to the paper's influence
that critics and opponents have made repeated attempts to undermine it by
setting up rivals or buying it outright. Such was its weight, and so great its
responsibility, that one editor was removed by the paper's directors for fear
of the damage which his editorials were doing to the reputation of British
Jews.
By interpreting the world to the Jews in Britain and representing them to
the majority society, the Jewish Chronicle played a fundamental role in
shaping Anglo-Jewish identity. It defined the parameters for debate on
communal and other issues; it gave Jews in Britain an awareness of what
was happening to Jews in other countries; it offered them a digest of Jewish
cultural activity; and it functioned as a forum for the discussion of
Judaism. This volume deals with an institution which was both a part of
Anglo-Jewish history and a medium through which it was refracted. It is
the story of a newspaper, its place in Jewish communal life and its influence
on the growth and development of Anglo-Jewry.
Much of the drama of newspaper history comes from the interchanges
between proprietors, editors, journalists and business managers. There is
the tension of circulation wars and the excitement of technological
innovation. At the most exalted level, newspaper histories give an insight
ix
x Preface
into high politics where proprietors, editors, politicians and statesmen
mingle. In the struggle for influence over public opinion, newspaper history
becomes part of national history.
Proprietors and editors of the Jewish Chronicle only occasionally
interacted with political figures on the national or international stage,
although when they did these tended to be fateful encounters - such as the
breakfast rendezvous between Abraham Benisch and William Gladstone
or Asher Myers's disputatious meeting with Theodor Herzl. Their
interventions in Anglo-Jewish affairs were more frequent and were always
invested with gravity. The editorial influence of the Jewish Chronicle was
cardinal in the formation of the Board of Guardians, the United
Synagogue, the Anglo-Jewish Association, The Maccabaeans and the
Jewish Historical Society of England. It constantly addressed itself to the
affairs of the Board of Deputies and amplified the debates which took place
there. Several editors and proprietors played a role in the founding or
conduct of these communal institutions.
On a few momentous occasions Jewish, British and international history
intersected through the medium of the Jewish Chronicle or the actions of
those connected with it. The paper was the first to publish HerzFs blueprint
for the modern Zionist Movement and was hugely influential, first as an
opponent of Zionism and later as its supporter. By 1917 it had assumed
such a pivotal role that publication of the Balfour Declaration was delayed
until it could be revealed to the world through the paper's columns. For the
next thirty years, while Britain dominated the fate of Palestine, the Jewish
Chronicle was a vital intermediary between Jewish opinion and the British
Government.
Sadly, in view of its importance, the historian of the Jewish Chronicle is
faced with a frustrating absence of sources. The primary material relating
to the first century of its existence was lost during the blitz when the paper's
offices in Moor Lane, in the City of London, were totally destroyed in a
German air raid on 29 December 1940. For this reason, the weekly editions
of the Jewish Chronicle itself are the chief source on which this history relies
for much of its information about the paper. However, significant
documents have been unearthed in other archives in this country and in
Israel which shed light on the story up to 1940. Using these sources,
supplemented by the recollections of individuals which carry back to the
mid 1930s, I have attempted to reconstruct the internal workings of the
paper, encompassing technological and commercial developments as well
as changes in the foremost personnel.
The centenary volume written by Cecil Roth and others, and published
in 1949, contains a wealth of detail on the earlier period, although it is
frequently anecdotal and unsourced. I have leaned heavily on this work for