"Evertjan." <exjxw.hannivoort@interxnl.net> wrote

David Kravitz wrote on 17 jul 2005 in soc.genealogy.jewish:

"Evertjan Hannivoort wrote

The first Jewish families arived in Britain perhaps with the
Phoenicians, far more tha 2000 years ago, as Simon Goulden of the
United Synagogue writes here: Daf Hashavua 23/9/2000
http://tinyurl.com/7ts5n

I know of Simon Goulden (he goes to my father's synagogue) and he is not a
historian - he is just reporting on what some historians believe but until
the Norman Conquest he is just speculating. He is Director for the Agency of
Jewish Education in London, and his speculation is of the type that one
might give school pupils to imagine. No evidence is presented.

Or else they surely came with the Roman conquest, but even if they did
arrive with William the conqueror as late as 1066, your expectation of
great genealogical resources is not very reasonable. ;-} " <<

The Jews of England were kicked out and only returned after Oliver
Cromwell invited them back. The oldest synagogue in England is
Sephardic, dating >from 1702, and is still very much in use today
despite, not the least, an IRA bomb. I understand that they hold very
good records going back 300 years. The oldest Ashkenazi synagogue from
this period is in Plymouth going back 250 years and I am sure they,
too, have some records.

David, the fact they were kicked out strengthens my thesis in that the
1702 sephardim where not the first.

This says that the oldest surviving synagogue is Bevis Marks, not that they
didn't have synagogues.

Why do you think that before the fimal kick-out of 1395 they had no
synagogues? Only because of lack of evidence?

http://www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/pre-1290/background.htm "Historical
Background and Glossary of Terms in connection with the Jewish Communities
of England & Wales prior to 1290"

http://www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/pre-1290/list_alpha.htm "Jewish communities
prior to 1290"

Synagogues are mentioned in:

York
Canterbury
Winchester
Oxford
Guildford
Bristol
Gloucester
Cambridge
Norwich
Bury St Edmunds
London

See http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1168israelitebishop.html "Medieval
Sourcebook:
An Israelite Bishop without Guile (ca. 1168)".

According to this page the term "Bishop" is how the Dayanim or Judges of the
Beth Din or Ecclesiastical Court were described (by non-Jews). These
presumably would have had to have been rabbis of synagogues.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1299jewsarchpriest.html "Medieval
Sourcebook:
Appointment of an Archpriest of the Jews in England, July 1199"

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/kingjohn-jews.html "Medieval
Sourcebook:
King John of England and the Jews"

Again mentions Judges.

--
Nick Landau
London, UK

COHNREICH (Anklam, Germany Krajenka, Poland) ATLAS (Wielkie Oczy (near
Lvov/Lemberg), Poland)
WECHSLER(Schwabach, Germany) KOHN (Wallerstein and Kleinerdlingen,Germany)
LANDAU/FREDKIN(Gomel, Mogilev, Belarus)