Benjamin Disraeli • Peter Sellers • Bernard Lewis • Sacha Baron Cohen • Daniel Radcliffe • Nigella Lawson • Amy Winehouse • Baal Shem of London • Jonathan Sacks |
| Total population |
|---|
| 266,740 (by religion) (2001 Census) 292,000 (2010 estimate by the Jewish Virtual Library)[1] |
| Regions with significant populations |
| Greater London, South Hertfordshire, south-west Essex, Greater Manchester, Gateshead, Leeds, Greater Glasgow |
| Languages |
| Religion |
British Jews (often referred to collectively as Anglo-Jewry) are Jews who live in, or are citizens of, the United Kingdom. In the 2001 Census, 266,740 people listed their religion as Jewish. The UK is home to the second largest Jewish population in Europe, and has the fifth largest Jewish community worldwide.[1] The population has a substantially older profile than that of the general population. Most British Jews adhere to Judaism, although there are an increasing number of secular Jews.
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The first recorded Jewish community in Britain was brought to England in 1070 by King William the Conqueror, who believed that their commercial skills and incoming capital would make England more prosperous. This community was expelled in 1290 by King Edward I, and emigrated to countries such as Poland which protected them by law. A small community persisted in hiding despite the expulsion. Jews were not banned from Scotland though in this period as Scotland was an independent nation with different laws than England. In 1656 Oliver Cromwell made it clear that the ban on Jewish settlement would no longer be enforced. At the insistence of Irish leader Daniel O'Connell, in 1846, the British law "De Judaismo", which prescribed a special dress for Jews, was repealed.[2] In 2006, the Jewish community celebrated the 350th anniversary of the resettlement in England.[3] Benjamin Disraeli, a British Prime Minister was of Jewish origin however was baptized an Anglican, he was 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, KG, PC, FRS, (lived 21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) he was the Prime Minister, parliamentarian, Conservative statesman and literary figure. He served in government for three decades, twice as Prime Minister.
At the start of World War I there were over 500,000 Jews in the United Kingdom, a figure that steadily declined over the century.[4]
The 2001 Census included a (voluntary) religion question ("What is your religion?") for the first time in its history;[n 1] 266,740 people listed their religion as "Jewish".[7] However, the subject of "Who is a Jew?" is complex, and the religion question did not record people who may be Jewish through other means, such as ethnically and culturally.[8] Ninety-seven percent of people who chose Jewish as their religion put White as their ethnic group; however, a report by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR) suggests that, although there was an apparent option to write down "Jewish" for this question, it did not occur to many, because of "skin colour" and nationality bias; and that if "Jewish" was an explicit option, the results—only 2594 respondents were Jewish solely by ethnicity—would have been different.[9] The religion question appeared in the 2011 Census, but there was still no explicit option for "Jewish" in the ethnic-group question. The Board of Deputies had encouraged all Jews to indicate they were Jewish, either through the religion question or the ethnicity one.[10]
The figure of 266,740 recorded by the Census is considered an undercount. David Graham and Stanley Waterman give several reasons: the underenumeration for censuses in general; the question did not record secular Jews; the voluntary nature of the question; suspicion by Jews of such questions; and the high non-response rate for large numbers of Haredi Jews.[6]
From 1990 to 2006, the Jewish population showed a decrease from 340,000 Jews to 270,000. According to the 1996 Jewish Policy Review, nearly one in two are marrying people who do not share their faith.[11] From 2005 to 2008, the Jewish population increased from 275,000 to 280,000, attributed largely to the high birth rates of Haredi (or ultra-Orthodox) Jews.[4] Research by the University of Manchester in 2007 showed that 75 percent of British Jewish births were to the Haredi community.[12] Ultra orthodox women have an average of 6.9 children, and secular Jewish women 1.65.[13]
About two-thirds of the UK's Jews live in Greater London or contiguous parts of South Hertfordshire and south-west Essex. Substantial communities outside the London area include Manchester, home to some 30,000 Jews, and Leeds, where now fewer than 9,000 Jews live. Other substantial communities include Gateshead, Glasgow and Liverpool, as well as other former industrial cities. Barnet and Hertsmere councils in the London borders polled as the first and second most Jewish local authorities in England, with Jews composing one in five and nine residents respectively.
The British Jewish population has a substantially older profile than that of the general population. In England and Wales, the median age of male Jews is 41.2, while the figure for all males is 36.1; Jewish females have a median age of 44.3, while the figure for all females is 38.1.[7] A high proportion (83.2 percent) of Jews in England and Wales were born in the UK.[14] About 24 percent of the community are over the age of 65 (compared to 16 percent of the general population of England and Wales). In the 2001 census Jews were the only group in which the number of persons in the 75-plus cohorts outnumbered those in the 65–74 cohort.
There are some 409 synagogues in the country, and it is estimated that 74 percent of the country's Jews are affiliated with one.[15] Of those affiliated, the affiliations are distributed across the following groupings:
British Jewish communal organisations include:
About 60 percent of school-age Jewish children attend Jewish schools.[17] Jewish day schools and yeshivas are found throughout the country. Jewish cultural studies and Hebrew language instruction is commonly offered at synagogues in the form of supplementary Hebrew schools or Sunday schools. The majority of Jewish schools in Britain are funded by the government. Jewish educational centres are plentiful, large-scale projects. One of the country's most famous Jewish schools is the state-funded JFS in London which opened in 1732 and has about 2100 students. It is heavily over-subscribed and applies strict rules on admissions, which led to a discrimination court case in 2009.[18] Another school is JCoSS, the first cross-denomination Jewish secondary school in the UK.[19]
The Union of Jewish Students is an umbrella organisation that represents Jewish students at university. There are over 50 Jewish Societies.[20]
British Jews generally have high levels of educational achievement. Compared to the general population, they are 40 percent less likely to have no qualifications, and 80 percent more likely to have "higher-level" qualifications. With the exception of under-25s, younger Jews tend to be better educated than older ones.[21]
The annual Limmud winter conference is a high-profile educational event of the British Jewish community, attracting a wide range of international presenters.[22]
The 2001 Census showed that 30.5 percent of economically active Jews were self-employed, compared to a figure of 14.2 percent for the general population. Jews aged 16–24 were more likely to be economically inactive than their counterparts in the general population; 89.2 percent of these were students.[23]
There are a number of Jewish newspapers, magazines and websites published on a national level and more regional levels. The most famous of these is The Jewish Chronicle, which was founded in 1841 and is the world's oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper.[24] Other media include The Jewish Chronicle North (for the North of the country), the Jewish News newspaper, Jewish Telegraph, The Jewish Tribune, JLifestyle magazine, SomethingJewish website and TotallyJewish website.
In 2005, the All-Party Parliamentary Group against Anti-Semitism commissioned an inquiry into antisemitism, publishing its findings in 2006. The inquiry stated that "until recently, the prevailing opinion both within the Jewish community and beyond [had been] that antisemitism had receded to the point that it existed only on the margins of society", and found a reversal of this progress since 2000.[25]
Jonathan Sacks, the chief rabbi, said in 2009 that increased globalisation was allowing a new kind of antisemitism to permeate into the UK.[26] He said in 2010 that UK universities were failing to deal with "inflammatory public speeches" taking place on campus.[27]
The Community Security Trust, a charity to ensure the protection of Jews in the UK, publishes an annual "Antisemitic Incidents Report".[28]
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