Research Volunteers Needed for Discovering & Documenting England’s Lost Jews

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Are you curious? Are you well organised? Are you interested in undertaking research? Would you like to contribute to our project?

Discovering & Documenting England’s Lost Jews delves into the heritage of the Sephardim who have settled in this country since the 17th century. A vital part of our project focuses on researching aspects of this exciting history. We will be looking into key political events of an English state turned upside down by Oliver Cromwell at a time of fervent religious debate.

Questions we will ask are what was it like to be a Sephardi Jew – secretly or openly – in a country that had known no Jews for centuries? What did the Jews find in England? What did the English make of the Jews who arrived? What did the Jews bring with them to the host society? What language did the Jews speak when they fled persecution by the Catholic Inquisition? And we need your help to find the answers.

We will explore how the Jewish communities, who trickled in to England, gradually led to their acceptance as citizens.  Elements of our research will be fed in to our site-specific performance One Lost Stone on 22 September at Novo Cemetery. Our discoveries will also inform our programme of educational workshops.

Our drama workshop at Bevis Marks Synagogue in February 2019 exploring the English history taught in many schools and the significant dates and events included in historical timelines.

Eight historical moments are key to our research:

  1. Historical antecedent: the expulsion of Jews from England in 1290.
  2. The Sephardi exodus: expulsion and departure of Jews from Spain and Portugal at the end of the 15th century.
  3. The tiny community of secret Jews (crypto-Jews) in England during the 16th and earlier 17th centuries.
  4. The circumstances around the re-admittance of Jews in the 1650s.
  5. The slow growth of the Sephardi community following re-admittance, in the second half of the 17th century.
  6. The Jewish Naturalisation Act 1753, and its subsequent repeal.
  7. Sephardi Jews prominent in 19th century British society.
  8. The 20th century wave of ‘new’ Sephardi immigration.

If you are interested in volunteering or would like to know more about this, please contact Stéphane Goldstein, at stephane@lostjews.org.uk.