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| Then Prince Charles and Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks (TOI) |
For example, many people know that the Jews were expelled from England by King Edward in 1290 following a series of antisemitic government edicts and violent pogroms by the gentile populace.
But how many know that our people enjoyed relative freedom and prosperity until then. Jewish residents of that era were not only money lenders – although they were surely that. Many had careers in the professions and the trades. How many people know that their expulsion was triggered by an ancient version of government fraud called coin clipping? A practice condemned by one of the leading rabbinic figures of that day:
“There is a teshuvah addressed to a rabbi in London written by the Maharam of Rothenberg, the leading halachic authority in Germany at the time, about coin-clipping, which shows that it was practiced by members of the community.
“It was written sometime toward the end of the 1200s, and addressed an unsavory practice wherein Jews forced to take an oath that they would not clip coins made a mental note which they believed had invalidated the oath.”
“The Maharam explains at length why the practice is both against halachah, and a danger to the Jewish community, and concluded by urging his London correspondent to act strongly against the law-breakers.
“Therefore, if your authority and my authority carry enough weight, these Jews should be properly flogged.”
Truly amazing. Flogging? Where is this kind of leadership today? But I digress. Our expulsion from England ushered in 350 years of virulent antisemitism. Then the following happened. It was during the period where the British monarchy was briefly overthrown:
Rabbi Menasheh ben Yisrael, a scholar and diplomat who viewed the struggle for Jewish rights through a Messianic lens, arrived in London in 1655 to present a plea to Cromwell and the Parliament for the readmission of the Jews to England. Although he was favorably received, he passed away before his mission was completed.
It was only in 1664, after the restoration of the monarchy and during the subsequent reign of Charles II, that the Jews were formally granted the right to return.
That period ushered in a sea change in how Jews were treated. An example of whiche is the following incident in .1774 when the Prague Jewish community asked the European leaders to intercede on behalf of their fellow countrymen - who were about to be expelled by Habsburg ruler Queen Maria Theresa: The British monarchy rose to the occasion. The King’s Secretary of State communicated the following:
“The principal merchants of the Jewish nation here having made an humble application to His Majesty that he would be pleased to intercede with the Queen of Hungary… it is the King’s pleasure that you should join with the Netherlands envoy in Vienna in endeavouring to dissuade the Court of Vienna from putting the said sentence in execution… His Majesty does extremely commiserate the terrible circumstances of distress to which so many poor and innocent families must be reduced, if this edict takes place.”
It is obvious to me that Christendom was mostly responsible for centuries of European antisemitism. Which of course includes England. The enlightenment period de-emphasized religion - replacing it with liberalism that by definition is more tolerant of differences than the strict doctrines of religion. A distinctive feature of the liberal democracies. Although tolerance took a vacation from about the mid 1930s to the mid 1940s - an increase of tolerance has been the trend.
Religion has been steady decreasing as a motivating force among world citizenry. This is what has provided the Jewish people with unprecedented freedom. That was true even before the Holocaust. (An explanation of what happened to change things during the Holocaust is well beyond the scope of this post.) I am convinced of that despite the increased antisemitism that exists today. The reasons for which are also beyond the scope of this post.
Ironically, Evangelical Christians are presently the most philosemitic non Jews in the world. An anomaly the reasons for which are - again - beyond the scope of this post. Point being that we never had it so good since the days of ancient Israel.
Back to the British monarchy. Although the monarchy has no political power at all and is nothing more that symbol of a once glorious past, it is nevertheless a beloved part of British culture. A culture that has captured the imagination of many Americans. That is indicated by the massive attention the American media has paid to the coronation of King Charles. That kind of attention makes Charles relationship with the Jewish people significant. A relationship that is unprecedented. There has never a British monarch who was that close to his Jewish subjects. That was demonstrated by the following from the Times of Israel:
Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis on Sunday thanked King Charles III for putting him and his wife up for the night at St. James’s Palace, enabling the cleric to attend the coronation ceremony the day before.
“What an extraordinary Shabbat this has been and what a privilege it was for me to be in attendance for the coronation of our King. Valerie and I are indebted to our gracious hosts, the King and Queen, who enabled us to stay in a royal palace over Shabbat so that I could be at the coronation,” Mirvis said in a video statement..
King Charles III solved the problem by inviting the rabbi and his wife Valerie to spend the night at St. James’s Palace, within walking distance of the abbey.
Mirvis was invited to the landmark event at Westminster Abby but faced a problem of how to get there on Shabbat, when he could not use motorized transportation.
King Charles III solved the problem by inviting the rabbi and his wife Valerie to spend the night at St. James’s Palace, within walking distance of the abbey.
I'm not really all that surprised by Charles magnanimity. A few years ago, I attended a Friday night dinner sponsored by a shul here in Chicago where the former UK Chief Rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks was a scholar in residence. He spoke warmly about his relationship with the then Prince of Wales calling him a true friend of the Jewish people. That - as noted -was demonstrated yesterday.
How far has the world come from its ancient hatred of the Jews to the current respect we now get from European royalty.