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Phil
Letters and more....
A
request for information from Zvi in Israel (ex-East End of London)
I have spent years trying to find my origins:
but the many organisations I approached just end up at a dead end no
further back than my grandfather. My father was Phil Isaac
Finklestein of Aldgate - a member of the Aldgate boys who fought in
Cable Street in 1936. He also boxed under the name of Phil
Clay. His family had a butcher shop in Old Montagu Street.
He was born in London of Polish parents from Warsaw. Regarding
my mother's parents: Rav Hersh Zvi Knopp was married to Passia
Berger and came to live in Cable Street in the late 1920s.
They had a ladies gown shop. Reb Zvi Hersh set up the Belze
Shtieble at 129 Commercial Road. They came form Lublin/Rubashov,
Poland. Their graves are in Enfiled or Edmonton and the
inscriptions are illegible such that I cannot read their forberas
names. If anyone can assist me in in any way by sending me
Addresses of websites to enter and search I would be both grateful
and happy.
My thanks
Harold Zvi Fenton
Jerusalem
28th May 07
Kiss
me Goodnight Sergeant Major...
Just picked up your web site on Jewish London and the area around Spitalfields
which I read with great interest.
I write a monthly article for a nostalgia magazine about veteran songwriters
of the 20s,30, 40s, and have recently researched a songwriter named Harry
Leon. He wrote a thousand songs but you are most likely to know one of his
most famous songs, Kiss Me Goodnight Sergeant
Major.
It may be of interest to you that Harry was born in Spitalfields in 1901, at
139 Lolesworth Buildings, Lolesworth Street. Sadly none of it exists any
longer, so he can't have a plaque! His real name was Aaron Sugarman, and his
father, Abraham, was a cigarette maker. Like Bud Flanagan, young Aaron went
to the Jew's Free School in Bell Lane. When he left
there he went to work at a hat factory and then joined the Merchant Navy. He
began writing songs in 1930 when he left the sea, and his first success was
Sally, which Gracie Fields adopted as her signature
tune. He became rich, spent it all, went bankrupt, and died in 1968 in
virtual poverty. So endeth the lesson.
Probably no interest to you at all - but I thought I'd write to you anyway.
Best regards, Brian Willey
Adolph
Cohen's the wigmakers, Whitechapel
 Philip,
here is a picture of the corner of Great Garden Street. You can see the groups
of Garment workers and "Guv'nors" standing about. Another piece of
trivia for you is the hairdressers next to the Gas Company. It had [for a
Jewish establishment in the 30's] the unfortunate name of Adolph Cohen. The
link with the present is that the famous Vidal Sassoon was apprenticed there.
It provided all the East End religious ladies, including my "Boobah" with
their "Sheitels",
Jack White, Israel
Mohels
and amulets at the London Hospital, Whitechapel, 1938.
From
Dr Harold Zvi
Fenton, Jerusalem,
_small.jpg) I
was born 2:30 a.m. Monday morning 14th March 1938 - 11th Adar 2, 5963-
and spent the next few days in the Marie Celeste ward of the London
Hospital, Whitechapel Road [with mother, of course!]. At the time, there
was a mohel, the Rev N Halter, who lived in 3 Mullen House, 87 Nelson
Street. He had the iniative of finding out which Jewish mothers gave birth
at the hospital and visited them to wish them well and at the same time
leave his visiting card.This "card" took the form of a special amulet, or
"kamaya", which according to Kabbalistic teaching, was aimed to ward off 'Lilit'
the evil female spirit who's aim is to harm newborn males as a revenge for
Adam's rejection of her for Eve (midrashic sources)! Apparently he was
welcomed by the Hospital authorities as a survivial expert for the
new-born. The amulet was placed around the walls of the bed where mother
and child were lying. Since the family on my mother's side were chassidic,
this was appreciated and accepted as the norm. Thus I was protected at
birth! I managed to keep 7 of these amulets, and have attached one of them
for you to see (picture on left - double click to enlarge). It is
at least an historical document! As it turned out, the "traditional mohel
of the family" was Dr Bernard Homer, who was an optician by profession**,
and so it was that my future was placed into his hands, although I was
well-protected for the first week of my existence by Rev Halters amulets-kamayot!
My
family are originally Belze and Gur-my "Sundak"-or "godfather" at my
circumcision was Rabbi Pinchas Weitzman,[an uncle by marriage],whose
son-in-law, Mr I.M. Cymerman, is, today, one of the leaders of the British
Aggudah and whose father was a great friend and neighbour of Rabbi
Szpetsman [I am sure the spelling is wrong] of the Nelson Street
Synagogue. He practised for many years in the East-End, and lived to
a ripe old age.Can anyone add their memories of him?
Bud
Flanagan (a.k.a. Reuben Weintrob!) of Hanbury Street and elsewhere - mis-adventures
with a bottle of sherry!
  I
read your website with great interest as my late grandmother Kate Musaphia
(nee Martin) always told me she lived
next door to Reuben Weintrob. Her father was a Fish & Chip shop
owner. I believe the shop was called Johnny Martin's and was in the Mile End Road. Years
ago I used to meet Bud Flanagan at lunchtime in Isows restaurant, Brewer
Street, Soho and he remembered my
grandmother well from when they were kids. He told me that his parents
did so many midnight flits to avoid the rent man that they could put
blue plaques up at about 45 houses round the East End! I've many stories of
him & the Crazy Gang, but one of the best happened up North.
The Gang were staying at a boarding house & had a bottle of sherry in the
room. They suddenly noticed it was going down whilst they were out. So Bud
decided to top it up with Urine- Each Day it went down a little and each
day one of the gang topped it up. They used to laugh about it until on
the last day as they were leaving the Landlady said " I hope you don't
mind but I used your sherry each night to enhance your trifle.....!"
Keep up the
tradition - We must not forget our roots. Michael Davey
Getting
facts about Jews at age 13, 1938 in the USA - a classroom debate.
From Paul M, London
When I told
Paul I was putting his Jewish moment on the site he wrote me the following
note:
'Thanks
Philip, this story has a special meaning for me. As a child I was
confused and proud at the same time that my grandfather, Paul M, had
fought for the German Kaiser in the World War and had received an Iron
Cross from the Nazi government in 1935, five years before he was hauled
off to Auschwitz.'
Paul's
introduction to his story is below:
My
mother-in-law, Juliana S, was clearing out her house in Los
Angeles recently to get ready to move to London, when she found a
school report she had written as a child in the USA. It
is dated January 10, 1938 and tells the story of how a 13-year-old
girl in New York chose to find out the truth about what her
classmates said about Jews in a school debate. Her story - as
written in 1938 - is below:
A
few weeks ago, during Home Room Club period, we had a debate. The
topic was, “Should the quota be raised for German Jews in this
country?” This debate was continued in our English class.
Those favouring the negative said that it is the fault of the Jews
that they are being persecuted; according to these speakers most of
the Jews are “cowardly and money grabbers”. One boy, of German
parentage, asserted that German Jews did not fight for Germany
during the World War. “They,” he said, “stayed at home, and when the
poor German soldiers came back from war, they found their jobs taken
over by the Jews.” Another speaker said, “Hitler is
persecuting the Jews to get revenge for the sufferings they caused
the German people.” Those in favour of the affirmative denied,
as untrue, the above allegations, both as to the characteristics
assigned to “most Jews” and their non-participation in the War.
The
debate became very heated; however neither side was able to present
definite facts and figures in support of its statements. It
was finally suggested that two of the debaters write to The New York
Times, asking if they could give any information as to how many
German Jews fought in the German army during the World War (World
War One, 1914 - 1918)
The
New York Times replied by a letter saying that they could not supply
the information, and advised trying the Main Branch of the New York
Public Library. Following this advice, my friend and I went to
the Library. To our dismay we found that students could not use the
Card Catalogue Room. We finally hit upon the idea of going to the
Jewish Reference Room. The librarian gave us a book in which we have
found the following information based upon the German official
statistical publications:
 “Of
the half a million Jews living in German at the time of the War, one
hundred thousand served (not counting Austria “Eighty thousand
fought at the front. 10% (10,000) of those were volunteers. At
least twelve thousand Jews gave their lives for Der Vaterland.
About thirty-five thousand Jews were decorated for bravery.
Twenty three thousand were promoted to non-commissioned ranks and
over two thousand, not counting Medical Officers, were commissioned.
One hundred sixty-five Jewish fliers saw actual service at the
front. Thirty of these were killed.”
It
is known that at the beginning of World War half million Jews lived
in Germany. Of this number one hundred thousand, which is 20%of the
entire German Jewish population, served in the army. Thousands were
killed. This presents the best answer to the main argument of those
who during the debate supports the anti-Semitic point of view
obviously inspired by the German Nazi Government propaganda in this
country. (written January 1938)
Reunion
and Reconciliation. From Ruth E, London
Shortly after my father’s Russian parents – Abraham and Rebecca
Schneider - came to England along with my father, two other brothers and
a sister called Mille, came the outbreak of the 1914 -1918 war. The Schneiders had a shop in Westminster, and into the shop one day came
this fine looking Australian soldier, bush hat and all. That was
“IT” for Mille, who fell for him. They eloped and went back to
Australia and her father sat Shiva for her and no one was allowed to
mention her again. Around 20 years ago (1985), into that same shop
in Westminster there came an Australian man. He said to my husband Brian
that he had come to
London to search for his maternal relations as his mother had recently
passed away and he had found when looking through her papers that she was
not only Russian by birth, but was Jewish - which was all news to him. He
said he had been to every site he could think of that could help him in his
search and all he knew from the paperwork was that his maternal
grandparents had a shop, somewhere in London, so he was looking for
anything that said Schneider and he had been told that Schneider
translated to Taylor, and the shop he then stood in was A. Taylor & Son –
Abraham Taylor (Schneider). My husband Brian listened in silence, walked to the
telephone whilst the man stared at him, dialled my number and said to the
man and to me, “Here, take the telephone and speak to your cousin”.
And so it was, and we have been in touch ever since and it is a lovely
relationship, albeit across thousands of miles and telephone wires. Roger, incidentally,
had married a Jewish girl and she had been put through all the angst of marrying
out, but she had not had she?
(A Taylor & Son
Tobacconists was located in Victoria Street, Westminster. The
business was sold in the mid 1990's)
Cows
and Shabbat Cholant in Jubilee Street in the 1930's.
From Jack in Israel
 .....Cholant
was taken to the bakery to be cooked. As the cholant had to be slow cooked
all night, we could not afford to keep the gas stove going for so many
hours. Most Jewish bakers did not bake on Friday nights, and it did not
pay them them to turn their ovens off and then have to re-light. So there
was a symbiotic arrangement. We took our cholant and they got an
additional income. Of course, our pots were taken in before Shabbat and
had a cloakroom ticket pasted on the brown paper which was tied down over
the lid (Fore-runner of the pressure cooker?). We paid a couple of pence
and collected our lunch on the way home from Shul, having put our ticket
and a tea-towel in our talit bag. In this way, we could carry our lunch
home without burning our hands.
As far as getting milk was concerned, well we
lived next door to Caves the Dairy. They had a small herd of cows
at the back and we took our jugs to the front counter which opened on to
the street. At Pesach time, they had a Rabbi at the back who did the
necessary supervision and we hd to go to the back of the yard which was in
Charles street and get the milk which was kept separate from that which
was sold at the front. Every now and again, they took the cows for some
exercise up Jubilee Street. They also kept chickens at the back. so
fresh eggs were always available. We were woken up by a combination of
cock crowing, and cows mooing....
Jewish
Bookshops, tunnels to the Thames and the 1948 Israeli War of Independence.
From Harold in Israel,
A prominent and dear memory I have from the 1940's is
of Mr Cailingold's Jewish book store at the beginning of Old
Montague Street where my family had their butcher shop. He was the
main supplier of religious works, slightly bigger than Mazin's Book
Shop further towards Whitechapel Road. Mr. Cailingold's daughter,
Esther, was a heroine of Israel's War of Independence in 1948.
She was mortally wounded in the Old City of Jerusalem and is buried on
Mount Herzl, about 15 minutes walk away from my home. Her life story has
been published in English by her brother, Asher, and is called "An
Unlikely Heroine". She also mentioned in the book "O Jerusalem"
co-authored by Randolph Churchill....and reported as dying in the arms of
one of her Haganah defence force's comrades, "a red bearded giant of a
man"-who is today's Chief Rabbi of Haifa, Rabbi Sher Yashuv Cohen! (2005)
Tilbury Docks was the communal shelter during blitz
air-raids and we lived for a short while there. I recall the late King
George VI and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother's and the Duke and Duchess
of Kent's visits to the Tilbury shelter; I think they occurred in 1941 (I
was three years old then!) We all slept in double-tiered bunks under large
natural arches. There were very few partitions between us all. During the
Blitz, we used to make the long journey from Arbour Square to the shelter
by running the length of Commercial Road, It was shortly after this that
the East End branch of London County Council (later Tower Hamlets Borough
Council) erected corrugated iron shelters, that looked like
dog-kennels, half underground in every-one's back garden. For this they
dug deep holes. There are many stories coming back to me from that time.
When they dug the pit in our garden at no. 56 Arbour Square,
for installing the Anderson shelter (as those corrugated iron "kennels'
were called, a worker suddenly disappeared! They had dug a pit which
was above a roof of a large brown-tiled room and the roof had given away.
I remember peering down into the depths which were lit up by the
daylight which for the first time penetrated the mysterious gloom. The
workers heard the voice of their colleague and went down a ladder to him.
They were amazed to find a series of rooms and tunnels, all tiled,
leading from our area towards Shadwell Park and the River Thames where
there were docks and ware-houses! Our garden was sealed off and the whole
lot filled in. Various theories were offered about this underground series
of rooms and passage-ways but we were told "to forget about it".......This
is the first time I have put this into print for all to see and know- so
Philip-you are welcome to the "Scoop"! We heard, after some research
in later years, that the tunnels were built by smugglers and "pirates" who
used the river routes, docking facilities nearby etc. they could be used
for hiding those wanted by the law or as refuges for escaped
prisoners.....the Tower of London ain't far away..... the eerie thing is,
that they are still intact, clean as a whistle as far as we know and
waiting to be revealed!!!!
One thing I learned in the air raid shelters in Tilbury
Docks which I still use for my grandchildren's' amusement today (and
indeed for my own, too!) was how to make paper aeroplanes and darts
capable of long, high flight power and which could loop the loop! We kids
could not go out to play of course and this was the most popular
past-time. This was taught to us by elder boys including one fellow who
was a leader of the Habbonim youth group, which had their headquarters in
Mile End Rd. opposite the Guinness Brewery.
Remembering
Alf's Hairdressing saloon in Berner's St (now Henriques st)
From Harold in Israel
There is lot
of information generally regarding the Oxford and St Georges club in your
wonderful East-End of London site. On the same side of the street (Berner's
St. wasn't it?) just before the club was a barber shop opened in the early
1950's. This was called "Alf's Hairdressing Saloon": The proprietor was
Alf Ross, an ex-RAF veteran. He was my aunt's husband, a very fine and
devoted man. My aunt, Lilly, was a Finklestein and my father's sister,and
lives in Hackney. Their children, my first cousins, are Martin and Ian.
When my Uncle Alf opened the shop, I was about 15 years old, and he,
knowing my love of art, asked me to paint his first sign in the window
which I did in glowing blue and red lettering on white cartridge paper:
this made me very proud! I still have a portion of that sign when he
replaced it with a permanent professional job! Our whole family from the
East End was evacuated early during the war to Market Harborough (but
therein lies another amazing saga!)
If any one
remembers Alf Ross (previously Rosenberg) and the shop, I would very much
like to know, as well as news of the family I mentioned above, Lilly,
Martin and Ian, since we lost contact with each other about 28 years
ago!
(Alf's
parents were killed when a V2 destroyed their home (in Hackney or Stoke
Newington, I do remember because I was about 4 years old then))
Best wishes
Harold
Fenton "nee' Finklestein
If
you wish to reply to Harold please mail me direct and I will forward your
letter - Philip
From Prosperity to Posterity – lessons from South
India’s Jews.
From Paul M in
London
 In most
houses on Synagogue Lane in Cochin, where India’s oldest synagogue
stands next to the Maharajah’s palace, one can still see the
Star of David in windows next to the Hindu holy Swastika signs of
non-Jewish neighbours.
 On
a recent holiday to South India, I found this jarring juxtaposition
– the Hindu religious symbol as hijacked by Hitler – but one relic
of a remarkable story of Jews who settled in South India after the
burning of the Second Temple in 70CE and thrived under special
protection of the Hindu Rajas to the present.
 The
Pardesi synagogue in synagogue Lane Cochin was built in 1568. Its chandeliers and two gold bimahs
look down upon a floor of blue and white porcelain tiles imported
from China in the 18th century. A series of paintings outside the
sanctuary traces the special history with great affection for their
royal protectors.
 Despite
their extraordinary status, the once vibrant community of thousands
is now down to 14 surviving Jews, including Sarah Cohen, who knits
kippot for her little shop in Jew Town. The community that once
numbered 2,500 seems sadly headed to posterity from prosperity.
Unlike
many European countries where Jews were uprooted, forced into
ghettos, denied business or legal rights, from 379CE, special
protections for India’s Jews were enshrined by Maharajas on copper
plates, which guaranteed in perpetuity the Jews’ rights to practise
their own religion, maintain their own schools, provide commerce,
trade and legal advice to the royal families of Cochin.
 In
1949, even as the last Maharajah Rama Varma, thanked Cochin's Jews
for their cooperation, most of the special community there had
already decided to emigrate to Israel. They rarely intermarried or
integrated into the Hindu society. Ironically, now, millions of
Indian Hindus have converted to Christianity as a means of
practicing fervent religion outside the Hindu cast system, but this
has not happened to the Jewish community of Cochin, now tiny and
dwindling.
Our
Christian guide was both puzzled and saddened as she explained the
irony. “Jews were given everything by the Royal family, yet they
never really integrated into Indian society, and Indians rarely
married into Jewish families. So when Israel was founded after the
(Second World) War, they were enthusiastic about going to this great
new place, and they all left.”
Memories
of South London Jewish School, Heygate Street, London SE17. From Mannie S
 South London
Jewish School was at Heygate St.Walworth, London SE17 and almost next door to the old
Borough Synagogue which was later relocated in a new building nearby in Wansey St. I started school there soon after my third birthday in
1926 following in the footsteps of my mother and grandmother so you can
see that the school had a long tradition going back to the nineteenth
century. The Headmaster in my time was Mr Bernberg followed by Mr Taylor.
The teachers names I remember are Miss Kate, Miss Amelia and another
sister whose surnames were Aarons. Mr Klienman, Mr Cohen and Miss
Goldstein. The caretakers who lived at the school were Mr and Mrs Moore -
a lovely couple who used to make us tea and buttered toast lunchtime.
Memories
of Jews Temporary shelter in Mansell Street, London E. From Rita R,
London
I came
across your website which I found fascinating. I was surprised not to find
any mention at all of the Jews' Temporary Shelter in Mansell Street (O.K.so
it's not a Shul, but...). My parents and I arrived in London on 26/2/1939
from Germany and were put up in the Shelter for a couple of weeks. It was
full of refugees like us, all depressed and despairing and it was not a
place of comfort! We were put up in dormitories, and this 12-year old just
wanted to go home. We were interned on the Isle of Man in 1940 until
1942 and guess where we were sent until we could find somewhere to live?
Yes, the Shelter.In retrospect - and some 66 years later - I have to say
thanks to whoever put us there in the first place. That's how we were
saved.
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