The Tradition of Philosemitism

Taking Up an Honourable Cause

Gertrude Himmelfarb has written an engaging book on the history of philosemitism in England.  It "began" with Oliver Cromwell who encouraged Jews to return to England, which had been the first country to expel them during medieval times.  Gradually, over two and a half centuries not only were Jews migrating to England, but gradually they were winning or being granted an increasing list of civil and political rights--during centuries when such rights were not universal by any means.

The Christian Church, particularly through the influence of the Great Awakening, played a positive role.  At the end of the eighteenth century, for example, a Jewish financier and philanthropist, Abraham Goldsmid raised a fund to help and assist the Jewish poor throughout England.  Himmelfarb tells us that "of the eighty-seven initial subscribers, forty-one were Christians".   [Gertrude Himmelfarb, The People of the Book: Philosemitism in England, From Cromwell to Churchill (New York: Encounter Books, 2011), p. 56.]

In the mid-nineteenth century, Conservative leader,  Benjamin Disraeli was arguing that the Church was the key instrument for the "renovation of the national spirit".  But he went on to address the origin of the Church.