University of Strathclyde Department of History 'An Outsider Wherever I Am?' Transmission of Jewish Identity Through Five G

University of Strathclyde Department of History ‘An Outsider Wherever I Am?’ Transmission of Jewish Identity through Five Generations of a Scottish Jewish Family Fiona Frank A thesis presented in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2012 i Abstract This thesis casts new light on the immigrant experience, focusing on one extended Scottish Jewish family, the descendents of Rabbi Zvi David Hoppenstein and his wife Sophia, who arrived in Scotland in the early 1880s. Going further than other studies by exploring connections and difference through five generations and across five branches of the family, it uses grounded theory and a feminist perspective and draws on secondary sources like census data and contemporary newspaper reports with the early immigrant generations, oral testimony with the third and fourth generations and an innovative use of social networking platforms to engage with the younger generation. It explores Bourdieu’s theories relating to cultural and economic capital and the main themes are examined through the triple lens of generational change, gender and class. The thesis draws out links between food and memory and examines outmarriage and ‘return inmarriage’. It explores the fact that anti-Semitic and negative reactions from the host community, changing in nature through the generations but always present, have had an effect on people’s sense of their Jewish identity just as much as has the transmission of Jewish identity at home, in the synagogue, in Hebrew classes and in Jewish political, educational, leisure and welfare organisations. It makes an important link between gendered educational opportunities and consequent gendered intergenerational class shift, challenges other studies which view Jewish identity as static and illustrates how the boundary between ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ is blurred: the Hoppenstein family offers us a context where we can see clearly how insider and outsider status can be self- assigned, ascribed by others, or mediated by internal gatekeepers. ii This thesis is the result of the author’s original research. It has been composed by the author and has not been previously submitted for examination which has led to the award of a degree. The copyright of this thesis belongs to the author under the terms of the United Kingdom Copyright Acts as qualified by University of Strathclyde Regulation 3.50. Due acknowledgement must always be made of the use of any material contained in or derived from, this thesis. Signed Date iii Acknowledgments I would never have got to this stage without the clarity of mind of Professor Eileen Yeo, my supervisor at the University of Strathclyde. Professor Arthur McIvor and Dr Juliette Pattinson at the University of Strathclyde Department of History/Scottish Oral History Centre have also provided much support. Bill Williams, my supervisor at the University of Manchester before I transferred to Strathclyde, gave me the confidence and encouragement to begin this long journey. It was the friendly communications and great course facilitation and teaching of the late Dr Neil Rafeek which first led me to explore the possibilities of transferring to the University of Strathclyde. I was honoured to be the first recipient of the Neil Rafeek Oral History Prize at the Scottish Oral History Centre, a prize inaugurated by Neil’s family and his partner, Frieda, after his death. Neil Rafeek with the author’s aunt Hannah Frank Levy, wife of Lionel Levy, third generation Hoppenstein. Garnethill Synagogue, 2006 Thanks to Dr Simone Gristwood, Dr Candace Hoffman-Hussain, Dr Anna Tarrant, Dr Amanda Wintcher, and Judith Coyle and to www.phinished.org, an on line support community for PhD students. Thanks to Lorna Pimperton, Dr Rehman iv Mohamed and the late Paul Woods for technical support and to the ‘amateur’ but no less professional historians Rita Gerrard and the late Jean Noble for help with accessing archives. Harvey Kaplan, Dr Kenneth Collins and others at the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre in Glasgow have provided references and extensive background information. Thanks to the Rev Aaron Soudry of Glasgow and to Rabbi Book of St Annes and Jerusalem for advice on matters of Jewish law and Hebrew language. Dr Celia Briar, formerly of Massey University, New Zealand, helped me with structural issues. My mum Mrs Phyllis Frank has been unfailingly encouraging; she read the whole thing while it was a work in progress. I also have to thank the two Hannahs without whom none of this would have been possible: my late grandma Hannah Blits and my late aunt Hannah Frank Levy. Thanks to Peter Gow for holding out to me the most hopeful fact that this process would come to an end at some point. Thanks to Anna Huxham for providing perspective throughout. Thanks are also due to many people in the Reevaluation Cocounselling community and to members of Lancaster University Continuing Learning Group. I funded some of my travels to conduct interviews with a generous grant from the John and Anne Benson Fund and received an award from the Royal Historical Association and another from the Department of History at the University of Strathclyde which allowed me to attend a conference in Cape Town and meet with the South African branch of the family face to face. My deepest thanks are due to my interviewees: members of the Hoppenstein family, Mrs Rose Krasner, Mrs Rachel Foster and the late Dr Emil Glasser. Finally, v I owe a great debt to the late Professor Fred Stone, grandson of Zvi David and Sophia Hoppenstein. He encouraged me from the beginning and I am so sorry that he will not be around to see me graduate. Fiona Frank August 2012 vi For Dr S. L. Frank, 1911-1989 vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Acknowledgments iv Table of Figures x Glossary xi Chapter One: Introduction: a Scottish Jewish family 1 Chapter Two: Transmission of Jewish identity in an extended Scottish Jewish family: literature, background and context 50 Chapter Three: ‘Some of them couldn’t make a living and he had to support them’: living, learning and working in Scotland 94 Chapter Four : ‘What he was most impressed with was the front door; he stayed up a stair’: marriage choice, gender and class in the Hoppenstein family 159 Chapter Five: ‘She would make us lunch and tell us stories’: Jewish life in the home 224 Chapter Six: ‘He was a real leader of Glasgow Jewry, my father’: Jewish life in the public sphere through the century 270 Chapter Seven: Conclusions: five generations of Scottish Jewish identity 333 Appendix One: Locating the interviewees 361 Appendix Two: Oral History interviews 364 Appendix Three: Facebook topics and respondents 366 Appendix Four: Social network analysis matrix prior to Herts family re-contact 367 viii Appendix Five: Social network analysis matrix after the Herts family re-contact 368 Appendix Six: Key to social network analysis matrices, Appendices Four and Five 369 Bibliography 370 ix TABLE OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 Electronic focus group on Facebook 30 Figure 1.2 Rev Zvi David Hopp enstein and his youngest 41 grandson Harold Figure 1.3 Sophia Hoppenstein (seated) with her first 42 grandson Harold, daughter Eva and son-in- law Morris Figure 1.4 Wedding invitation, Harold Levy (grandson of Zvi David and Sophia Hoppenstein) to Hannah Silverman 43 Figure 1.5 Pestle and Mortar, brought to Scotland by Zvi David and Sophia Hoppenstein, 1880s 45 Figure 1.6 Hoppenstein Family Tree 49 Figure 3.1 Notice of name change: cutting from the Glasgow Herald, 12 December 1918 115 Figure 3.2 Ho ppenstein family tree colour coded 143 Figure 3.3 Occupation by gender and religion 152 Figure 3.4 Gender breakdown of people with degrees, Scotland 1991 (ten per cent sample) 152 Figure 4.1 Marriage in the second and third generation of the Hoppenstein family 163 Figure 4.2 Marriage choice among the fourth generation of the Hoppenstein family 163 Figure 4.3 Social network analysis diagram showing central and peripheral ties within the family 206 Figure 4.4 Social network analysis diagram showing the situation prior to the Herts siblings meeting their grandparents and wider family 209 (1966 Figure 6.1 Queen’s Park United Reformed Church Literary Society syllabus, 1908-1909 288 Figure 6.2 Glasgow Zionist Literar y Circle Winter Syllabus 1929 – cover 289 Figure 6.3 Glasgow Zionist Literary Circle Winter Syllabus 1929 – programme 290 Figure 6.4 Harold and Hannah Levy with Sophia 294 Hoppenstein’s embroidery in the background Figure 7.1 Changing observance and attachment over 344 time x Glossary Aliyah Ritual emigration to Israel Ashkenazi Eastern European Jews Baal Tokas Person who blows the shofar at Rosh Hashonah B’nei Akiva Literally ‘Sons of Akiva’, a religious Zionist youth movement Bar Mitzvah, Bat Mitzvah, The coming of age ceremony for boys of 13 and girls plural Bar Mitzvot, Bat of 12: Literally ‘son of the commandments’, ‘daughter Mitzvot. of the commandments’ Bara elohim God created (from Genesis) Bereshit In the beginning (from Genesis) Beth Din The Jewish Rabbinical court Challah Plaited loaves, eaten on Shabbat Chametz Food that cannot be eaten over Pesach Chanukah The festival of lights Chedar/Heder Hebrew classes plural Chedarim, Hederim) Chevrah Torah Association for the study of Torah Chovevi Zion Literally ‘lovers of Zion’: one of the first Zionist groups Dorshei Zion Literally ‘seekers of Zion’: an early Zionist group Eyshet chayil Literally ‘Woman of Valour’ Gefilte fish An Ashkenazi dish made from a poached mixture of ground deboned fish, typically eaten as an appetizer. Habonim A socialist Zionist youth movement. Literally ‘The Builders’. Halacha Orthodox Jewish law xi Heder See cheder Kashrut The observance of Jewish dietary law Kashrus The Ashkenazi pronunciation of the word Kashrut Ketubah Jewish marriage contract Kibbutz, plural kibbutzim Originally, a collective farm in Israel, whose members did not hold property individually Kippah, plural kippot Jewish head covering Kosher Literally ‘proper’ or ‘pure’.

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