Kol Kehillat Kernow August 20147 Book review: The Jews of Cornwall by Keith Pearce Michael A. Jolles disproved or discredited. Pearce is refreshingly independent external source (over 250 miles exacting in stating the degree of certainty from Cornwall) amply attests to the usefulness, [A leading Anglo-Jewish researcher, Michael pertaining to any fact, claim or supposition. accuracy, accessibility and coherence of Jolles is a member of the Council of the Jewish It is instructive to review where Pearces book Pearces research. The book is fully furnished Historical Society of England and Fellow of the stands in the genre of English with source reference notes. Royal Historical Society] provincial Jewish community There are sixty-four plates I was delighted to read this fascinating, histories. Firstly, Pearces incorporating over 150 finely authoritative book - a majestic work which book at 624 pages is the reproduced illustrations, commends itself to the top stratum of longest history of an Anglo- many in colour all important, and meticulously researched Jewish provincial community. contributing to a handsomely provincial Anglo-Jewish community histories. It is the third longest single- presented book. Jews arrived in Cornwall in the 1740s. A small volume book on any aspect The book is important to a number disembarked at Falmouth and one or of Anglo-Jewish history ever broad range of readers and two at Fowey, only to move on promptly to written. is an integral component of London and elsewhere. Others arrived in Secondly, Anglo-Jewish Cornish history, Cornwall, mainly from continental Europe. provincial community history indispensable for those In his book, Pearce has tried to identify and is a relatively recent subject. researching Anglo-Jewish research every Jew who settled in Cornwall In 1938 Bertram Benas history. It also provides the up until 1913. He supplies their family history, remarked that his fathers general reader and the places of origin (usually overseas), when and work on Liverpool and one on student of British history with where they settled, their occupations and Birmingham (E. Lawrence an absolutely authentic, significant life events. He presents Levys Birmingham Jewry accessible and interesting documentary particulars( births, marriages, 1870 and 1929; 96 pages; circa 1929) had been account of a set of Jewish local communities, deaths, newspaper reports, archival papers, virtually the only substantial histories written their intricacies and idiosyncrasies. minute books, obituaries, naturalisation about any provincial Jewish community. Since Cornwall and British Jewry are indebted to documents),and details of where they were the Second World War, several more emerged, Keith Pearce as an archival conservationist, buried. Amongst the many families treated many published withino the last fifteen years. cemetery custodian, and historian and author in detail are the de Pass and Lemon Hart A pioneer, Rabbi Bernard Susser, set out the of an important, diligently-researched and families. first major account of the Jewry in the south- authoritative masterpiece. The detailed chapter on cemeteries includes west in 1993 (not disregarding Alex Jacobs all legible headstone inscriptions with an earlier research). Keith Pearce and Helen Fry English translation from the Hebrew. Further published their The Lost Jews of Cornwall in New Venue for chapters provide interesting details of 2000. Half a generation later, Pearce amassed congregations and how they functioned. He a prodigious amount of material derived from presents biographical accounts of the Rabbis thirty years continuous research to produce Days of Awe for each congregation, conscientiously dealing the third book on Cornish Jews. He broadened with all ambiguities, uncertainties and the syllabus and introduced new research The High Holy Days will have a new venue contradictions which permeate almost all topics for inclusion. A book of this this year. All services for Erev Rosh Hashanah eighteenth and comprehensive nature is and Kol Nidrei and Yom Kippur will be held nineteenth century unprecedented for a provincial Jewish at The Long Barn, Roselidden Farm in congregations A valuable community. Helston. The Erev Rosh Hashanah, Rosh histories. Some Thirdly, his book relates to the small Hashanah Day and the Breakfast for Yom ministers were insight into the number of communities that had been Kippur will be followed by catered buffet well established; mindsets, established by the mid-eighteenth meals. Directions to the new site for services many were century and had ceased over a century can easily be obtained from the Internet or peripatetic, yet anxieties and the ago. by phoning the owners of Roselidden Farm, Pearce manages to strictness of the Fourthly, Pearces book is almost Trevenen Bal, Helston, TR13 OPT at 01326- track many of their times unique in being a history of the Jews 558748. postings across the of an English county per se. Erev Rosh Hashanah services begin promptly country and let me recount a recent experience. at 6:30pm on Wednesday, 24 September beyond. Tikkunim, the congregations formal I purchased a Yom Kippur machzor published followed by an evening meal provided by regulations, are detailed and give valuable in 1860. Its free endpaper bore an inscription Kehillat Kernow to bring in the New Year, insight into the mindset, anxieties and by Anne Jacob, Falmouth. It mentioned that 5775. strictness of the times. Another chapter records her father had died a few months ago on the Rosh Hashana services on the first day will a few post-1913 noteworthy Jewish Cornwall 21st day of Shevat 5620, aged 47 yrs. I begin at 10:30am. Kiddush and a catered residents. checked Pearces book and established from luncheon will be after the service. A major strength of the book is the combination the genealogically-based index there had been Kol Nidrei begins promptly at 7:00pm on of the painstaking detail which Pearce skilfully a Moses Jacob Jacob (1812-1860) who was Friday, the 3rd of October manages to make easy reading of the variety president of the Falmouth congregation. Within Yom Kippur services begin at 10:30am, of topics that are discussed throughout. We minutes, I discovered the identity of the Saturday, the 4th of October. Yizchor services therefore learn about economic history, court inscribers late father along with his personal are scheduled for about 4:30-5:00 pm. A case reports, Freemasonry, mining, railways, history. The book displayed his family tree, catered dinner to break the fast will follow wrecks, etymology, Cornish language, one of thirty-one altogether. I found in Pearces around 6:30pm. migration, and Jewish traditions, onomastics, book not only a photograph of him and another The new venue will provide a peaceful, observances and customs. A fascinating analysis of his family taken but also the headstone secluded atmosphere in pleasant of the many traditions and legends about epigraphy which fitted the machzors surroundings with plenty of parking spaces Cornwalls supposed long-past associations inscription details exactly. along with easy access to The Long Barn with with Jews, Judaism or the Hebrew language My finding complete congruence between appropriate facilities to accommodate our is presented: many are systematically evidence from the book and a completely needs during this special holiday period..