Preface and Acknowledgements
Part One The Coming of Jews to England
and Australia
Chapter 1 The Resurrection of English Jewry
The Birth of the English-speaking Jew
The Newtonian Revolution
The Resettlement of the Jews in England
The Jew-Bill of 1753
Lord Hardwicke’s Marriage Act of 1753
Judaism in Georgian England
Chapter 2 The Penal Transportation of Jews to Australia
The Origins of Transportation: America
The Hulks
A New Destination: Australia
The Jewish Convict Transportees
Jewish Crime in Georgian England
The Matrimonial Consequences of Transportation
Part Two The First Bet Din of the Jews
of England
Chapter 3 The Establishment of the London Bet Din
The Appointment of R. Solomon Hirschell
R. Solomon Hirschell’s Innovations
The Institution of a Chief Rabbinate
The Crises of 1832/3
The Only Bet Din in the English-speaking World
R. Solomon Hirschell’s Record
Chapter 4 The Pinkas Record
Divorce
Agunot
Prison Visitors
Halitzah
Mamzerut
Missing in Action
Infanticide
Oaths
Cause Célèbre
Intrigues, Cuckolds and Happy Endings
Chapter 5 Giur and Gerim in London
Giur According to Halachah
The Giur of ‘New Christians’
Giur: Problems and Policy
Lord George Gordon
The Giur of Jew-fathered non-Jews
The Giur of Gentiles; The ‘Dutch Solution’
The Rothschild Conversion
The Mudahi Giurim 1809-1816
Part Three The First Bet Din of the
Jews of Australia
Chapter 6 Australia Bound
Dead or Alive
Darling, I’ll Wait for You
O, You’re Back!
Chapter 7 The Sheerness Connection
The Isle of Sheppey: Atrocity, Navy and Crime
The Jews of Sheerness
Jewish Navy Agents
A Most Daring Robbery
No Honour Amongst Thieves; The ‘Grass’
The Execution of Abraham Abrahams
Jews Informing on Jews; The ‘Moser’
Why Did Abraham Abrahams Hang?
Chapter 8 Esther Solomons
The Solomons Brothers
Van Diemen’s Land
The Russell/Davis/Solomons Scam
J. and J. Solomons; Tasmanian Gentlemen
Solomons v. Solomons
Chapter 9 Reb Aaron Levy
Jewish Divorce Procedure
R. Aaron Levy of Lissa
The First Bet Din Convened in Australia
Reb Aaron of the London Bet Hamidrash
Chapter 10 Giur and Gerim in Australia
The First Giur in Australia
Do-it-yourself Giurim in Australia
The Giur of Australians in London
Appendix I Extant works written
or owned by R. Aaron Levy of Lissa
Bibliography
Notes
Index
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“In 1805 R.
Solomon Hirschell established the first continuing Bet Din (Rabbinic
Court) in the English-speaking world. Two of their Pinkassim (minute
books), spanning from 1805 to 1855, which record the decisions of
over seven hundred cases related to marriage, divorce and conversion
are the subject of Jeremy Pfeffer's groundbreaking research. A few
of the cases involving convict transportees were included in an
article by Pfeffer in the AJHS Journal (XVIII, Part 3,
2007). Other Australian related cases are included in this publication.
…This publication by Jeremy Pfeffer is like an X-ray view
of the nerve centre of Halachic Judaism as it mapped a path through
a difficult new world." Gary Luke, DipFHS, committee member
of the AJHS
“Curiosity over a family portrait of a rabbi who served
in London’s Bet Din (ecclesiastical court), who travelled
to Australia in 1830 to arrange a Get (religious divorce)
for the British wife of a Jewish convict transported there, led
Pfeffer to research the fate of these couples. Drawing on Bet Din
records, he relates this little-known chapter of Jewish history
in the contexts of Jewish law (on conversion as well as marriage),
and the expulsion and return of Jews to England. Illustrations include
marriage registers for Australia and Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania),
and ritual art. This issue is still timely for women unable to remarry
when a Get cannot be secured.” Reference &
Research Book News |
