Category: Israel Zangwill

Posted on Eve Brewer

Historical and Geographical Context of Children of the Ghetto

The historical moment of the 19thcentury as well as the geographical of the east end is clearly presented through Zangwill’s soup kitchen scene. The passage comes from the first chapter of Children of the Ghetto, following a prologue which described life in the ghetto and the strong personal and religious community that was found there in the past. The contrast between the community seen in the prologue and in the first chapter is incredibly strong. In the past, rich individuals (the Takeefin) “gave charity unscrupulously” to the poorer members of their community but in the first chapter we see “the President addressed the meeting at considerable length, striving to impress upon the clergymen and other philanthropists present that charity was a virtue.” While not stated directly, in the passage above Zangwill appears to be mocking the new generation of Takeefin who seemingly need the poor to validate their charitable acts in order to perform it which undercuts the basis of their charity  I believe that the rich’s attitude towards charity was less condescending and came more from a genuine desire to help others in past generations as the community was congregated in closer proximity to one another and the rich felt a connection to the people that they were serving. In the passage I discussed above, the rich have transformed from a helpful neighbor to a semi-divine because the community is no longer as closely in touch spiritually or geographically. In the time period of the book, the rich lived “far away” in neighborhoods like Belgravia while the larger poor community was left in Spitalfields as opposed to when nearly all of the Jewish population of London was living in Whitechapel. The passage illustrates the effects that decentralizing the Jewish community has taken on the feeling of community and the spiritual reasons for upholding Jewish values.

This map shows where the original ghetto was located, where the soup kitchen described in the passage is, and where some of the rich Takeefin now reside (far from the majority of the Jewish community in Spitalfields).
Posted on Eve Brewer

Rhetoric in Children of the Ghetto

“They felt hungry, these picturesque people; their near and dear ones were hungering at home. Voluptuously savoring in imagination, the operation of the soup, they forgot its operation as a dole in aid of wages; were unconscious of the grave economical possibilities of pauperization and the rest, and quite willing to swallow their independence with the soup. Even Esther, who had read much, and was sensitive, accepted unquestioningly the theory of the universe that was held by most people about her, that human beings were distinguished from animals in having to toil terribly for a meagre crust, but that their lot was lightened by the existence of a small and semi-divine class called Takeefim, or rich people, who gave away what they didn’t want. How these rich people came to be, Esther did not inquire; they were as much a part of the constitution of things as clouds and horses. The semi-celestial variety was rarely to be met with. It lived far away from the Ghetto, and a small family of it was said to occupy a whole house. Representatives of it, clad in rustling silks or impressive broad-cloth, and radiating an indefinable aroma of superhumanity, sometimes came to the school, preceded by the beaming Head Mistress; and then all the little girls rose and curtseyed, and the best of them, passing as average members of the class, astonished the semi-divine persons by their intimate acquaintance with the topography of the Pyrenees and the disagreements of Saul and David, the intercourse of the two species ending in effusive smiles and general satisfaction. But the dullest of the girls was alive to the comedy, and had a good-humored contempt for the unworldliness of the semi-divine persons who spoke to them as if they were not going to recommence squabbling, and pulling one another’s hair, and copying one another’s sums, and stealing one another’s needles, the moment the semi-celestial backs were turned.” – Children of the Ghetto, Chapter 1

In Children of the Ghetto, Zangwill attempts to embody the voice of the Anglo-Jewry, displaying the realities of life in the poor Jewish neighborhoods of East London. From the prologue to his first chapter, he creates the foundation of his story; he investigates the liminal space that Jews of the 19th century occupied between the tight knit community of the ghetto and the modern attempt to mesh with British life while remaining true to their community and heritage. The passage above illustrates Zangwill’s use of realism tinged with irony and sarcasm. We can see all of these elements from the first line of the paragraph when the narrator describes the poor who gathered at the soup kitchen writing, “they’re hungry, these picturesque people.” There is a clear use of sarcasm here as the large impoverished crowd would look nothing but picturesque (as one can see in the photo 1). It is interesting to note where the narrator appears to be placed in relationship to Esther, the young poor girl we are following throughout the first chapter. By describing the crowd this way, Zangwill seems to be placing the narrator behind the eyes of the rich, philanthropic individuals serving at the soup kitchen, who look at the poor naively and seemingly condescendingly. The use of a third person narrator throughout the story allows the story to observe multiple entities at once to better showcase the wide range of perspectives and characters within the story. In this scene, the third person narrator allows us to see how the Takeefin have become separated from the greater Jewish community both emotionally and physically through the use of sarcasm.

Throughout the passage there are numerous mentions of “semi-divine” beings and superhumanity in reference to the Takeefin, or rich Jewish class, who become religious quasi-archetypes as we view them through Esther’s eyes. Yet despite her divine view of these individuals, she holds contempt for them for their lack of worldliness. The use of irony further flavors the scene as the narrator shows us how out of touch the Takeefin are with the poorer members of Jewish society – they are divine entities with little connection to those they are supposed to be serving. Zangwill dehumanizes the Takeefin by referring to the individuals as “it”, illustrating the lack of a relationship between  them and the poor, a drastic change from the days of the ghetto. This can be clearly seen when he writes, “The semi-celestial variety was rarely to be met with. It lived far away from the Ghetto, and a small family of it was said to occupy a whole house. Representatives of it, clad in rustling silks or impressive broad-cloth, and radiating an indefinable aroma of superhumanity, sometimes came to the school.”  The Takeefin are being dehumanized by the narrator, yet the continual use of sarcasm serves to illustrate how out of touch they are with the larger Jewish community as the narrator mocks them.

Zangwill also uses various methods of juxtaposition when describing the rich and poor members of community. We can see the tensions between the worldly and the semi-divine in the final two lines of the paragraph. Both lines are almost identical in structure and length and the juxtaposition between the façade and reality of interactions with the Takeefin illustrates the growing lack of true understanding within Anglo-Jewish community. The first line presents the façade saying, “then all the little girls rose and curtseyed, and the best of them, passing as average members of the class, astonished the semi-divine persons by their intimate acquaintance with the topography of the Pyrenees and the disagreements of Saul and David, the intercourse of the two species ending in effusive smiles and general satisfaction.” By calling the girls and the Takeefin “two species”, the narrator is emphasizing the cultural divide that has appeared between these different factions of Jewish life. The line also presents the performance that is required of the children in order to gain the grace of these divine beings, insinuating that the Takeefin need to be catered to in order to obtain their charity. The next line illustrates the worldly reality saying, “But the dullest of the girls was alive to the comedy, and had a good-humored contempt for the unworldliness of the semi-divine persons who spoke to them as if they were not going to recommence squabbling, and pulling one another’s hair, and copying one another’s sums, and stealing one another’s needles, the moment the semi-celestial backs were turned.” By substituting the worlds rich and poor with the divine and the worldly, Zangwill is able to starkly present how separated these two factions of Jewish society have become. The narrator illustrating how easily these “godly” individuals are able to be fooled by the earthly beings, using sarcasm to nullify their divinity by calling attention to their flaws.

These dualities present in Zangwill’s writing reflect the two sided lives that the individuals in the story live – one side Jewish and the other British, one side isolated and the other filled with community, and one side poor and the other rich. Children of the Ghetto produces pathos in its readers as we are shown a group of people who are in between two worlds – the modern British world and that of the Jewish ghetto.

Drawing of customers of the Jewish Soup Kitchen.
The outside of the soup kitchen referenced in this passage.
Posted on Nsomma Alilonu

Hannah on the Threshold: Children of the Ghetto Commentary

‘The hands of the clock crept on. It was half-past nine. Hannah sat lethargic, numb, unable to think, her strung-up nerves grown flaccid, her eyes full of bitter-sweet tears, her soul floating along as in a trance on the waves of a familiar melody. Suddenly she became aware that the others had risen and that her father was motioning to her. Instinctively she understood; rose automatically and went to the door; then a great shock of returning recollection whelmed her soul. She stood rooted to the floor. Her father had filled Elijah’s goblet with wine and it was her annual privilege to open the door for the prophet’s entry. Intuitively she knew that David was pacing madly in front of the house, not daring to make known his presence, and perhaps cursing her cowardice. A chill terror seized her. She was afraid to face him—his will was strong and mighty; her fevered imagination figured it as the wash of a great ocean breaking on the doorstep threatening to sweep her off into the roaring whirlpool of doom. She threw the door of the room wide and paused as if her duty were done.

“Nu, nu,” muttered Reb Shemuel, indicating the outer door. It was so near that he always had that opened, too.

Hannah tottered forwards through the few feet of hall. The cloak and hat on the peg nodded to her sardonically. A wild thrill of answering defiance shot through her: she stretched out her hands towards them. “Fly, fly; it is your last chance,” said the blood throbbing in her ears. But her hand dropped to her side and in that brief instant of terrible illumination, Hannah saw down the whole long vista of her future life, stretching straight and unlovely between great blank walls, on, on to a solitary grave; knew that the strength had been denied her to diverge to the right or left, that for her there would be neither Exodus nor Redemption. Strong in the conviction of her weakness she noisily threw open the street door. The face of David, sallow and ghastly, loomed upon her in the darkness. Great drops of rain fell from his hat and ran down his cheeks like tears. His clothes seemed soaked with rain.

“At last!” he exclaimed in a hoarse, glad whisper. “What has kept you?”

“Boruch Habo! (Welcome art thou who arrivest)” came the voice of Reb Shemuel front within, greeting the prophet.

“Hush!” said Hannah. “Listen a moment.”‘ – Children of the Ghetto, Chapter 25

 

The passage above reflects the inner turmoil of Hannah, the daughter of a rabbi, as she chooses between running away with the man that she loves and remaining a part of her family.  It begins with a focus on time. She is thirty minutes late to meet David. As Hannah is caught in indecision, the focus on the slow, creeping movement of the hands of the clock in the first paragraph is important to increasing the suspense of the moment. This moment of suspense and fear is further captured by the anathema present in the articulation of Hannah’s feelings. “Her strung-up nerves…, her eyes…, her soul”, the structure of this sentence takes us into the interior life of Hannah. We more personally feel her panic in these lines as she is frozen with indecision.

The reasons for this indecision, a choice between her religion and her love, are partly revealed by references to previous points in the passage. “Her soul floating along as in a trance on the waves of a familiar melody” clearly refers to a moment earlier in the chapter when she sits with her father through the Seder service. When she hears the choir, she says that “the words seem fateful, pregnant with a special message”.  This message is all about adhering to the strict obedience of the very Law she is about to defy. Her guilt steered her back to the words of this song, making it more difficult for her to choose her lover over her religion.

Religion continues to play a role in the meaning of the passage as the Seder dinner continues. It is Hannah’s “annual privilege to open the door for the prophet’s entry”. In the Bible, Hannah gives birth to the prophet Samuel after fervent prayer to God.  In a matter of speaking, Hannah opens the door for the entry of the prophet into the world just as her namesake opens the door during the Seder dinner. Ironically, the person waiting outside the door is David, who is not the prophet Elijah nor a prophet in the Bible. In fact, the downfall of the biblical David resembles that of his namesake, for he falls in love with the wife of Uriah although it is unlawful for them to be together (2 Samuel 11).

Realizing that David would be waiting for her once she opened the door for Elijah is the “returning collection” that “whelmed her [Hannah’s] soul”, as it meant that she could no longer ignore David. The will of David to marry her is compared to a great ocean “threatening to sweep her off into the roaring whirlpool of doom”. This is likely a Biblical reference to the great flood. In this story, God sends a great flood upon the earth to wipe out the wickedness of humanity, preserving only the righteous, Noah’s family, in an ark. Here, it seems David is among the wicked and is doomed to drown Hannah as well as himself if she goes with him. Later in the passage, David is described as “soaked with rain”, his face “sallow and ghastly”, almost as if he was already drowned. To go with David would be to risk drowning and dying with him. This is further hinted to in the passage where it says “Hannah saw down the whole long vista of her future life,…on, on to a solitary grave”. She associates death with her life with David.

This is in contrast with Hannah’s thoughts earlier in the passage. She seems to desperately want to go with David before it’s too late. When she thinks “Fly, fly; it is your last chance”, it is suggestive of the Israelites flight from Egypt. Like her, they were fleeing persecution, but unlike her, they were being persecuted by the Egyptians, while Hannah is being persecuted by her own religion. This becomes even more important in the light of the fact that they are eating the Seder meal, the meal that commemorates the Israelites’ freedom from the Egyptians. In the original instructions for how this meal was to be eaten, Moses told the Israelites that they must eat the meal in haste, wearing sandals on their feet and holding their staff (Exodus 12:11), as if ready to make flight. Hannah, too, seeks to make flight, but hesitates. When she thinks of her choice, she feels defeated, saying “there would be neither Exodus nor Redemption”. Here, Exodus refers to the fact that she cannot flee, while Redemption could refer to her belief that she cannot be redeemed, or saved from her unhappiness, by David. Redemption could also refer to her unwillingness to abandon her religion, as Jesus is called the Redeemer (and Jesus is from the line of David). Either way, Hannah’s final lines of the passage clearly show that she has made up her mind. She chooses to listen to her father, who is greeting the prophet in Hebrew, rather than David, who is speaking in English. She is drawn back to her family and religion, leading her to finally reject David.

The historical context that this story is placed in is the late 19th century. During this time, the Jewish population in Cape Town, including people such as David, began to rapidly expand. The Eastern European Jews who came to Cape Town in this period shed the traditional garb and customs of Judaism for more Anglo-Jewish customs. Coming from such a background, David’s shock at such a strict adherence to the laws of Judaism is understandable. A kohein could not marry a divorcee, a convert, a promiscuous woman, a woman who is the offspring of a forbidden marriage to a kohein, or a woman who is the widow of a man who died childless but who has been released from the obligation to marry her husband’s brother. An ordinary Jewsh man is only prohibited from marrying certain close blood relatives, the ex-wives of certain close blood relatives, a woman who has not been validly divorced, the daughter or granddaughter of his ex-wife, or the sister of his ex-wife during the ex-wife’s lifetime (jewishvirtuallibrary.org). We can see from this that the title of kohein changes much of what is expected by Jewish law, expectations that David was unwilling to reckon with. It is through exploring this context that we’re better able to understand the events that happened in Children of the Ghetto.