CHAPTER VII.
THE BEVIS MARKS BICENTENARY.
BEVIS MARKS SYNAGOGUE BICENTENARY. (1701-19010
1901, Aug. 17. AN eventful day in the annals of the Spanish and Portuguese
Bevis Marks Jewish community in this country was Wednesday, the 26th of June,
Bicentenary. 1901, when was celebrated the completion of two hundred years
since the inauguration of the synagogue " Saas Asamaim " (Gate
of Heaven), situate in Bevis Marks, the oldest existing Jewish place
of worship in England. The Jewish World of the following Saturday
gave a concise record from 1701 to 1901.
First The first synagogue in this country was in King Street, Aldgate.
Synagogue in It was established in 1656, and Thomas Greenhalgh found there
England. j n iQQ2 a hundred male worshippers, men of apparent affluence,
besides ladies in very rich attire. The lease of the cemetery in
the Mile End Road is dated 1657 ; it was for 999 years. The
Spanish and Portuguese " Beth-Holim " Hospital now occupies
its site.
Once the Aldgate synagogue was established, the attention of the community was turned to a kindred matter. The subject of religious education was considered, and in 1664 " The Tree of Life," a society for the study of the Law, was founded. The Education: same year the " Gates of Hope " School commenced its operations, and this institution, after having been reorganized in 1882, still serves the useful purpose for which it was originally intended. In 1703 another institution was founded, " The Gates of Life and the Father of the Fatherless." Its object is fourfold, viz., to educate, maintain, clothe, and apprentice orphan boys, the boys being admitted by the votes of the subscribers. In 1724 a society for providing fatherless girls with dowries was established. In 1730 the Villareal School was founded by Isaac da Costa Villareal for the benefit of the poorer girls of the congregation. Disraeli in the memoir of his father speaks thus of the charitable founder :
"There might be found among other Jewish families flourishing in this country the Villareals, who brought wealth to these shores almost as great as their names, though that is the second in Portugal, and who have twice allied themselves to the English aristocracy."
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