The Bevis Marks Synagogue

I promised you a post about a synagogue, and here it is:

Once upon a time, in 11th century England, Christians were not allowed to lend money. Well, Will the Conqueror thought money needed to be lent regardless and a bunch of Jewish folk came to England with him. They worked primarily as money lenders and became a big part of the economy as such. One day, in the late 13th century, Edward I realised he owed a lot of money to some Jewish lenders. So he could get out off debt, Ed I decided to expel all the Jews of England. This led to the term cryptoJew (which I think is spelled correct) meaning that some escaped expulsion by pretending to be Christian.

About 400 years later, 1656, Cromwell the Lord Protector allowed all of the Jews back into England. Some like to think this was a redeeming quality of Cromwell, but most know he only did it because he knew of the good it would have for the (at that time) poor England economy. One caveat of this revocation of the expulsion was that no synagogue or other house of Jewish worship could be found on or seen from any main thoroughfare. Most synagogues were thus just built down grubby little alleys away from prying eyes.

This brings our story to the Bevis Marks Synagogue. After being allowed back to England, the Jewish population boomed and the small basements and attics of worship would not handle the growing congregations. The very first synagogue in London was the Bevis Marks Synagogue and it was finished September 1712.

As you can see in this picture, it is hidden behind other larger buildings, but what you may not know is that it was also built right next to the London wall as it was located at that time. This synagogue was tucked so far out of the way, if you didn’t know where to look, you wouldn’t find it. Furthermore, the building itself was designed specifically to look nothing like a synagogue. The original congregation, in order to avoid any kind of condemnation whatsoever, knew it’d be best to look like a nondescript Christian building so they employed a Christian builder. Joseph Avis ( a student of Christopher Wren) designed this building splendidly and had it built so well that the entire building, including the inside, is all completely original, except for repairs done after the 1992-3 terrorist bombings.

Unfortunately, pictures inside are not allowed so I cannot easily show you the beauty in it, but I can assure, unbiasedly, that it is gorgeous.