Reflecting on Judaism

The letter which was received from the Local Education Committee, and which was forwarded on to Mr. Rubin, was also sent to Mr. Tom Philips, a Manager of the Stepney Jewish School. Nat Rubin, who sat in the centre of matters relating to Jewish education, had heard rumour that the Stepney Jewish School was thinking of relocating to North West London and suggested that I approach him informally in order to try to persuade them to relocate in Ilford instead. We met in his offices in the West End of London and I put it to him, inter alia, that a significant number of Ilford’s Jewish residents came from the East End of London and that many had attended the Stepney Jewish School. The meeting lasted some two hours and I came away not knowing whether or not I had succeeded in persuading him. I must have made some impression because within a few days Tom Philips visited the Education Officer of Redbridge. He had also made enquiries from the Greater London Authority. I wrote to him on 7th December 1966 and asked whether his committee had authorised him to negotiate with us formally.

          On 4th March 1966 I received a copy of a letter sent by the Stepney Jewish School to the Inner London Education Authority and I quote it in full: -

           “ Further to our recent very helpful meeting with your officials I am now writing to acquaint you officially with the decision of the Managers.

          For very many years, it has been known that the present school buildings were within the Development Plan, and that the time would come, probably not before 1970, for the removal of the school and its re-erection on another site. For some time, the Managers have been noting the decline in the number of Jewish children enrolling at the school, and the increasing proportion of Christian children. It has been felt that if the Managers were to be confronted with the necessity of building a new school in the neighbourhood, they might well be in a difficult position of having to decide whether this could be any longer justified.

          After carefully considering the position, they put in hand, at the end of last year, an investigation to ascertain the number of Jewish children of school age there might be in the vicinity of the school in the foreseeable future. From the resulting figures, it was obvious that there could be no justification for the building of a new Jewish denominational school in the Stepney Green area.

          At about this time, the Managers were approached by representatives of the Jewish community in Ilford. A discussion with them proved conclusively the present need for a Primary School for Jewish children in that district, and this was confirmed by a subsequent meeting with the London Board of Jewish Religious Education which, as you know, deals with the overall provision of schools for Jewish children.

          The Managers commissioned a small survey and I append part of the very interesting findings. You will observe that one of the people interviewed was Mr. F. W. Constant, the former Divisional Officer of Area 5, who has been a friend and adviser of the school for so many years and whose knowledge of the area is very wide. One of the salient features of the report was the unanimous view of the younger married couples interviewed to leave the area mostly for the Ilford area.

          On receipt of this report, the Managers met specially and finally resolved that it would not be right to rebuild the school in its present area and that steps should be taken to transfer it as soon as possible to Ilford. I should mention that before this decision was taken, representatives of the Managers had an informal discussion with the Chief Education Officer of the London Borough of Redbridge and were told that a site was available and that the suggested move would be welcomed by him.

          I am, therefore, writing to ask you to consider the Managers’ proposal to transfer the Stepney Jewish School to the Borough of Redbridge and to seek the necessary authority from the Department of Education and Science.

          If there is any further information that you would like, I shall be pleased to give it, or if you wish for any further discussion, I and my colleagues are at your service. Yours Faithfully”

          I believe that the receipt of this copy letter was the first indication that my visit to Tom Philip’s office had been successful and the local committee and I were ‘over the moon’. At last, after six frustrating years, we could see light at the end of the tunnel.

          On 30th March 1966, more than six months after they had indicated that they would make funds available to purchase some of the land, Raymond Rudie received yet another letter from the solicitors acting for the Jewish Agency. It said that they were still unhappy with the amendments to the agreement. In the event that the school proceeded with the assistance of another body and their funds repaid to them, they nevertheless wanted to ensure the orthodoxy of the school and therefore the new appointees to be subject to the approval of their Trustees.

          There were more meetings and more correspondence and a compromise was reached whereby they were assured that a clause would be inserted confirming that the Jewish and religious education of the school would be approved by the London Board of Jewish Religious Education. There was a further plea for us to be put into funds.

          By 27th June 1966 funds had still not arrived and so I wrote to one of the proposed Trustees reminding him of the meeting which took place in December 1965 when we were then promised a cheque within three weeks subject to some slight amendments. These amendments were submitted and it was then promised that the matter would be settled by 31st May 1966. I also wrote: -

           “You can therefore imagine the disgust which I and my committee feel at these protracted negotiations spread over a number of years which seem to have led nowhere. If and when a Day School is built in this area, then it will be to no thanks to your organisation and should we be fortunate in establishing a school on true orthodox and traditional lines, as we certainly hope to try, then it will be in spite of and not because of the assistance which we have received from you to date”. I continued:

           “I have stressed to you and your colleagues on numerous occasions that we have been acutely embarrassed by our inability to purchase the two small plots of land but although we have been discussing this single item for some two years, it seems to have no effect whatsoever on you.’”

          This letter was acknowledged with an expression of understanding of our feelings and a limp form of apology. And this is where the saga of the Jewish Agency ended.

          In order to end our embarrassment the school committee borrowed £200 from the Ilford Jewish Kindergarten, which was now showing a small profit, and this sum together with the small amount that the school had in its bank account enabled Raymond Rudie to purchase the land in his name but on behalf of the school’s Trustees. Woolf Abrahams

October 2003.