Within her talk discussing the “hidden life of Sheffield’s Jews”, Simons uses elements of the Jewish archive, which fills 80 boxes currently in Sheffield’s library holdings. Through the use of images and stories of individual characters, Simons reveals all elements of Jewish life in Sheffield, and how much this community achieved, albeit being one of the smallest ethnic groups in Sheffield then, and to this day.
Simons, professor at De Montford University and author of 12 books, took the audience through the life of the Jewish community in Sheffield from the early 19th century up until recent days. She acknowledges that this community was very small, with 56 Jewish people recorded in 1847 and 800 by 1903.
The main point that stood out to me was how the areas the Jewish communities lived in, around West Bar, was labelled by neighbours as a “ghetto” and the majority of these families were in an immense state of poverty. Many challenged this by becoming merchants, tailors and grocers, with the first “Jewish” grocery shop Gotliebs on Ecclesall road in the mid 19th century, providing a sense of home away from home
Many figures, both instrumental in the Jewish community and Sheffield were mentioned, such as H L Brown, the first Jewish person to be appointed to council. The contribution to Sheffield’s iconic steel and cutlery industries, where 23 of those recorded cutlery manufacturers based in Sheffield were labelled as “Jewish businesses”.
Despite the interesting nature and appeal of this talk, it felt very monotone and rehearsed, with the information being read off of notes with not much emotion or passion put into it. However, Simon’s comments on the nature of antisemitism were strong, empowering yet felt like a necessary comment rather than a detailed discussion.
During the questions being asked at the end of the talk, there was an interesting discussion about how the names of Jewish people were changed to be more “Anglicised”. This led into the fact that many people in these communities felt their identity was lost or confused through the emigration process, especially after enduring trauma and hatred in events such as the eastern European pogroms, and later, the holocaust.
As someone that grew up in a Jewish community, I was expecting more from this talk. I cannot deny that the information and facts were immaculate, however i craved a talk that engaged with the audience and contained more personality, rather than straight facts to be more accessible and engaging.
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
