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 In December 2004 I received
a letter from 79 year old Jack White who now lives in Israel but is an 'old
boy' of the Jewish East End. Jack was concerned at the absence of a
reference to Redman's Road Talmud Torah, Stepney on my site. An appeal
to Jack to fill this void produced a marvellous article..
Jack not only tells us about Redman's Rd Talmud Torah, but he also mentions
Philpot Street Great Synagogue, Chazan Adelman of Philpot Street synagogue,
the Reverend J K Goldbloom, and others. Redman's Road Talmud Torah closed
around 1961. Scroll down (or click on Redman's Rd Talmud Torah) to read Jack's article.
To read Jack's recollections of Philpot Street Great Synagogue
click
Philpot Street & Chazan Adelman
Jack is still teaching in Israel & to the left is a photo of
Jack with one of his pupils
PLUS.....To read Jack's
memories of his Barmitzvah at Redman's Rd in the 1930's and to
learn the secret of a well cut pair of 'gutkas' click on: BARMITZVAH Pre
War Redman's Road Talmud Torah Memories from Redman's Road old boy
Jack White. Jack grew up
in Jubilee Street and was born Jack Weitzensang. He now lives in
Israel.
 Redman's road runs parallel to Mile End Road and runs from Jubilee
Street to Stepney Green [almost] It is linked to Mile End Road by
Assembly passage and in my days was the location of Mann, Crossman
Brewery, Redman's Road Junior Boys' School, and Girls' School. Also
there, was one of East London's premier Wedding and Barmitzvah Hall
-The Casino. I went to the Junior Boys' School, from where I managed
to get a scholarship to Parmiter's school in Approach Road Bethnal
Green. I remember my mother saying to her neighbours "My Jackie won
money." This was not the purpose of the scholarship but it did mean
that all my books would be paid for and I would get a grant of nine
pounds a year to pay for clothing and sports equipment. This increased
to fifteen pounds when I reached fourteen and twenty four pounds when
I reached sixteen. Paltry sums in these days, but without this grant,
I could never have afforded to go to Grammar school. [I won't go into
the stories of unemployment and charities and five siblings!]
 At the
far end of Redman's Road sat the Talmud Torah and Shul combined. This
was entirely free to those who could not afford to pay the fees and we
certainly fell into that category! There were eight classes and we
started at 5.20 and went on till 8.00. Monday to Thursday and Sunday
afternoon from 2.30 till 5.00. The earlier classes finished at
7.00. The last half hour was spent just reading, as there were many
boys, myself included who sang in Shul choirs and had rehearsals twice
a week at 7.45. We were allowed to leave at 7.30 on rehearsal nights,
so the classes were rather depleted at those times.
The photo above was taken in the yard of Redmans Rd Cheder
circa 1938 and sent in by Ivan Metzger - the boy in the centre with
his hands together.
  The
Headmaster was Rev. J.K Goldbloom, (see photo on
left, and 1938 photo on the right showing Rev Goldbloom sitting with
his family) a lovely man who dedicated his life
to the Jewish education of East End kids. Unfortunately, his staff were
not all up to his standard, many of them being underpaid schoolmasters
trying to earn a little extra. Among them were some sadistic men
whose only way to keep discipline was with the liberal use of the
cane. That is not to say that there weren't boys who goaded them into
action!
We
started in the first class, learning Aleph-Bais and by the time we
were in our third class, it was forbidden to speak English in class.
If you didn't know how to say "Ha'im ani yachol latzais" you could wet
yourself! One of the first things I learned was to say "Aich omrim-----
be'ivris"
 We were
taught to write and read script and we learned the Grammar. I believe
that we were the only Talmud Torah which taught Ivris as a language to
be spoken and not just to read parrot fashion. By the age of 12,
we started our evening with Mincha and/or Ma'ariv and we had to take
it in turns to act as reader. At the same age, we started to learn
Talmud, the class taken by Goldbloom's son Abraham (see photo left) who had inherited his
father's knack of getting respect and keeping discipline by his
personality and interesting lessons and not by waving a cane about.
The top
class was taken by a wonderful teacher, Mr. Horovitz, known to us as "Shushi"
as he was continually saying "Shush" His Hebrew was slightly better
than his English and he used to say "If you don't be quiet, I'll break
every teef in you body." His most famous saying was "I'll varn you
vunce and I'll varn you tvice, but don't expect me to varn you a
second time!!! They don't make them like that these days. I
stayed on after barmitzvah which took place in the shul which was
formed by opening the folding partitions between the four classes in
the yard.
On Rosh
Chodesh (the beginning of the Month on the Jewish Calendar-
the New Moon), those of us in post barmitzvah class were
encouraged to come to Shacharit to make sure there would be a minyan.
For this, we got twopence, which was twice my weekly pocket money!
When I
came here to live (Israel), and started Ulpan, I blessed the Hebrew
education that I received as it all came flooding back and I was soon
speaking, reading and writing. On my
first visit to Israel in 1974, I was overjoyed to see that in Haifa,
there was a new immigrants club, named for JKB. May a Blessing
be on his memory. Rev J K Goldbloom died in 1961.
As a
addition may I say that although Oxford and
St. Georges gets a lengthy write up on your site, and as an Old
boy I was pleased to see it, there were four other Jewish Youth Clubs
in Stepney. The first was Brady, followed by Victoria and then Oxford.
After these came Cambridge and Bethnal Green and Stepney Boys Club.
These were all run by volunteers with the guidance of stalwarts like
Sidney Drage, Ernie Lottinga, Flato and others in the mould of "the
Gaffer" as Basil Henriques was known. These scions of wealthy families
gave up their luxury living to devote themselves to the welfare of the
underprivileged Jewish Youth of the east end.
Philpot Street Great Synagogue:
 As far
as singing in the Shul choirs was concerned, this was a good way for
us to supplement the meagre income that came to our flats. I started at
2 shillings a quarter and by the time the war came I was lead alto in
the choir at Philpot Street Great synagogue. I was paid the
princely sum of 24 shillings a quarter. This went straight to my mum
who used it to replenish the clothes that we all wore out with our
football and other games like High Jimmy Nacker! Our chazan was the
wonderful Chazan Adelman who was a perfectionist. Here is an apocryphal story. Philpot Street synagogue was an imposing
building with twelve or so steps leading up to the entrance. One
winter, the steps were iced over and the worthy chazan slipped and
found himself in the gutter, bleeding from a cut in his head. He
reached into his pocket, took out his tuning fork, rapped it on the
kerb, put the fork to his ear and sang [in tune] "Oy Gevalt".
Harry
Mizzler - a
Philpot Street Synagogue Boxing Story:
In
those days one paid extra for a choir at a wedding. If you had
flowers in the shul you also paid extra. It was not unusual to
hear people boasting about their son's or daughter's wedding by
puffing out their chest and saying, "The wedding is 'floral and
choral." What affluence!!! It was not unusual to have three or
even five weddings on a Sunday. In those days weddings had to
take place in shuls, not halls or hotels as now. I remember on
one occasion singing the first 'number' which was 'Mah Tovuh', when
the marriage secretary rushed up to the gallery where the choir was
situated for weddings and said, "This is not a choral wedding, its
the next one you are supposed to be singing at!" We waited
until after the ceremony and then started again when the genuine
(paid for) wedding started. We were paid between one shilling
and sixpence and half a crown (7p and 12.5p) a wedding. I was half a
crown when I became lead alto, and we were paid immediately after
the ceremony. The big wedding of the East End in those days
was that of Harry Mizler, who was British Lightweight Champion.
After the ceremony he came personally to thank us for singing so
well and told us that we would all be getting something extra in our
pay - and we did, but that's another story**
read Jack's piece below to find out a more about this choir
fee**. On leaving
the shul he walked under an arch of well known boxers of the day holding
up one arm with a boxing glove on it.
As far
as the boxers at Harry Mizler's wedding are concerned, to the best
of my recollection they were the principle Jewish East End boxers of
the day. Jack (Kid) Berg would have been there. Berg's mother
used to sell toffee apples out of her front room window not far from
where I lived in Jubilee Street. Ted (Kid) Lewis would also have
been there. He had a pub in the West End. Also Benny Caplan, who on
retiring from the ring, became an inspector with the buses at the
Shoreditch Bus terminal. Benny was an old boy of
Oxford and St.Georges Club,
as was Harry Mizler. Now to the **other
story about the choir fee** I
don't know if you would want to embarrass any of the surviving
relatives of the main character of the story, but I'll tell you
anyway. After a wedding, we were paid by the choirmaster, who will
remain nameless! He told us that Mr. Mizler had given each boy an
extra one shilling and sixpence over our usual fee. Years later, I
was at the annual Oxford and St Georges Old Boys' Dinner and at the
bar stood one of my friends with a face that was familiar to me. My
friend (Jack Grant) called me over, offered me a scotch and said "Do
you know Harry Mizler?" Of course it was him. He had lost contact
with the Club and had met someone who persuaded him to attend the
function. He was then around 60 years of age. I introduced myself as
one of the choirboys who had sung at his wedding and said that I
welcomed the opportunity to personally to thank him for the extra
one and six that he had so generously given us. "What one and six?",
he replied, "I gave him (the choirmaster) an extra half a crown each
for all of you!" I thought at the time that I hope he
needed it more than we did!
A
Jack Solomons' Boxing Story:
Jack White writes again:
I've
just remembered a boxing story about the boxing promoter the late Jack Solomons
(& employer of my Uncle Bob - Phil). There was a
young (I think 18) prospect from a village in Cambridgeshire who
Jack Solomons brought down to fight Dave Crowley for the British
Lightweight title. His name was Eric 'Boy' Boon.
He stayed at Solomon's' house in Hackney. He asked Solomons to
take him to see the 'West End'. Solomons was afraid to expose
this young naive and impressionable village lad to the temptations
of the 'West End' so he apparently took him on a bus ride through
Hackney and when Boon saw the parade of shops in Mare Street he was
told, "There you are, The West End!" Incidentally Boon fought
Jack (kid) Berg (real name Judah Bergman) and lost on
a disqualification. Boon eventually won the title.
Meanwhile, I hope
I have given you some ammunition to put Redman's Road on the map where
it belongs! - Jack
Meanwhile, Rev J K
Goldbloom's grandson Jeremy sent me the quotes below taken from
Redman's Rd 1951 Golden Jubilee booklet. Included are 4
letters written in Hebrew from 4 celebrated Jewish scholars and
teachers commending the excellence of Redman's Road. The
booklet is entitled: "Talmud
Torah Ivrit Be-Ivrit - 1901 - 1951 Fifty Years of its (Redman's
Road) Existence".
Redman's Road Talmud Torah closed
around 1961. Stepney Orthodox Synagogue is now incorporated
with Fieldgate Street Great Synagogue
Ivrit is the name given to modern Hebrew.
"On
the 2nd day of Succot 1901 a number of Jewish residents in Stepney
met and formally decided to establish a Talmud Torah in the neighbourhood
as the existing three Talmud Torahs were too far away. They
approached the Rev. J.K. Goldbloom who was known at the time as a
"cultural" Zionist to take the lead. He agreed on condition that
he be allowed to draw up the syllabus. This being accepted, the
first meeting, only a small gathering, was held on Sunday October
13th 1901 at the Old Stepney Orthodox Synagogue where a Committee
was elected with Rev. Goldbloom as president. Two rooms in
Hayfield's Passage were hired, about 70 pupils enrolled and two
classes were opened the teachers being Mr. I. Yanishevsky (later
known as Mr Jacobi in Israel) and Mr Ben Dov Cohen, a specialist
for beginners in Ivrit b'Ibrit who left later for the U.S.A."
On the left are the 4 letters from
celebrated Hebrew scholars and teachers written to Redman's
Road. (Click to enlarge and read) For those
whose Hebrew is not up to a translation this is what it says:
Dr.Y.S
Fox,editor of "Hamagid" (The preacher)
"A
spiritual
pleasure was ours at the hearing of the pupils of the Talmud
Torah in Stepney, studying by the method of "Ivris b'Ivris.
Actually,our ears would not had believed, if we had been told
about this. Young boys from9-11, , speaking Ivris like regular
adults, explaining the laws of the "Shulchan Aruch", explaining
verses from the Torah and reciting chapters of the source of our
people in simple Ivris, without any hesitations and seeing in
their faces that they were enjoying Hebrew speaking which gave
them pleasure and fun.And what's more,they consider it to be
understood in natural speaking."
Isaac Suwalsky - Editor of "HaYehudi"
(The Jew) Month of Adar, 5660. (5660 is 1900 which
doesn't tie in with the 1901 foundation date of the Talmud Torah -
so maybe the school had been operating informally on the site
before 1901, or maybe it was a typo in the original document).
"I visited the Talmud Torah [Redman's Road] and tested the pupils
and I was happy to see that almost all the young people knew how
to read and write. [in Ivrit]. The boys wrote in Ivrit, a story
that we presented tp them and besides that, they understood what
we told them in Ivrit and they knew to tell us in writing what
we wanted to know. And concerning this, we are grateful to the
leaders of the establishment and to those who are working to
maintain it"
 Rabbi
Isaac Suwalsky, whose photo is on the left, was my cousin's wife's
grandfather and a renowned Zionist, Hebrew scholar and pioneer in
the use of Hebrew as a spoken language. In 1897 he founded a
Hebrew newspaper entitled HaYehudi. At his funeral at the
age of 54 in 1913 his cortege - according to the Jewish
Chronicle obituary - stretched the length of Brick Lane as his
coffin made its way to Philpot Street Synagogue for a
eulogies by assorted celebrated rabbis of the day, including one
from Rev J K Goldbloom
Samuel Rafeli
from Jerusalem (accompanying Mr. Suwalsky) From Brakai, The light
of the East.
"I truly read the time of privilege of standing at the test of
the Talmud Torah.In the midst of dark fog,and many shadows that
covered the way of educating boys in the city of New Babylon, I
saw a flash of light and hope for the boys being educated in
the correct method of Ivris b'Ivris and thanks are given to the
principal of this establishment."
David Yellin
"What joy in my heart to see in this place, teachers and pupils
sitting in their classrooms and their hearts given only to the
nests of our people, scholars learning all that is important to
us. The teachers are acting in faith, planting in the hearts of
the boys, love and real obligation for our people, for the Torah
for the language and for our land."
A Fieldgate Street Connection
with Redman's Rd Talmud Torah - Grodzinski's Bakery
I am grateful to Jonathan Grodzinski for sending in the following letter about his
family's connection with Redman's Rd Talmud Torah and
Fieldgate Street in London E1. Jonathan writes:
Phil Hyams died in 1997 aged 102. His father Hyam
Hyams was Vice President of Redmans Road Talmud Torah . He was
originally Hyam (Chaim Elya) Grodzinski. He had a
bakery at 20 Bedford Street (now called Cavell Street)
whilst his brother in law /uncle Aaron (Harris) Grodzinski
had a bakery in Fieldgate Street.
Jonathan was kind enough
to send photos of his family's bakers shops from that
period:
(Rest your mouse on the
photos to read the captions then double click to enlarge)
Grodzinski's bakery is
still flourishing and the early C20th photos above of
their shops are reproduced from their carrier bags.
The plaque in the middle commemorating the 1888-1988 centenary of Grodzinski's
bakery in Fieldgate Street can be seen today on the
wall of Fieldgate Street Synagogue, 41 Fieldgate Street,
London E1
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