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The Chief Rabbi's 1920 World Tour
One hundred years ago the Chief Rabbi set out on a 40,000 mile voyage
October 26, 2020 17:38
One hundred years ago the Chief Rabbi set out on a 40,000 mile voyage
October 26, 2020 17:38In this day and age, global tours are carried out by rock stars, comedians or authors, but Chief Rabbis? Well, it may be hard to believe but one hundred years ago, Chief Rabbi Dr Joseph Hertz set out on his own world tour, starting with his arrival in South Africa on 27 October 1920.
In total, the tour covered, 42 communities and 40,000 miles. The principal destinations were the significant Jewish communities in the dominions, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. In total, Hertz was away for almost 11 months, a real sacrifice, leaving behind his wife and six children. In an age before air travel, he travelled by boat.
Hertz, who became Chief Rabbi in 1913, had the idea of a tour after seeing the Prince of Wales’ visit to Canada following the First World War. He wanted to do something similar, and to visit smaller communities. Earlier on in his career, he had served as Rabbi to a an imperial congregation in Johannesburg. In 1920, when the President of the United Synagogue, Lionel de Rothschild proposed the worldwide tour, Hertz jumped at the opportunity. Rothschild thought that a tour “would be of the utmost value in helping to bind together the Jewish communities of the Empire, and in stimulating their religious activities.” Hertz agreed, saying he was enthused to come “into personal touch with the distant communities under my ecclesiastical jurisdiction.”
The United Synagogue issued the invitation for the tour but Hertz then fell ill and had his appendix out. Eventually a farewell dinner took place on 6th October and two days later, the Chief Rabbi set sail. The boat took nearly three weeks to reach Cape Town. Hertz was accompanied by Albert Woolf, a vice-president of the US, in charge of fund-raising. The tour was branded a “pastoral tour” but the agenda was also to raise £1 mn for Jewish education as a memorial for those who had died in the Grat War. Indeed, a letter in the United Synagogue archives reveals correspondence from a man in South Africa to Rabbi Hertz, aggressive in tone, asking whether the trip was for the purpose of Jewish pastoral care or if it was for raising money for the Jewish War Memorial. The Chief Rabbi replies: “Let me assure you, dear Mr. Ehrlich, that I am coming to South Africa on a purely Jewish mission. It is true that there will be an accompanying appeal for the Jewish War Memorial, but I regret the ‘War’ part of it as much as you do.”
First stop was South Africa, which had a Jewish population of 66,000 at the time. Hertz travelled throughout the country, covering 5,000 miles by railway. He was particularly struck by the Great Synagogue in Cape Town, describing it as “the largest and most impressive Jewish house of worship in the Empire.” After visits to several towns, culminating in Johannesburg and Pretoria, he went to Bulawayo in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where he found “Jewish hearts throbbing with enthusiasm for all forms of Jewish endeavour.” One of the things Hertz noticed about the Jews of South Africa is how chartable they were, a characteristic still identifiable today (even amongst those who now live in the UK). Impressed by them raising £450,000 for the War Memorial Fund, he remarks about “a record of generosity that surpasses even that of American Jews.”
Moving on to Australia, Hertz found a warm welcome from its Jewish population of 20,000. President of the visiting committee, Sir John Monash, a war hero, said: “We rejoice that you have found it possible to visit us in our Antipodean home.” Pesach was spent in Sydney, and it was there that he gave more sermons than in any other city. A huge crowd of 3,500, for example, packed into the Town Hall to hear him, including various civic and Christian and leaders. His set-piece Bible Lecture was a recurring event of the tour. In total, Hertz gave this lecture in some 20 cities, to audiences totalling 30,000, many travelling from afar to attend. It was also in Sydney that Hertz received a gift of £2,000, then a considerable sum, to start his eponymous commentary of the Chumash. Hertz also travelled to New Zealand, with its Jewish population of 2,500. In Auckland, he created a particular impression, leaving one community leader gushing about “the inspiring effect” of the visit and recommended that it should be repeated at least every seven years.
After a stop in the Pacific in Fiji, where a few Jewish families were living, Hertz arrived in Canada. A century ago, it had a Jewish population of 125,000, making it the largest of the dominions (nowadays, its Jewish population has surpassed that of the mother country). He was given a warm welcome by the Jewish community in Toronto, Montreal and other cities, and also wider society. Mayors and civic leaders held welcoming receptions and the Governor General also made time to meet with him. In Winnipeg, for instance, the City Hall was illuminated with the message for three nights: “Welcome Dr Hertz.”
After this ground-breaking world trip lasting almost eleven months, Hertz arrived back at Southampton on 30th August 1921 (a week before Charlie Chaplin arrived at the same place). Writing afterwards, he reflected: “I had preached love and loyalty to the Empire wherever I went, and sown the seeds of Jewish idealism and spirituality in all the far-off places I had visited.” Satisfied with a job well done, he was granted a private audience with King George V at Buckingham Palace in November.
The “Imperial tour” is one the things Hertz remains most famous for, along with his commentary on the Chumash. It solidified the bonds between the UK and her dominions, and also gave him and his office profile on the world stage. A century on, the pull of historic ties remains strong. The Chief Rabbi still has, in his job title, head of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, and visits some of the communities periodically.
A modern-day equivalent world tour may well take in a diversity of communities, such as the Caribbean and India, and not just the “white Commonwealth.” The sun may have set on the British empire but, one hundred years after Hertz’s landmark tour, the ties between Jewish communities across the Commonwealth remain strong.
Zaki Cooper is on the Diplomatic Advisory Board of the Commonwealth Jewish Council.
