Sport or shul? Physical recreation, Anglo-Jewry and the Jewish Sabbath, c. 189-1939

<plain_text><page sequence="1">Jewish Historical Studies , volume 44, 2012 Sport or Shul? Physical recreation, Anglo-Jewry and the Jewish Sabbath, ca. 1890-1939 DAVID DEE Historians of British immigration have often noted that religious belief and observance is a "fundamental" component of migrant or minority ethnicity.1 This is seen to be especially true for the Jewish community who, hailing from many different regions and countries, often viewed religious organizations and customs as a provider of some form of collective identity. While it is incorrect to talk of one, unified Jewish community, attachment to religion is clearly a fundamental aspect of what identified Jews as Jews and what histor- ically defined Jewish ethnicity in the eyes of wider society.2 By extension, if a weakening of attachment to religion occurs within a migrant/minority community, there is often believed to be an accompanying effect on that group's ethnic identity. In the case of Anglo-Jewry, from the arrival of Russian Jewish immigrants from the late nineteenth century onwards, there is much evidence to suggest a marked decline in religious observance. For instance, Bernard Homa has noted that while the façade of organized religion may have remained strong in the period from 1880 to 1940, there are many indications that adherence and concern for faith among the Jewish community steadily declined.3 In 1903 a study of levels of religiosity in London concluded that only a quarter of the capital's immigrant Jewish population regularly attended synagogue.4 Rosalyn Livshin noted that trends of decreasing obser- vance continued throughout the interwar years. One commentator claimed in 1964 that "a basic fact of religious life in Anglo-Jewry is that the great bulk of the community has only the slightest concern with Judaism" and that as much as 70 per cent were "largely indifferent" to religion.5 1 Panikos Panayi, Immigration , Ethnicity and Racism in Britain: 1815-1Q45 (Manchester, 1994), 90. 2 Panikos Panayi, An Immigration History of Britain: Multicultural Racism since 1800 (London, 2010), 145. 3 Bernard Homa, Orthodoxy in Anglo-Jewry : 1 880-1 940 (London, 1969). 4 ToddEndelman, The Jews of Britain: 1656-2000 ( London, 2002), 147. 5 Rosalyn Livshin, "Acculturation of Immigrant Jewish Children", in The Making of Modern Anglo-Jewry , ed. David Cesarani (Oxford, 1990), 90-93; Norman Cohen, "Trends in Anglo- Jewish Religious Life", in Jewish Life in Modern Britain , eds. Julius Gould and Shaul Esh (London, 1964), 41. 7</page><page sequence="2">David Dee The years since the end of the Second World War have witnessed a resur- gence of Ultra-Orthodoxy within Britain and steady synagogue membership levels (especially among the growing suburban Jewish population). However, the "decline of religious observance" more generally - characterized by decreasing synagogue attendance and growing numbers of British Jews claiming to be "secular" - has been a "prominent feature of the post-war decades".6 The post- 1945 period has seen a "gradual decline in religious adherence" among the Jewish community as a whole, a trend reflected in other minority groups and the British population.7 This "irreligion" was especially evident among the British-born children of the immigrant population from the 1890s through to 1939. Although not fully assimilated or accepted into the mainstream society, many young immi- grant or second-generation Jews felt a greater affinity to the majority culture than to the customs and traditions of their parents.8 While the links between "Orthodox" Federation of Synagogues congregations and first-generation migrants remained strong, levels of attendance at shul - and at Talmud Torah religious schools - began to drop among their children.9 By the interwar years, concerns about the apparent "decline in religious observance" among young Jews were being "frequently expressed" by com- munal and lay leaders.10 The Jewish establishment became increasingly anxious over "evidence of widespread ignorance on matters Jewish and lack of observance or worship" appearing regularly during this period.11 A report by The Times into "Alien London" lamented the fact that "the younger gen- eration who grew up during the war have, to a very large extent, lost their reli- gious belief'.12 Similarly, in a 1925 report into London Jewry published by th z Jewish Guardian , the "irreligiosity of Jewish youth . . . figured promi- nently".13 By 193 1, religious leaders were claiming a notable and alarming "decline of observance amongst young people in Anglo-Jewry".14 The increasing secularization of this section of the community is particu- larly apparent when examining attitudes towards the Jewish Sabbath - a key tenet of Jewish religious life. Observance of the Jewish rest day, as expressed through adherence to the various Sabbath laws prohibiting work, travel, the 6 Endelman ,Jews of Britain, 239. 7 Panayi, Immigration History, 155. 8 David Cesarani, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Suburbs: Social Change and Anglo-Jewry Between the Wars, 1914-1945", JčípísA Culture and History 1, 1 (1998): 13, 16. 9 Endelman, Jews of Britain , 220-2 1 . 10 Elaine Smith, "Jews and Politics in the East End of London, 1918-1939", in Cesarani, Making of Modern Anglo-Jewry , 1 43 . 1 1 David Cesarani, "The East End of Simon Blumenfeld's Jew Boý' London Journal 13, 1 (1987): 47. 12 The Times , 28 Nov. 1924. 13 Jewish Guardian , 1 May 1925. 14 Cesarani, "East End ", 47-49. 8</page><page sequence="3">Sport or shul? Physical recreation, Anglo-Jewry and the Jewish Sabbath carrying of money and so on and promoting attendance at synagogue, became markedly less common among second-generation immigrant Jews from the late nineteenth century to the Second World War. Lloyd Gartner claims that in the period up to the First World War, although many first-generation migrants kept the Sabbath in a largely traditional manner, more than half of London Jewry worked on the rest day.15 In her survey of "Jewish Life and Labour in East London" published in 1934, Henrietta Adler noted that Sabbath observance was decreasing among the younger generation of the community.16 Similarly, Joseph Green claimed that, while the "special nature" of the rest day was largely intact during the interwar years, "for increasing numbers ... the Sabbath laws and the Sabbath rituals seemed to be outward trappings, outmoded, unimportant laws and unnecessary to their faith".17 Many factors have been highlighted to explain this trend. Most impor- tantly, historians and social commentators have focused on the effect of the increased need and willingness of Jews to work on the Sabbath. Prevailing work patterns in contemporary non-Jewish society are often cited as having a noticeable effect on observance of the rest day. Adler, for instance, noted that economic conditions for the bulk of East London Jewry made it "increas- ingly difficult" for Jews to observe the Sabbath in anything like a strict, Orthodox manner.18 The emergence of new technologies, such as the elec- tric light and the wireless radio, as well as general cultural changes within the younger generation, have also been highlighted as significant factors in increasing indifference towards the Jewish Sabbath. Clearly, the Jewish rest day was undermined and eroded from many different angles from the late nineteenth century onwards, resulting in a marked reduction in numbers strictly adhering to Sabbath law.19 One factor which also contributed to a reduced observance of the Jewish Sabbath was participation in sport - reflecting similar changes in non-Jewish British society in the nineteenth century: John Lowerson has shown that Christian religious leaders in the nineteenth century in Britain increasingly saw sport as an important challenge to observance of the Christian Sabbath and that there was much "secularisation arising from social habits".20 While the impact of sport on adherence to the Jewish rest day has not been com- pletely overlooked by historians, evidence suggests that the influence of 15 Lloyd Gartner, The Jewish Immigrant in England , 18/0-1914 (London, 2001), 194. 16 Henrietta Adler, "Jewish Life and Labour in East London", in New Survey of London Life and Labour , ed. Hubert Llewellyn Smith (London, 1934), 278. 17 Joseph Green, A Social History of the Jewish East End in London, 1014-1030 (Lampeter, i99i),33o. 18 Adler, "Jewish Life", 278. 19 Green, Social History , 330. 20 John Lowerson, Sport and the English Middle Classes , 1870-1914 (Manchester, 1993), 268-277. 9</page><page sequence="4">David Dee physical recreation is more considerable than previously acknowledged.21 Between the late nineteenth century and 1939, increasing Jewish direct and indirect participation in sport was a significant factor in changing attitudes towards the Jewish Sabbath. (This was also the case outside Britain, where sport was also impacting negatively on levels of Sabbath observance.)22 In contrast to the picture painted by some mainstream historians, Saturday was increasingly a day of play, or watching professional sportsmen play, rather than a day of rest and prayer for many within the Jewish community.23 The trend for sport on the Sabbath did not go unnoticed by Jewish reli- gious and lay leaders. Indeed, there were many in both the Jewish elites and the community as a whole who deplored the spectre of Jews shunning the synagogue on the Sabbath in favour of engaging in physical recreation. Concerns were raised not only for the spiritual and social well-being of the individual Jew playing or watching sport on the rest day, but also for the effects of increasing amounts of sport on the Sabbath for the cohesion of the Jewish community more generally. For many, the issue of observance of the Sabbath went to the very core of the health of the Anglo-Jewish community. If individual Jews choosing sport on the Sabbath was alarming enough, then the thought of Jewish youth organizations actively encouraging physi- cal recreation on the rest day appalled many religious leaders. In the case of the Jewish youth movement, founded during the 1890s with an "Anglicizing" mission at its very core, dissenting voices among the community gradually emerged who disliked the effect that sport had on these organizations' reli- gious tone. Against the background of growing communal awareness and concern over the "irreligion" of second-generation immigrants, increasingly vociferous calls were made for the youth movement to lead the way in "re- Judaizing" a gradually more apostate younger generation. At the centre of this was increasing respect for the Sabbath and, by extension, limiting sport in favour of more religious content and emphasis. While pressure was placed on the youth movement to lessen its sporting focus, it was not the case that all the calls were heeded. There was a growing agreement among some Jewish youth leaders that more could be done on reli- gious matters and that Sabbath observance should form a more central aspect of the youth movement's programme. Despite this, however, there still remained a core who believed that the advantages of sport outweighed what- ever could be gained by a strictly observant attitude towards the Jewish rest day. 21 See Todd Endelman, Radical Assimilation in English Jewish History , 1 656-1 Q45 (Bloomington, IN, 1990), 176-77. 22 See Anat Heiman, "Zionism, Politics, Hedonism: Sports in Inter-War Tel Aviv", in Jews, Sports and the Rites of Citizenship , ed. Jack Kugelmass (Chicago, 2007), 47-58. 23 Ross McKibbin, Classes and Cultures: England , 1918-1Q51 (Oxford, 2000), 36. 10</page><page sequence="5">Sport or shul? Physical recreation, Anglo-Jewry and the Jewish Sabbath Between the 1890s and 1939 sport became a central aspect of the lives of many second-generation migrant Jews - its physical, social and emotional benefits overshadowing the perceived religious and social harm it caused. Sport did not solely create Jewish "irreligion" or account wholly for relaxed approaches towards the Sabbath. However, Jewish interest in physical recre- ation was clearly an important factor in changing the beliefs and attitudes of a significant proportion of the youngest of the population. Individual Jews Even among "Anglicized" English Jews hailing from the Jewish elites, there is evidence to suggest that sport could sometimes form a part of Sabbath activities. While members of the Jewish "Cousinhood" could often be pub- licly observant in religious matters, strict standards of adherence were not necessarily maintained in their private lives. In fact, the Jewish elites of the late Victorian period often mirrored their Christian peers in terms of approach to religious matters: their social, communal and political lives were characterized by strict observance but their attitudes in private were gov- erned more by an "inconsistent Victorian religiosity".24 This was the case for Samuel Montagu (1832-191 1), the banker, philanthropist and co-founder of the Federation of Synagogues. Montagu, although a "strict adherent of Orthodox Judaism", often allowed his household to play tennis on the Sabbath yet prohibited croquet as he felt a "chipped mallet constituted work".25 Indications that the wider Jewish population were forgoing traditional Sabbath observance in favour of sport also emerged during the 1890s. On 4 November 1898, the Jewish Chronicle reported that the Conference of the National Union of Women Workers (convened to discuss the "welfare and education of [the] young") addressed the benefits of strict Sabbath obser- vance for the Jewish community. However, one speaker complained about the propensity of some Jews using the rest day for sport and leisure purposes. Miss Lidgett, a Poor Law guardian from St Paneras, noted that "she consid- ered that the Jews had, by the observance of their Sabbath, strengthened their brain-power, as one day's rest in seven gives increased force to mental action". She went on to add, however, that more Jews were spending their Saturday "at play" and that "a Sabbath spent in tennis, golf and bicycling is not ideal and does not smooth the rigours of the soul".26 Similar concerns were echoed four years later, yet this time came from 24 Daniel Langton, Claude Montefiore: His Life and Thought (London, 2002), 66. 25 Ibid. 66. 26 Jewish Chronicle (hereafter JC), 4 Nov. 1898. II</page><page sequence="6">David Dee within the Jewish religious community itself. In 1902, the Minister of the Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation, the Reverend John Harris, gave a paper entitled "The Conditions and Needs of Modern English Judaism" at the Liverpool Jewish Social Club. Harris noted that "Sabbath after Sabbath, the faces of our friends are not seen in our Synagogues" and went on to ask: "Are they all engaged in absolutely imperative business? With those so engaged I have sympathy. But what of those who may be found at the time of divine worship on the golf-links, the river or the cricket-field? What of those who may be found on a Friday night in the theatre and the music hall? . . . Do these things seem of small moment? It is because we are faithless in small matters that the greater evils befall us."27 Although anxieties about Sabbath sport were apparent in the pre-1914 period, the "problem" of sport on the rest day became much more wide- spread during the interwar years. It was at this time that the British-born chil- dren of Russian Jewish migrants reached adulthood. Like their Gentile peers, many were increasingly drawn to sport and leisure opportunities that abounded on Saturday - the main day for such activities in non-Jewish society.28 As Cesarani has noted, it was during the interwar years, when the "British-born offspring of the Jewish working class were being socialised into the British working-class", that more and more Jews from the immigrant community began exploring sporting opportunities on the Sabbath. Faced with the "competition" of sport and various leisure activities (cinema, dancing and so on), respect and adherence for the Jewish rest day - and observance more generally - "suffered a dramatic decline".29 While many Jews wanted to involve themselves in sporting activities on the Sabbath, some did not want to appear openly unobservant. In order to avoid an open break with either familial or communal elders, many young Jews found ways to minimize their chances of detection. Willy Goldman (born in 19 10 to a Russian-Romanian Jewish family) noted in his famous autobiography entitled East End My Cradle that he regularly played street football on the Sabbath but made sure to play away from his own road to avoid the possibility of being seen desecrating the rest day by his Cheder teacher.30 Likewise, Abraham Goldstone, born in Manchester in 19 10, recounted many years later the lengths he used to go to in order to play foot- ball for his local team without incurring the wrath of his observant father: I remember the time that I used to play football for the team . . . and my father was very religious at the time and he wouldn't let me play. He wanted, all he 27 JfC , 28 Feb. 1902. 28 Benjamin Lammers, "The Birth of the East Ender: Neighbourhood and Local Identity in Interwar East London", Journal of Social History 39, 2 (2005): 338. 29 Cesarani, "Funny Thing", 13-17. 30 Willy Goldman, East End My Cradle: Portrait of an Environment (London, 1988), 32. 12</page><page sequence="7">Sport or shul? Physical recreation, Anglo-Jewry and the Jewish Sabbath wanted to do, was to go to the Synagogue on Saturdays, you know what I mean. And I was playing football and I had to get my football boots out on a Saturday afternoon and I had to throw them out of the cellar window to somebody who was waiting and then walk out. He says to me "Wo gehst du?" that means "Where are you going?" and I says "I"m going to the park". He says "Okay then, be back in time" and I used to go and play football. Goldstone also noted that his experiences were not unusual and that "none of the boys' parents knew that they were playing football".31 Indeed, the team used to wash their own jerseys in order to avoid their parents' detection. The same fear of appearing publicly apostate was also evident among those Jews who had the opportunity to play sport for professional teams. Tony Collins highlights the example of Broughton Rangers, a professional rugby league team based in the centre of Manchester's immigrant Jewish commu- nity. During the interwar years, Broughton had a number of Jewish players on their books, including Lester Samuels and Reuben Gleskie, who chose to play as amateurs "so that they could compete on a Saturday afternoon with a clear conscience". While these players did not want to let strict Sabbath observance impede their sport, they were not willing fully to ignore every tenet of Sabbath law - in this case trying to avoid rules preventing work by not publicly taking remuneration for their efforts.32 It is interesting that one of the highly successful Anglo-Jewish professional sportsmen, David Hyman "Harry" Morris (1897-1985), also had a relaxed attitude to Sabbath observance, despite his adherence to wider Jewish festi- vals and customs. Morris, who played football professionally for Brentford, Millwall and Swindon Town (for whom he scored a club record of 229 goals), regularly played on the Sabbath but was known throughout his career to refuse to play on High Holy Days.33 There were, however, many Jews who openly enjoyed sporting activities on the Sabbath with little or no concern. Jews such as Martin Bobker, born in 191 1 in Manchester, were typical of a growing number of second-genera- tion immigrants who fully assimilated the leisure and sporting routines of their non-Jewish peers at the expense of Sabbath observance. By the time Martin was eighteen, his "typical" rest day was notable for its complete lack of religious content. Starting with a Friday-night trip to the greyhound track at nearby Salford, followed by billiards and then cards at a friend's house, Martin's "Sabbath" continued with more billiards on Saturday at lunchtime, another trip to the dogs and an occasional visit to Maine Road to see 31 Interview with Abraham Goldstone, Manchester Jewish Museum (hereafter MJM), J 100. 32 Tony Collins, "Jews, Anti-Semitism and Sports in Britain, 1 900-1 939", in Emancipation Through Muscles: Jews and Sports in Europe , eds. Michael Brenner and Gideon Reuvani (London, 2006), 146. 33 JC, 22 June 1990; Dick Mattick, 100 Greats: Swmaon J own tootball Hub (btroud, 2002), 70-79. 13</page><page sequence="8">David Dee Manchester City play football.34 Similarly, another young Mancunian Jew hailing from an immigrant family, Joe Garman, recounted many years later that his Sabbath often entailed trips to watch professional football matches. Joe claimed "my lack of orthodoxy suited my own whims" and noted that he never allowed religion to get in the way of his love for sport and leisure activ- ities on a Saturday.35 As these two examples show, one of the more popular activities for young Jews on the Sabbath did not necessarily involve directly participating in sport. During the early twentieth century, spectating at professional sporting con- tests was an increasingly popular activity for Jews on their rest day. Perhaps more commonly than actually playing sport on the Sabbath, Jews were to be found on the terraces of rugby, cricket and football grounds watching others compete. Mirroring similar trends elsewhere, Saturday was increasingly being seen by young British Jews as a day for attending local temples of sport, rather than visiting their local synagogue.36 As Green surmises with reference to London Jewry, "spectator sport was a growing passion among the younger East End Jews and most of it took place on Saturdays".37 As early as the 1890s, there were indications that Jews were already becom- ing keen sports spectators and ignoring laws and customs surrounding their Sabbath. During this decade "significant numbers" of Jews began watching rugby matches in Leeds on Saturday. Such was the strength of support for Leeds Parish Church that the team became locally known as the "Sheenies" - an antisemitic reference to the club's large fanbase. Similarly, Manchester Jewry during the 1900s was also known to include a large number of fans of the local rugby league team Broughton Rangers, whose two home grounds, Wheater's Field and (from 191 3 onwards) the Cliff, were situated close to the city's large Jewish immigrant community centred on Cheetham Hill.38 Jewish passion for rugby remained strong during the interwar years, a fact which soon came to the attention of communal leaders and became a serious cause for concern. In 1928, Professor Selig Brodetsky (1888-1954), a renowned Zionist leader and mathematician, wrote in a booklet entitled "The Intellectual Level of Anglo-Jewish Life" of his concern over the number of Jews in Leeds using their Sabbath, not for rest or prayer, but for watching rugby and cricket. He commented that "the road in which I live in Leeds, leading to and from the famous Headingley ground, is crowded every 34 Interview with Martin Bobker, MJM, J43. 35 Interview with Joe Garman, MJM, J89. 36 Michael John, "Anti-Semitism in Austrian Sports Between the Wars", in Brenner and Reuvani, Emancipation Through Muscles, 131. 37 Green, Social History , 33 1 . 38 Collins, "Jews", in Brenner and Reuvani, Emancipation Through Muscles , 146; Interview with Sydney Lea, MJM, J309. H</page><page sequence="9">Sport or shul? Physical recreation, Anglo-Jewry and the Jewish Sabbath Saturday by . . . wandering Jews, upon whom the 'packele' of the Torah seems to sit very lightly indeed". Brodetsky was clearly concerned that a pen- chant for passive involvement in sport had grave potential consequences for the religious health of the community.39 Above all other professional sports in Britain, association football was clearly the most popular among the youngest in the community. The first indications of Jewish interest in professional football emerged in the pre-1914 period, especially among the second-generation immigrant children. In 191 1, Algernon Lesser, a well known Jewish youth worker, was interviewed for the Jewish World about "Anglicising Methods" and his work with immigrant children. Lesser noted that, perhaps to the surprise of some within the com- munity, boys of the Brady Street Club were becoming keen followers of asso- ciation football and went on to claim that enjoyment of indigenous sporting pastimes was beneficial for the young Jews' ongoing acculturation. He claimed that "Most non-Jews, and many of our own community also, would be astonished if they were to visit a Jewish boys' club on a Saturday evening and listen to the conversation which goes on among the members. The results of the games in the football leagues that afternoon are most keenly discussed, and loud is the wailing and great the distress among the supporters of the 'Spurs' if Tottenham Hotspur have had to lower their colours."40 Despite there being a clear interest in football, it was not until the interwar years when Jews in any considerable numbers began attending matches. Part of the explanation for this seems to have much to do with the fact that the British- born, second generation were coming of age at a time of great "economic advance" for many within Anglo-Jewry.41 Endelman, for instance, points out that the 1920s and 30s saw considerable numbers of young, immigrant Jews moving into "white collar" employment. This meant not only that these Jews had more free time to enjoy sport, but also that they had more expendable income than previous generations to use on leisure pursuits more generally.42 It is clear that the interwar years saw a considerable rise in Jewish attendance at football matches, something which had significant consequences on levels of observance of the Sabbath. Green points out in his volume on East End Jewry during the interwar years that "from a day of rest and prayer, Saturday in the Jewish East End was . . . becoming a day given to leisure and enjoyment". Chief among the activities chosen was football and "teenagers and young adults flocked in increasing numbers to see their rival teams play on Saturday after- noons". While declining levels of observance clearly facilitated greater atten- dance at football matches, it would also have been the case that football 39 Selig Brodetsky quoted in Endelman, Radical Assimilation, 176. 40 Algernon Lesser quoted in Mark Lazarus, A Club Called Brady (London, 1996), 38. 41 Green, Social History , 99. 42 Endelman, Jews in Britain , 197. 15</page><page sequence="10">David Dee effectively kept some Jews away from their Synagogue - proving a bigger draw than traditional forms of Sabbath adherence. In short, "as Synagogues slowly lost their clientele, attendances at football matches increased".43 The professional team which appears to have attracted most Jewish support at this time was Tottenham Hotspur FC, based in North London. Although the "Spurs" began to attract Jewish interest and support in the pre-1914 period, it seems that considerable numbers began attending games at Tottenham's White Hart Lane ground only during the interwar period. Many years later th t Jewish Chronicle claimed that almost all Jews "who followed the game [association football]" during the 1920s "were 'Spurs' supporters".44 There are many indications that the club's Jewish fanbase grew consider- ably during the 1930s as well. By the time that the controversial England versus Germany friendly game was held at Tottenham's ground in December 1935, mainstream newspapers were claiming that up to a third, about 10,000 people, of Tottenham's regular home attendance was made up of Jewish fans. The match was a source of much controversy at the time, with many fearing that the presence of a Nazi German national team at a ground with a large Jewish fanbase could be a flashpoint. A relatively strong campaign against the match emerged, with support from Jewish groups, trade unions, factory groups and football organizations, while concerns were also raised that there could be clashes between Nazi supporters and anti-Fascist groups. However, the match passed off peacefully, being seen by historians as something of a propaganda coup for Germany and indicative of the policy of "sporting appeasement" which the British government chose to follow throughout the 1930s.45 A year earlier, the sports writer Trevor Wignall had noted in his Daily Express column that a recent trip to watch Tottenham Hotspur had seen him surrounded by Jewish fans on the terraces.46 By the 1970s, due to their large Jewish fan-base, Tottenham supporters adopted the moniker "The Yids", seemingly as part of a response of being labelled as "Yids" by rival supporters. As John Efron has noted, the characterization of Tottenham as the "Jewish" team still remains strong today.47 43 Green, Social History, 33 1 . 7C, 15 March 1996. 45 Manchester Guardian, 16 Oct. 1935. See Peter Beck, Scoring for Britain: International Football and International Politics , içoo-içjç (London, 1999), Ch. 7: "The Greatest Ever Triumph of the 'Keep Politics Out of Sport' Brigade? England versus Germany, 1935", 173-213; Brian Stoddart, "Sport, Cultural Relations and International Relations: England versus Germany, 1935", Soccer and Society 7, 1 (2006): 29-50; Paul A. Spencer, "A Discussion of Appeasement and Sport as seen in the Manchester Guardian and The Times", Australian Society for Sports History Bulletin 2 (1996): 3-19. 46 Daily Express , 22 Oct. 1934. 47 See John Efron, "When is a Yid not a Jew? The Strange Case of Supporter Identity at Tottenham Hotspur", in Brenner and Reuvani, Emancipation Through Muscles , 235-256. 16</page><page sequence="11">Sport or shul? Physical recreation, Anglo-Jewry and the Jewish Sabbath While Tottenham Hotspur may have been seen as London Jewry's premier football club, their bitter North London rivals, Arsenal FC, also began to attract a significant number of Jewish fans during the 1930s. This decade, which mainly saw Tottenham languishing in the second tier of English football, was an especially successful one for Arsenal, who won mul- tiple League and FA Cup championships. According to the Jewish Chronicle in 1963, this explains why Arsenal "amassed a loyal group of Jewish fans" during this decade, beginning a Jewish connection to the club which remains strong in the modern day.48 While success may have been an important factor in why Arsenal gained a significant Jewish fan-base, it is also clear that the club worked hard away from the pitch to develop strong ties with London Jewry. The legendary Arsenal manager, Herbert Chapman, was labelled a "great friend of the Jewish people" on his death in 1934 for the extensive charity work he con- ducted with local Jewish charities. After Chapman's death, two of his suc- cessors, George Allison and Billy Wright, worked to maintain the club's links to the Jewish community under their respective regimes. On 16 November 1934, for example, Allison wrote to th e Jewish Chronicle noting his pleasure at the "connection" that Arsenal had with London's Jews: "I am happy to think we have a large number of Jews who derive healthy entertainment and get enjoyment from the demonstrations of sportsmanship which they see at the Arsenal ground. For many years it has been our great pleasure to con- tribute to Jewish charities and to help those deserving causes which Jewish organisations have 'fathered' and I am conscious of the fact that we are only able to do this to the fullest degree because of the support which we receive from the Jewish community."49 Away from London, Jews in some of the main provincial settlements were also becoming keen football followers during the first part of the twentieth century. According to various sources, Leeds United gained a notable Jewish following among the city's second- and third-generation immigrant commu- nity from the 1930s and in the period up to the First World War Manchester United also seemingly won over many Jewish football fans.50 The main Manchester club supported by Jews was Manchester City, founded initially in Ardwick in 1880. Oral interviews held at the Manchester Jewish Museum demonstrate that many young, second-generation immigrant Jews became keen and regular City supporters from the interwar years onwards.51 48 JC , 2 Aug. 1963. 49 JCy 16 Nov. 1934. 50 Anthony Cla vane, Promised Land: The Reinvention of Leeds United (London, 2010), 76-81 'JC, 22 Aug. 1963; 'My Sporting Life - David Cohen', MJM, 2008/23/18, 1. Cohen recounts that his love for Manchester United developed during his adolescence, when he would often rotate attending United and Manchester City games each Saturday. 51 See, e.g., Interview with Martin Bobker, MJM J43; Interview with Joe Garman, J89. 17</page><page sequence="12">David Dee For many young Mancunian Jews, football clearly took precedence over anything resembling a strict Sabbath observance. Religious rituals and customs were gradually replaced with routines based on enjoying sport indi- vidually or with other non-observant friends. Sydney Lea, born in Manchester in 1902, recalled that he and a group of Jewish friends became Manchester City season-ticket holders during the 1920s and developed a regular pre-match custom for the much anticipated home games. Mirroring footballing rituals elsewhere within both Anglo-Jewry and the wider popu- lation, on Saturday morning the group would go to the Grosvenor Hotel in central Manchester where they would "have a couple of drinks and a few games of billiards" before hailing a taxi ("five fellas in, five pence each") to proceed to the ground in the early afternoon. Sydney did not only regularly forgo Jewish religious customs to support his beloved club but also curtailed family commitments for important games: in 1923 he cut short his honey- moon to ensure that he could attend City's first game at their new Maine Road stadium.52 It is significant that there was no suggestion that Sydney (or his friends) felt any anxiety over using the Sabbath for sport rather than a stricter obser- vance. For him, and thousands of Jews across the country, Saturday had become a day for sport, not for attending synagogue or adhering to the seem- ingly stifling laws and customs associated with adherence to the Jewish Sabbath. However, despite being clearly comfortable with his own apostasy, Sydney was keen not to appear totally un-observant in the company of his family. On those occasions when he took his father to watch Manchester City (an activity which it seems did not actually displease his parents), Sydney refrained from another activity to avoid incurring his father's disapproval: many years later, Sydney commented, "well, you see, I used to smoke when I was watching football and the old man being there I wouldn't want to hurt his feelings ... it being the Sabbath and all."53 This selective attitude towards Sabbath observance emerges elsewhere among other Jewish football fans. While some second-generation Jews out- wardly expressed no concern that their leisure pastimes had ramifications for their faith, some believed they could indulge in their passion and still adhere to Sabbath law. On 2 November 1934, th z Jewish Chronicle interviewed a "well-known member of the community" who was also a keen supporter of Arsenal FC. When asked "surely you don't attend football matches on Sabbath?", he replied: "I certainly do, as I don't break Jewish law. I don't pay, I am a season ticket holder. I purchased my pass on a weekday and when I enter the Arsenal ground on Sabbath it is the same as if I was entering a public park, since no money changes hands." The columnist was confused as to 52 Interview with Sydney Lea, MJM, faoo. 53 Ibid. 18</page><page sequence="13">Sport or shul? Physical recreation, Anglo-Jewry and the Jewish Sabbath whether this entailed an "explanation or excuse", yet the gentleman was adamant that regular attendance at professional football was compatible with his interpretation of Sabbath law and customs.54 There are even examples of more observant religious Jews being keen foot- ball fans at this time. While it appears that many of those who followed foot- ball did so at the expense of Sabbath services, some Jews managed to combine a visit to the shul with a trip to watch football on the same day. One Jewish Tottenham fan in the 1920s recounted his regular Sabbath routine whenever Tottenham were playing at home: "In those days, before floodlights were invented, almost all games took place on Saturday afternoons from about two o'clock. It was possible to be in synagogue until the end of /«^/[additional prayers held on the Sabbath and other special services], to nip home for a quick plate of lokshen soup , and then board a tram from Aldgate to White Hart Lane. No other ground could offer such ease of access."55 What this and all the other examples show is that Jewish sports spectators were making a series of concessions and selections as regards their faith on a weekly basis when it came to the Sabbath. While their passion for sport remained constant, approaches towards their religion and their rest day varied considerably. Reflecting and influencing wider trends about religious apathy in Jewish society, Jews interested in sport came increasingly to view Saturday as a day for leisure, not for traditional Sabbath rest and spiritual enrichment. Jewish clubs Many Jewish youth organizations at this time also prioritized sport over reli- gion and strict Sabbath observance. The Jewish youth movement consisted of a number of Jewish boys' and girls' clubs created across the country between the 1890s and early 1920s together with units of the Jewish Lads' Brigade, founded in 1895. These organizations were initiated and funded by members of the Jewish "Cousinhood" and the national and provincial Jewish elites and were conceived as a means of combating growing Gentile anxiety over the phys- ical, social and political effect of the "alien" Jewish influx of the late Victorian era. They focused on aiding the "Anglicization" of young Jews of Russian and Eastern European origin and adopted a non-political stance in all their activi- ties. All of them saw sporting activities as a key means of imbuing desirable "English" physical and psychological traits into "foreign" young Jews.56 54 2 Nov. 1934. 55 Ibid., 15 March 1993. 56 See David Dee, "Nothing Specifically Jewish in Athletics? Sport, Physical Recreation and the Jewish Youth Movement in London, 1895-1914", London Journal 34, 2 (2009): 81-100; Susan 19</page><page sequence="14">David Dee While the youth movement worked to prevent outright Sabbath desecra- tion where possible, in the years before the First World War in general it did not view the promotion of religion as a core objective. Tananbaum has shown that although the original leaders of the Jewish youth movement wanted to see "some level of religiosity", they did not want their members to be "too Jewish".57 Some of the Jewish clubs were evidently more religious in tone and atmosphere than others. Stepney Jewish Lads' Club (founded in 190 1) and Oxford and St George's Jewish Boys' and Girls' Club (19 14), for instance, both held regular Sabbath services and promoted prayer and reli- gious education. The majority of clubs, however, consciously minimized the religious content of their programmes, further indicating the centrality of "Anglicization" in their work.58 Reflecting their concentration on the "acculturation" and "Anglicization" of their members, it was common for Jewish youth groups to organize sport on the Jewish Sabbath. (The same was also true after the Second World War, for groups such as British branches of Maccabi, a Zionist youth sports organ- ization founded in Central Europe in the 1900s and imported to Britain in the mid-i930s. Maccabi outwardly claimed that its mission was to use sport and Zionism to create a "new type of Jew and Jewess". Leaders of the British Maccabi Association founded in 1934 proclaimed that their organization would promote sport and Zionism to build new Jewish identities based on common origin and collective culture and work against the religious "drift" occurring among younger British Jews. However, by the 1940s and 50s, Maccabi groups across Britain were doing little to promote Jewish identity and came in for criticism for prioritizing sport over religious observance and Sabbath adherence.59) The Myrdle Jewish Girls' Club, for instance, was reported in the Jewish Chronicle in September 19 14 as regularly organizing hockey for its members on Saturdays. One club leader commented that her girls were "none the worse Jews for indulging in healthy and outdoor sport" on the Sabbath.60 Likewise, the Jewish Lads' Brigade (JLB) often took a lax attitude towards the Sabbath before the First World War. The programme for Sabbath on their first summer camp in Deal, Kent in 1899 noted that after the Brigade Chaplain had "read the service . . . the whole day was given up to sport". In 191 1 it was reported that the Liverpool JLB were organizing Tananbaum, "Ironing out the Ghetto Bend: Sport and the Making of British Jews", Journal of Sport History 3 1 , 1 (2004): 53-75; Sidney Bunt, Jewish Youth Work in Britain: Past , Present and Future (London, 1975). 57 Tananbaum, "Ironing Out", 64, 69. 58 Ibid., 64-69. David Dee, Sport and British Jewry: Integration , Ethnicity ana anti-Semitism, 10Q0-1Q70 (Manchester, 2013), 123-38. 00 JC, 9 Sept. 1914. 20</page><page sequence="15">Sport or shul? Physical recreation, Anglo-Jewry and the Jewish Sabbath cricket games on the Sabbath, a sport which "has been indulged in on the Sabbath for years past without raising objections from any quarter".61 These examples reflect the fact that the notion of using sport to aid inte- gration was central to the Jewish youth movement during this period. "Anglicization" was considered an urgent need because of wider concerns over the political and social effect of Jewish migration from Russian and Eastern Europe. This resulted in the prioritization of sport as a means of assimilation in these organizations and the marginalization of religious edu- cation and activities.62 Despite the general acceptance of this by communal and religious leaders before the First World War, however, there is some evi- dence that there was growing concern over the effect of promoting sport on the "Jewishness" of club members. Much of this criticism came from within the youth movement itself. For example, the Reverend R. F. Stern, a co- founder of the Stepney Jewish Boys' Club in 190 1 and the Jewish Religious Union in 1902 (the forerunner of Liberal Judaism), claimed in 1907 that the club's sporting programme was acting as a serious impediment to religious education and the promotion of religious adherence and observance. He argued in the Jewish World that there was "nothing specifically Jewish in ath- letics", claiming that the promotion of sport among the youngest of the pop- ulation was harmful to the future of Anglo-Jewry overall.63 Stern's comments were reflected later that year at the Jewish Literary Congress, where one speaker "complained that too much attention was paid by the managers of boys" clubs to . . . athletic exercises, to the disadvantage of Jewish culture".64 A minority of the club managers themselves were concerned over the effect of the sporting focus on the youth movement. In October 1904, Simon Myers, the manager at the Stepney Jewish Boys' Club, wrote to th t Jewish Chronicle commenting that "the pursuit of physical culture is being pushed in a manner too one-sided". He continued: I am second to none in enthusiasm for the glories of the football and cricket field for our lads, but I think a halt should be called among the managers of our clubs, so that something may be done for the religious side of the work ... I am painfully aware that there is a rooted objection among club managers to any kind of real religious work being promulgated in the lads' clubs, but none of them dares to deny that a large majority of the lads seldom see the inside of a place of worship and seldom utter a word of prayer from one week to another.65 61 Sharman Kadish, "A Good Jew and a Good Englishman The Jewish Lads' and Girls' Brigade , 1895-1995 (London, 1995), 98. 62 See Dee, "Nothing Specifically Jewish". 63 Jewish World , 22 Feb. 1907. 64 Ibid., 28 June 1907. 65 JCy 7 Oct. 1904. 21</page><page sequence="16">David Dee Particularly concerning for some critics of the youth movement was the effect that sport had on attitudes to Sabbath observance. It was felt that, by encouraging young Jews to develop a "sporting" attitude, more would see Saturday as a day of leisure and recreation, rather than prayer and spiritual development. In 19 14, Leonard Stern condemned the Brady Street Jewish Boys' Club (founded in 1896) in an article in the Jewish Chronicle. Stern noted that "East London is not exactly a nursery of religion" and that the "whole question of religion in the Jewish clubs stinks in [his] nostrils". He attacked Brady Street for their role in the growing religious apathy of the younger population, particularly referring to the fact that Brady was "all on the side of the more athletic form of Sabbatarianism".66 While there was concern over the effect of sport on religious observance before 19 14, anxiety and pressure for change grew considerably during the interwar years. Against the background of a general decline in religious atti- tudes in society at large, Jewish communal leaders became fearful over the future religious identity of younger Jews. As Livshin has highlighted, com- munal leaders up and down the country were increasingly distressed at what they saw as a "lack of religious spirit, religious apathy and disintegration amongst Jewish youth", which they attributed to the success of programmes of acculturation and assimilation. Many within the Jewish elites felt that by the 1920s "Anglicization . . . had gone too far" and that effort was needed in order to stem the growing religious apathy of the population. (Livshin gives the example of the Manchester Jews' School whose curriculum was over- hauled at this time in an effort to introduce a stronger religious element and combat trends for growing religious apathy.)67 During this period, the Jewish youth clubs were criticized for failing to protect and promote Jewish identity and culture. In February 1927, Basil Henriques claimed in the Jewish Graphic that it was "an appallingly grave matter" that "most of the clubs . . . have failed boldly to face the religious question". He conceded that while "Anglicization" was an important aim before the Great War - when immigration seemed to pose a considerable social and political threat to the community - this was no longer the case in the 1920s. He argued that "the problem today is to keep the Jews Jews . . . and to Judaise those who have become Anglicised . . . Without guidance from their club manager-friends, the adolescents are being allowed to wander from the field".68 Cesarani has noted that th z Jewish Chronicle began a campaign at this time to "revivify the religious institutions of Anglo-Jewry" to work against the "threat posed by ignorance and irreligion". Central to this debate was the Jewish youth movement who had "assisted . . . assimilation" but had 66 Quoted in Tananbaum, "Ironing Out", 66. 67 Livshin, "Acculturation", 90. 68 Jewish Graphic , 25 Feb. 1927. 22</page><page sequence="17">Sport or shul? Physical recreation, Anglo-Jewry and the Jewish Sabbath "neglected the Jewish values that would give moral ballast to their [the members'] lives".69 Sport was increasingly targeted for criticism. Not only was it seen as a cat- alyst in growing "spiritual" apathy among young Jews but the sporting focus within the movement was also perceived as a block to greater focus on reli- gious education. Many in the communal and religious leadership believed that sport's usefulness had ceased and that the continuing emphasis on phys- ical recreation was detrimental to the spiritual well-being of the population. Joel Blau (an American rabbi who became the Minister at the West London Reform synagogue in 1924), for instance, was convinced that the creation of a "New Jew" was incompatible with a continuing focus on sport. He com- mented that "the argument has been that since the young people want ath- letics, swimming baths, dances, lectures on not too difficult subjects, we will give it to them". Yet it was wrong, he felt, to think that Anglo-Jewry could "accomplish a religious revival by means of 'houla-houla' [dancing] and swimming pools".70 A conference convened by the Association for Jewish Youth in April 1930 on the theme of "The Club and the Religious Problem" echoed this feeling. The conference report complained that "sport" within the youth movement had been "stressed unduly". The Jewish World reported that "main conclusion and consensus of opinion" reached at the conference was that a "religious influence must be brought to bear on the clubs".71 Throughout the 1930s efforts were made to bring a greater religious emphasis into Jewish club life and to improve Sabbath adherence - a key aspect of Jewishness which was felt to have been marginalized. As Smith has noted, communal leaders felt that the youth movement should spearhead attempts to "re-Judaize" the seemingly religiously "indifferent" second gen- eration. Throughout the late 1920s and 30s calls for a "strong religious bias" to be introduced into the various Jewish clubs grew in number.72 In 1935, for example, all Jewish youth clubs agreed to Sabbath services in conjunction with the United Synagogue to combat the fact that "the majority of club members were growing up completely out of touch with religion and with a growing disregard for Jewish customs and traditions".73 Despite this and similar initiatives, sport was not gradually marginalized in favour of greater religious education and activities. The various youth clubs and JLB groups retained a strong sporting focus throughout the 1920s 69 David Cesarani, The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry, 1 841-1 qqi (Cambridge, 1996), 137. 70 Jewish World, 17 Sept. 1925. Blau was similarly critical of the effect of sport on American Jewry's religious well-being and identity. See Jeffrey Gurock , Judaism* s Encounter with American Sports (Bloomington and Indianapolis, 2005), 69-70. 71 Jewish World , 17 April 1930. 72 Smith, "Jews and Politics", 144. 73 East London Advertiser, 26 Jan. 1935. 23</page><page sequence="18">David Dee and 30s. Indeed, archival evidence from this period suggests that "most organisations privileged sports . . . and saw Jewish identity as essential, but arguably secondary". Reflecting "philosophical and generational differences" between the communal elites and the members of the youth movement, sport continued to be prioritised over religious education and Sabbath observance.74 This was especially true with regard to the JLB. Kadish has noted that during the interwar years "JLB activities were not marked out by their reli- gious atmosphere and their religious content was minimal". Sport continued to form a central component of the Brigade's programme and was regularly, and without concern, organized on the Jewish Sabbath. Summer camps for southern and northern JLB battalions throughout the 1930s regularly gave over the Sabbath to organized sport and games. One account of the 1931 London JLB camp noted that "all kinds of games were played" on the Sabbath. The report also noted that the Brigade Chaplain, Dr Morris Ginsberg (the Rabbi of Richmond United Synagogue), was a particularly enthusiastic participant with the boys in the various sports on the day. Clearly, not all religious authorities took issue with the promotion of healthy physical recreation on the Sabbath.75 Within the club movement, a similarly tolerant attitude towards Sabbath sport was also in evidence during the interwar years. In 1930, Basil Henriques claimed that "with regards to Saturdays, we have just got to face facts - that the boys work in the morning and that they . . . play cricket and football in the afternoon". Whether they indulged in sport inside or outside the youth club on the Sabbath, Henriques was generally supportive, seeing sport as a much more preferable alternative to "lounging about and gambling". For Henriques, the appearance of Anglo-Jewry externally took precedence over the internal religious and cultural dynamics and debates of the community.76 In the provincial clubs, an even more relaxed attitude to physical recre- ation on the rest day was evident. For example, in Manchester, where the Grove House Jewish Lads' Club and the Manchester JLB existed side by side, no real consistent concern for maintaining the Sabbath was perceptible throughout the interwar years. Club teams in a variety of sports regularly trained and played on Saturdays. Club leaders, who expressed little anxiety over religious observance in their institution, entered teams into non-Jewish Saturday leagues and tournaments.77 It is ironic that one of the biggest 74 Tananbaum, "Ironing Out", 65. 75 Kadish, "A Good Jew", 103. 76 Basil Henriques, "An Address on the 'Club and the Religious Problem'", 4 April 1930, University of Southampton Special Collections (hereafter USSC), M172/AJ250/15, 12. 77 See, e.g., Grove House Lads' Club Managers' and Subscribers' Minutes, 6 January 1919, 7 June 1920, 2 October 1934, 30 May 1939, Manchester City Archives (hereafter MCA), MS 130/3. 24</page><page sequence="19">Sport or shul? Physical recreation, Anglo-Jewry and the Jewish Sabbath hurdles encountered when organizing these teams was not the local commu- nity but the members themselves, some of whom often missed training or matches to watch professional football. (Grove House's minutes from 6 September 1920 demonstrate this problem: it was noted that the captain of one of the club's cricket teams had been 'suspended sine die from the club for having wilfully absented himself from a cricket match in order to watch a pro- fessional football match'. The Secretary also noted that 'due to the early com- mencement of professional football' and the attendance of members at local games, the cricket section had folded and club teams had been withdrawn from local competition.78) During the late 1920s, the club took their flouting of Sabbath law a step further. As the Grove House football teams became increasingly successful, the decision was taken to ask spectators to pay for their entrance to the Club's Elizabeth Street ground. For more observant members of Manchester Jewry, however, charging an admission fee took Grove House's desecration of the Sabbath too far. A letter to the Jewish Chronicle in 193 1 from a Jewish resi- dent of Hightown, Manchester (an area of settlement which had seen the arrival of more prosperous artisan and middle-class Jewish immigrants) com- plained "if we will but study the activities of this club, we will find that although it consists entirely of Jewish youth . . . nothing is done to strengthen the spirit of Judaism in its members. The Sabbath is publicly and without the least shame desecrated by them. Football matches between them and rival teams are always played on Saturday afternoons. This desecration has been carried a step further by an admission fee being charged although most of the club's supporters are Jews."79 The club's response to this criticism gives an interesting insight into the attitudes of managers to Jewish religious observance and the Jewish Sabbath. Club minutes from days after the letter's publication show the managers' decision to "ignore" the criticisms over the Sabbath "desecration".80 This decision contrasts sharply with the club's eagerness to placate the County Football Association a year later, after they raised concerns about advertis- ing games and charging for admission on Sundays (that is, encouraging the desecration of the Christian Sabbath).81 Grove House's eventual resolution to honour the Christian Sabbath and ignore anxiety over the Jewish rest day demonstrated the continual sporting focus of the club as an aid to integration for the city's Jews. When it came to a choice between Jewishness and sport on the Sabbath, sport clearly won, but not at the risk of causing problems with the local non-Jewish sporting authorities.82 78 Grove House Jewish Lads' Club, Minutes, 6 September 1920, MCA, MS130/3,. 79 jc,9jan. 1931. 80 Grove House, Minutes, 12 January 1931, MCA, MS 130/3. 81 Ibid. 6 July 1932. 82 Ibid. 6 February 1933. 25</page><page sequence="20">David Dee Conclusion It is apparent that sport undermined observance of the Sabbath among a sig- nificant portion of Anglo-Jewry from the late nineteenth century through to the Second World War. For many Jews, Saturday was increasingly seen as a day of play, or watching others play, rather than for attendance at synagogue or adherence to Sabbath laws and customs. While many social, economic and cultural factors account for the general decline in Sabbath observance in this period, sport clearly worked to modify attitudes to the Jewish 'rest' day. When seen in the wider context of changing attitudes to religion, the trend for a sporting use of the Sabbath takes on greater significance. The interwar years were a time when concern over levels of religious observance and "Jewishness" grew considerably. This was especially true with regards to the British-born children of immigrant Jews, many of whom were seen to be becoming decreasingly concerned with Jewish religion, customs and values. Sport was one activity which impacted on the cultural and religious attach- ment of these younger Jews to their community - something that was increas- ingly understood and feared by communal and religious leaders. Sport may have been affecting observance of the Sabbath, but it was also having the wider effect of undermining the preservation and promotion of Jewishness. These anxieties are especially evident in the interwar years and were increasingly aimed at the Jewish youth movement, one of the main points of contact between the Jewish communal leadership and the younger genera- tion. While there was a minority within the movement who felt that sport was impacting on Jewish identity before the First World War, the general con- sensus remained in favour of sport for "Anglicization" purposes. Faced with growing evidence of youth "irreligion" in the 1920s and 30s, however, concern over sports' impact on religious and cultural identity - and on Sabbath observance specifically - within these institutions grew. Pressure was placed on the youth movement to initiate a process of "re-Judaization" and it was implied that sport would need to be marginalized to ensure its suc- cessful operation. However, although sport came in for much criticism, it is apparent that many organizations and individuals continued to prioritize it over religious activities. Many Jews and Jewish organizations saw physical recreation as a more desirable use of Saturday than either attendance at synagogue or adher- ence to Sabbath laws. While religious and cultural differences over sport on the rest day existed across the population, many within the increasingly "irre- ligious" second generation still placed greatest value in the benefits of phys- ical recreation. Despite growing criticism, Saturday was a day increasingly reserved for sport, not synagogue. 26</page></plain_text>