ABSTRACT
This article explores the neglected histories of Portsmouth and Southampton Jewry, arguing that the concept of Port Jews needs to be extended chronologically, geographically and with a less elitist focus. While context with regard to location and era is crucial, it argues that Port Jews across the ages have something in common – the importance of place. Ports have experienced a greater cosmopolitanism than other urban settlements, producing particular forms of the expression of Jewishness, blurring categories of local, national and global. In Portsmouth and Southampton it produced positive and negative results for their Jewish minorities, encouraging freedom and restraint. They attempted to achieve balance between local loyalty and diaspora connections, producing fascinating and multi-layered identities, further complicated in the case of Southampton through the presence of transmigrants, a marginalised but highly significant feature of modern and especially European Jewish history.
