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Petticoat Lane
They shout, they bargain, they buy!
by Cynthia Dettlebach
Cleveland Jewish New*
On your next trip to London,
take some time to sample a bit of
the city’s Jewish flavor. On Sunday
morning (the only time to go)
make your first stop Petticoat
Lane.
Located in the Jewish quarter of
the old city of London, Petticoat
Lane is a hectic, bustling complex
of faded storefronts and grouting
pushcarts, curb-to-curb vendors,
and a crush of bargain seekers and
the merely curious.
Legend says the lane is so-
named because, in the old days, a
woman could have her petticoat
snatched at one end of the lane and
have it sold back to her at the other
end! A testimony, no doubt, both
to the thievery and the
mesmerizing sales ability of the
practised lane merchant.
While the lane was primarily
Jewish, today many of the
pushcart stands are run by Indians,
Pakistanis, blacks and Orientals.
The established stores, however,
with peeling signs advertising
Cohen's Fish Market or Marks'
Furniture, are still primarily
Jewish-owned and operated.
Although most vendors quietly
stand by their wares waiting for
and on customers, some still ply
their trade in the ways that made
Petticoat Lane famous. They
shout. They gesture wildly with
their hands. They bargain. They
put on a show.
What can you buy in the lane?
Perhaps not the petticoat you
came with, but just about
everything else. Jeans and
polyester ready-to-wear.
Moroccan tooled leather, smelly
Chick cm share billing with racks of clothes in Petticoat Lane in London.
and garishly painted. Suitcases
destined never to zip twice in the
tame way. English hunting horns
in an assortment of sizes.
Souvenirs for the kids and
Londonalia of all kinds.
If it’s food you’re interested in
and you’re not too queasy of
stomach in the morning, there are
kosher chickens, necks flapping in
a breeze made more by moving
crowds of people than by air.
Or, just within smelling range of
the poultry, you can purchase
cockles, mussels and eels from the
vendor whose sign says he (if not
his fish) represents the oldest
establishment in the lane. And,
finally, when the smells and
merchandise begin to pall and
repeat themselves, there are always
the people of all ages and
persuasions to endlessly
watch...and wade through.
Elsewhere in London, at the
staid and imposing Victoria and
Albert Museum, a world far
removed from the Hester St.
Rabbis In spat over Israel
LONDON (JTA)—English Jewry’s anxiety over Israel's
international image broke into controversy this week following a
call by Dr. Immanuel Jakobovits, the Chief Rabbi, for a change in
foreign policy by the Begin government. The Chief Rabbi’s
Sephardi counterpart, Dr. Solomon Gaon, told the Jewish
Telegraphic Agency that Jakobovits was wrong to have “rocked
the boat” at a time when the maximum unity of Jewish ranks was
needed. “Rabbis should not interfere too much in day to day
politics,” Gaon said. “Once you start playing that game, you never
know where it ends.”
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ambience of Petticoat Lane,
another aspect of Jewry is on
display.
Here, in one corner of the vast
museum, is a fascinating selection
of Jewish ritual objects on loan
from several London svnagogues
as well as private collections.
Of particular interest are
century-old Torah mantles, richly
embroidered in gold thread, spice
boxes and kiddush cups, lavers
and ewers (used for washing the
hands of the priestly Cohanim),
and intricately worked silver
breastplates and crowns for Torah
scrolls.
Perhaps loveliest of all are the
early examples as well as
contemporary renditions of stiver
Hanuka menorahs, designed with
individual troughs for the burning
of oil. Most interesting, too, are
several sets of circumcision
instruments, neatly laid out in their
fabric-lined wooden carrying
cases.
If this exhibit has closed by the
time you get there, there is a more
permanent and larger collection of
Jewish objects of historical and
artistic merit at the Jewish
Museum, located on upper
Woburn Place. Hours are limited
at the Jewish Museum, so check
first before starting out.
If time permits stop, too, at the
Bevis Marks Synagogue in the old
city of London. Built in 1701 by its
Spanish-Portugese congregation,
the Bevis Marks is, today, the
largest synagogue in England.
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• Deer G Wine
• Homemade Dough
• Sicillion or Thin Crust
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THE EPSTEIN SCHOOL'S
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MAZELTOV!
to the students and faculty of the
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Your 1978 school - wide national achievement scores are
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P»g« 17 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE July 28, 1978
