My closest brush with
British royalty was in the summer of 1976. My friend Chaya and I were counselors
in a camp located in the Laurentian mountains. How excited we were to receive free
tickets – compliments of her father’s congregant – to the Montreal Olympic Games
(XXI Olympiad) held about an hour away! It was thrilling to look behind us and get
a good glimpse of the British Royal family – the Queen, Prince Philip, Princes Charles,
Andrew, and Edward, and Prince Anne’s husband, Mark Phillips – sitting close behind
us in the bleachers. They were there to cheer on Princess Anne, a member of the
British equestrian team, who rode her mother Queen Elizabeth’s horse, Goodwill.
My British friend,
Leah Berkovits, mentioned that, years ago, there were stories that the British royal
family believed they were descended from Dovid Hamelech (King David). “I don’t know
how they got that…I don’t know if it’s true or not…but the process of becoming
Queen is a private ceremony in which the Queen, interestingly, gets anointed with
oil – much like the Jewish anointing. She wears just a plain white dress, nothing
fancy, no jewelry. It sounds like a Jewish tradition they took on to anoint kings
and Queens.”
Perhaps it is because
Queen Victoria was convinced that the British royal family was descended from Dovid
Hamelech that she had her male offspring circumcised. This tradition continued through
Edward VII, the Duke of Windsor, and Prince Charles, now King Charles III. The
Queen hired well-known Orthodox physician and mohel, Rabbi Jacob Snowman, z”l,
to perform his circumcision. This tradition was interrupted in 1982 after the birth
of Prince William, because his mother Diana, the Princess of Wales, did not approve.
Leah was kind enough
to share a photo of her Sukkos machzor
(published in 1946), which mentions Elizabeth I and her Queen Elizabeth when
she was just a princess, in its bracha for the British royalty. The prayer
for the royal family is said every Shabbos in shul, in English.
Leah continues to share,
“Whenever there was an event, like some special jubilee, we were given mini-flags
and we lined the streets. We thought we were going to see the Queen in her passing
motorcade. Of course, her car went by so fast, you couldn’t even see her, but we
were there to wave. I think everybody in the Jewish community really appreciated
the Queen; she was definitely warm to the Jewish community. Even the frum world admired and appreciated her.”
When I asked Leah if
her family had a personal interaction with the Queen, she replied, “Oh yes! Of course!
When she was younger, the Queen had several appointments just about every day, going
around to all sorts of organizations and societies, including those in the Jewish
community. One year, the Queen came to Stamford Hill, where my brother, sister-in-law,
and family were living. My niece Chanie and her friend were the Yesodey Hatorah
students selected to present a bouquet of flowers to the Queen. The photo of the
girls handing the bouquet through the opened limo door during her motorcade made
it into the newspaper. It was a big thing for our family.”
* * *
It was also a big thing
for the family of another British friend of mine, Mrs. Chana Bamberger. As hashgacha
would have it, her niece, Malkie Erntroy, a”h, was the friend who shared
the honor with Chanie. However, Mrs. Bamberger (nee Chana Ehrentreu) has her own
fond recollection of the Queen during her coronation on June 2, 1953. She and her
friend Sylvia Wallis were just two of the three million people who lined the streets
of London, some camping overnight to get a prime spot. They sat on the sidewalk
for 36 hours in this mob, so they could catch a glimpse of the Queen as she traveled
in the Gold State Coach from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace.
“We were there all
night,” notes Mrs. Bamberger. “We were worried that we wouldn’t get a good spot
because some people were there from the night before. It was crazy, but that’s what
teenagers do! When we came there, the sun was shining. Later in the day, it started
raining and people used newspapers to keep off the rain. By the way, the
headline that day was about the first two people to climb Mount Everest, the highest
peak in the world.
“We were lucky that
we were in the first row, where we were allowed to sit down,” continues Mrs. Bamberger.
“At 2 a.m., everyone behind us had to stand up to make more room for more people.
There was lots of room for lots of people.”
When I asked Mrs. Bamberger
if she was able to see the Queen, she replied, “It was raining, in the end. The
only carriage that was open was that of the Queen of Tonga. She was sitting there,
waving to people. It didn’t bother her that it was raining. Everyone else’s carriage
was closed.”
Mrs. Bamberger had
a second chance at seeing the Queen, almost two years later. This time, she actually
saw her. “In 1955, the Queen came to Gateshead, where I attended seminary for a
year, and there was a procession. All the students and the rabbanim went out on the sidewalk and recited the special bracha
for the honoree.”
* * *
Here in Baltimore,
the British American with the most personal stories is Dr. Yoel Jakobovits, whose
father, Lord Immanuel Jakobovits, was the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations
of the Commonwealth from 1967 to 1991. He was knighted in 1981, by former UK Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher, and became the first rabbi to enter the House of Lords
in 1988 as Baron Jakobovits.
Dr. Jakobovits mentions
that most of the encounters his parents shared with the Queen took place while he
was a bachur at Ner Yisrael. His sisters who lived in England, however, not
only heard their parents’ stories but were occasionally privy to go with their parents
to see the Queen.
“From time to time,
the Queen would have receptions for people from different parts of society, including
my parents. One of the perks of being an unmarried daughter was the protocol which
allowed them to accompany our parents. I never saw the Queen directly, but they
did. Obviously, my parents had their stories.”
One popular story of
the Jakobovits’ royal experiences brings a chuckle. Dr. Jakobovits shares, “My parents
were invited to spend the night as the Queen’s guest in Windsor Castle, outside
of London. They had their cases delivered to their bedroom, and at the height of
formal hachnasas orchim, one
of the Queen’s maids unpacked their cases and put their clothing in the closet and
drawers. When she came across this white shawl with black lines, she had no idea
what that was. Figuring it was some sort of a blanket they brought from home, she
spread it across the bed. She also took whatever money she found and piled it up
on the table in appropriate denominations.
“More significant was
a comment that my father made to the Queen that night, which was, ‘You know, Your
Majesty, I am the second Jakobovits rabbi who is your rabbi!’ She asked, ‘How so?’
He responded, ‘I am here now as Chief Rabbi, but during the war, the Jewish refugees
from Germany were evacuated out of London for security reasons, and my father’s
father, Rabbi Yoel Jakobovits, was a Rav and Dayan among them; he was evacuated
to just around the corner from where the palace is. In his capacity as the Rav of
Windsor, he was the first Jakobovits rabbi of the Queen.’”
Dr. Jakobovits adds,
“Over the years, my parents had various opportunities to see the Queen. I think
my father’s most significant one was at the suggestion of then-Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher – who was a great admirer of my parents and had a great appreciation of
our Orthodox Jewish values. She recommended to the Queen that my father be knighted.
He became a Sir and was later elevated to the House of Lords – a first for a rabbi.
The official establishment of the government – and the Queen as the ultimate approver
of this – recognized the values that Yiddishkeit presented in a refreshing and communicable
way, in a modern secular society such as England.”
Dr. Jakobovits notes
that his father was invited to be in the House of Lords, expressly to speak, at
times, during the debates which dealt with education and morals in society. “My
father would use that platform as a very important one to weigh in on the debates
of the day. That was done ultimately through the Queen herself, which was very significant.
It represents a recognition of Yahudus
(Judaism) and the appropriateness of Jewish values even in the modern era.
“The Queen personally
– and, I think, publicly – was very friendly to Jews. She was a religious woman
in her own right and largely applauded today, not just by the Jewish community,
for being a woman who, over the many, many decades of her reign remained loyal to
her principles and her values. She knew how to keep her mouth shut when that was
appropriate and was friendly, warm, personable, and easy to talk to. She made sure
that her guests were comfortable; she would walk around the room and speak to them,
making them feel like they were important to her. This was a very important value
to the Queen.”
Dr. Jakobovits remarks,
“Those running the royal palace were very sensitive to my parents’ kosher needs.
They had a non-kosher state dinner for which they arranged to have a prominent kosher
caterer come to the palace a few days before in order to make a menu which looked
the same – enough, at least, so my parents wouldn’t feel like they were eating out
of their lunch boxes. They also had brand new, unused china to match the china of
the day. They had a real sensitivity to Jewish and religious people’s needs, which
speaks volumes. Prince Philip and the Queen were, in a personal way, very well disposed
to Jews and Jewish interests. They both attended shul events, and over the years
they were overtly interested in and participated with Jewish community interests.
“My father used to
say that one can move people either through power or through influence, but not
by both,” Dr. Jakobovits concludes. “Of the two, he’d rather have influence. The
Queen influenced so many because she had no power. People knew she spoke from the
heart, without a political axe to grind or point to score. She personified dignity
and calm and, through her, people could feel respect for the country and its best
ideals even through difficult times.”
* * *
Rabbi Dr. Yonasan Yodaiken
of Manchester, England, and his wife Sarale were invited to the Queen’s royal garden
party because of the work he does both for Jewish schools and for the Department
of Education in the UK. It was the last garden party the Queen attended.
“It was a big honor,
and we felt very privileged,” said Dr. Yodaiken. When the invitation arrived, it
was very exciting. The Queen had commanded her attendant to invite us, and we prepared
– as one does – in terms of finding out details about the event: how my wife and
I should dress and how we should speak to the Queen. In advance of going, we had
a shaila about the bracha I would say over the Queen, since the
Queen of England is not actually a moshel – she is not the one deciding the
law. Dayan Westheim, zt’l, suggested saying the bracha without Hashem’s
name.”
What did the Yodaikens
learn from their visit? “There is a rule that you are only allowed to attend Buckingham
Palace once in this capacity. The first thought that went through my mind straight
away was, ‘How fortunate am I, how fortunate are Yidden, that three times a day
we can stand in front of Hakodesh Baruch Hu, Hamelech Malachei Hamalachim (the King of Kings), and speak to Him –
and He hears us.”
Rabbi Dr. Yodaiken
continues, “We were invited for 3 p.m., and we made sure to get there very, very
early. I thought to myself, this must be machayev (obligates me) to make
sure to get to davening on time. We arrived, together with the throngs of people
who make contributions to the community – doctors, dentists, head teachers, specialists
at sports, astronauts – a very wide cross-section. I saw one other chareidi
person, a Holocaust survivor who had done a tremendous amount in publicizing what
we can learn from the Holocaust and spreading to the world the horrors of racism
and antisemitism.”
Rabbi Dr. Yodaikan
recollects, “Inside the palace, it was so special to be able to see the incredible
grandeur of everything around us – it was beyond beautiful. There was such a sense
of incredible royalty. It allowed us to understand just a bit of the grandeur of
the Aibashter (G-d).
“Queen Elizabeth had
an incredible way with everyone; she showed respect, care and interest to each and
every person. She cared a lot about the Jewish community. There was a sense that
we were in the presence of someone truly special; her face shone.”
Rabbi Dr. Yodaikan
concludes, “It was very interesting to see the pomp and ceremony which surrounded
the event. Over the course of the afternoon, we definitely had a feeling of hisorarus
(emotional excitement) – relating
to the malchus (royalty) and how we relate to it. Coming up to Rosh Hashanah,
I think this is a tremendous chizuk (strengthening) in appreciating Hakadosh Baruch Hu (G-d), the Melech Malchai Hamalachim (King of
Kings). How much more so are we zocheh
(privileged) to be in His presence when we daven, when we do mitzvos, and when we
say brachos.”
