The Wedding Day of Freda and Alfred Coppelman, London, England, 1925

COPELMAN

Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name is a patronymic, derived from a male ancestor's personal name, in this case of biblical origin.

Copelman belongs to a group of names derived from the second part of Jacob. Jacob, the third patriarch, was the younger twin son of Isaac and Rebekah. The biblical personal name Jacob has numerous equivalents, all Latin; Jacobo, Jacopo and Giacobbe in Italian; Jacoub in Judeo-Provencal; Yaaqov in Spanish; Jacques in French; Iancu in Romanian; Jakob in German; Jack in English; Jakab in Hungarian; Yaakov in Russian. One of the earliest is recorded with Ibrahim Ibn Jakub, a Spanish Jew who traveled in Germany up to the Baltic Sea in 965 CE. Abbreviations and diminutives of Jacob originated entire groups of new names based on its two constituent syllables, such as, on the one hand, Yekel, Jekelin, and Jaecklin, and, on the other hand, Copin, Koppelin and Koppelman. Cob, the second part of Jacob, also appeared as Kopf (literally German for "head") and Kauf (German for "buy"). This developed into Kaufmann (German for "merchant"), actually a combination of Jacob and the biblical Manasse or Menachem.

Mercado and Mercada were widespread personal names among Sephardi Jews. When a family lost a child and another baby was born soon after, they would symbolically 'sell' it to a relative or neighbor in order to fool the angel of death who had conspired against their seed. Such a baby boy would be called Mercado and a girl Mercada, both meaning "sold" and coming from the same Spanish root as "merchant". Another important group of names derived from Jacob grew from the variant Yankel/Jankel. Koppelman is documented as a Jewish name in Germany in the 13th century, Coppelin in Koeln (Cologne) in 1261, Koppelin in Mainz in 1286, Copin in Paris in 1292, Koppin in Baden, Germany, in 1360, Koppelmann in Nuernberg, Germany in the early 15th century, and Koppel in Austria in the 17th century.

Distinguished bearers of the Jewish family name Copelman include the 20th century Romanian-born Israeli psychiatrist and neuro-endocrinologist, Louis Copelman.

GHIRON, GHIRONE

Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name is a toponymic (derived from a geographic name of a town, city, region or country). Surnames that are based on place names do not always testify to direct origin from that place, but may indicate an indirect relation between the name-bearer or his ancestors and the place, such as birth place, temporary residence, trade, or family-relatives.

Ghiron and Ghirone are two of the Jewish family names based on the city of Gerona in Catalonia, northern Spain. Other variants are Ghirondi, Gerundi and Yerondi. Gerondi and Gerundi are documented as Jewish family names in 12th/13th century Spain. The Ramban, or Nahmanides, (1194-1270) was also known as Rav Moses Gerondi and Yerondi.

Distinguished bearers of the Jewish family name Ghiron include the Italian Rabbi Johanan Ghiron (1646-1716) and the director of the Braidense Library in Milano, Italy, Isaia Ghiron (1837-1888).

London

The capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. 

21^ST CENTURY

Behind Israel, the United States, France, and Canada, the United Kingdom boasts the fifth-largest Jewish population worldwide and the second-largest in Europe. Nearly two-thirds of Britain’s Jews live in Greater London, which is three out of every five Jews living in the United Kingdom. The Jewish population is principally concentrated in the northern boroughs of Barnet and Hackney. According to the 2011 UK census, approximately 172,000 Jews live in London, with more than 54,000 living in Barnet alone.

By the end of the 20^th century, sizeable Jewish communities had developed in the areas of Golders Green and Stamford Hill. Located in the London Borough of Barnet, Golders Green is an area noted especially for its large Jewish community and for having the largest kosher hub in the entire United Kingdom. The Jews of Barnet account for one in five of all the Jews in England and Wales.

The district of Stamford Hill in Hackney is best known for its population of Hasidic Jews. At approximately 30,000 people, it is the largest concentration of Hasidic Jews in Europe. A once-small religious community that had lived in the area at the end of the 19^th century was largely augmented by the influx of pre-war refugees and Holocaust survivors. Since then, the Haredi community has experienced continued growth with arrivals from Israel and North America. Due to the ultra-Orthodox nature of the area, Stamford Hill is often referred to as the “square mile of piety.” In this small geographical area are over 70 synagogues, many of which are associated with congregations which originated in Eastern Europe, including the Satmar and Belz dynasties, two of the largest Jewish sects represented in the community.

Stamford Hill is also home to a sizeable community of Yemenite Jews, specifically Adeni Jews from the former British protectorate of Aden. Between 1947 and 1967, nearly the entire population emigrated from Aden, settling primarily in Israel and the United Kingdom.

The London Jewish community is served by a wide range of social welfare organizations, including several local councils and international charities. Among them are the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Community Security Trust, the Jewish Learning Exchange, the Jewish Leadership Council, Jewish Women’s Aid, the Jewish Historical Society of England, the London Jewish Forum, the Center for Jewish Life, and the Anglo Jewish Association.

The primary focus of many of these organizations is to organize and fund cultural events and educational programs for families and young adults. Others, like the London Jewish Forum, promote active engagement of the Jewish community with civic life. Since the 1970s, there have been more than sixty Zionist organizations which supported various institutions in Israel.

Philanthropic organizations include the World Jewish Relief, the JNF Charitable Trust and Norwood. World Jewish Relief was established in 1933 as a fund for German Jews which rescued over 100,000 Jews prior to World War II; Norwood is one of the oldest charities in the United Kingdom and is well known for its support of children and people with disabilities. The organization has many celebrity patrons and supporters, including Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Sir Elton John, and Simon Cowell.

In terms of health and social services, Jewish Care is the largest provider of healthcare for the communities of London and the South East. This organization operates more than seventy centers throughout the United Kingdom.

There are more than 150 active synagogues located throughout Greater London. Several Jewish movements are represented, including Orthodox, Chabad, Masorti, Reform, Liberal, and independent. The number of strictly Orthodox or Haredi synagogues has more than doubled since the 1990s, chiefly due to the growth of Hasidic groups in the district of Stamford Hill. By 2014, the ultra-Orthodox community of London accounted for 18% of the Jewish population. The Belvis Marks Synagogue, built in 1701 by Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal, is the oldest synagogue still in use in the United Kingdom.

London is home to about 37 Jewish primary schools, 54 nursery schools, and as many as 14 secondary schools. The majority of Jewish children in the United Kingdom live in Greater London; those from non-Haredi families make up 50% of the children enrolled in Jewish primary schools. According to a 2015 government report, London’s Jewish schools are among the best in England. Many of London’s synagogues provide Jewish education. Outside of the Haredi community, the majority of London’s Jewish students attend schools which are separate from congregations but may be associated with the major streams of Judaism.

One of the most famous Jewish schools in Britain is located in London, the Jews’ Free School (JFS); it was established in 1732 and was at one time the largest Jewish school in Europe. Another well-known Jewish school is the Jewish Community Secondary School; established in 2010 in New Barnet, London; it is state-funded and cross-denominational. A notable institution which provides Jewish educational programs for adults is the London School of Jewish Studies. The roots of the college go back to 1855 when Chief Rabbi Nathan Marcus Adler opened the Jews’ College in Finsbury Square. After a rebrand in 1999, the London School of Jewish Studies (LSJS) shifted its focus and become a hub of academic study.

In Greater London are several social associations and community programs dedicated to promoting a Jewish life and advancing Jewish causes. One in particular is Spiro Ark, a charitable organization that organizes Jewish cultural events and educational programs. Another is the Center for Jewish Life, which provides a wide array of social programs, educational events, and activities for Jews to connect with each other. Located at the University College London Union is the JSC, one of the largest Jewish societies for Jewish students in the United Kingdom. There are also fifteen Chabad centers found in central London.

As the nucleus of Jewish cohesion and culture in Britain, the city of London hosts a number of museums and memorials. One of its most famous is the Hyde Park Holocaust Memorial; unveiled in 1983, it was the first Holocaust memorial in Great Britain.

Ben Uri –The London Jewish Museum of Art is a public art gallery that was founded in 1915 and remains Europe’s only Jewish art museum. The Jewish Military Museum commemorates the Jewish contribution to British forces going back three hundred years. Providing an insight into British Jewish history is the Jewish Museum of London. Among its permanent exhibitions is the Holocaust Gallery, Judaism: A Living Faith, The Mikveh, and History: A British Story.

The first Jewish Community Center in London is the London Cultural Center (JW3), which has become the leading center for adult education and for the arts.

The Weiner Library is home to one of the world’s most extensive Holocaust archives. Established in 1933, it includes over one million items, including eyewitness testimony, photos, and published and unpublished works.

Other Jewish landmarks in London include the Rothschild Archive in St. Swithin’s lane, the Freud Museum, the Bevis Marks Synagogue, the statue of Benjamin Disraeli at Parliament Square, and the Jewish East End, site of the historical Jewish Socialist Club. There are also more than twenty kosher restaurants, four kosher hotels, and many Judaica shops found throughout the north of the city.

The largest amount of publications on Jewish topics emanate from London. These include newspapers, magazines, books and other media. Circulating throughout Greater London is The Jewish Chronicle; founded in 1841, it is the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world. In 1896, it published Theodor Herzl’s historic article “Solution of the Jewish Question”.

Another weekly published newspaper is The Jewish News. Named Free Newspaper of the Year in 2003 by Press Gazette, it provides local, national and international news and entertainment for the Jewish communities of Greater London, Middlesex, Hertfordshire and Essex.

The Jewish Tribune is a privately owned Haredi weekly newspaper based in Stamford Hill. It is the fourth largest Jewish publication in England.

Broadcasted by the Spectrum Radio Network is Sunday Jewish Radio, a weekly program on Jewish themes.

 

HISTORY

After the Norman conquest of 1066, a few Jews arrived in London from the nearby areas of Europe (chiefly the Duchy of Normandy, including Rouen), attracted mainly by the economic opportunities that the city offered. The earliest recorded mention of the London community dates from the reign of William Rufus (1087-1100), who appears to have favored the Jews to a certain extent.

In 1130, in what was possibly a blood libel, the Jews of London were accused of killing a sick man and were forced to pay an enormous fine. Other outbreaks of antisemitism took place during the coronation of Richard I (September 3,1189) and during the reign of John (1199-1216); John’s reign, and that of his son Henry III (1216-1272) saw the opposition of the barons to the Jews, and there was a baronial attack on London Jewry in 1215. Nonetheless, Jewish intellectual during this period flourished; among other accomplishments, it attracted the Biblical commentator Abraham ibn Ezra, who wrote his Iggeret Ha-Shabbat and his Yesod Mora in London in 1158.

During the reign of Henry III the Jews of London, along with those of the rest of the country, were oppressed. The climax came in 1224 when it was alleged that some gashes found on the body of a dead child were Hebrew letters and the Jews were accused of ritual murder. This resulted in a punitive fine on the Jewish community. In 1232 Henry III confiscated the main London synagogue on the pretext that the chanting could be heard in a neighboring church. In 1278 a number of London Jews were among the 680 who were imprisoned in the tower of London on forgery charges. Nearly 300 are said to have been hanged. Shortly thereafter, in 1283 the Bishop of London ordered that all synagogues in the diocese to be closed (one was later reopened).
In 1290, the Jews were expelled from England and the Jewish community of London ceased to exist.
In 1509, after the expulsions from Spain and Portugal, a few crypto-Jewish refugees settled in London; by the end of Henry VIII’s reign in 1547, there were approximately 37 crypto-Jewish families living in London. However, in 1609 the Portuguese merchants living in London, who were suspected of Judaizing, were expelled. Nevertheless, when the crypto-Jewish community of Ruen was (temporarily) dissolved in 1632, a number of fugitives, including Antonio Fernandez Carvajal, found a home in London. Thus, when Manasseh ben Israel went to England in 1655, there was already an established secret Jewish community in London that became increasingly visible. In March of 1657 a petition was presented to Cromwell asking for protection, and the following December a house was rented and used as a synagogue. A few months later the community purchased land for a cemetery.

After Cromwell's death in 1658 numerous attempts were made to persecute and stem the grown of the community. Charles II, however, intervened in its favor, and bestowed de facto recognition on the community. A synagogue on Cree Church Lane was enlarged and remodeled in 1674, and in 1701 a new place of worship was built in Bevis Marks. As the community was reestablishing itself, considerable numbers of Spanish and Portuguese Jews began arriving from Holland. Ashkenazim soon followed, most of whom arrived via Amsterdam or Hamburg. They organized their own congregation around 1690, and eventually became the more influential and populous Jewish community in London.
The Sephardic and Ashkenazi communities proved able to work together in establishing and running a number of community institutions. The board for kosher slaughter, in which Sephardim and Ashkenazim cooperated, was organized through the advocacy of Baron Lyon de Symons between 1792 and 1804. As early as 1760 the Sephardi community admitted Ashkenazi representatives to their governing committee, which was appointed to deal with the government on behalf of the Jewish community. This ultimately developed into the Board of Deputies of British Jews, which represented the Jewish communities of London until 1838, after which it began to represent Jewish communities outside of London, in addition to the ones within the city.

The Ashkenazi community’s Talmud Torah, which was established in 1732, was reorganized in 1817 as the Jews' Free School. This school eventually developed into one of the largest schools in Europe.

 

19^TH CENTURY

The struggle for Jewish emancipation in England centered in London, and was a process that developed in stages throughout the years. Beginning in 1830 the city of London had shown its support of parliamentary emancipation, most notably by electing Baron Lionel de Rothschild, in spite of the fact that he could not take his seat because of the statutory oath. Nonetheless, this became very influential when it came to the ultimate admission of Jews to the Parliament in 1858. In 1831 Jews were granted the privilege of being able to engage in retail trade, from which they had hitherto been barred. In 1835, David Salomons was elected a sheriff of the city, the first Jewish person to serve in that office. In 1847 Salomons became the first Jewish alderman, and in 1855 the first Jewish Lord Mayor of London.
The growing Anglicization of London Jewry led to a number of community developments. A Reform congregation was established in 1840. Sephardi and Ashkenazi congregations established branch synagogues in the West End. A modern theological seminary, Jews' College, was founded in 1855, and a charitable organization, the Board of Guardians for the Relief of the Jewish Poor, was established in 1859. The United Synagogue, an umbrella organization for the major Ashkenazi congregations in London, was established in 1870. In 1887 Sir Samuel Montagu (later Lord Swaythling) created the Federation of Synagogues in order to coordinate the various religious activities that took place in the different synagogues.
The mass emigration from Russia that began in 1881 led to a mass influx of Eastern European Jews to London. As a result, the next 25 years saw London’s Jewish population rise from about 47,000 to approximately 150,000. Most of the new immigrants worked as tailors, shoemakers, and cabinetmakers. A Yiddish press and an active trade union movement were established to meet the needs of this growing immigrant population.

 

20^TH CENTURY

The Aliens Act of 1905 limited immigration, though smaller numbers of Jewish immigrants continued to arrive until the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Later, a considerable number of refugees arrived from Germany after the Nazi rise to power in 1933.

As Jews became more established in London, they tended to move. East End Jews who managed to work their way up the socioeconomic ladder tended to move to the newer suburbs, particularly those in the northeast of the city, to Stamford Hill, and the northwest, to Golders Green). The interwar period saw significant numbers of London’s Jews moving from the East End to the northern suburbs, as many within the community became well-established and successful. This movement led to the establishment of a number of Jewish institutions in the suburbs. A Jewish museum and a community center for the major Jewish institutions of London were established at Woburn House in the Bloomsbury area.
The total Jewish population of greater London in 1970 was estimated at 280,000. In 1997 it was estimated at 300,000.