In London’s Hip Camden Market, Two New Debuts for Chabad
by Faygie Levy Holt – chabad.org
Camden Market, a bustling hotspot in London that draws an estimated 27 million visitors annually and hosts a diverse community of shop owners, artists and young families, recently welcomed its newest additions: a new Chabad Center and a new Torah scroll.
Rabbi Yossi and Rivkah Baitz founded Chabad-Lubavitch of Camden Town four years ago and accepted the challenge of nurturing and growing a Jewish community in an ever-changing area teeming with vintage shops, artisan booths and trendy restaurants. Thanks to the Baitzes, residents say, the Jewish community has been growing slowly but surely.
“There are all types of Jews who live in this area,” says Liz Finegold, who lives in Camden Town with her husband, Oliver, and their two young children. “It’s a vibrant neighborhood that draws people from all over the world, which is a real strength, but it’s also a challenge to feel comfortable being Jewish.”
“Rivky and Rabbi Baitz have successfully connected the different types of Jews living and passing through here,” Finegold continues. “They have done an especially amazing job educating Jewish people who were completely unfamiliar with Judaism.”
Once part of a vast manor named for Charles Pratt, the first Earl of Camden, the area was initially laid out as a residential district in 1791 and became industrialized in the 18th century, when it served as a key terminal during the development of Britain’s railway system.
Considered an “unfashionable area” until the mid-20th century, Jewish life was mostly confined to the hardscrabble existence of Jewish workers living in an impoverished, hostile and often antisemitic neighborhood.
A Depression-Era Home to Gangsters and Poets
The area was also the Depression-era birthplace of “The Yiddishers” a group of Jewish gangsters led by Camden Town native Alfie Solomon, who became an iconic figure in British underworld lore and battled for control of the neighborhood with Camden Town’s “Broad Mob.”
Like other working-class neighborhoods in Western cities like the Left Bank in Paris and New York’s Greenwich Village, Camden Town became a magnet for poets, writers and artists in the early 20th century. Artistically inclined Jews from London’s posher neighborhoods were drawn to the area’s pubs, coffeehouses and salons.
Camden Market was formed in the early 1970s when 16 traders set up stalls selling jewelry, antiques and arts and crafts, and began to draw Jewish tradespeople and residents as the market and the neighborhood became increasingly fashionable.
Now the growing number of Jewish residents, tradespeople and visitors will have a central destination just a few minutes walk from the heart of the Camden Market, where they can study, pray and gather with their fellow Jews. The new Chabad of Camden Town building was dedicated on May 9, and a new Torah scroll was simultaneously donated to the center by community member Yoav Peretz.
‘Your Kids Will Want to Tell Their Friends’
Baitz considers the new Chabad center an “embassy for goodness, Torah, Judaism and friendship, where every Jew is welcomed to find comfort and community.” The rabbi says that he and his wife are ambassadors of Chabad and of the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory. “Every ambassador needs an embassy. This is our embassy.”
“The purpose of our Chabad House,” says Baitz, is to connect residents and Jewish tourists with Judaism and each other. “By doing so, we’re transforming one of London’s most colorful areas into a communal space where people can come together through the Torah.”
Coren Lass, a British-Israeli who moved to Camden Town from the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Golders Green, lauds the new center at the heart of what he calls an “intimate, relaxed community.” He says he found his Jewish community when he met Rabbi Baitz.
“Everyone has access to the rabbi for personal support or Jewish advice or learning,” says Lass. “I always felt lost in big shuls, but at Rabbi Yossi’s, everyone feels special. He is very adaptable to our needs.”
“It’s great to have a permanent base where we can go to pray as a community and also hang out in a casual setting,” says Lass. “Rabbi Yossi is refurbishing the space in a way that makes it inviting and comfortable, and as an added bonus, with good quality coffee. Having a permanent space makes us feel like a real community.”
It isn’t just coffee that the Baitzes are bringing to the new center. They are also working on bringing kosher food, which isn’t readily available in the local markets and restaurants.
Lass says he was happy to celebrate Shavuot in the new Chabad center because “we feel that it is our home. As hospitable as Rabbi Yossi is, it’s nice to celebrate Yom Tov in your own home.”
Having the new Torah scroll, he adds, just adds to that permanent at-home feeling.
“Rivki and Yossi have been a real blessing for our family and all the Jewish families in Camden Town,” said Finegold. “They have made people aware of Judaism and that it’s a special religion, culture, ethnicity and gotten everyone excited.”
She said her 4-year-old son connects with Rabbi Baitz, and when she mentioned they would be going to Chabad for an ice cream party for Shavuot, he wanted to know if the rabbi would be there.
“They make Judaism fun and accessible. You know when a holiday comes around, it will be a fun celebration, and that they will make it special and pull out all the stops,” she says. “Your kids will be excited and want to tell their friends. They are an absolute blessing.”
