This post is slightly a placeholder until I can find the energy to investigate a bit further.
It is said that Mr Riah was Dickens' apology for his portrayal of Jews in Oliver Twist, which to be sure, was a bit unpleasant. Notwithstanding that I thought Fagin was the best character in it, especially in the final chapters. Apparently, Dickens became friends with a Jew who bought his house, and the man's wife sent him a letter complaining about Oliver Twist. I wondered how this snippet came to light, presumably Dickens told his friend John Forster about it.
Anyway, what I cannot remember is why Mr Riah works for Mr Fledgeby. Fascination Fledgeby presumably has some hold on him, but what was it? Why doesn't Mr Riah just walk away? According to Henry Mayhew, the Jewish community looked out for each other, so he would not have been entirely on his own. I think that Mr Riah had owned a money lending business, but that Mr Fledgeby had acquired it, but wanted people to think Mr Riah was still running it. In that case, Mr Riah had been a money lender himself, and money lenders like to be repaid with interest. So what were the differences between Mr Riah's standards of practice as Mr Fledgeby's? Did he give debtors more time to pay loans? Was he more prepared to write off debts? Did he only lend to customers who could provide some security? Was he like an old fashioned bank manager who liked to form a professional relationship with his customers?
I wonder how Jewish money lenders enforced repayment. Did they use the legal system? Why wouldn't someone needing a loan go to a bank? Perhaps the people they lent to did not have bank accounts, in which case they could be a poor risk. According to Henry Mayhew again, poor people often lent each other money and they were always scrupulously repaid. Maybe borrowing money from a Jewish moneylender was judged differently.
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