1:07:46

Nicole Krauss & Naomi Alderman
2023/02/25 • 0 views Speakers: Naomi Alderman,Nicole Krauss Nicole Krauss mesmerised readers, critics and judges of literary prizes alike with The History of Love. Her third novel, Great House, a 2010 National Book Award nominee, looks set to do the same. Her writing isn’t just appreciated – it is loved. Her books are about memory in the face of loss, the nature of love and the strange and intimate connections fostered between people. But mostly, they are about writing, and its power to change lives. Her novel, Great House, is a story haunted by questions: What do we pass on to our children and how do they absorb our dreams and losses? How do we respond to disappearance, destruction and change?

1:01:26

Nazi Looted Art, A Time of Reckoning?
2023/02/25 • 3 views Speakers: Anne Webber, Lord Neuberger, Hannah Rothschild The discovery of a huge cache of Nazi-plundered paintings in a Munich flat brings hope that thousands of other looted artworks may be found. The revelation has focused worldwide attention on the German authorities and their and others’ moral and legal equivocations. Anne Webber, Co-Chair of the Commission for Looted Art in Europe, and Lord Neuberger, President of Britain’s Supreme Court, discuss provenance, restitution and the continuing quest for justice with Hannah Rothschild.

38:29

According To Her
2023/02/26 • 10 views A book-length interview with the Mother of God. No questions, just answers. Mariamne is an old Jewish peasant woman from Galilee, visited by a young Greek man who came to listen to her talk about her late son, Judas, John the Baptist and more. Maciej Hen’s novel According to Her was published to acclaim in Poland in 2004; here he joins its English language translator Anna Blasiak to discuss.

1:03:32

Muppets in Moscow
2023/02/26 • 12 views It's time to play the music, it's time to light the lights…or is it? After the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the timing seemed perfect to bring Sesame Street to millions of children across the former empire, with Jim Henson’s Muppet creations envisioned as ideal ambassadors for Western values, an idea championed in Congress by then-senator Joe Biden. After all, the show had been running for almost 25 years in the US and already had over a dozen international co-productions, including in Brazil, Germany and Israel. But no one anticipated just how challenging and dangerous this would prove to be. In 1992 Natasha Lance Rogoff, who had previously produced Mexico’s Plaza Sesamo in Mexico and covered the 1988 Reagan-Gorbachev Moscow summit for NBC’s Tom Brokaw, was tasked with establishing the Russian co-production Ulitsa Sezam. With a sharp wit and compassion for her colleagues, in Muppets in Moscow: The Unexpected Crazy True Story of Making Sesame Street in Russia she observes how cultural clashes coloured nearly every aspect of the production and reflects on the complicated relationship between the Russian people and the West that continues to this day. Now a Harvard Associate, Natasha joins us in London to discuss the highs and lows of a show that ultimately reached millions of families in Russia, Ukraine and beyond. In conversation with journalist Anne McElvoy.

1:02:37

2023 Keynote: Howard Jacobson
2023/02/26 • 304 views "With Jewish Book Week now into our eighth decade, Howard Jacobson, who has been speaking at the festival for almost half of our existence and predates us by just 10 years, delivers a specially created keynote: How the Jews Invented Disappointment. The Booker winner explains: “When asked to name what Jews were best at, I used always to say ‘argument’. Disputatiousness is our element, I insisted, but I don’t expect you to agree with me. Today I’d say something different.  Today I’d say that what defines Jews essentially is disappointment. Disappointment is the poetry of the Jewish soul."""

1:01:03

Britain's Jews
2023/02/26 • 26 views Jews have lived in Britain longer than any other minority - so ingrained into the national fabric that they are often not considered to be a minority at all. And while there is a pervading sense of anxiety, as periodic outbursts of antisemitism or flare ups in the Middle East turn the spotlight on them, there is also a new sense of confidence, a pride in being Jewish that former generations so often lacked. Harry Freedman, Britain’s leading author of popular works of Jewish culture and history, returns to the festival to discuss his long-awaited, challenging Britain’s Jews: Confidence, Maturity, Anxiety with journalist Tanya Gold.

1:01:28

Encounters: Judaism & Orthodox Christianity
2023/02/26 • 42 views How can finite minds approach an infinite and ultimately unknowable God? Is it true that Christianity is a religion of love and Judaism a religion of law? How much do Jews and Orthodox Christians have in common when they worship God? What can be done about Christian prayers that Jews find offensive? How much responsibility do Christians carry for antisemitism? These and other fundamental questions are addressed by rabbi and professor Nicholas de Lange and academic researcher in Abrahamic religions Elena Narinskaya.

1:06:59

György Pauk: 80 Years with the Violin
2023/02/26 • 3 views Internationally acclaimed violinist György Pauk is regarded as the foremost living torch-bearer of the Hungarian Violin School, which traces its origins to the 19th century violinist Josef Joachim, a close friend and collaborator of Mendelssohn, the Schumanns and Brahms. With musical accompaniment from violinist Eriko Nagayama, the longstanding Professor of Violin at the Royal Academy of Music, discusses his memoir A Life in Music, with absorbing stories of many of the other instrumentalists, conductors, orchestras and composers he has known and worked with over his six-decade career.

59:40

Jews & the Diamond Trade
2023/02/27 • 7 views From proposals and galas to James Bond and Uncut Gems, diamonds hold an indelible place in our culture. In A Brilliant Commodity: Diamonds and Jews in a Modern Setting historian Saskia Coenen Snyder shows how diamonds travelled from South African mines to processing factories in Amsterdam to the necks of high society women in New York. She reveals the contributions made by Jewish buyers, brokers, cutters, financiers and retailers to modern and global industrial enterprise, highlighting how it sparked labour movements, increased consumer demand for luxury goods and formed the basis of harmful stereotypes that persist today.

1:00:05

Bad Jews
2023/02/27 • 20 views "You can be called a ‘Bad Jew’—by the community or even yourself—if you don’t keep kosher, don’t send your children to Hebrew school, or enjoy Christmas music; if your partner isn’t Jewish, or you don’t call your mother enough. But today, amid rising antisemitism, what makes a Good or Bad Jew is a particularly fraught question. There is no answer, former New Statesman US editor Emily Tamkin argues, as she reflects on the complex, conflicting and evolving story of American Jewishness. In conversation with fellow journalist and author Zoe Strimpel."

59:06

Adam Gopnik: The Mystery of Mastery
2023/02/27 • 17 views Decades of writing bestselling books and award-winning essays has seen Adam Gopnik take on myriad topics. But recently a question obsessed him: how did the people he was writing about learn their outlandish skill, whether it was drawing a nude or baking a sourdough loaf? In The Real Work the long standing New Yorker writer apprentices as a boxer, a dancer and a driving instructor and other roles he’d assumed beyond him. He finds that learning a skill is a process of methodically breaking down and building up, and that the key, in any field, is mastering other people’s minds.

58:33

Meir Kahane: Jewish Radical
2023/02/28 • 24 views "Meir Kahane came of age amid the radical politics of the counterculture, becoming a militant voice of protest against Jewish liberalism. In the US he founded the Jewish Defense League in 1968 and then the ultranationalist KACH after his immigration to Israel in 1971, before his assassination in 1990. The incisive new biography from Dartmouth College Professor of Jewish Studies Shaul Magid traces the journey of this quintessentially American figure, from a fervent supporter of Israel to a belief that the Zionist project had failed. In conversation with the journalist and author Anshel Pfeffer."

1:21:19

Barbaric Verses
2023/02/28 • 8 views A musical refutation of Adorno’s dictum that to write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric, inspired by the creativity of composer Mieczysław Weinberg in the face of totalitarian brutality from both Hitler and Stalin. The programme also includes music by his Russian friends Dmitri Shostakovich, Georgy Sviridov and Nikolai Myaskovsky, the Ukrainian Boris Lyatoshynsky and the Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz, as well as young French-Jewish composer Olivier Milhaud’s music on the writings of Avrom Sutzkever, whose poetry saw life and beauty amidst the atrocities of the Vilno ghetto. The performance was created by and stars internationally renowned singer Mark Glanville, author of The Goldberg Variations, and Israeli pianist Marc Verter, previously artistic director of the Chelsea Schubert Festival.

59:04

Norman Lebrecht on Beethoven
2023/02/28 • 12 views Beethoven was deaf and wrote a ringtone. That’s all most people know about him. His portrait is a scowl, his reputation anti-social. But is that the real Beethoven? Tracing the composer through two centuries of manuscripts and performance records, Norman Lebrecht finds that much of what we know about Beethoven is either warped, or plain wrong. Lebrecht reveals a restless, rude, resourceful creator, a rebel against the rich and powerful, a relentless workaholic, a man almost of our own times. With performances from acclaimed concert pianist Daniel Lebhardt, Jewish Book Week favourite Norman Lebrecht brings to life the composer as we’ve never seen him before.

59:48

Goodbye Eastern Europe
2023/02/28 • 8 views Eastern Europe is disappearing. Not off the map, but as an idea. Today it can call to mind a jumble of post-Soviet states paved over with C&A and McDonald’s. It could be described as a group of 20 nations, but in Goodbye Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land journalist Jacob Mikanowski asks why, given that for most of their history, they weren’t nations at all. He joins us to discuss his eulogy for a world we are losing, a vanishing culture of polytheism, vampires, sacred groves, and movable borders. In conversation with historian and former principal of The City Lit William Tyler.

59:50

A Guide for the Jewish Undecided
2023/03/01 • 19 views Is it rational to be religious? How much evidence do you need before deciding to act on a belief? If your religious beliefs are tightly bound up with your particular experiences and upbringing, doesn’t that undermine their reliability? In his new book, A Guide for the Jewish Undecided: A philosopher makes the case for Orthodox Judaism, Samuel Lebons argues that Jewish faith and practice can be firmly grounded in philosophy, science and decision theory alongside tradition. In conversation with fellow rabbi and author Raphael Zarum.

57:57

Dani Shapiro: Signal Fires
2023/03/01 • 15 views Family secrets were at the heart of Dani Shapiro’s memoir Inheritance, a New York Times bestseller sparked by a shocking discovery that made her rethink her identity, and now again in her sixth novel Signal Fires, a book of the year for the Washington Post, Time & Vanity Fair. And with her iTunes Top 10 podcast titled Family Secrets, it feels safe to say that this will be a theme of our special transatlantic online event with one of America’s most popular authors; Dani will be in conversation with author, cultural and literary critic Mia Levitin.

56:12

Come to this Court and Cry
2023/03/02 • 16 views "At the very moment the last survivors – and legal witnesses – were dying, a criminal investigation in Latvia put hard-won facts about the Holocaust on the line. Then journalist Linda Kinstler discovered that a Nazi, 50 years dead and from the same killing unit as her grandfather, could be pardoned by the proceedings. Nominated for the 2023 Wingate Prize, the probing and profound Come to This Court & Cry: How the Holocaust Ends investigates both family story, the nature of memory and the archives of ten nations to examine what it takes to prove history in our uncertain century. In conversation with historian Anne Sebba."

59:30

David Dein in conversation with Stephen Bush
2023/03/02 • 15 views ‘Without David Dein there wouldn’t have been a Premier League’ Greg Dyke. Part memoir, part inspirational meditation on leadership and teamwork, Calling the Shots: How to Win in Football and Life is the entertaining and eye-opening account of a remarkable career that changed football forever. David Dein was co-owner of Arsenal for 24 years, vice-chair of the Football Association and president of the G-14, receiving high admiration from sporting icons including Arsène Wenger, Sven-Göran Eriksson and Ian Wright, as well as an MBE for voluntary work in schools and prisons. In conversation with FT associate editor & columnist Stephen Bush.

1:03:01

Why We Sing
2023/03/02 • 7 views What is it about song that brings communities together, in harmony and protest? Why do parents feel compelled to sing to their new-borns? How can an activity that helps to embed languages and maths formulae also be used to rehabilitate Long Covid sufferers? Singing is at the root of what it is to be human. Acclaimed music therapist, teacher and performer Julia Hollander charts our love of song from cradle to grave, from lullabies to songs for the dying. With some (voluntary!) audience participation. In conversation with Nicola Christie.

1:09:45

Lost, Loved & Left: Poetry & Spoken Word
2023/03/02 • 0 views Guardian poetry reviewer and The Craft editor Rishi Dastidar hosts an hour of readings. Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year nominee Rachel Long’s My Darling From The Lions was a TIME book of 2020 and shortlisted for the Costa. Festival favourite Jeremy Robson covers Picasso, post-Brexit chaos, the horrors of recent Jewish history and more in Chagall’s Moon. National Jewish Book Award winner Sarah Blake’s epic poem of survival In Springtime follows a nameless protagonist lost in the woods. And ruth weiss Emerging Poet winner Oakley Flanagan's G&T is a long poem in free-verse and prose, exploring queerness, sexuality and shame.

1:16:25

Israel: A Fragile Democracy?
2023/03/04 • 90 views The opening weeks of this year saw 80,000 Israelis take to the streets of Tel Aviv, protesting the new government’s proposed sweeping changes to the judicial system.  Supreme Court president Esther Hayut denounced the move, calling it a "plan to crush the justice system", with opposition leader Yair Lapid pledging to stand by her side "in the struggle for the soul of the country". Not everyone agrees, however: a recent Newsweek op-ed sought to brush off the controversial move as "much ado about nothing". As Israel's politics become ever more polarized, we ask what lies ahead with rabbi and crossbench peer Julia Neuberger, historian Simon Schama, senior lawyer Anthony Julius, lawyer and former clerk for the President of the Supreme Court of Israel Natasha Hausdorff, and journalist Jonathan Freedland.

47:09

Case Histories to Drama: Panel discussion
2023/03/04 • 5 views Our latest specially commissioned production celebrating great writers focuses on renowned British neurologist Oliver Sacks. His 1973 collection of beautifully crafted case histories, Awakenings was an instant success, inspiring many writers and artists. Via performance and commentary we explore two outstanding examples, Harold Pinter’s A Kind of Alaska and Brian Friel’s Molly Sweeney, with reference to Sacks’ original case history. Cast includes: the title star of ITV's Doctor Finlay David Rintoul; Geraldine James, whose five-decade career has ranged from her award-winning Portia alongside Dustin Hoffman in The Merchant of Venice to Netflix's Anne With An E; West End regular Mark Bazeley, best known on screen for Broadchurch, Home Fires and playing Alistair Campbell in The Queen; W1A & Talking Heads star Monica Dolan, winner of a BAFTA for Appropriate Adult and an Oliver for All About Eve; and, returning from our 2020 Dorothy Parker event, Tom Goodman-Hill (Spamalot, The Imitation Game). Scripted by Tristram Powell and produced by Honor Borwick. Following the performance, there will be a discussion on Oliver Sacks, Harold Pinter and Brian Friel with Michael Billington, former drama critic of the Guardian and author of a biography of Harold Pinter; consultant neurologist and author Dr Guy Leschziner; and playwright and actor Alexis Zegerman, whose plays include The Fever Syndrome.

1:04:33

Joanna's Story: Read by Janet Suzman
2023/03/05 • 21 views A three-year old child is found in Theresienstadt at the end of the war with no memory of her past, her only words ‘dog’ and ‘soup’. Brought to children’s homes in England with other survivors, she was adopted under a new name and identity; her past was erased. This is the story of how Joanna Millan reclaimed her life. Award-winning playwright David Peimer created Joanna’s Story from hours of testimony and Dame Janet Suzman reads its public debut. Then all three join Holocaust educator Trudy Gold in discussion.

1:00:09

Bill Browder: Surviving Putin
2023/03/05 • 74 views Can one man take on a ruthless global leader - and win? Financier Bill Browder was the largest foreign investor in Russia, but the Moscow jail murder of his lawyer after uncovering a $230 million fraud by government officials sparked a fight for justice that has made him number one both in the New York Times charts and Vladimir Putin’s enemy list. He follows Red Notice with Freezing Order: A True Story of Money Laundering, Murder and Surviving Vladimir Putin's Wrath, an extraordinary insight into the exposing of corruption that prompted Russia’s intervention in the 2016 US presidential election. In conversation with Daniel Ross.

1:04:33

The Escape Artist: Jonathan Freedland & Tracy Chevalier
2023/03/05 • 9 views “Awe inspiring, exciting and poignant, this is a thrilling read, a piece of redemptive storytelling and a work of important Holocaust historical research.” Simon Sebag Montefiore. In April 1944 teenager Rudolf Vrba and fellow inmate Fred Wetzler became two of the first Jews ever to break out of Auschwitz. Shortlisted for both the Baillie Gifford Prize and Waterstones Book of the Year and an instant Sunday Times bestseller, The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World follows Vrba’s mission to reveal the truth of the Holocaust. Risking everything to collect the first data on the final solution, the resulting report reached Roosevelt, Churchill and the Pope, saving over 200,000 lives. Jonathan Freedland returns to Kings Place and Jewish Book Week to share the extraordinary story of a complex man who would seek escape again and again: first from Auschwitz, then from his past, even from his own name. in conversation with Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl With The Pearl Earring and A Single Thread.

1:04:06

The Life Fantastic
2023/03/05 • 35 views Western culture as you’ve never seen it before. In a series of mind-blowing essays, critic and broadcaster Noa Menhaim digs down to the roots of stories, myths and literary genres, travelling from art to politics to history to folklore, and from high to popular culture and back again. Through an intricate web of side notes, she embarks on a voyage of discovery from the unluckiest book ever made to Viking horned helmets, via the sex life of vampires, mermaids frolicking in the margins, the ancient Amazons, the power of Amazon and on to Utopia and Atlantis. In conversation with broadcaster and oral historian Alan Dein.

1:12:55

Genesis Emerging Writers 2023
2023/03/05 • 9 views In the culmination of the second year of our programme in partnership with the Genesis Foundation – which offers bursaries, mentorship, peer support and seminars – the cohort share their experience and read from their fiction, non-fiction and poetry projects. They will be joined by mentors, who this year comprised Bidisha, Philip Hensher, Ashley Hickson-Lovence, Wayne Holloway-Smith, Charlotte Mendelson, Ruth Padel, Clare Pollard, Anne Sebba, Dominic Selwood and Jack Underwood.

1:00:02

Short Stories/Tall Tales
2023/03/05 • 14 views With the short story enjoying another resurgence, two of today’s most exciting British-Jewish writers join us to discuss their extraordinary first fiction collections. Having written non-fiction for the TLS and the White Review and contributed a story to the Queer Life, Queer Love anthology, Parallel Hells is the deliciously strange debut from Leon Craig. Among its 13 stories, drawing on folklore in refreshingly innovative ways, we meet a golem whose powers far exceed its creator’s expectations, a bitter Oxford historian and an ancient being who feasts on the shame of contemporary Londoners. Adam Ferner’s non-fiction books include Think Differently: Philosophy for Modern Life and How to Disagree; now writing as A.M. Moskovitz he uses the horror short story form to critique the excesses and absurdities of philosophy and academia in Notes From the Crawl Room. A chance to hear from two rising literary stars in conversation with Sam Jordison.

57:56

The Marx Brothers: From Vaudeville To Israel
2023/03/05 • 76 views Like many children of 19th century Jewish immigrants, as each Marx brother boy celebrated his Barmitzvah their formal education was replaced by life on the stage. Non-religious, they fiercely embraced their Jewish identity in the face of rampant antisemitism. And late in life, Harpo in particular and unexpectedly profoundly connected with Judaism during an emotional trip to Israel in 1963. Robert S Bader - author of Four of the Three Musketeers, Susan Fleming Marx’s co-author for Speaking of Harpo and director of Groucho & Cavett – joins us for a night at Kings Place, in conversation with author and The Oldie editor Harry Mount.

1:04:33

Mizrahi and Sephardi Voices
2023/03/05 • 13 views Almost a million Jews fled their ancestral homelands following the founding of the State of Israel; Henry Green & Richard Stursberg trace their journeys in the wide-ranging yet intimate Sephardi Voices: The Untold Expulsion of Jews from Arab Lands. In The Wrong Kind of Jew: A Mizrahi Manifesto Hen Mazzig catalogues the Jewish population of the Middle East and North Africa, their history and the voices, arguing that while they fail to meet the expectations of both the Jewish and non-Jewish world they are better for it. Richard and Hen join Harifa co-founder and Uprooted author Lyn Julius in conversation.

1:02:52

Philanthropy From Aristotle To Zuckerberg
2023/03/05 • 2 views The super-rich are shaping our world. Award-winning journalist Paul Vallely follows previous bestsellers Bad Samaritans & Pope Francis with Philanthropy. He takes us from the Greek man of honour, the Roman patron, the Jewish prophet and Christian scholastic to the Victorian moralist, the welfare socialist, the celebrity activist and today's wealthy mega-giver. Exploring the successes, failures and contradictions of philanthrocapitalism, he asked tough questions of philanthropists and thinkers including Richard Branson, Jonathan Sacks and Soros chief Patrick Gaspard. He is joined by Joanne Black, philanthropist and a director of the Regatta Group in a conversation chaired by senior philanthropy advisor Lizzy Steinhart.

56:26

The Collaborators
2023/03/05 • 7 views A Hasidic Jew fixer, a Manchu princess and Himmler's masseur; each regarded as both heroes and villains due to their wartime acts. Friedrich Weinreb took money from fellow Jews in a deportation-avoiding scam, but is known by supporters as ‘the Dutch Dreyfus’. Kawashima Yoshiko spied for the Japanese secret police in China. Felix Kersten became indispensable to the SS commander but after the war presented himself as a resistance hero. Historian and former New York Review of Books editor Ian Buruma skilfully reconstructs what we can know about these mythologised individuals and what remains out of reach.  In conversation with the actor and author Simon Callow.

57:57

The Most Dangerous Woman in Europe
2023/03/05 • 4 views Edda Mussolini was Benito's favourite daughter: spoilt, clever, faithless, flamboyant, venal, a brilliant diplomat. Her father's confidante during 20 years of Fascist rule she acted as first lady, helping steer Italy to join forces with Hitler, and with husband Galeazzo Ciano was part of Italy’s most celebrated couple. In a dramatic story that takes in her father's fall and her husband's execution, Caroline Moorehead paints a vivid portrait of a complicated and determined woman, not just as a witness but a key player in some of the century's defining moments. in conversation with historian Clare Mulley.

1:20:02

Shylock: Merchant & Matriarch
2023/03/05 • 65 views Something special to close our 72nd festival: star of stage and screen Tracy-Ann Oberman performing excerpts from a radical new production of The Merchant of Venice alongside a panel discussion sparked by one of Shakespeare’s most controversial characters. Set in London's East End in 1936, Ridley Road actor Tracy-Ann is playing Shylock as a widowed single mother and refugee from Russia, running a small business from a cramped house in Cable Street. As well as reading from the adaptation she will be joined by the play's director Brigid Larmour, artistic director and chief executive of Watford Palace Theatre, as well as lawyer and author Anthony Julius as they discuss matriarchs, misogyny, modern parallels and reframing one of the best-known plays in history. Chaired by critic, columnist and cultural historian Kate Maltby.

59:40

Hollywood & Israel
2023/03/05 • 14 views From Sinatra’s pro-Zionist rallying to Spielberg’s present-day peace-making, Hollywood has long enjoyed a “special relationship” with Israel. Historians Giora Goodman & Tony Shaw offer an innovative account of this relationship, both on and off the screen, investigating the ways Hollywood’s moguls, directors, and actors have supported or challenged Israel for over 70 years. Detailing the political involvement with Israel – and Palestine – of household names such as Kirk Douglas, Barbara Streisand, Vanessa Redgrave, Robert De Niro and Natalie Portman, they explore the complex story of Israel’s relationship with American Jewry, illuminating how media and soft power have shaped the Arab-Israeli conflict.

1:00:39

Pressburger & Pearls
2023/03/05 • 5 views With A Matter of Life & Death, Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes, Pressburger and Powell changed the face of cinema. Emeric Pressburger also wrote two novels; The Glass Pearls, a post-war thriller about a mysterious German émigré, was reissued by Faber last year to acclaim. Here his grandson Kevin MacDonald, the Oscar-winning director of One Day in September and The Last King of Scotland, joins critic and novelist Anthony Quinn and TLS fiction editor Toby Lichtig to discuss his life and work on screen and page.

1:04:33

Jewish Pride Amid Rising Hate
2023/03/05 • 8 views Why, after all this time, are we still talking about antisemitism? Can we instead embrace empowerment? In Reclaiming Our Story: The Pursuit of Jewish Pride educator Ben M. Freeman calls for a rejection of the shame of anti­semitism imposed on Jews by the non-Jew­ish world and looks into the long history of internalised anti-Jewishness. In Everyday Hate CST head of policy Dave Rich asks how ‘never again’ has given way to rising hate crime, conspiracy theories and thriving antisemitism and explains how we can all play a part in stopping it. They join journalist Nicole Lampert.

56:22

Golda Meir's Path to Power
2023/03/14 • 17 views In this authoritative, empathetic and ground-breaking biography, Pnina Lahav, in conversation with historian Trudy Gold, re-examines the life of Golda Meir through a feminist lens, focusing on Israel’s first and only female prime minister’s recurring role as a woman standing alone among men. The award-winning author of Judgment in Jerusalem: Chief Justice Simon Agranat and the Zionist Century returns with The Only Woman in the Room, the first book to contend with Meir’s full identity as a Jew, a Zionist leader, a founder of Israel and a woman, providing a richer portrait of her persona and legacy. She revisits the youthful encounters that forged Meir’s passion for socialist Zionism and reassesses her decision to separate from her husband and leave her children in the care of others Despite derision from colleagues, she led in establishing Israel as a welfare state where social security, workers’ rights, and maternity leave became law, before withdrawing from politics after the disastrous Yom Kippur War. Pnina joins us online live from the US to reflect on Meir’s unique career, her complex relationship with the Israeli and American feminist movements, and the tensions between her personal and political identities.

59:48

Simon Sebag-Montefiore: The World
2023/03/26 • 40 views "From Alexander the Great to Zelensky, via Caesars and Rothschilds, plagues and love affairs, the latest book from international bestseller Simon Sebag Montefiore is nothing less than the history of humanity itself. In The World: A Family History the historian, novelist and broadcaster takes us from the first footsteps of a family 950,000 years ago right up to present day. The multi-award-winning author of Young Stalin, The Romanovs and Jerusalem: The Biography returns to Jewish Book Week after previous sell-outs to discuss this fresh and spellbinding take on the global human story. In conversation with Natalie Livingstone."

1:13:01

What's Next For Ukraine?
2023/03/26 • 7 views Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has changed the world. From precipitating a refugee crisis throughout Europe as eight million Ukrainians fled their homes, to increased nuclear fears, the threat of famine in Africa and social and economic unrest in Britain, the impact has been seismic and global. What lies ahead? Editor of The Jewish Chronicle Jake Wallis Simons is joined by Ukraine expert, author and The Economist’s former Kyiv correspondent Anna Reid, historian, writer and director of the Ukrainian Institute London Olesya Khromeychuk, and former Foreign Secretary and Secretary of State for Defence Malcolm Rifkind.

1:03:28

Comic Books: When Life is More Absurd than Art
2023/03/26 • 21 views Israeli illustrator, comic book artist and former editor of the Hebrew edition of MAD magazine Rutu Modan on the real stories behind her award-winning comics and graphic novels. In conversation with fellow comics and graphic novel expert Ariel Kahn, Artistic Director of the National Library of Israel’s Comics Residency project will discuss inventing stories where truth often has little to do with reality.

1:11:03

Murder at the Old Bailey
2023/03/26 • 514 views Until her March retirement Her Honour Wendy Joseph was one of the just 16 judges licensed to try murder cases at the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales - better known as the Old Bailey - and the only woman. In Unlawful Killings: Life, Love & Murder she shares her rare insight from 15 years of presiding over numerous high-profile cases, having previously served as a criminal barrister for more than three decades. Focusing on six dramatic murder and manslaughter cases she details the inner workings of British law, removing the distinction between ‘them’ and ‘us’. She will be in conversation with leading legal commentator Joshua Rozenberg, host of Radio 4’s Law in Action and author of Enemies of the People?

1:01:31

Sa'ad Khaldi & Trudy Gold in conversation
2023/03/26 • 8 views In 2007 Sa’ad Khaldi, a UK educator with an Arab and Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, became the first Palestinian Holocaust Educational Fellow studying with the Imperial War Museum and Yad Vashem in Lithuania, Poland and Israel. In conversation with fellow educator and historian Trudy Gold they explore - in a world where the Arab-Israeli conflict has become ever more complex, and where Holocaust education is insufficient to combat the tide of antisemitism and racism - the way forward.

1:04:13

The Last Colony: Philippe Sands & Helena Kennedy
2023/03/26 • 20 views "East West Street author Philippe Sands takes us on a disturbing journey across international law sparked by the 1965 establishment of the British Indian Ocean Territory and deportation of a Chagos island’s entire population.  But the British had reckoned without the determination of one young woman and a four-decade battle with the government of Mauritius. International law specialist Philippe has been intimately involved in the cases for the last decade and now recounts the full shocking story in The Last Colony: A Tale of Exile, Justice and Britain's Colonial Legacy. In conversation with Helena Kennedy."

1:01:11

"Funny, you don’t look Jewish": Authenticity & Identity
2023/03/26 • 114 views Discovering her close friend and boss was a conman prompted Alice Sherwood’s lifelong interest in authenticity and identity, topics she explores in her award-winning book, Authenticity: Reclaiming Reality in a Counterfeit Culture. With a rich range of stories, many of which – from the world's greatest impostor, the human chameleon who inspired Woody Allen’s Zelig, to the Bronx-born designer accused of copying by a French couturier – explore some of the complexities of the Jewish immigrant experience, she argues for a new understanding of what it means to be authentic. Alice is in conversation with Simon Schama, whose two volume The Story of the Jews explores the ambiguities of Jewish identity from 5th century BC Egyptian Israelites to the Marrano diaspora.

1:02:50

The Lives of Joseph Roth & Stefan Zweig
2023/03/26 • 16 views After Hitler came to power in 1933, celebrated Austrian - and Jewish - writers Joseph Roth and Stefan Zweig were forced to flee; Roth that very day, boarding a train to Paris. The pair enjoyed a peculiar friendship; in exile, the penniless but, in his own estimation, more talented Roth depended on the commercially successful Zweig for money. By 1942 they were both dead, Zweig by suicide, Roth from alcohol poisoning. Endless Flight author Keiron Pim and National Library of Israel curator Stefan Litt discuss their lives and works with writer and critic Boyd Tonkin.

1:04:18

Lockdowns, Laws & Lost Freedoms
2023/03/26 • 95 views On 26 March 2020, a new law appeared. In 11 pages it confined tens of millions of people to their homes, restricting our freedoms more than any other law in history, justified by the rapid spread of a deadly new virus. Never debated in Parliament, it came into force as soon as it was signed, amid a state of emergency being declared, it lasted for over two years and allowed ministers to bring in over 100 new laws by decree, laws then broken by the then-Prime Minister and many of his colleagues. Described by former Supreme Court President Lady Hale as “a riveting account of how our democracy was put under threat during the Pandemic” in Emergency State: How We Lost Our Freedoms in the Pandemic and Why it Matters leading human rights barrister Adam Wagner shares this startling story and offers a wakeup call. A member of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) panel of counsel who has represented the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), Adam joins barrister and broadcaster Rob Rinder to discuss his highly anticipated and much-discussed first book.

1:04:48

Licoricia: Power & Prejudice
2023/03/26 • 71 views Dubbed ‘totally fascinating, tragic and unforgettable’ by Simon Sebag Montefiore, Licoricia of Winchester, a 13th century Jewish financier, was the most important Jewish woman in medieval England. In turn royal favourite, widow, potentate and prisoner, her extraordinary life took place against a backdrop of civil war, bad government and the ever-present and terrifying spectre of antisemitism. Author Rebecca Abrams is in conversation with renowned professor of medieval and early modern history, Miri Rubin.

1:03:29

Leonard Cohen in the Sinai
2023/03/26 • 118 views October 1973: Leonard Cohen is world famous, highly admired – yet unhappy and at a creative dead end. Rather than resort to a more routine rock star response, he swapped his Greek island lifestyle for the chaos and bloodshed of the frontlines of the Yom Kippur War, armed only with his guitar and some local musicians. As we approach the 50th anniversary of this unique concert tour journalist Matti Friedman tells this little-known story in Who By Fire, alongside never-before-seen extracts from Cohen’s own unfinished manuscript and rare photographs. It was a life-changing experience for the singer-songwriter and an unforgettable one for the hundreds of young men and women he encountered. A Tablet columnist, former New York Times essayist and author of award-winning books Pumpkinflowers, The Aleppo Codex, and Spies of No Country, Matti returns to Jewish Book Week with this fascinating account.

1:00:50

The Future of Food
2023/03/26 • 11 views What we eat has never seemed as crucial – or complicated. Tim Spector is in the top 1% most-cited scientists on the planet; in Food For Life he draws on cutting-edge research to deliver a comprehensive guide to what we should all know about our greatest ally for good health. Broadcaster Dan Saladino won the Wainwright Prize 2022 and the Guild of Food Writers Book Award for his astonishing Eating to Extinction: The World’s Rarest Foods & Why We Need To Save Them. They discuss the past, present and future of food, in conversation with award-winning food writer Felicity Cloake.

51:57

Israel: A History in 100 Cartoons
2023/03/26 • 13 views 75 years after the state was established, Israel: A History in 100 Cartoons offers a new, visually exciting and accessible way to understand this unique, complex country and, in particular, the Israel-Palestine conflict. Colin Shindler, a leading authority on Israel Studies whose previous books include The Hebrew Republic and The Rise of the Israeli Right, contextualises the work of different generations of irreverent and contrarian cartoonists, mainly published in the Israeli press, with detailed timelines and commentaries for every year.

32:19

Canine Pioneer
2023/05/12 • 10 views Dog trainer extraordinaire Rudolphina Menzel’s research into canine psychology was revolutionary. Between the wars she enjoyed a pan-European reputation as one of the foremost breeders and trainers of police dogs. A fervent Zionist, Rudophina trained hundreds of dogs to protect Jewish lives and property in pre-state Palestine - teaching Jews to like dogs and training dogs to serve Jews was her unique Zionist mission. Biographer Susan Martha Kahn discusses her life and legacy with poet and executive director of Jewish Renaissance, Aviva Dautch.

37:31

Refugees & Rescuers
2023/05/12 • 7 views Holocaust educator Mike Levy shines a light on the forgotten many who helped to rescue more than 10,000 Jewish children from Germany and Austria, among them the fearless Dutch woman, the grocer, the soldier, the Quaker and the Rabbi. Novelist Geoffrey Charin has produced an electrifying thriller, Without Let or Hindrance, telling the story of Veronica, who enters a high-risk world of deadly intrigue and political conspiracy to place herself at the very heart of darkness: Berlin under the Nazis. Geoffrey’s research was partially based on the life of a Kindertransport girl, Miriam, who found a refuge with his grandparents. In conversation with historian Clare Mulley.

38:14

TsitTsit Fringe: Bubble Schmeisis
2023/05/12 • 4 views Author Nick Cassenbaum in conversation about his hilarious work based on the Canning Town schwitz, East London’s last authentic bath house.

1:00:06

The Disrupted Mind
2023/05/13 • 10 views Philopsopher Noga Arikha spent 18 months at the Pitié-Salpêtière hospital in Paris, studying what happens when the mind goes wrong – and how our physical experiences inform our identities. Weaving together stories of her subjects’ troubles, from Vanessa who wakes from a coma having forgotten ten years of her life to Thomas, who no longer knows how to answer questions, in The Ceiling Outside Arikha draws on cutting-edge research and insights from neuroscience philosophy and psychology as she attempts to understand how deeply interconnected are our minds and bodies. In conversation with author Lisa Appignanesi.

1:00:06

The Future Face of the Jewish State
2023/05/13 • 19 views Israel today is navigating internal struggles over what kind of Jewish state it wants to be—a debate that is playing out through tensions over reproduction. As demographic forecasts show that by 2065 Haredim will constitute a third of Israel's Jewish population, Israeli policy makers have attempted to manage the rapid increase through steep cutbacks in child benefits. Lea Taragin-Zeller of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem offers an overview of these Jewish ‘womb-wars’ while providing an ethnographic account of Orthodox reproduction today, in the face of vast policy changes. In conversation with author Sally Berkovic.

1:03:04

The Object of Jewish Literature
2023/05/13 • 18 views With the rise of digital media, the ‘death of the book’ has been widely discussed. But the physical object itself persists. Here, through the lens of materiality and objects, Barbara Mann tells a history of modern Jewish literature, from novels and poetry to graphic novels and artist’s books, offering a new frame for understanding how literary genres emerge. Called, “original and finely instructive” by Robert Alter, Mann is in conversation with Aviva Dautch.

1:01:30

The Pope at War: Pius XII, Mussolini & Hitler
2023/05/13 • 16 views "After winning a Pulitzer for The Pope and Mussolini, David Kertzer returns with an explosive book on Pius XI’s successor, based on Vatican papers sealed for over 60 years and never-before seen documents from Britain, France, Germany and the US. The Brown University professor explores Pope Pius XII’s actions during the War, including his response to the Holocaust, as the Church prepares to canonize one of their most controversial leaders. He clears away myths and falsehoods, showing why the Pope repeatedly bent to the wills of Hitler and Mussolini."

1:04:33

John Lahr & Nicholas Hytner on Arthur Miller
2023/05/13 • 175 views Playwright Arthur Miller almost single-handedly propelled 20th Century American Theatre to a new level of cultural sophistication. Distinguished theatre critic John Lahr focuses on the fault lines of Miller’s life – his family, the Great Depression, the rise of fascism, Elia Kazan and the House Committee of Un-American Activities, Marilyn Monroe, Vietnam – demonstrating the synergy between Miller’s psychology and his plays. In conversation with acclaimed director Nicholas Hytner – who worked with Arthur Miller on the film version of The Crucible.

1:01:42

Jonathan Freedland & Anthony Julius in conversation with Hadley Freeman
2023/05/13 • 87 views An insightful hour with three people who’ve reached the top of their fields. Solicitor Anthony Julius and Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland, both deeply rooted in the Jewish community and the authors of acclaimed books, join author and Sunday Times journalist Hadley Freeman for a unique event to discuss their respective careers, how their work has shaped their identities, and how it has been informed by Israel and the challenge of liberal Zionism.

1:16:19

Hope is a Woman's Name
2023/05/13 • 25 views An indigenous Bedouin in a Jewish state and a fifth daughter in a patriarchal society, Amal Elsana Alh'jooj was a shepherd at the age of five. Always driven to pursue justice and equality, from her early teens she ran literary classes for women, marking the beginning of a lifelong career promoting policy change for Israel’s Bedouin. Today Amal is instrumental in shaping public opinion on Israel’s marginalised minorities. Hope is a Woman’s Name tells her journey navigating interweaving systems of power and oppression while embracing every thread of her identity: Bedouin, Arab, woman, feminist, Palestinian and Israeli. In conversation with broadcaster, journalist and film-maker Bidisha.

1:03:13

One Hundred Saturdays
2023/05/13 • 19 views With nearly a century behind her, Stella Levi never spoke in detail about her past, until Mighty Franks author & essayist Michael Frank visited her Greenwich Village apartment to ask about the Juderia in Rhodes, where she was part of a Sephardic Jewish community that was deported in its entirety to Auschwitz. In the resulting book, a Wall Street Journal Top 10 of 2022, Stella reveals what it was like to grow up in an extraordinary place at an extraordinary time—and to construct a life after that place vanished. Frank discusses her story and their transformative friendship in a conversation chaired by historian and author of Uprooted, Lyn Julius.

59:25

The Abraham Accords
2023/05/13 • 3 views In 2017 Trump Organization chief legal officer Jason Greenblatt was appointed as an assistant to the President and special envoy to the Middle East. In the Path of Abraham is his inside account of the Peace to Prosperity Plan, a plan to resolve the discord between Israel and its neighbours. The result was the ground-breaking Abraham Accords, which normalised Israel’s relationships with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco. He joins political scientist and public opinion researcher Dahlia Scheindlin and The Times of Israel founding editor David Horovitz to discuss his unique experiences of these historic developments and a President noted for his complex relationship with Jewish communities.

59:05

Anglo Jewry: A History of Controversy
2023/05/13 • 25 views Over the last 300 years Britain’s Chief Rabbis have been attacked for being too orthodox, not orthodox enough or simply being resistant to change. David Latchman will discuss some of these controversies, detailed in his new book Ten Chief Rabbis which is based entirely on items in his unique collection of Anglo-Judaica.

1:05:10

Hannah Arendt & Isaiah Berlin: The Feud
2023/05/13 • 26 views "For the first time, the full story of the conflict between two of the 20th century’s most important thinkers—and how their profound disagreements continue to offer important lessons for political theory and philosophy. Hannah Arendt and Isaiah Berlin fundamentally disagreed on central issues in politics, history and philosophy, in spite of their overlapping lives and experiences as Jewish émigré intellectuals. Research Fellow in Philosophy at Oxford's Wolfson College, Kei Hiruta discusses his acclaimed book with Judge Dennis Davis in this free online event in partnership with Lockdown University."

59:48

The Art of Survival
2023/05/13 • 13 views A first-hand narrative of the horrors of Bergen-Belsen - seen through the eyes of a child - and the remarkable life that followed. Born in 1939 in Amsterdam, by the age of four Maurice Blik was forced to face the questions and choices that philosophers, artists and religions have left unanswered. Moving to England following liberation, the legacy of some of the worst atrocities of the war remained silent in him until it found a voice almost 40 years later in his sculpture, work which saw him made President of the Royal Society of British Sculptors in 1996. Often reticent to discuss his work due to the painful experiences behind them, the internationally acclaimed artist and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts now takes conclusive ownership of the narrative in his memoir The Art of Survival. As broadcaster and Holocaust Commissioner Natasha Kaplinsky writes in the foreword: “His searing childhood experiences profoundly shaped the sculptor he was to become, renowned for works of majesty and life-affirming power.” In conversation with Daily Mail and Sunday Times journalist York Membery.

42:06

The Fire and the Bonfire
2023/05/18 • 16 views Celebrated artist Ardyn Halter, in conversation with art historian Monica Bohm-Duchen, offers a profound meditation on genocide, memory and art interwoven through three compelling journeys through time and place. From the dynamics of his relationship with his father, Roman Halter, to his work designing and creating stained-glass windows for the Rwandan National Genocide Centre, to tracing his father’s journey during the Shoah, The Fire and the Bonfire has been described as the ‘defining statement of the Second Generation’.

1:01:58

Mel Brooks: Disobedient Jew
2023/05/18 • 42 views From a Catskllls comic to one of the few individuals to have won Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards, Mel Brooks dominated 20th century American comedy. Now, as he approaches 97, the director of Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein is the subject of the latest book in Yale’s Jewish Lives series. Jeremy Dauber’s Mel Brooks: Disobedient Jew explores how Brooks’ American Jewish humour morphed from being solely for niche audiences to an essential part of the mainstream, from Sid Caesar’s legendary writing room in the 1950s to conquering Broadway with The Producers five decades later. The Jewish Comedy author and Columbia professor joins journalist Tanya Gold to discuss a hugely influential figure.

1:00:37

Translating Soviet Literature
2023/05/18 • 4 views Three of the leading literary translators from Russian to English – Robert Chandler, Boris Dralyuk and Bryan Keretnyk – join literary critic David Herman to discuss their most recent translations: Vasily Grossman’s The People Immortal; Isaac Babel’s Of Sunshine and Bedbugs; and Yuri Felsen’s Deceit. From Jewish gangsters in Babel’s native Odessa and the catastrophic first months of the German invasion of the Soviet Union to a psychological self-portrait of an unnamed narrator, these remarkable books are among the greatest works of Soviet literature.

1:06:39

The Relativity of Death: Eduard Shyfrin
2023/05/18 • 3 views Dr Eduard Shyfrin, founder of the Kabbalah of information, best-selling author of From Infinity to Man: The Fundamental Ideas of Kabbalah Within the Framework of Information Theory and Quantum Physics has written extensively for the Jerusalem Post on a series of topics such as Torah, Theory of Creation, life and death, science and many more through the lens of Kabbalah, physics and Theory of Information. In conversation with Dr Robert Lawrence Kuhn, author, writer and host of Closer to Truth, he and Eduard, founder of the theory of the Kabbalah of Information, present the material published on Eduard’s personal page in the Jerusalem Post. This page has received more than six million views to date

1:00:35

Lapidarium: The Secret Life of Stones
2023/05/18 • 17 views From the hematite used in cave paintings and the moldavite that became a TikTok sensation to from crystal balls to compasses, rocks and minerals have always been central to our story. 3,000 years ago, Babylonians constructed lapidaries, books that tried to pin down their magical secrets. Now art critic and author Hettie Judah explores the stories behind 60 stones that have shaped human history, from Dorset fossil-hunters and Chinese philosophers to Catherine the Great and Michelangelo. In conversation with artist llana Halperin.

1:01:51

The BDS War: From Hollywood to Academia
2023/05/18 • 162 views The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, conceived at the United Nations World Conference against Racism in South Africa in 2001, unleashed the "new" antisemitism which targeted the State of Israel. Ronnie Fraser, in Challenging the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement focuses on the efforts to oppose the academic boycott, while industry insider and author of Artists Under Fire Lana Melman discusses BDS’s strategy of using celebrities like Scarlett Johansson, Alicia Keys, Rihanna and the Rolling Stones in its campaign; in conversation with David Hirsh.

1:05:43

Landscapes of Silence
2023/05/18 • 25 views Celebrated anthropologist and filmmaker Hugh Brody weaves a dazzling tapestry of personal memory and distant landscapes, from childhood in the Derbyshire attending Hebrew classes but sent to a C of E boarding school, to a kibbutz in Israel. Bewildered by the silence created by his concealed family history, he sought places of escape. It was only in the deep Canadian Arctic, a world so far removed from anything he had known, that he had a chance to learn what it can mean to be truly alive. With readings from Olivier-winner Juliet Stevenson.

1:01:53

A Small Town in Ukraine
2023/05/19 • 46 views Decades ago, historian Bernard Wasserstein set out to uncover the hidden past of Krakowiec, where his family originated. Now he recounts its dramatic history across centuries of conflict as Cossacks, Swedes and Muscovites rampaged through. In the Age of Enlightenment, a Polish magnate created an arcadia of serenity; under the Habsburgs it became a typical shtetl. Both World Wars left terrible legacies and today hordes of refugees flee for their lives from Ukraine to Poland. The people of Krakowiec, including his own family, become a prism through which we can feel the shocking immediacy of history. In conversation with Times columnist and author David Aaronovitch.

1:04:33

The Story of Russia: Orlando Figes
2023/05/19 • 45 views No country has been so divided over its past, or reinvented its story so often, as Russia. To understand what Putin's regime means for the future we need to unravel Russia’s history. There can be few better guides than historian Orlando Figes, whose books have been translated into over 30 languages. In The Story of Russia - a book of 2022 in the Sunday Times, the FT and the Telegraph – he makes sense of the world's largest nation through the vibrant characters whose stories remain so important, from Ivan the Terrible and Catherine the Great to the bitter last days of the Romanovs. In conversation with journalist and author Nick Cohen.

1:11:44

Art Spiegelman & Hillary Chute in conversation with Jonathan Freedland
2023/05/19 • 32 views From Superman to Maus, comic art has both subverted and triumphed over popular culture for almost a century. Our latest online event sees Jonathan Freedland joined by Maus creator Art Spiegelman and Hillary Chute, editor of the National Jewish Book Award winner Art Spiegelman’s MetaMaus and the upcoming Maus Now. They will look at the importance of the graphic novel in both popular culture and high art, the history of comic culture and the Jewish contribution to it, and, of course, the place of Maus in Holocaust literature, memory, psychology, and its enduring influence in the world today. The conversation will also include key extracts from two BBC Arena films: Art Spiegelman: Of Mice and Cats, an exploration of the inspiration behind his ground-breaking work Maus and his visit to the scenes of his parents’ experiences during the Holocaust

30:32

The Meeting
2023/05/22 • 21 views The horror of the Holocaust seen through the prism of two brothers from a German Jewish family, Richard and Arthur Lindner. In The Meeting Elsbeth Lindner remembers her uncle and her father. In drawing together two very different lives – the huge success in America of her artist uncle (chosen as one of the individuals featured on the cover of the Beatles' iconic Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band) and her father’s more modest time in Britain – she gives an account of the aftermath of terrible events, for those that experienced them and the following generation.

31:41

To Egypt With Love
2023/05/22 • 18 views With the Suez crisis of 1956, Egypt’s remaining Jewish population was forced to flee a land which had been their home for over 2,000 years. Author Viviane Bowell, who fled the country when she was a child, describes in vivid detail the lost world of the Jewish community of Cairo. In conversation with historian and author Lyn Julius

49:39

The Beatles' Hairdresser
2023/05/24 • 28 views The Beatles’ hair changed the world. As their untamed manes grew, they set off a cultural revolution as the most tangible symbol of the Sixties psychedelic dream. But how did a Jewish boy from Burnt Oak become part of this epochal change? From dropping out of school aged 15 and apprenticing to Vidal Sassoon to becoming hairdresser and stylist to the biggest band of all time, Leslie Cavendish tells his story in Cutting Edge and here joins drummer, raconteur and pop music aficionado Maurice Selwyn.

34:58

TsitTsit Fringe: Much Ado About Noshing
2023/05/24 • 20 views A light hearted look at Jews, books and food ( with bagels!) From Farfel the Madding Crowd to Chrainspotting, spend lunchtime in the company of some very funny writing about Jews and food. And bagels will be provided ,of course....

37:03

TsitTsit Fringe: Villa Russo
2023/05/24 • 8 views Author Julia Nelki introduces her family history, a story of the 20th century through the lens of a house in East Germany , and how it is being adapted into a new piece of musical theatre, Stumbling Stones. This is a story that takes us from the heart of Germany to the High Andes ,from outcasts to opera and from cheesemaking to dancing horses. The discussion will include contributions from Marcel Becker of the band Klezmer-ish , and international opera director James Bonas.

38:51

TsitTsit Fringe: The Poetry Haggadah: Setting History Free
2023/05/25 • 2 views Poets Jill Abram, Adam Kammerling and Sophie Herxheimer will read from their work as we launch a new project involving contemporary poets and the traditional seder night text. Over the next year, Tsitsit will be commissioning twelve poets to respond to the themes and content of the Haggadah, a text that became fixed at a point in history, but which the tradition itself demands we question and challenge for contemporary relevance.

1:05:46

Isaac Bashevis Singer: A Long, Long Way
2023/05/25 • 27 views “I wouldn’t say that Yiddish is dead, neither would I say that Yiddish is blooming. I would say that Yiddish is sick. But in our history, between being sick and dying is a long, long way…” Isaac Bashevis Singer. As the centenary of the birth of one of the most respected Jewish writers of all time approaches, we celebrate the life and work of Isaac Bashevis Singer with an online discussion featuring colleagues and admirers. Rebecca Abrams, author of The Jewish Journey and literary critic for the Financial Times, is joined by David Stromberg, editor of the Isaac Bashevis Singer Literary Trust and translator of his essays, the award-winning writer Shalom Auslander, who refers to Singer as “a darker, funnier Chagall” and Evelyn T. Beck, who worked with Singer as one of his Yiddish translators of his short stories and is Professor Emerita of Women’s Studies at the University of Maryland USA.

1:00:45

Liberal & Illiberal Arts
2023/06/19 • 15 views How did Humphrey Bogart end up telling Lauren Bacall a Talmudic story in Key Largo and what does that have to do with Plato’s theory of recollection—or American Jewish assimilation? The answers can be found in the collection of witty, wise and whimsical essays (mostly Jewish, as the subheading says) from Abraham Socher. Subjects range from classic texts, Kafka and Rabbi Kook to yeshivas, Nabakov and a devasting account of the illiberal arts at work in Oberlin College, where he taught for 18 years. A rare UK event with the Jewish Review of Books editor, in conversation with Mark Glanville.

42:35

Returning from Silence
2023/06/21 • 24 views Michèle Sarde’s lively saga mingles creative writing with family memories. It evokes the prickly, centuries-long life of the Jews in Salonica, with their nostalgia for the Spain they left behind. With the breakup of the Ottoman empire, they feel impelled to emigrate once more, this time to Paris. Through the narrator and her mother, we get to know her family as genuine human figures, with fears, snobberies and dreams. Soon, though, they are thrown into the cauldron of the Occupation, fleeing the Vichy police and the Gestapo. Discussed by Returning from Silence translator Rupert Swyer and author Michael.

1:05:56

Elon Musk's Dangerous Turn
2024/02/22 • 15 views In a special online event in partnership with The Jewish Quarterly, award-winning journalist & author Richard Cooke joined Devorah Baum to discuss his longform JQ essay Dark Star, an in-depth exploration of Elon Musk and the transformation of the world’s richest person, from self-described moderate to trolling neo-reactionary and staunch advocate for hardline US conservatives.

1:00:10

The Last Consolation Vanished
2024/03/05 • 18 views On October 7 1944, a group of Jewish prisoners in Auschwitz rebelled, bombing Crematorium IV. The desperate uprising was defeated by the end of the day, with over 400 prisoners killed, including Zalmen Gradowski. The Last Consolation Vanished: The Testimony of a Sonderkommando in Auschwitz is the first full English translation of his extraordinary, powerful account of life and death there, written in Yiddish and buried in the ashes near Crematorium III. His is a voice speaking to us from the past on behalf of millions who were silenced. Professor Arnold Davidson, the book’s co-editor, discusses this extraordinary work with documentary film-maker Toby Perl Freilich.

1:02:35

Burton & Taylor
2024/03/06 • 38 views It was one of the most iconic relationships of the 20th century, by turns triumphant and tragic, romantic and recriminative.  Richard Burton emerged from the mists and brimstone of Wales to be the greatest theatrical animal of his generation; Elizabeth Taylor was the child actress turned Oscar winner, noted Jewish convert and much-married screen star. Finally, the full story is told by The Life and Death of Peter Sellers biographer Roger Lewis in Erotic Vagrancy. He joins journalist Tanya Gold to discuss his magisterial take on this story of celebrity, creativity, divorces and so much more. Buy a copy of Erotic Vagrancy by Roger Lewis

1:01:06

Kindertransport and Beyond
2024/03/06 • 4 views 85 years after the Kindertransport, children continue to flee their homes in search of safety. This special panel brings together expertise and personal experience spanning nine decades. Lady Milena Grenfell-Baines was one of 669 children rescued by Nicholas Winton from Czechoslovakia in 1939. In The Kindertransport: What Really Happened Dr Andrea Hammel explores some of the uncomfortable truths behind the complex visa waiver scheme that brought some 10,000 children and young people to the UK. And in Child Migrant Voices in Modern Britain Dr Eithne Nightingale curates oral histories from 1930 to the present day. They join educator Trudy Gold. Buy a copy of The Kindertransport by Andrea Hammel and Child Migrant Voices by Eithne Nightingale

58:53

Elif Shafak & Sarah Bernstein
2024/03/06 • 14 views Two of today’s most vital and highly regarded writers, together for the first time. 2023 saw author Sarah Bernstein named a Granta Best Young British Novelist and Booker shortlisted for Study for Obedience, the story of an unnamed Jewish woman’s move to the remote, unspecified country of her ancestors. And ahead of her highly anticipated 13th novel later this year, internationally bestselling The Island of Missing Trees author Elif Shafak, herself a 2019 Booker nominee and Blackwell’s Book of the Year winner with 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World, returns to the festival.

1:00:46

Woman in Art: Helen Rosenau
2024/03/06 • 7 views Helen Rosenau was part of the influential migration of European Jewish intellectuals who fled to Britain and the United States during the 1930s, bringing with them exciting innovations in art history’s methods. Only Rosenau, however, centred gender in her analysis. Eighty years after the publication of what she termed 'my little book’ - Woman in Art: From Type to Personality - a new volume resets Rosenau's radical text in full colour, framing it between biographical essays—by Adrian Rifkin, Rachel Dickson and Griselda Pollock—and Pollock’s contextual reading of Rosenau’s stunning originality and contemporary relevance to both feminist and Jewish studies. Art historian and Oxford professor Jaś Elsner joins Griselda Pollock to situate Rosenau as feminist, art historian and Jewish studies scholar who plotted the changing concepts of ‘woman' across anthropology, philosophy, sociology, law, theology, Biblical literature and history through images.  Buy a copy of Woman in Art

1:02:05

Marcus du Sautoy: Around the World in 80 Games
2024/03/06 • 8 views Can pi help you win rock, paper, scissors? How did Mozart use maths to create music? And which is really the best property to own in Monopoly?  These questions and many more are answered in Around the World in 80 Games by Oxford’s Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science Marcus du Sautoy. The Horizon broadcaster and The Creativity Code author returns to the festival with his gleeful exploration – spanning millennia and continents – of how the games we love have forever been intertwined with mathematics, and how both are integral to human psychology and culture. Buy a copy of Around the World in 80 Games by Marcus du Sautoy

59:03

YIVO and the Recovery of Jewish Memory
2024/03/06 • 3 views Founded in 1925 in Berlin and Wilno, Poland (now Vilnius, Lithuania) YIVO, or the Yiddish Scientific Institute, became the leading institution for scholarship in Yiddish. It was forced to move its HQ to New York in 1940. YIVO CEO and historian Jonathan Brent discusses with Philippe Sands the importance of the Institute for Jewish Research’s discovery, preservation and digitisation of millions of pages of documents and books, spanning over 500 hundred years of Jewish life. What do these materials teach us? Why is this important today? How can these materials affect the Jewish future?  In Partnership with YIVO

1:00:21

Susan Rubin Suleiman- An Immigrant Girlhood
2024/03/06 • 5 views A photograph with faint writing on the back. A traveling chess set. A silver pin. In Daughter of History: Traces of an Immigrant Girlhood, Harvard professor Susan Rubin Suleiman uses such everyday objects and the memories they evoke to tell the story of her early life as a Holocaust refugee, aged five when the Nazis marched into Budapest, and then, after the Communist Party took over Hungary, as an American immigrant, via Austria, France and Haiti. Probing the intergenerational complexities of immigrant families and the inevitability of loss, she shows how historical events shape our private lives.

57:45

Itamar Rabinovich: Middle Eastern Maze
2024/03/06 • 4 views A rare event with the former Israeli ambassador to the US and chief negotiator with Syria in the mid-1990s. In conversation with journalist David Aaronovitch, Itamar Rabinovich provides an insider’s analysis of the Arab-Israeli conflict and peace process. His latest book Middle Eastern Maze covers the Abraham Accords, the new policies pursued by the Trump and Biden administrations, the full-fledged Syrian civil war, the heyday of the Islamic State, Russia’s Syrian military intervention, the Iranian nuclear drive, and the lengthy domestic political crisis in Israel. Rabinovich will also speak about the devastating events of October 7th and their aftermath. Buy a copy of Middle Eastern Maze by Itamar Rabinovich

1:00:47

Women in Intelligence
2024/03/06 • 27 views The first half of the last century saw women take on an extraordinary range of roles in British intelligence, defying convention and playing a pivotal role in both World Wars. Helen Fry’s ground-breaking, panoramic Women in Intelligence: The Hidden History of Two World Wars is full of hitherto unknown stories, taking us from Bletchley and Whitehall to behind enemy lines. She will be in conversation with fellow award-winning historian, biographer and The Spy Who Loved author Clare Mulley. Buy a copy of Women in Intelligence by Helen Fry

1:02:54

The Art of the Thriller
2024/03/06 • 1 views At their best, thrillers can pull off the impressive feat of providing escape, while at the same time giving us food for thought on the world around us. That’s the case with the books here: former BBC journalist Alex Gerlis'sAgent in the Shadows ventures to wartime France as the Wolf Pack spies go undercover to find a traitor; and in Dohany Street author Adam LeBor, also the FT’s thriller reviewer, takes us to Budapest as Detective Balthazar Kovacs investigates the disappearance of a young Israeli historian. They join award-winning journalist Jenni Frazer. Buy a copy of Dohany Street by Adam LeBor and Agent in the Shadow Alex Gerlis

1:01:32

Dannie Abse Centenary Celebration
2024/03/06 • 4 views Dannie Abse's writing — both his poetry and his prose - is witty, colourful and profound, drawn from his Welsh background, his Jewish identity, and his experiences as a doctor. A sharp eye for humour and a deep humanity add to its potency. In this celebratory event, Maureen Lipman joins poet Jeremy Robson, a close friend of Abse’s for over 50 years, his daughter Keren Abse, and poet Lynne Hjelmgaard, his partner in later life, in reading from both his poems and prose, and reminiscing. The event will include rare footage of Dannie Abse reading. Chaired by Michael Joseph, who hosted several memorable Abse events at his iconic bookshop.

1:03:36

Philippe Sands: Lviv Then & Now
2024/03/06 • 5 views Two essays published together, separated by seven decades, united by one city. In 1946 the Polish novelist and poet Józef Wittlin’s wrote in exile about his beloved Lwów. Over 70 years later Philippe Sands shares his perspective as a descendant on what is now the Ukrainian city of Lviv. The East West Street author joins award-winning artist Diana Matar, whose stunning photographs feature alongside their words in City of Lions: Portrait of a City in Two Acts., in conversation with educator and Etgar co-founder Adam Taub

1:03:37

Nicholas Hytner in conversation with Elliot Levey
2024/03/06 • 60 views The achievements of Nicholas Hytner in any one of the media he has conquered could easily fill an hour. His Miss Saigon ran for a decade on both sides of the Atlantic; Carousel and The History Boys won him Olivier and Tony awards. He followed his innovative 12-year run as director of the National Theatre by co-founding The Bridge, the first wholly new theatre of scale to be added to London’s commercial sector in 80 years. He has directed operas for ENO, the Met and Paris Opera and films including The Madness of King George and The Crucible. He joins fellow Olivier-winner Elliot Levey – who he directed in His Dark Materials and The Habit of Art – to reflect on his extraordinary career.

1:10:37

Genesis Emerging Writers 2024
2024/03/06 • 26 views The third edition of our Emerging Writers Programme in partnership with the Genesis Foundation culminates in this popular panel event, chaired by Bidisha Mamata. This year’s writers are: Sean Gilbert, Mariyam Karolia, Harriet Matthews and Susan Royston (fiction),Sharon Kanolik, Angus Reilly and Eleanor Thom(non-fiction); Beth Frieden, Michael Mullen and Evie Ward (poetry). Their mentors are: Julie Cohen, Ruth Gilligan, Adam Lebor and Sophie Mackintosh (fiction); Helen Fry, Viv Groskop and Keiron Pim (non-fiction); Sarah Blake, Jen Calleja and Michael Pedersen (poetry).

59:54

Louis Jacobs' Quest: Book Week 24 online event
2024/03/12 • 36 views For Louis Jacobs, the process of engaging with and thinking about Jewish faith was a lifelong pursuit – and one that remains relevant almost two decades after his death. In the 1960s, amid general religious crises, he offered a model of an observant but intellectually curious Judaism that empowered individual seekers to address challenges to faith, sparking the widespread controversy in British Jewry known as the ‘Jacobs Affair’ and the founding of the New London Synagogue. Miri Freud-Kandel, Modern Judaism lecturer at Oxford, joins us online to unpack the building blocks of his thought with the first book-length analysis of his model, Louis Jacobs and the Quest for a Contemporary Jewish Theology in conversation with Dr Harris Bor

57:43

Maimonides Faith in Reason: Book Week 24 online event
2024/03/13 • 25 views One of the world’s foremost bibliophiles joins us to discuss the medieval philosopher and The Guide for the Perplexed author. Forced from Córdoba by Almohad persecution, Maimonides settled in Egypt, becoming Saladin’s personal physician. His work in extracting, interpreting and translating the commanding precepts of Jewish law from the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud became the model for translating God’s word into a language comprehensible by all. As part of Yale’s Jewish Lives series Alberto Manguel, former director of the National Library of Argentina, examines Maimonides’ universal appeal – celebrated by Jews, Arabs, and Christians alike – in a time when the need for rationality is more vital than ever. In conversation with the National Library of Israel's Head of Collections, Raquel Ukeles.

1:00:09

The Best Minds: Book Week 24 online event
2024/03/14 • 36 views Both children of professors, they were best friends and fierce rivals who followed each other to Yale, which Michael Laudor blazed through in three years. Then Jonathan Rosen received a devastating call: Michael was in the locked ward of a psychiatric hospital. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, his law school graduation made the New York Times with film rights snapped up by Ron Howard. But then, in the grip of psychosis, he committed a horrific act that made him a front-page story of an entirely different sort. The novelist and The Talmud and the Internet author discusses The Best Minds, described by The Guardian as “Extraordinary...a remarkable meditation on friendship, success, madness and violence”. In conversation with clinical psychologist, author and Mortal Secrets writer Frank Tallis.

1:01:32

Torah & Tradition in an Age of Doubt
2024/03/17 • 5 views In these fast-changing, uncertain, and divided times, this new book from Rabbi Dr Raphael Zarum is most welcome. In Questioning Belief: Torah and Tradition in an Age of Doubt, runner-up in this year’s Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Sacks Book Prize, Zarum presents thorough, reasoned responses, based on Torah and tradition, to some of Judaism's most challenging questions of belief, science and ethics. The Dean of the London School of Jewish Studies (LSJS), where he holds the Rabbi Sacks Chair of Modern Jewish Thought, joins Devorah Baum, author of Feeling Jewish, in conversation. Buy a copy of Questioning Belief: Torah and Tradition in an Age of Doubt by Raphael Zarum

37:14

Kafka's Trial- Panel Discussion
2024/03/17 • 8 views

1:16:02

Yiddish Winterreise - A Song Cycle
2024/03/17 • 8 views Vocalist Mark Glanville and pianist Marc Verter present Yiddish Winterreise. First performed in 2007, it is a cycle of mostly traditional Yiddish songs inspired by Schubert's Winterreise. Described by the former German Ambassador to the Court of St James’s as ‘both a celebration and a cry of anguish’, this extraordinary song cycle reflects the mental journey of a man who has just witnessed his family's murder by the Nazis and grew out of a need to heal the anger and pain of the Shoah through music. The terrible October pogrom in Israel and its consequences have made its journey and message feel particularly relevant and contemporary.

59:43

Pinchas Goldschmidt: Moscow Memoirs
2024/03/17 • 4 views From the bleak Soviet Union, to the historic renaissance of Judaism, to the current collapse of Russian society, Moscow’s chief rabbi for almost three decades joins us in London. Now exiled in Israel, Pinchas Goldschmidt’s tenure ended abruptly in 2022 when he spoke out against Putin’s war against Ukraine, resigned, and recommended that all Jews leave the country. His memoir tells of the flourishing of a Jewish community at the very heart of a land that for centuries was committed to its destruction. He sheds light on run-ins with secret service agents; the influence of oligarchs on the capital’s Jewish community; and local antisemitism always simmering beneath the surface.

1:00:29

Linda Grant & Rachel Lichtenstein
2024/03/17 • 59 views “Jews live in time, not space…we have, and are, a story, not a plot of territory”. So says Linda Grant’s character Jossel in The Story of the Forest. From Latvia to Liverpool and post-war Soho, she tells the story, based in part on her own family’s experiences, of one Jewish family through the tumultuous 20th century. The tale she weaves is about myths, memory and how we adapt in order to survive. Place, memory and Jewish identity are also at the heart of Rachel Lichenstein’s art; the curator and Estuary author joins the multi-award-winning novelist in conversation with TLS fiction and politics editor Toby Lichtig. Buy a copy of The Story of the Forest by Linda Grant

1:02:43

Mifleget Hamachshavot Live
2024/03/17 • 3 views Where better to have the first-ever English-language edition of international hit politics podcast Mifleget Hamachshavot: The Great Ideas Behind Israel Politics than at Kings Place, home to the London Podcast Festival, and during Book Week? With 3.5 million downloads, philosopher and bestselling author Micah Goodman and lawyer and broadcaster Efrat Shapira Rosenberg bring one of Israel’s most popular podcasts to the UK for the first time in this special live edition, analysing the impact of the war on Israeli society.

1:04:45

What's Next for Jews on the Left
2024/03/17 • 0 views In the wake of the attacks by Hamas of October 7th, many progressive Jews, particularly in Britain and the US, were deeply disappointed that so many who they had thought of as their ideological allies did not express sympathy for the Jewish victims. Instead, they cast Israel as solely responsible for the ensuing conflict. Is there a future for Jews and the Left? Jonathan Freedland is joined by fellow Guardian columnist and Politics: A Survivor’s Guide author Rafael Behr, CST head of policy Dave Rich, and Dame Margaret Hodge Labour MP for Barking and Dagenham since 1994 to discuss.

1:00:04

Bats & Mitzvahs - Jews and Cricket
2024/03/19 • 5 views As players, MCC Presidents, umpires, statisticians and patrons, Jews have contributed at all levels of cricket. From the UK to Australia, South Africa and the West Indies, they’ve captained their countries and counties, helped to develop the commercial side of the game and even baked cakes for Test Match Special. Daniel Lightman KC and Zaki Cooper, curators of the Cricket and the Jewish Community exhibition at Lord’s and authors of Cricket Grounds from the Air are joined here by Lara Molins Caplin, who played seven one-day internationals for Ireland, author and journalist Matthew Engel, who edited 12 editions of cricket bible Wisden between 1993 and 2007, and Miranda Rijks, psychological thriller author and biographer (The Eccentric Entrepreneur) of her grandfather, the cricket philanthropist Sir Julien Cahn.

1:02:45

Jewish Dimensions of the War in Ukraine
2024/03/19 • 5 views For centuries, Ukraine was at the centre of the Jewish world. It was the heartland of Hasidism, Zionism and modern Jewish literature, from Sholem Aleichem to Hayim Nahman Bialik. Ukraine was also a land of pogroms and antisemitism. Today, war-torn Ukraine has about 60,000 Jews, one of whom is the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky. There are Jewish fighters in the Ukrainian armed forces, synagogues and JCCs in all major cities. Dr. David Fishman, Professor of History at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, directs the Jewish Archival Survey in Ukraine, which publishes guides to Jewish documents in the country’s archives. He visits Ukraine frequently, most recently in January. This special, free session will explore the following questions: How has the Jewish community fared during the war? What role has Zelensky’s Jewishness played in the unfolding events? How has Israel responded to the war in Ukraine? And what is the state of Jewish heritage in Ukraine, from old synagogues to books and documents? In conversation with Caron Sethill, Progamme Manager Europe at the National Library of Israel.

1:02:34

Laugh Lines- Helen Lederer & Sara Gibbs Vimeo
2024/04/02 • 13 views Two hilarious writers for the page, stage and screen join us to discuss their careers and the importance of funny books. Absolutely Fabulous star Helen Lederer follows her novel Losing It with memoir Not That I’m Bitter, tracing her journey from child of a Jewish-Czech wartime refugee to, in the words of Dawn French, “the third funniest woman in the world”. It’s the reverse path for Have I Got News For You writer Sara Gibbs; in the wake of her acclaimed memoir Drama Queen comes her debut novel Eight Bright Lights, a Hanukkah-focused romcom. And as founders of the Comedy Women in Print Prize and The First Laugh Comedy Writing Competition respectively, we know they both take humour seriously! In conversation with comedian and writer Chris Neill.

1:07:33

Israelophobia
2024/04/06 • 5 views In the Middle Ages, Jews were hated for their religion. In the 20th century, they were hated because of their race. Today, Jake Wallis Simons argues in his new book of the same name, antisemitism has morphed into something both ancient and modern: Israelophobia. But how did this transformation occur? And why? Called “excellent and fearless” by Howard Jacobson, “trenchant and original” by Daniel Finkelstein and an “important and necessary book” by Simon Sebag Montefiore, The Jewish Chronicle editor clarifies the line between criticism and bigotry, charting the history from Nazi Germany via the Kremlin to the present day. He joins us to discuss the newest version of the oldest hatred, in conversation with author and The Oldie Magazine editor Harry Mount

1:03:43

What is Jewish History For?
2024/04/26 • 21 views Few of us study Jewish history, yet so many of us would like to know more. Where and how is Jewish History to be taught? Most teaching of Jewish History in Europe and the United States concentrates on calamities - such as the pogroms and the Shoah - and these are often taught without context. How might we teach Jewish history better, not only to Jewish students, but as part of the shared school curriculum? Can Jewish History become part of a diverse and inclusive general history curriculum? Historians Jonathan Brent, Miri Rubin and Simon Schama discuss with educator and Etgar co-founder Adam Taub.

1:00:39

Frederic Raphael - Last Post
2024/04/26 • 10 views Over 20 novels; biographies of Byron and Josephus; radio plays; translations; short stories; screenplays directed by John Schlesinger, Peter Bogdanovich and Paul Mazursky… Frederic Raphael’s trademark is versatility and it’s on show in Last Post, part-epistolary-memoir, part-prosopography. Alongside stories of Wittgenstein, Somerset Maugham and George Steiner, the Darling Oscar-winner offers loud salutes, occasional raspberries and affectionate farewells to figures including Stanleys Donen and Kubrick, Tom Maschler, Ken Tynan and his daughter Sarah. He joins singer and writer Mark Glanville in conversation. Buy a copy of Last Post by Frederic Raphael

59:19

Art Monsters
2024/04/26 • 34 views For decades, feminist artists have confronted the problem of how to tell the truth about their experiences as bodies.  Queer bodies, sick bodies, racialised bodies, female bodies, what is their language, what are the materials we need to transcribe it? Art Monsters: Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art is a landmark intervention from Lauren Elkin in how we think about art and the body, calling attention to a radical heritage of feminist work that not only reacts against patriarchy, but redefines its own aesthetic aims. The award-winning translator, essayist and Flâneuse: Women Walk the City author joins i chief art critic Hettie Judah to discuss. Buy a copy of Art Monsters by Lauren Elkin

1:02:38

Book Week 24 Keynote: Simon Schama
2024/04/26 • 25 views As we launch Book Week and the Jewish Literary Foundation to continue the journey we started 72 years ago with Jewish Book Week, who better to feature in our keynote than Sir Simon Schama? A regular at the festival for many decades, both as a sell-out speaker and avid audience member, this special event will reflect on his world-renowned work: as an award-winning and bestselling author from Two Rothschilds and the Land of Israel in the 1970s to last year’s Foreign Bodies; as Professor of History at Columbia and Honorary Fellow; and as a top BBC broadcaster for three decades. In conversation with Director of the Jewish Literary Foundation, Claudia Rubenstein.

1:00:28

Israeli Fiction Today
2024/04/27 • 20 views The last decade saw Israel’s literary landscape not only lose luminaries Amos Oz and AB Yehoshua, but the emergence of several exciting new voices. Sunday Times News Review editor Josh Glancy is joined here by two leading lights. Ayelet Gundar-Goshen won a National Book Award for her translation of Oz’s Between Friends, a Sapir Prize for her debut novel and the Wingate for Liar, a New York Times book of the year; her latest is the powerfully compelling The Wolf Hunt. Described by the Daily Mail as “the leader of a new wave of Israeli literature”, Lavie Tidhar follows his award-winning novels Osama and Man Lies Dreaming with Adama, a sweeping historical epic called “an unstoppable masterpiece” by Junot Díaz. Buy a copy of The Wolf Hunt by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen and Adama by Lavie Tidhar

1:01:00

Daniel Finkelstein
2024/04/27 • 7 views The instant Sunday Times bestseller Hitler, Stalin, Mum & Dad is Daniel Finkelstein’s deeply moving and at times horrifying family memoir. His mother Mirjam, the youngest daughter of Alfred Wiener, was sent to starve in Bergen-Belsen. His father Ludwik was deported to Siberia as a slave labourer, surviving the freezing winters in a tiny house he built from cow dung. In conversation with biographer Caroline Moorehead, the Times columnist reflects on the consequences of totalitarianism and the almost unimaginable bravery of two ordinary families. Buy a copy of Hitler, Stalin, Mum & Dad by Daniel Finkelstein

1:01:31

Michael Ignatieff on Isaiah Berlin
2024/04/27 • 19 views A beacon of liberal philosophy and vigorous defender of individuality, Isaiah Berlin was one of the great public intellectuals. Present at some of the pivotal events of the last century, crossing paths with luminaries from Virginia Woolf to Sigmund Freud, he declined to write an autobiography. Instead, in his final decade he chose to give extensive interviews to Michael Ignatieff. The result was a magisterial biography first published 25 years ago and now updated in a wonderful reissue from Pushkin Press. The author, academic and former politician returns to the festival in conversation with journalist and critic David Herman. Buy a copy of Isaiah Berlin: A Life by Michael Ignatieff

1:02:01

Mine is the Golden Tongue: The Hebrew Sonnets of Immanuel of Rome
2024/04/27 • 37 views Poet, biblical commentator and satirist Immanuel ben Shelomo, known as Immanuel of Rome, was the greatest Hebrew poet of medieval Italy. A contemporary of Dante’s, the beauty of his writings has fascinated scholars for over six centuries. Yet unlike Dante, he has not become a household name. For the first time, scholar and translator Yehudah Cohn makes all of Immanuel’s Hebrew sonnets available in English. Buy a copy of Mine is the Golden Tongue by Yehudah Cohn

1:04:11

Hadley Freeman: Good Girls
2024/04/27 • 10 views From 80s movies, fashion and life advice to her family memoir House of Glass and writing for The Guardian and now the Sunday Times, Hadley Freeman has won global acclaim for her engaging combination of personal experience with journalistic skills. Praised by the Wall Street Journal for “sharp storytelling, solid research and gentle humour”, Good Girls: A Story & Study of Anorexia is her honest and hopeful story of how she overcame one of the most widely discussed but least understood mental illnesses, from teenage years in psychiatric wards to grappling with self-destructive behaviour over the next two decades. Buy a copy of Good Girls by Hadley Freeman

1:05:45

Dickens’ Jews
2024/04/27 • 8 views In 1854, long before Jews Don’t Count, The Jewish Chronicleasked of Dickens, why “Jews alone should be excluded from the sympathising heart of this powerful friend of the oppressed.” Helena Kelly follows her acclaimed Jane Austen: Secret Radical with The Life and Lies of Charles Dickens. She joins us to focus on his relationship with the Jewish community: the relatives whose faith he strived to conceal; the antisemitism on show with Fagin, to positive portrayals in Our Mutual Friend, via examples of both in The Old Curiosity Shop; and the amends he made later in life following his correspondence with Jewish charity campaigner Eliza Davis. In conversation with writer, editor and Head of Programmes at the London Library Claire Berliner.  Buy a copy of The Life & Lies of Charles Dickens by Helena Kelly

1:03:28

David Baddiel: The God Desire
2024/04/27 • 103 views After his record-breaking Jews Don’t Count event in 2021 David Baddiel returns to the festival with his latest bestseller The God Desire, described as “breathtaking” by Stephen Fry and “hugely heartfelt, funny, kind, fascinating, human and clever” by Alain de Botton. This thought-provoking and philosophical essay is written from his perspective as a reluctant atheist who fantasises about how much better life would be if there actually was such a thing as a Superhero Dad. The writer, broadcaster and comedian will be in conversation with Rabbi Joseph Dweck, Senior Rabbi of the S&P Sephardi Community of the United Kingdom and the Rosh Bet Midrash of TheHabura.com. Buy a copy of The God Desire by David Baddiel

1:03:08

Sacks, Greenberg & the Quest for Orthodox Pluralism
2024/04/27 • 7 views A new model for acceptance between religions requires not only a willingness to move beyond hostility or competition, but also significant theological rethinking. The reigning paradigm is one of practical collaboration rather than reflection. Two of the most important Orthodox Jewish voices advocating change have been those of rabbis Irving Yitz Greenberg and Jonathan Sacks. Alon Goshen Gottstein, founder of the Elijah Interfaith Institute and director of Jerusalem’s Center for the Study of Rabbinic Thought, joins Dr Raphael Zarum, the Rabbi Sacks Chair of Modern Jewish Thought, to discuss Covenant & World Religions, his exploration of their moral and social views. Buy a copy of Covenant & World Religions by Alon Goshen Gottstein

1:02:44

Music of Exile
2024/04/27 • 10 views How did composers and musicians persecuted by Hitler go on to shape the soundscape of the last century? Some fled Germany, navigating xenophobia and entirely different creative terrain. Others were forced to create under a ruthless dictatorship or in concentration camps and ghettos. In The Music of Exile Michael Haas sensitively records the story of this musical diaspora, torn between old and new worlds, from the musicians interned as enemy aliens in the UK to the Hollywood compositions of Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Kurt Weill’s stage work. The Exilarte Centre co-founder, previously music curator at Vienna’s Jewish Museum, talks with classical music writer Jessica Duchen. Buy a copy of Music of Exile by Michael Haas

1:00:00

Einstein: A Life in 99 Particles
2024/04/27 • 13 views His name today is shorthand for genius. But Albert Einstein was also a refugee, a rebel, a Casanova, a pacifist and a high school dropout. In his unique biography Einstein In Time And Space, TLS science editor Samuel Graydon brings one of the last century’s most iconic and influential figures back to life, from escaping the Nazis and his lost daughter, to declining the presidency of Israel and attempting to cheer up his parrot by telling jokes.

1:00:01

Family Stories, Jewish History
2024/04/27 • 10 views Two astonishing books, at once intimate family stories and epic explorations of European Jewry, asking how the Shoah happened and why, nine decades on, antisemitism is resurgent. In Burgenland, David Joseph covers the full arc of the Jewish experience in central Europe over the last 300 years, with particular reference to an Austrian farming village from where his family originated. The Last Train is Peter Bradley’s profoundly moving account of his family’s fate, trying to understand why his grandparents’ fellow citizens allowed their murder, while his father gained a UK visa, only to be shipped to a Canadian internment camp. David and Peter discuss with Rabbi Baroness Julia Neuberger.  Buy a copy of The Last Train by Peter Bradley and Burgenland by David Joseph

59:00

Baruch Spinoza: A Life
2024/04/27 • 37 views One of Judaism’s most controversial figures, Baruch Spinoza was a radical free thinker led by strong moral principles despite his disbelief in an all-seeing God. Seen by many as Satan’s disciple during his life, he has been regarded as a secular saint in death. Many contradictory beliefs have been attached to him: liberalism, despotism, atheism, pantheism. But his defence of universal freedom is as important in our own time as it was in his. Award-winning historian Jonathan Israel is joined by Bard College professor Ian Buruma to discuss the boldest and most unsettling of the early modern philosophers, one who had a far greater impact on the Enlightenment than has previously been recognised. Buy a copy of Spinoza: Life & Legacy by Jonathan Israel and a copy of Spinoza: Freedom's Messiah by Ian Buruma

55:31

The Box with the Sunflower Clasp
2024/04/28 • 10 views Rachel Meller was never close to her aunt Lisbeth, a cool, unemotional woman with a drawling Viennese-Californian accent and a cigarette in her hand. But in her will she left her niece an intricately carved Chinese box. Inside the box were photographs, letters and documents that led Rachel to uncover a story she had never known: that of a passionate Jewish teenager caught up by war, and forced to flee elegant Vienna for Shanghai. Set against a backdrop of the war in the Far East, The Box with the Sunflower Clasp is a sweeping family memoir that tells the hidden history of the Jews of Shanghai. In conversation with Endless Flight author Keiron Pim. Buy a copy of The Box with the Sunflower Clasp by Rachel Meller

54:55

Being Rina: The Collected Writings of Rina Wolfson
2024/04/28 • 40 views Rina Wolfson z"l was a gifted writer, whose writing made us laugh, learn, and cry. Writing on topics ranging from the parsha to parenting, from Talmud to chemotherapy, Rina's work is a reminder of her inimitable voice. Rina’s husband Paul Harris and son BZ Gilinsky, in conversation with journalist, author and Jewish Chronicle managing editor Keren David, discuss their edited collection of Rina’s writing, from her blog entitled Nobody needs another cancer diary, to her hugely popular Jewish Chronicle column, Secret Shulgoer.

54:36

The Jewish Revolt
2024/04/28 • 19 views From 1940 historian Emanuel Ringelblum led a team of dedicated writers secretly recording Jewish life in the Warsaw Ghetto for what became known as the Oyneg Shabes archive.  Among them, Rachel Auerbach was an eyewitness of 1943’s ghetto uprising. Her account has now been translated into English for the first time alongside her renowned essay Yizker, 1943. Brandeis emeritus Professor of Holocaust Studies Antony Polonsky provides the introduction and here joins Tracy-Ann Oberman, who played Auerbach in the recent BBC series The Warsaw Ghetto: History as Survival, and Simon Bentley, Chair of Yad Vashem UK in conversation with that series’ writer, award-winning BBC documentarian Mark Burman.

58:15

Political Football: Beitar Jerusalem FC
2024/04/28 • 3 views The Israeli Premier League rarely makes global headlines in the way its counterparts do. That changed in 2020 with the news that a UAE royal was to take a 50% stake in Beitar Jerusalem FC, the only team in a league where all ethnicities co-exist never to have signed an Arab player, proclaimed by its own fans as 'the most racist club in the country'. In On the Border: The Rise and Decline of the Most Political Club in the World football journalist Shaul Adar tells the fascinating journey from sports movement of a liberal national Zionism party to an overt symbol of right-wing views, Mizrahi identity and eventually hardcore nationalism. In conversation with The Goldberg Variations author Mark Glanville. Buy a copy of On the Border: The Story of Beitar Jerusalem by Shaul Adar

58:43

The Rebirth of Antisemitism in the 21st Century
2024/04/28 • 19 views ‘Far from being a fringe phenomenon, antisemitism is today an increasingly troubling presence in mainstream British society, especially in its often strident, anti-Zionist manifestations.’ Professor Alvin H. Rosenfeld. Edited by David Hirsh, this multi-authored collection looks at the rise of antisemitism and antizionism since the millennium, principally in Britain. The director of the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism is joined by two of the book’s contributors: lawyer, academic and author Anthony Julius and Sarah Brown, professor of English Literature at Anglia Ruskin University. Chaired by journalist Nicole Lampert.  Buy a copy of The Rebirth of Antisemitism in the 21st Century

1:00:07

Jewish Intimacies: Marriage, Love, Psychoanalysis
2024/04/28 • 17 views How do we understand and live with complex relationships such as love and hate, coexistence and conflict? How do ‘domestic’ relationships such as marriage endure, and how do we come to terms with deeply felt social antagonisms such as antisemitism and racism? On Marriage sees Feeling Jewish author Devorah Baum exploring why we marry and how this ancient, highly contested practice has remained relevant to so many. In Antisemitism and Racism: Ethical Challenges for Psychoanalysis professor Stephen Frosh delves into the discipline’s uncomfortable relationship with race, despite its Jewish origins. Devorah and Stephen explore these challenging questions in a fascinating, wide-ranging discussion. Buy a copy of On Marriage by Devorah Baum and Antisemitism and Racism by Stephen Frosh

59:39

Shylock’s Venice
2024/04/28 • 9 views There is nowhere in the world like Venice. With a history as remarkable as its beauty, millions explore the canals, palazzi – and its greatest shame. With the city corner where its Jews were exiled, Venice gave the world the word ghetto. But when it came to culture the ghetto walls were porous, as European Jews and Christians entered modernity together. Festival favourite Harry Freedman returns with the remarkable story from the ghetto’s creation in 1516 to the city’s capture by Napoleon in 1798. And no history of Venice and its Jews can avoid Shylock. Would real-life contemporaries have recognised him, devoid of the interfaith revival they experienced? And what did Shakespeare really think of him? In conversation with acclaimed historian David Abulafia.

1:00:37

Collaboration & Complicity
2024/04/28 • 143 views The Nazis were assisted both by active collaborators and ordinary citizens failing to act, as two powerful new books show. In Bystander Society, historian Mary Fulbrook, drawing onan extraordinary archive of personal accounts, argues thatrather than what and when Germans knew, how they reactedwas key. In Safe Haven: The United Kingdom’s Investigationsinto Nazi Collaborators and the Failure of Justice, formerBBC journalist Jon Silverman asks why, despite considerableexpense and effort, the controversial 1991 War Crimes Actyielded just one conviction. In conversation with acclaimed journalist and KC Joshua Rozenberg.  Buy a copy of Bystander Society by Mary Fulbrook and Safe Haven by Jon Silverman

1:00:40

Herod: Jewish King in a Roman World
2024/04/28 • 24 views A History of Judaism author Martin Goodman returns with a vivid account of the political triumphs and domestic tragedies of Herod, the phenomenally energetic ruler who took advantage of the chaos of the Roman revolution. Both Jews and Christians developed myths about his cruelty; cast as the tyrant who ordered the Massacre of the Innocents and, despite fond memories of his glorious Temple in Jerusalem, recalled in the Talmud as a persecutor of rabbis. In Herod the Great Oxford’s emeritus professor of Jewish Studies examines the extensive literary and archaeological evidence to explore his Idumaean origins, his installation by Rome as king of Judaea and his presentation of himself as a Jew. In conversation with Armand D’Angour. Buy a copy of Herod the Great by Martin Goodman

59:56

Thomas Harding on George Weidenfeld
2024/04/28 • 8 views Arriving in London in 1938 as a penniless, teenage Austrian-Jewish refugee, George Weidenfeld went on to transform publishing, championing Nabokov, Simone de Beauvoir, Saul Bellow, Edna O’Brien, Isaiah Berlin, Golda Meir and many more. Thomas Harding, the internationally bestselling author of Legacy and Hanns & Rudolf, returns to the festival to discuss The Maverick, the first biography of this complex and fascinating figure, in conversation with social historian Anne de Courcy. Buy a copy of The Maverick by Thomas Harding

1:04:45

What's Next for Jews on the Left?
2024/04/28 • 127 views In the wake of the attacks by Hamas of October 7th, many progressive Jews, particularly in Britain and the US, were deeply disappointed that so many who they had thought of as their ideological allies did not express sympathy for the Jewish victims. Instead, they cast Israel as solely responsible for the ensuing conflict. Is there a future for Jews and the Left? Jonathan Freedland is joined by fellow Guardian columnist and Politics: A Survivor’s Guide author Rafael Behr, CST head of policy Dave Rich, and Dame Margaret Hodge Labour MP for Barking and Dagenham since 1994 to discuss.

1:02:21

Jewish Unity through Diversity
2024/04/28 • 7 views Hen Mazzig,  globally recognised advocate behind Mizrahi Heritage Month and The Wrong Kind of Jew author returns with Jewish Priorities essay An End to Ashkenormativity: Let’s put Bagels and Lox Jewishness Behind Us. He argues that the story of the Jews cannot be properly told without every Jewish community, not least the often neglected Mizrahi Jews. He is joined by journalist and Harif co-founder Lyn Julius and Dr Isaac Amon, director of academic research at the Jewish Heritage Alliance. In conversation with The Jewish Chronicle editor Jake Wallis Simons. Buy a copy of The Wrong Kind of Jew by Hen Mazzig; buy a copy of Uprooted by Lyn Julius; buy a copy of Jewish Priorities edited by David Hazony

1:02:22

A Jewish Promised Land in Texas
2024/04/28 • 36 views 'If we cannot get the Holy Land, we can make another land holy’ – Israel Zangwill, 1906. Rachel Cockerell joins historian Trudy Gold to reveal the astonishing moment when 10,000 Russian Jews fled to Texas before WWI - led by Cockerell’s great-grandfather, and the novelist Israel Zangwill. It was part of a search for an alternative Jewish homeland, from Australia to Angola to Antarctica, when Palestine seemed unattainable in the early 1900s. Melting Point – which Jonathan Freedland calls ‘unforgettable’ and Andrew Marr calls ‘truly radical’ – follows Cockerell’s family to Kyiv, Texas, New York, London and Jerusalem, as each chooses to cling to their history or melt into the melting pot.  Buy a copy of Melting Pot by Rachel Cockerell

1:01:45

Bruno Schulz: Art, Murder & the Hijacking of History
2024/04/28 • 34 views Bruno Schulz was born an Austrian, lived as a Pole and died a Jew. Without moving he was a subject of the Habsburgs, the West Ukrainian People’s Republic, the Second Polish Republic, the USSR and, finally, the Third Reich. But the artist and man described by Isaac Bashevis Singer as “one of the most remarkable writers who ever lived” remained throughout a citizen of the Republic of Dreams. Benjamin Balint, winner of the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature and co-author of Jerusalem: City of the Book, joins us with a fresh portrait and a gripping account of the secret operation to rescue his last artworks and will be in conversation with Toby Lichtig.Buy a copy of Bruno Schulz by Benjamin Balint

1:14:37

Israel Now and Next
2024/04/30 • 34 views Three quarters of a century on, has Israel lived up to expectations? With the eyes of the world on the nation as never before, journalist and Netanyahu biographer Anshel Pfeffer asks two experts about its past, present and future. In The Crooked Timber of Democracy in Israel political scientist and election veteran Dahlia Scheindlin exposes endemic flaws while arguing it still has considerable capacity to fulfil the promise of democracy. In the nuanced Impossible Takes Longer, National Jewish Book Award winner Daniel Gordis asks how Israel has measured up to its founders’ dreams, examining its transformative tech sector, distinct Judaism, and complex relationship with the Diaspora. Buy a copy of The Crooked Timber of Democracy by Dahlia Scheindlin and Impossible Takes Longer by Daniel Gordis

56:50

October 7 & the Left; Hadley Freeman in conversation with Tanya Gold
2024/05/09 • 121 views To mark Jewish Quarterly's publication of Blindness: October 7 and the Left by Hadley Freeman we are delighted that the she joins us for a special free online event on Thursday in conversation with Tanya Gold. With bitter clarity Hadley outlines the equivocations, contortions and hypocrisy displayed by elements of the left, including many who were unable to acknowledge or condemn the atrocities of Hamas. And she examines the beliefs that have swept across liberal sectors such as universities and the arts with a fervour that blinds adherents to the immense complexities of history and justice. In partnership with Jewish Quarterly and Lockdown University

58:49

Cinema King
2024/05/21 • 12 views From playing the violin alongside silent movies to owning a chain of cinemas as part of his entertainment empire, Sam King went on a remarkable journey. His life of wealth and glamour as partner in Shipman and King cinemas was a far cry from his beginnings in an impoverished Jewish family escaping Russian pogroms to the East End of London. 50 years after his death granddaughter Jennifer King tells his extraordinary story in a book which David Puttnam said, “allowed me an understanding of the enormous debt every avid cinema-goer owes her family”. Buy a copy of Cinema King by Jennifer King

3:24

Emerging Writers Programme
2024/05/23 • 58 views Learn about our mentoring and support scheme in this short film featuring mentors and participants in the Genesis JLF Emerging Writers Programme

26:18

Fervour
2024/05/29 • 17 views The Rosenthals are not like other families… Called, ‘a fearless look into the dark heart of family politics from a naturally gifted storyteller’ by Jonathan Coe, debut author Toby Lloyd discusses his chilling and unforgettable story of a close-knit Jewish family in London pushed to the brink when they suspect their daughter is a witch. Buy a copy of Fervour by Toby Lloyd

42:58

Good for a Single Journey
2024/05/29 • 8 views Based on a true story of love, loss, despair and hope, Good for a Single Journey spans four generations, weaving one family’s experiences into the fabric of Jewish 20th-century history. From her great-grandparents at the end of WWI to her own present as an educator, Helen Joyce draws on reality for this turbulent and mesmerizing saga, described by the Wall Street Journal’s Gregory Zuckerman as “an evocative, character-rich, historically accurate snapshot of a period of dramatic upheaval”. Buy a copy of Good for a Single Journey by Helen Joyce

1:01:33

Horror Movies in Israel
2024/05/29 • 8 views It’s one of the most popular – and profitable – genres in film. But before 2010, there were no Israeli horror films. Then over the last decade distinctly Israeli serial killers, zombies, vampires and ghosts invaded screens amid a blossoming of young local filmmakers. Olga Gershenson follows her previous books on Russian theatre in Israel and the unknown Shoah films of the Soviet Union with New Israeli Horror: Local Cinema, Global Genre. The Professor of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies and of Film Studies at UMass joins us to explore how these films challenge traditional representations of Israel and its people, while also appealing to audiences around the world. In conversation with UK Jewish Film's Head of Programming, Nir Cohen.Buy a copy of New Israeli Horror by Olga Gershenson

59:08

The State of Desire
2024/06/17 • 0 views In recent years Israeli state policies have attempted to dissuade Orthodox Jews from creating large families, an objective that flies in the face of their traditional practices. As the state’s desire to cultivate a high-income, tech-centred nation comes into greater conflict with common Orthodox familial practices, Jewish couples are finding it increasingly difficult to fulfil their reproductive aims and communal expectations. Paying close attention to ethical dilemmas, cultural anthropologist Lea Taragin-Zeller joins Karen Skinazi to explore not just proceptive but also contraceptive desires around family formation: when to have children, how many, and at what cost? Buy a copy of The State of Desire by Lea Taragin-Zeller

55:53

Adventures in Exile: Literary Fiction
2024/06/17 • 2 views Novels, short stories, literary criticism, essays…two writers from either side of the Atlantic, both skilled in these disciplines, join us to discuss their careers and latest books. The Three Graces, Amanda Craig’s 10th novel (‘a brilliant piece of storytelling’ Andrew O’Hagan), follows a trio of old friends whose Tuscany retirement proves far from quiet as they grapple with both past and present dangers. Martha Anne Toll’s Petrichor Prize winning debut Three Muses, (‘Exquisite’ Washington Post) is a love story, a tale of Holocaust survival and an insight into the unforgiving world of ballet. Buy a copy of The Three Graces by Amanda Craig and The Three Muses by Martha Anne Toll

56:25

Pinchas Rutenberg: An Unreasonable Man
2024/06/17 • 18 views Pinchas Rutenberg electrified Palestine in more ways than one. A Russian revolutionary who plotted the murder of Lenin and Trotsky, he set up a hydro-electric plant on the Jordan River, blustering past determined opposition, before founding Palestine Airways. As leader of the Jewish population of Palestine he was heavily involved in negotiations with the British Government and its Mandatory administration, endeavouring to forge a peace deal with Arab leaders. Requests in his own will resulted in a paucity of literature about him in English. But now medical luminary and life peer Leslie Turnberg, author of Mandate: Britain's Palestinian Burden, rectifies this with his biography of a remarkable figure. Buy a copy of An Unreasonable Man by Leslie Turnberg

1:01:45

Jewish Flavours of Italy
2024/06/17 • 11 views Growing up in Rome, Silvia Nacamulli had the privilege of observing three generations of fine Italian Jewish cooks within her own family. Now the La Cucina di Silvia founder, cook and food writer takes us on a culinary journey through her homeland, combining over 100 kosher recipes for Italian-Jewish dishes with family stories, stunning photography and practical tips. Yotam Ottolenghi calls Jewish Flavours of Italy “a brilliant book to cook from”, while Claudia Roden describes it as “fascinating, moving and delicious.” In conversation with food historian and author Pen Vogler. Buy a copy of Jewish Flavours of Italy by Silvia Nacamulli

1:01:31

Jewish Women: Literacy & Liberty
2024/06/25 • 8 views Through much of history the Jewish Hebrew library of the ‘People of the Book’ excluded half of humanity; across all traditional Jewish communities compulsory communal education was only for boys until the turn of the last century. In her comprehensive study The Unknown History of Jewish Women Through The Ages Rachel Elior examines the social, cultural and legal implications of female illiteracy, from antiquity and the Middle Ages to mid-20th-century immigration to Israel and beyond. The professor of Jewish philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem speaks to London School of Jewish Studies chief executive Joanne Greenaway.

51:02

Bogie & Bacall
2024/06/25 • 20 views She was the 19-year-old daughter of Jewish immigrants, making her film debut. He was 45, a Mayflower descendent, about to become America’s highest-paid actor – and married. Yet the meeting of Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart on To Have and Have Not sparked an iconic, enduring romance, still discussed 80 years on. New York Times bestseller William J. Mann follows his celebrated biographies of Marlon Brando and Barbra Streisand with Bogie & Bacall: The Surprising True Story of Hollywood's Greatest Love Affair. He joins us to discuss his vivid portrait of their courtship and 12-year marriage: the fights, reconciliations, children, affairs, Bogie’s illness and Bacall’s steadfastness until his death.

1:03:00

The Jewish Newspaper Phenomenon Reconsidered
2024/06/25 • 4 views National Library of Israel expert Eyal Miller offers an introduction to the rich and vivid history of Jewish newspapers and periodicals over the past 250 years, examining their role in modern Jewish society and culture. From the wider Jewish world, he will focus on London, a significant centre of the Jewish press for over two centuries. Eyal will also examine London from afar. From a Yiddish daily published in New York, a Spanish language weekly published in Buenos Aires and a Hebrew daily published in Tel Aviv or Warsaw – all can tell us more about London that we might otherwise expect.

59:32

Sheila Heti in Conversation with Mia Levitin
2024/06/25 • 18 views A thrilling non-fiction confessional from the multi-award-winning, Motherhood and Pure Colour novelist, playwright, short story writer and children’s author Sheila Heti. She kept a record of her thoughts over a ten-year period, then arranged the sentences from A to Z. Passionate and reflective, joyful and despairing, her Alphabetical Diaries is one of 2024’s most-anticipated books. She joins us online from Toronto, in conversation with literary critic and The Future of Seduction author Mia Levitin.

57:54

Robert Alter on Amos Oz
2024/06/25 • 31 views Critic, translator and biblical scholar Robert Alter brings the first published biography of Amos Oz to Book Week. Oz was one of Israel’s most prominent writers, a regular contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the author of dozens of novels, essay collections, and novellas in a career spanning over half a century. This seminal work also explores his mother’s suicide; his time in Kibbutz Hulda following his separation from his father aged 14; his family’s right-wing Zionism; and his activism in support of a pluralistic Israel. Alter brings together testimony from Oz and his circle, as well as close readings of his central works, to present the inner world and public persona. In conversation with Amos Oz's translator and friend, Nicholas de Lange.

58:00

Kabbalah in Modern Literature
2024/06/25 • 3 views Kabbalah began modestly as an esoteric lore among a Jewish elite in 12th century Provence. By the end of the 15th century, with the emergence of the Christian Kabbalah in Italy, it had acquired an audience in European intellectual circles. Gershom Scholem, widely regarded as the founder of modern academic study of the Kabbalah, influenced the likes of Harold Bloom, Umberto Eco, Jacques Derrida and George Steiner, fascinated by its linguistic operations. Introduced by Eduard Shyfrin, author of From Infinity to Man, Professor Moshe Idel, who has been called “the most important scholar of Jewish mysticism since Gershom Scholem”, discusses the importance of Kabbalah in modern literature.

57:53

Jewish Priorities
2024/06/26 • 12 views With the unprecedented Jewish Priorities: Sixty-five proposals for the future of our people, writer and author David Hazony brings together voices from across the Jewish world for a no-holds-barred debate on the future. With essays from thought leaders including Natan Sharansky, Dara Horn and Fania Oz–Salzberger and featuring rabbis, scholars, activists and novelists, the collection explores everything from philanthropy and Torah study to Zionism and Jewish intimacy. Here he is joined by two of the book’s most illustrious contributors: leading scholar of Yiddish literature and Jewish history Ruth Wisse and Israeli author and journalist Yossi Klein Halevi.

40:59

Breaking Through Depression
2024/06/26 • 46 views We are often told that depression is 'all in the mind'. So why are so many of its symptoms felt in our bodies? One of the world’s leading researchers on depressive illness shares his expertise. As he marks 50 years at the US National Institute of Health, Philip Gold shows how this devastating disease can have a profound impact on physical as well as mental health, from coronary disease to strokes. Breaking Through Depression: New Treatments and Discoveries for Healing gives us the fullest picture yet of depression, transforming our understanding of its different forms with startling insights as well as shining a light on the latest innovations. In conversation with Bidisha Mamata.

57:58

Ian Goldin: Age of the City
2024/06/26 • 7 views From centres of antiquity such as Athens or Rome, to modern metropolises such as New York or Shanghai, cities throughout history have been the epicentres of our greatest achievements. Now, for the first time, more than half of humanity lives in cities, which are growing at an unprecedented rate. The visionary Oxford professor Ian Goldin follows Rescue: From Global Crisis to a Better World with Age of the City: Why our Future will be Won or Lost Together.

59:20

Why Schoenberg Matters
2024/06/26 • 7 views Austrian American composer Arnold Schoenberg was an international icon in his own time, with his 12-tone system considered the future of music itself. Today, leading orchestras rarely play his works and his name is met with apathy, if not antipathy. A New Yorker Book of the Year, Harvey Sachs’ lyrical Schoenberg: Why He Matters rescues him from notoriety and restores his rightful place in the pantheon of 20th-century composers. In this online event the Beethoven and Toscanini biographer reveals his legacy, his battles with antisemitism that eventually precipitated his flight from Europe to Los Angeles and his defiance of critics, including the Nazis labelling his music degenerate.

59:05

Yascha Mounk - The Identity Trap
2024/06/26 • 15 views Barack Obama’s ‘favourite political thinker’ joins us to discuss the origins, consequences and limitations of what he terms ‘identity synthesis’. In The Identity Trap, Yascha Mounk argues that what started as an appreciation of the culture and heritage of minorities marginalised by society, has transformed into an obsession with group identity in all its forms, putting it at the heart of social, cultural and political life. Tracing the intellectual origin of these ideas, the John Hopkins professor and The Great Experiment author seeks to understand the impact of the ideas that rightly or wrongly constitute ‘identity politics’, in conversation with The Jewish Chronicle editor, Jake Wallis Simons.

59:21

Maestros & Monsters: Sontag & Steiner
2024/06/26 • 20 views Susan Sontag and George Steiner were two of the most notable secular Jewish intellectuals of the last century; the former an influential writer, activist and filmmaker, the latter a media commentator and New Yorker literary critic. They disliked and mistrusted one another, meeting only on the few occasions where their mutual friend Robert Boyers brought them together, producing several wrenching and hilarious exchanges. The Salmagundi founder and editor joins David Herman with his insider’s account of the controversies that Sontag and Steiner generated, an effort to explain their extraordinary fame and influence, and their role in shaping the culture of the mid-and-late 20th century.

59:48

Tanya Gold Interviews Jan Grabowski on His New Book “Whitewash Poland and the Jews”
2024/08/07 • 85 views On the day his groundbreaking essay Whitewash hits the press, world-renowned historian Jan Grabowski sits down with journalist Tanya Gold. They delve into how the Polish government, museums, schools, and state institutions promote a narrative of national innocence regarding the Holocaust. Grabowski also shares his personal experiences facing smears and a notorious lawsuit for challenging the narrative of Polish complicity in the destruction of the country's Jewish population.

1:06:11

Foundation Course 1: The Jews and the Crisis of Modernity: From Ghetto to Emancipation and the Redefining of Jewish Identity
2024/09/16 • 20 views Over the past 200 years, the Jewish world has undergone profound transformations. This short, overview course explores the complex journey of the Jewish people from the era of Enlightenment, which introduced ideas of emancipation, liberalism, and tolerance, to the present day, where those very forces have, in some cases, turned against them. Historian and educator Trudy Gold delves into the effects of Jewish emancipation, the evolving challenges to Jewish identity, and the rise of modern antisemitism. We will also examine the emergence of Zionism, the devastating impact of the Holocaust, and the creation of the State of Israel. Beyond the Jewish experience, we will consider how these events have shaped global history and influenced the wider world.

55:48

Foundation Course 2: The Jews and the Crisis of Modernity: Nationalism and its Discontents – Antisemitism and Zionism
2024/09/16 • 5 views Over the past 200 years, the Jewish world has undergone profound transformations. This short, overview course explores the complex journey of the Jewish people from the era of Enlightenment, which introduced ideas of emancipation, liberalism, and tolerance, to the present day, where those very forces have, in some cases, turned against them. Historian and educator Trudy Gold delves into the effects of Jewish emancipation, the evolving challenges to Jewish identity, and the rise of modern antisemitism. We will also examine the emergence of Zionism, the devastating impact of the Holocaust, and the creation of the State of Israel. Beyond the Jewish experience, we will consider how these events have shaped global history and influenced the wider world.

1:07:47

Foundation Course 3: The Jews and the Crisis of Modernity: The Russian Empire and Jewish Migrations
2024/09/21 • 7 views Over the past 200 years, the Jewish world has undergone profound transformations. In partnership with the Jewish Literary Foundation, this short, overview course explores the complex journey of the Jewish people from the era of Enlightenment, which introduced ideas of emancipation, liberalism, and tolerance, to the present day, where those very forces have, in some cases, turned against them. We will delve into the effects of Jewish emancipation, the evolving challenges to Jewish identity, and the rise of modern antisemitism. We will also examine the emergence of Zionism, the devastating impact of the Shoah, and the creation of the State of Israel. Beyond the Jewish experience, we will consider how these events have shaped global history and influenced the wider world.

1:07:58

Foundation Course 4: The Jews and the Crisis of Modernity: The Shoah and its Impact: Israel and its Place in the Jewish World
2024/09/30 • 34 views Over the past 200 years, the Jewish world has undergone profound transformations. This short, overview course explores the complex journey of the Jewish people from the era of Enlightenment, which introduced ideas of emancipation, liberalism, and tolerance, to the present day, where those very forces have, in some cases, turned against them. Historian and educator Trudy Gold delves into the effects of Jewish emancipation, the evolving challenges to Jewish identity, and the rise of modern antisemitism. We will also examine the emergence of Zionism, the devastating impact of the Holocaust, and the creation of the State of Israel. Beyond the Jewish experience, we will consider how these events have shaped global history and influenced the wider world.

1:34:31

Responses to October 7
2024/10/09 • 0 views On the first anniversary of the attack Baroness Julia Neuberger DBE is joined by Professor Anthony Julius, Dr Linda Maizels and David Hirsh for a panel conversation. The event is in partnership with JW3 and the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism. The London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism has published a collection of 36 responses to 7 October and its aftermath, from key intellectuals and academics around the world. Why did it feel so significant? How do we make sense of the ballooning antisemitism that came with it? The three-volume anthology brings together the observations of people who made the time to stop and look and think, and not just to rely on their pre-existing frameworks of understanding. It discusses the event itself, the antizionism and the antisemitism associated with it, the diverse intersections of the day of violence with gender, legal understandings of violence and genocide and the way it impacted in different countries.

58:00

The Rudashevski Diary: Samuel Kassow
2024/12/05 • 0 views Join Professor Samuel D. Kassow and David Herman as they discuss Yitskhok Rudashevski's diary. Rudashevski entered the Vilna Ghetto when he was only 13 years old. Before his murder by the Nazis two years later, he produced a diary chronicling his hope, his despair and his experience of daily ghetto life.

1:12:58

Inside the Wingate: A Literary Showcase
2025/02/12 • 42 views Join us for a special celebration of the Wingate Prize, featuring readings from the shortlisted authors and a deep-dive into the Prize - awarded annually to the best fiction or non-fiction book that conveys the idea of Jewishness to the general reader.  The event is a unique chance to hear from the authors themselves and what inspired them, chaired by Wingate judge Alice Sherwood, ahead of the Wingate Awards Ceremony at Jewish Book Week on 8th March.

59:46

Jewish Languages and Book Culture
2025/02/19 • 3 views Join us for a fascinating exploration of Jewish languages and book culture with Judith Olszowy-Schlanger, President of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, and César Merchán-Hamann, curator of the Bodleian Library’s Hebraica and Judaica collection. In conversation with Dr Samuel Fanous, Head of Publishing at the Bodleian Library, they will uncover how Jewish communities - from medieval Europe to the Middle East - preserved their heritage through books in languages such as Judeo-Arabic, Yiddish, and Ladino, written in Hebrew characters. Discover rare treasures from the Bodleian’s unparalleled collections and gain new insights into the intellectual and social history of Jewish life.

59:17

Beyond Dispute
2025/02/26 • 24 views In our age of seemingly irreconcilable differences, argument is increasingly seen as a plague to be avoided or a contest to be won. Daniel Taub, an experienced peace negotiator and diplomat, argues that ancient Jewish wisdom offers a third way. Drawing from this tradition, and from his own experience at the heart of some of the world’s toughest negotiations, in Beyond Dispute: Rediscovering the Jewish Art of Constructive Disagreement he makes the case for a radically different approach to help us come closer to truth and to each other. In conversation with environmentalist Nigel Savage.

1:03:45

All The Rage
2025/03/11 • 0 views Anger permeates our lives, from the intensity of road rage to the fervour of political protest, manifesting physically and sometimes erupting into violence. How should we understand this powerful emotion—and can it ever serve a constructive purpose? In All the Rage, psychoanalyst Josh Cohen argues that anger is not an emotion to suppress but a fundamental force shaping both our personal relationships and the wider world. Drawing on patient case studies, neuropsychology, literature, philosophy, and recent political events, Cohen explores the many facets of anger and its role in our lives.