Our new series, The Yiddishists, will take place over five weeks, with talks focusing on the vibrant contributions of Yiddish speakers and writers to culture around the world.

“Psychoanalysis is the disease of assimilated Jews,” wrote Viennese journalist and satirist Karl Kraus of Sigmund Freud’s teachings. “Religious Jews make do with diabetes.” We’ll explore what the popular Yiddish press made of the founder of psychoanalysis during the 1920s and 1930s, from the 'Oedipal Lullaby Contest' in Forward newspaper to the craze for lists of 'famous Jews'. Our guest speaker is Professor Naomi Seidman, Jackman Professor of Arts at the University of Toronto and author of Translating the Jewish Freud: Psychoanalysis and Jewish Languages.

This event will be held with our partners at Jewish Renaissance, and you can book your ticket here.

Our new series, The Yiddishists, will take place over five weeks, with talks focusing on the vibrant contributions of Yiddish speakers and writers to culture around the world.

If you know your kvetching from your kvelling, you’ll understand how Yiddish continues to exert a considerable influence on the descendants of Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants. For this session, two British writers explore the impact of Yiddishisms on their writing in English, with writer, poet, broadcaster and former Children's Laureate Michael Rosen; and artist and poet Sophie Herxheimer.

This event will be held with our partners at Jewish Renaissance, and you can book your ticket here.

Our new series, The Yiddishists, will take place over five weeks, with talks focusing on the vibrant contributions of Yiddish speakers and writers to culture around the world.

Popular culture at the turn of the 20th century benefited hugely from Yiddish-speaking immigrants. The Yiddish theatres performed traditional as well as home-grown material, and frequently used songs to engage with community life and the challenges of integration. Join us as we travel between London’s East End and New York’s Lower East Side with Dr Vivi Lachs, social historian, performer and author of Whitechapel Noise: Jewish Immigrant Life in Yiddish Song and Verse, London 1884–1914; and Dr Edna Nahshon, a professor of theatre and drama, and author of New York’s Yiddish Theatre: From the Bowery to Broadway.

This event will be held with our partners at Jewish Renaissance, and you can book your ticket here.

Our new series, The Yiddishists, will take place over five weeks, with talks focusing on the vibrant contributions of Yiddish speakers and writers to culture around the world.

To kick off the first in our Yiddishists series, we look to Esther Singer Kreitman. Her haunting novels, short stories and translations have always received less attention than the work of her brothers, Israel Joshua Singer and Isaac Bashevis Singer. Now, a stash of letters from Kreitman to Bashevis Singer have been translated into English and published for the first time by Jewish Renaissance. Explore Esther’s life and work with writer, translator and scholar David Stromberg; Jessica Kirzane, assistant instructional professor in Yiddish at the University of Chicago.

This event will be held with our partners at Jewish Renaissance, and you can book your ticket here.

Although membership of Israel's kibbutzim has risen over the past few years, the movement no longer represents a central plank of Israeli national identity. However, following the Hamas attacks of 7 October, the kibbutzim have once again become a unifying symbol for Israelis. Now everyone across the country – and the world – knows the names of Be’eri, Kfar Aza and Nir Oz. Join us as we explore the place of kibbutzim in Israel past and present, as well as the impact of 7 October on these close-knit communities. Guest speakers feature:

• David Leach, author of Chasing Utopia: The Future of the Kibbutz in Divided Israel;

• Sofie Berzon MacKie, curator, visual artist and director of Be’eri Gallery for Contemporary Art;

• Ranen Omer-Sherman, chair of Judaic Studies at the University of Louisville and author of Imagining Kibbutz: Visions of Utopia in Literature and Film;

• Julia Chatain, social psychologist, peacemaker and resident of kibbutz Urim.

This event will be held with our partners at Jewish Renaissance, and you can book your ticket here.

The American artist Philip Guston was often at the centre of controversy during his lifetime for his uncompromising portrait of American life. Since his death in 1980, his art has continued to attract debate, most recently with the postponement in 2020 of a retrospective of his work. That exhibition can now be seen at London’s Tate Modern where, alongside his more contentious pieces, the show reveals the many facets of this prolific artist, illustrating how his work developed from complex murals to cartoonish paintings. Artist, writer and educator Irene Wise discusses Guston’s life and explores the personal, political and aesthetic influences on his work.

This event will be held with our partners at Jewish Renaissance, and you can book your ticket here.

From news analysis to comedy to wellness, podcasts have established themselves firmly within the media landscape, transforming the way journalism is created and consumed along the way. We’ll hear from a panel of pro podcasters as they share their career highlights, including celeb guests, inspirational interviews and award-winning commentary. Featuring Andrew Gold (On the Edge with Andrew Gold), Emma Levy (When Life Gives You Lemons) and Olly Mann (The Week Unwrapped; Modern Mann; Today in History).

Hosted in association with Jewish Renaissance.

Book your place here.

How does a Jewish journalist cover events in Israel, both for communally and for mainstream audiences? And is there a contrast in approach to stories for different audiences? In times of crisis and turmoil for Israel, it is more important than ever to have clear-eyed coverage. Join our panel as we explore best practice when reporting on or from Israel, with Richard Ferrer (Jewish News), Tovah Lazaroff (The Jerusalem Post) and Anshel Pfeffer (Haaretz; The Economist). Chaired by Jonathan Freedland (The Guardian).

Hosted in association with Jewish Renaissance.

Book your place here.

As chief presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, Emma Barnett has interviewed the likes of Kate Bush, Queen Camilla and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, to name just a few. How does she handle the pressure of such high-profile interviews? What are her most memorable moments? Come prepared to put your questions to Barnett in this unique session when the interviewer becomes the interviewee.

Hosted in association with Jewish Renaissance.

Book your place here.

In today’s world of rolling news, instant global updates and endless government gaffes, it can be hard to keep up with what’s ‘new’ in the news. We’ve invited an expert panel of news journalists to show us how it’s done, featuring Serena Kutchinsky (Sky News), Justin Cohen (Jewish News), Jane Eisner (Columbia School of Journalism) and Josh Glancy (Sunday Times).

Hosted in association with Jewish Renaissance.

Book your place here.

From star ratings to immersive long-reads, feature writers, critics and reviewers shape the nation’s tastes and keep culture thriving. Our panel delves into the reasons why, featuring Sonya Barber (freelance writer and editor; former Time Out & Condé Nast Traveller), Hephzibah Anderson (columnist, Prospect Magazine; feature writer, BBC Culture) and Andrew Pulver (film editor, The Guardian).

Hosted in association with Jewish Renaissance.

Book your place here.

In an age of fast-flowing, democratised digital information sharing, is there a need for formal journalism? We invite panellists from the worlds of opinion, news and investigative journalism to share their views on the purpose of reporting in 2023. Featuring Rafael Behr (The Guardian), Hugo Rifkind (The Times), Esther Solomon (Haaretz English) and Judith Moritz (BBC).

Hosted in association with Jewish Renaissance.

Book your place here.

What was life like for Jewish communities behind the Berlin Wall? Delve into the hopes of Germany's postwar Jews, the reality of life within the Soviet Bloc, and the challenges faced by a community under threat from the far right today, with guests who have lived in both the GDR and present-day Berlin. Speakers include Cathy Gelbin, a film historian and cultural studies scholar who grew up in the GDR, but now lives in Manchester; award-winning journalist Toby Axelrod, who is the Jewish Telegraph Agency's correspondent for Germany, Switzerland and Austria; and Dr Julia Friedrich, director of collections and exhibitions at the Jewish Museum Berlin, where Another Country: Jewish in the GDR has just opened. Hosted in association with Jewish Renaissance.

Book your tickets here.

The Jewish history of Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire is perhaps the best known of the stately homes in the UK. Built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild in the 19th century, the estate has since passed through four generations of the family, who’ve added to the spectacular interiors and art collection over time. Join us for an in-depth tour of the manor’s Jewish heritage and the Rothschilds’ legacy, exploring their family history, art and archives.

Ticket price includes all entry fees, specialist guides and lunch. Hosted in partnership with with Jewish Renaissance.

TRAVEL INFO:

Please arrive by 10.45am for an 11am start. If you don’t drive, contact Emma via programming@jewishrenaissance.org.uk and we will arrange a carshare from north London or Aylesbury Vale Parkway station. Meeting point: Waddesdon, HP18 0JH (exact location will be sent nearer the time).

Click here to book.

Whether through kilts, whisky, pipers or poetry, Jews have been embracing Scottish culture with a Jewish twist for over 200 years. In our summer issue, we travel from Shetland to the Borders to investigate this distinctive history, delving into the immigrant communities of Edinburgh and Glasgow and exploring the work of refugee artists, factory-worker poets, kilt designers and Yiddish actors. We also hear from the present-day writers, artists and activists who are carving out a distinctive identity in places as far afield as Inverness, St Andrews and Aberdeen. We’ll be meeting some of them, alongside other Scottish contributors in this online event. Hosted in partnership with with Jewish Renaissance.

Click here to book.

Former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir, often dubbed the ‘Iron Lady’, was an iconic figure of 20th-century global politics and the first and only female head of government in Israel and the Middle East. New film Golda, starring Helen Mirren as Meir, looks at the life of the politician, with a focus on her years during the Yom Kippur War in 1973 – thought of by many to be Israel’s biggest military failure. We’re hosting a Zoom panel discussion to reflect on the film and Meir’s work and legacy.

Guests include Meir’s grandson Shaul Rahabi, who is chair of the Golda Meir Institute; Meir’s most recent biographer Pnina Lahav; actor Thelma Ruby, whose highly acclaimed performance in Momma Golda brought Meir to UK stages; and Toby Greene, a researcher and lecturer in the Department for Political Studies at Bar Ilan University. Hosted in partnership with Jewish Renaissance.

Click here to book.

The Jewish history of Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire is perhaps the best known of all the houses in our series. Built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild in the 19th century, the estate has since passed through four generations of the same family, who added to the spectacular interiors and art collection over time. Join us for an in depth tour of the manor’s Jewish heritage and the Rothschilds’ legacy, exploring their art, family story and archives.

Ticket price includes all entry fees, specialist guides and lunch. Please arrive by 10.45am for an 11am start. If you don’t drive, contact Emma via programming@jewishrenaissance.org.uk and we will arrange a carshare from north London or Sevenoaks station.

10.45am (BST). £65 early bird price until 12pm on 8 Jun, £72.50 thereafter. Meeting point: Ightham Mote, TN15 0NU (exact location will be sent nearer the time).

This session is part of our season exploring Jewish heritage in southern England, with a series of alternating lunchtime lectures on Zoom (free, but donations appreciated) and day trips (£65-£72.50) that delve into the Jewish history of Sussex, Hampshire, Kent and Buckinghamshire. This series is run in partnership with Jewish Renaissance.

Fore more information and to book:

https://www.jewishrenaissance.org.uk/events/jewish-heritage-in-southern-england

Join Jewish Renaissance’s Executive Director Dr Aviva Dautch for a book club discussing Natalie Livingstone’s Women of Rothschild, the Wingate longlisted biography that charts the female narrative in the English branch of one of the world’s most famous Jewish families. Explore three generations, with particular focus on their extraordinary experiences in key events from the turn of the 19th century to the early 21st, including the early days of Zionism and codebreaking at Bletchley Park.

This session is part of our season exploring Jewish heritage in southern England, with a series of alternating lunchtime lectures on Zoom (free, but donations appreciated) and day trips (£65-£72.50) that delve into the Jewish history of Sussex, Hampshire, Kent and Buckinghamshire. This series is run in partnership with Jewish Renaissance.

Fore more information and to book:

https://www.jewishrenaissance.org.uk/events/jewish-heritage-in-southern-england

Ightham Mote, a picturesque medieval manor surrounded by a moat, was once home to Mary Freda Cohen, the second wife of Sir Thomas Colyer-Fergusson and a close relative of the Montefiores and Rothschilds, as the guestbook attests. Discover more about this 14th-century National Trust property and its many Jewish connections with Amanda-Jane Doran, Ightham Mote’s collections and house manager. Following the tour, we’ll visit Tudeley to see Marc Chagall’s exquisite stained-glass windows in All Saints Church.

Ticket price includes all entry fees, specialist guides and lunch. Please arrive by 10.45am for an 11am start. If you don’t drive, contact Emma via programming@jewishrenaissance.org.uk and we will arrange a carshare from north London or Sevenoaks station.

10.45am (BST). £65 early bird price until 12pm on 8 Jun, £72.50 thereafter. Meeting point: Ightham Mote, TN15 0NU (exact location will be sent nearer the time).

This session is part of our season exploring Jewish heritage in southern England, with a series of alternating lunchtime lectures on Zoom (free, but donations appreciated) and day trips (£65-£72.50) that delve into the Jewish history of Sussex, Hampshire, Kent and Buckinghamshire. This series is run in partnership with Jewish Renaissance.

Fore more information and to book:

https://www.jewishrenaissance.org.uk/events/jewish-heritage-in-southern-england

Do you know that Marc Chagall designed original stained glass windows for a small country church in Tudeley, Kent? Art historian and Insiders/Outsiders founder Monica Bohm-Duchen provides an introduction to the Jewish artist and his connection to the English countryside in preparation for our Kent trip next week.

This session is part of our season exploring Jewish heritage in southern England, with a series of alternating lunchtime lectures on Zoom (free, but donations appreciated) and day trips (£65-£72.50) that delve into the Jewish history of Sussex, Hampshire, Kent and Buckinghamshire. This series is run in partnership with Jewish Renaissance.

Fore more information and to book:

https://www.jewishrenaissance.org.uk/events/jewish-heritage-in-southern-england

The heyday of the Jewish country house in the early 20th century came in an age of rising political antisemitism. Though the owners of these grand buildings were part of elite British society, they were still stigmatised and classed as ‘other’ due to their Jewish origins. We’re joined by Dr Thomas Stammers and Dr Jaclyn Granick, co-investigators on the Jewish Country Houses research project, to explore the role these houses played in both the political life of the Jewish elite (nationally and globally) and the sphere of Jewish philanthropic activism, including during World War II and its aftermath.

This session is part of our season exploring Jewish heritage in southern England, with a series of alternating lunchtime lectures on Zoom (free, but donations appreciated) and day trips (£65-£72.50) that delve into the Jewish history of Sussex, Hampshire, Kent and Buckinghamshire. This series is run in partnership with Jewish Renaissance.

Fore more information and to book:

https://www.jewishrenaissance.org.uk/events/jewish-heritage-in-southern-england

In March, Jews around the world celebrate the spring festival of Purim by remembering the feisty Persian Queen Esther. But this Purim, we're turning our thoughts to contemporary Iran. The country has recently been torn apart by bloody uprisings supporting the rights of women and girls, and there has been speculation that some of the demonstrators have been Jewish. Join us on International Women's Day to explore the upheavals going on in Iran and illuminate the country's Jewish legacy with a group of Iranian writers, including Dora Levy Mossanen, author of Love and War in the Jewish Quarter; Dr Jaleh Pirnazar, a professor in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at University of California, Berkeley; and Elham Gheytanchi, a sociologist at Santa Monica College, California, and expert on women’s rights in the Middle East and North Africa.

This talk will be free to attend, and held with our partners at Jewish Renaissance.

Book your tickets here:

https://www.jewishrenaissance.org.uk/events/unveiling-iran

To mark the 75th anniversary of modern Israel, this six-week series of Wednesday evening lectures held with Jewish Renaissance explores the lives, culture and history of the Jewish community in the pre-state period, as well as the discussions leading up to the Declaration of Independence.

When the State of Israel was declared in 1948, its founders agonised over the wording of the Declaration of Independence, which would be a statement of intent for the fledgling federation. While specific reference to God was kept out, references to non-Jewish inhabitants of Israel were included – the country tasked itself with ensuring complete equality of social and political rights to all who live there. Speakers from the Israeli organisation Rabbis for Human Rights will explore how Jewish law influenced the writing of this document – and the uncodified Constitution that followed it – and ask whether the modern state has lived up to the Jewish values of its founders.

This talk will be free to attend, but please book your place here:

https://www.jewishrenaissance.org.uk/events/exploring-the-yishuv

To mark the 75th anniversary of modern Israel, this six-week series of Wednesday evening lectures held with Jewish Renaissance explores the lives, culture and history of the Jewish community in the pre-state period, as well as the discussions leading up to the Declaration of Independence.

While the Irgun and Haganah have become legendary in the story of the Jewish struggle against the British Mandate, there is no denying their controversial tactics – with the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem being the most famous example. So are they heroes or terrorists? In this session, writer Julia Pascal, whose new play 12:37 explores this episode, will offer her perspective on the struggle for independence.

This talk will be free to attend, but please book your place here:

https://www.jewishrenaissance.org.uk/events/exploring-the-yishuv

To mark the 75th anniversary of modern Israel, this six-week series of Wednesday evening lectures held with Jewish Renaissance explores the lives, culture and history of the Jewish community in the pre-state period, as well as the discussions leading up to the Declaration of Independence.

Harvard academic Dr Susan Martha Kahn charts the extraordinary life of Rudolphina Menzel, a Viennese-born Jewish scientist, whose pioneering research fundamentally shaped the ways dogs came to be trained, cared for and understood. Known throughout Europe as one of the foremost breeders and trainers of police and military dogs, she was also a fervent Zionist responsible for inventing the canine infrastructure in what came to be the State of Israel and for training hundreds of dogs to protect Jewish lives and property in pre-state Palestine. Read more by Dr Kahn in the Winter 2023 issue of JR.

This talk will be free to attend, but please book your place here:

https://www.jewishrenaissance.org.uk/events/exploring-the-yishuv

To mark the 75th anniversary of modern Israel, this six-week series of Wednesday evening lectures held with Jewish Renaissance explores the lives, culture and history of the Jewish community in the pre-state period, as well as the discussions leading up to the Declaration of Independence.

Hit Netflix series The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem, based on the bestselling novel by Sarit Yishai-Levi, captured the imagination of Jews around the world with its portrayal of four generations of a Sephardi family against a backdrop of the Ottoman Empire, British Mandate and the War of Independence. The show’s executive producer, Dafna Prenner, will share her experiences of bringing the Yishuv to life for modern audiences.

This talk will be free to attend, but please book your place here:

https://www.jewishrenaissance.org.uk/events/exploring-the-yishuv

To mark the 75th anniversary of modern Israel, this six-week series of Wednesday evening lectures held with Jewish Renaissance explores the lives, culture and history of the Jewish community in the pre-state period, as well as the discussions leading up to the Declaration of Independence.

From the very first steps of artistic activity in Jewish Palestine in the first quarter of the 20th century, there were attempts to establish a “local, genuine” art. The idea was that the art made in Eretz Yisrael – often called Hebrew Art, to distinguish it from Jewish art – was significantly different from art created in the diaspora. Dr Dalia Manor explores the developments in art in Jewish Palestine during this period and the ideology behind this new style of art.

This talk will be free to attend, but please book your place here:

https://www.jewishrenaissance.org.uk/events/exploring-the-yishuv

To mark the 75th anniversary of modern Israel, this six-week series of Wednesday evening lectures held with Jewish Renaissance explores the lives, culture and history of the Jewish community in the pre-state period, as well as the discussions leading up to the Declaration of Independence.

What was Jewish life like under the British Mandate? What did the Jewish community look like before Israeli independence? How did the different waves of immigration change the nature of the Yishuv? And how did the Yishuv shape the modern state of Israel? Professor Aviva Halamish, historian at the Open University of Israel and editor-in-chief of the Open University of Israel Press, examines this dynamic period of Israeli history.

This talk will be free to attend, but please book your place here:

https://www.jewishrenaissance.org.uk/events/exploring-the-yishuv