Torah & Tradition in an Age of Doubt
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 […]
The Best Minds
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 […]
Maimonides Faith in Reason: Book Week 24 online event
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 […]
Louis Jacobs’ Quest: Book Week 24 online event
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 […]
YIVO and the Recovery of Jewish Memory
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 […]
Dannie Abse Centenary Celebration
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 […]
Philippe Sands: Lviv Then & Now
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 […]
Leonard Bernstein: Some Other Time
80 years after Leonard Bernstein’s early triumph On The Town hit Broadway, the classic New York musical provides our title as we celebrate him in conversation and song. Working with fellow theatrical legends such as Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Robbins, Betty Comden and Adolph Green he created iconic shows, ballets and concert works, including West Side […]
Nicholas Hytner in conversation with Elliot Levey
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 […]
Genesis Emerging Writers 2024
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: […]
Woman in Art: Helen Rosenau
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 […]
Marcus du Sautoy: Around the World in 80 Games
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 […]