Hannah Arendt & Isaiah Berlin: The Feud
“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 […]
Hope is a Woman’s Name
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. […]
John Lahr & Nicholas Hytner on Arthur Miller
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 […]
The Future Face of the Jewish State
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 […]
The Disrupted Mind
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 […]
The Object of Jewish Literature
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 […]
The Pope at War: Pius XII, Mussolini & Hitler
“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 […]
Jonathan Freedland & Anthony Julius in conversation with Hadley Freeman
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 […]
Canine Pioneer
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 […]
TsitTsit Fringe: Bubble Schmeisis
Author Nick Cassenbaum in conversation about his hilarious work based on the Canning Town schwitz, East London’s last authentic bath house.
Refugees & Rescuers
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 […]
The Lives of Joseph Roth & Stefan Zweig
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 […]