Dilemmas of Difference: German Jews, Jewish Germans
Speakers: Olga Grjasnowa, Tina Mendelsohn, Rafael Seligmann Four generations after the Holocaust, Europe’s fastest growing Jewish community faces new challenges, from Günter Grass’s anti-Israel poem What Must Be Said, to furious debate over the legality of circumcision and assaults against Jews in the street. Join writers of two generations for a keynote discussion on what […]
The Words and Music of Leonard Cohen
Speakers: Emily Barker, Mara Carlyle, Liz Green, Ed Laurie, Sam Lewis, Sophie Solomon Leonard Cohen has had many incarnations: seen by many as a living musical legend, he has been a novelist, poet, folk singer, and Buddhist monk. Admitting to influences as wide ranging as Hebrew prayer and Lorca, Cohen himself has in turn inspired […]
Hope: A Tragedy
Speakers: Shalom Auslander, Bidisha Darkly hilarious, dangerously subversive and extraordinarily bold, Shalom Auslander delivered a hilarious and disquieting examination of the burdens and abuse of history. The hero of Hope: A Tragedy had hoped to escape the past, history, wars and genocide in a rural US town but nothing happens as expected. We heard from […]
Jewish London
Speakers: Rachel Kolsky Join Rachel Kolsky for the launch of Jewish London, as she delves into literature and films featuring sites, past and present, of Jewish London. Rachel co-wrote ‘Jewish London’ a new comprehensive guidebook which focuses on the heritage and culture of London’s historic and current Jewish community, including listings of places to eat, […]
Pantheon by Sam Bourne
Speakers: Jonathan Freedland, James Purnell The latest novel by Jonathan Freedland – written under the pseudonym Sam Bourne – is Pantheon, set in the Oxford and Yale of 1940. It follows an Oxford academic deemed unfit to serve in the war against Germany and his desperate search to find his missing wife and child. The […]
Proust Among The Nations
Speakers: Jacqueline Rose, Boyd Tonkin In her new book, Proust Among the Nations – from Dreyfus to the Middle East, Jacqueline Rose takes her far-reaching and often controversial analysis of the Middle East conflict into the heart of Europe. Offering a radical re-reading of the Dreyfus Affair through the lens of Marcel Proust, in dialogue […]
Religion & Science
The Great Partnership: God, Science and the Search for Meaning by Jonathan Sacks is the starting point for a conversation between the Chief Rabbi and mathematician Marcus du Sautoy, chaired by Daniel Glaser. They will explore the sometimes fraught relationship between religion and science in different cultures but will more specifically discuss belief and scepticism, […]
Ron Arad
Ron Arad is a central figure in contemporary design, renowned for his willingness to push boundaries between disciplines and experiment with processes and materials. Many of his designs such as the Rover chair and the Bookworm bookshelf are iconic. His architectural projects including the Tel Aviv Opera House and Holon Design Museum are unique. The […]
Tales of Mediterranean Existence
Al-Andalus in Islamic Spain and the 19th Century Levant are often mentioned as legendary times and places of peaceful co-existence between different peoples and religions. But how much real social, cultural and economic interaction actually existed among Jews, Christians and Muslims? In what way was the Jewish experience distinctive from that of other faiths? In […]
The Eichmann Trial
Speakers: Deborah Lipstadt, Anthony Julius The capture of Lieutenant Colonel Adolf Eichmann by Israeli agents in Argentina in 1960 and his subsequent trial in Jerusalem electrified the world and sparked a global debate on where, how genocide can be judged. The event has become a touchstone for judicial proceedings throughout the world, offering a legal, […]
Protocols of Prague
David Aaronovitch interviews Umberto Eco about his brilliant historical novel The Prague Cemetery set in 19th Europe, from Turin to Prague to Paris, at a time when conspiracies rule history. With his customary erudition and brilliance, Eco brings together Jesuits, Freemasons, Italian Republicans, French criminals and secret services, all linked by one single sinister villain. […]
The Scandal of Kabbalah
Speakers: Yaacob Dweck The Scandal of Kabbalah is the first book about the origins of a culture war that began in early modern Europe and continues to this day: the debate between kabbalists and their critics on the nature of Judaism and the meaning of religious tradition. Drawing on a range of previously unexamined sources, […]