+ CONTENTS –

WHAT'S NEW

ORTHODOX IN OXFORD TO CALL FOR GREATER INCLUSIVENESS Conference organised by the Oxford community to discuss the present and future of Modern Orthodoxy in the UK • MEDICAL NEWS FROM ISRAEL Hatzalah volunteers now use ‘ambucycles’ in order to get to patients faster and more easily • Clown doctors make a big difference in Israeli hospitals • POPULAR VIOLINIST BECOMES JMI DIRECTOR Sophie Solomon has replaced Geraldine Auerbach as director of the Jewish Music Institute • BOOK WEEK NEWS The latest changes and updates to Jewish Book Week events

MUSIC

SOUNDS OF ISRAEL – SOUNDS OF THE WORLD Abigail Wood reports from the Jerusalem International Oud Festival and features Roza Eskinazi, the Tarshiha Orchestra, Amal Murkus and Aynur Dogan • CD CHOICE World music CDs by Dudu Tassa and Etti Ankri and a Jazz CD by Avishai Cohen recommended by Abigail Wood

THEATRE

TRAVELLING LIGHT WITH NICHOLAS HYTNER Judi Herman interviews the director about his new production at the National Theatre and about his Jewish and gay identity

ART

JUDAH PASSOW IN LONDON Dorothy Bohm and Judi Herman talk to the photographer about his forthcoming exhibition No Place Like Home at the Jewish Museum London • KIEFER IN TEL AVIV Angela Levine visits Anselm Kiefer’s site specific exhibition launching a new wing at the Tel Aviv Museum • ESTHER REIMAGINED Lilian Broca explains her Purim-themed mosaic project as featured in her new book The Hidden and the Revealed

JUDAISM AND... WITCHCRAFT What do the ancient Jewish sources have to say about sorcery? By Maureen Kendler • WITCHES AND RABBIS Agi Erdos selects talmudic passages about women witches • HOLOCAUST MEMORY: WHAT WE SHOULD TELL THE CHILDREN David Herman’s views on how survivors should communicate with their families about the Holocaust • POLAND CONFRONTS ITS JEWISH PAST Joanna Michlic analyses the complex attitudes in Poland today towards the memory of the country’s Jews • LETTER FROM ISRAEL: AGRICULTURE UNDER FIRE Gerry Kelman describes the practical difficulties of living near Gaza

THE JEWS OF YORKSHIRE

LEEDS TIMELINE by Nigel Grizzard • THE BURTON STORY Nigel Grizzard on how a immigrant who arrived in Britain aged 15 built a company that provided work for so many of Leeds’ Jews and financial support for so many of its institutions • MY DINING-ROOM TABLE Cheryll Berrebi’s reminiscences about growing up Jewish in Leeds • THE REBBE IN THE MORNING – THE REVIE IN THE AFTERNOON Anthony Clavane on the important role Leeds United has played in the lives of Leeds Jews • LEEDS ARTISTS Jacob Kramer – Gill Komoly remembers the painter whom she knew in her childhood • Joash Woodrow – The artist who was only discovered in his old age • Antonia Stowe – The sculptor whose work is all over Leeds • CELEBRATING CREATIVITY Helen Frais and the Leeds community’s 150th-birthday celebrations • PUTTING LEEDS ON THE MAP Dame Fanny Waterman is interviewed by Janet Levin about her life and the creation of the Leeds Piano Competition • A GOOD PLACE TO COME BACK TO Ellie Ruhan, Jason Kleiman and Simon Phillips tell why they love the city and its Jewish community • RADIO JCOM Janet Levin finds the Leeds local community radio excellent listening • CRICKET – AND MORE An interfaith project including sports, caving and working for the environment • CATCHING A COMMUNITY A review of Simon Glass’s new film on the Jews of Leeds • BRADFORD TIMELINE by Nigel Grizzard • Albert Waxman reminisces about the Bradford Refugee Hostel • Betty Brodie remembers her youth in Bradford • RECOVERY AND RENAISSANCE How the Muslims of Bradford saved the Jews from having to close down their synagogue • THE SILVERS AND SALTAIRE Today Jonathan Silver’s renovated Salts Mill houses over 500 Hockney paintings • ELSEWHERE IN YORKSHIRE: HARROGATE The community described by Philip Morris • A LONG WAY TO THE NEAREST SHUL The story of five generations of the Iraqi Sulman family in Scarborough • Judy Weleminsky describes her youth in the only Jewish family in Pontefract • SHEFFIELD AND YORK Timelines by Nigel Grizzard •

BOOKS

WHAT IS JEWISH ART? Julia Weiner reviews Jewish Art – A Modern History by Samantha Baskind and Larry Silver and compares its approach with My Grandparents, My Parents and I by Edward Van Voolen and The Human Figure and Jewish Culture by Eliane Strosberg • RIGHTEOUS BRITISH GENTILES Judith Mirzoeff reviews Heroes of the Holocaust by Lyn Smith • TORAH FOR EVERYONE David Weitzman’s review of Torah: A Beginner’s Guide by Joel S Kaminsky and Joel N Lohr and Open-Minded Torah by William Kolbrener • DIFFERENT WAYS OF TELLING THEIR STORY Agi Erdos looks at memoirs: Tailors on Both Sides by Anita Canter, Of Exile and Music by Eva Mayer Schay and The Bristle Merchant’s Daughter by John Salinsky

POETRY

Liz Cashdan chooses a poem by Josephine Jaffa and reviews • Eve Grubin’s Morning Prayer •

LAST WORDS

HOUSES AND TENTS Tamar S Drukker explores how Israel’s tent revolution enriched the meaning of these words

+ CONTENTS –

WHAT'S NEW

NEW DRIVERS OF JEWISH CULTURE Hester Abraham, Louise Jacobs, Abigail Morris and Sophie Solomon, recently appointed to leadership positions in London Jewish culture, answer revealing questions abut their background, motivation and priorities • OLGA RAPAI MARKISH The Ukranian creator of original ceramic art dies in Jerusalem • BY HAND FROM MANCHESTER TO NEW YORK A medieval Haggadah manuscript from Manchester’s Rylands Library is the highlight of an exhibition in New York • HUNGARY’S PRECARIOUS DEMOCRACY Vesna Domany Hardy asks sociologist Mária Vásárhelyi to assess the current situation in Hungary and the implications for the Jewish community • JESUS FOR JEWS WHY READ THE NEW TESTAMENT? Amy-Jill Levine explains to Agi Erdos how reading Christian Scripture can make you a better Jew • THE KOSHER JESUS SCANDAL A look at the waves made by Shmuley Boteach’s controversial new book

THE JEWS OF BERLIN

A NEW NORMALITY Noa Lerner’s snapshot of the Berlin Jewish community today • “IT IS EASIER TO BE JEWISH HERE NOW” Janet Levin talks to Noa Lerner and Atalya Laufer about being Jewish in Berlin today • PESTALOZZISTRASSE AND LEWANDOWSKI Joachim Jacobs and Esther Slevogt tell the story of the Pestalozzistrasse Synagogue and its connection with the famed composer of liturgical music, Louis Lewandowski • A SINGER OF THE 1930s Judi Herman looks at the life of Paula Salomon-Lindberg, stepmother of painter Charlotte Salomon and at Jewish culture under Hitler • THROUGH THE CEMETERY GATE Joachim Jacobs describes the story of Berlin’s Jews through the city’s cemeteries • DODO BÜRGNER The life in Berlin, and then in London, of graphic artist Dodo is described by Rachel Dickson • ARTISTS OF WEIMAR Rachel Dickson takes a look at other artists of the pre-war era. • BREAKING DOWN STEREOTYPES Ben Niran talks to the creators of Schweigeminute, a play about Israelis living in Germany that looks at German-Jewish relations from a new and brave angle.

GOODBYE SOVIET UNION – SHALOM GERMANY

Janet Levin asks members of the Russian community about their experiences • LIVING IN BETWEEN Irmgard Berner talks to Ukranian Boris Mikhailov and Israeli Varda Getzow, two artists who live both in Berlin and in their homeland • WALTER’S MINYAN A report from a Purim Cabaret that has as many non-Jews in the audience as Jews • BEING JEWISH IN SCOTLAND Fiona Frank reports on pilot meetings with Jewish groups across Scotland

MUSIC

MEYER WEISGAL’S ETERNAL ROAD Stanley Henig on the Jewish musical show of the century • EUROPEAN CANTORS TO MEET IN MANCHESTER The seventh European Cantors’ Convention is taking place in July

ART

CREATING A DAVID BOMBERG LEGACY Sarah Rose tells Judi Herman the story of how she collected works of David Bomberg, Cliff Holden, Dorothy Meade and Dennis Creffield and initiated the creation of the Borough Road Gallery at South Bank University to house the collection • ART OF TRAUMA Israeli photographer Ori Gersht talks to Galit Mana about his current exhibition, based on memories of World War II, at the Imperial War Museum London

BOOKS AND WRITERS

DASA DRNDIC AND TRIESTE Vesna Domany Hardy asks the Croatian author about her ground-breaking documentary novel that explores themes of bystanders and identity. • THE INNOCENTS IN TEMPLE FORTUNE Deborah Brooks talks to Francesca Segal about her debut novel The Innocents, set in Hampstead Suburb, and Hannah Rosenfelder, born and brought up in the suburb, gives her views on its authenticity • BOOK REVIEWS Peter Falush finds fascination in The Jewish Dark Continent by Nathaniel Deutsch, a work which tells the story of the fact-finding expeditions in the Pale of Settlement by An-sky and his colleagues • David Clark reviews Rachel Kolsky’s and Roslyn Rawson’s new guide book, Jewish London • New collections of short stories by Nathan Englander and Etgar Keret are highly rated by Judith Mirzoeff • Blooms of Darkness by Aharon Appelfeld is considered by reviewer Deborah Brooks as a work brimful of humanity and hope

POETRY

FINDS IN TRANSLATION Liz Cashdan reviews collections of Hungarian and Russian poetry in English, I lived on this Earth: Hungarian Poets on the Holocaust edited by George and Mari Gömöri and After Semyon Izrailevich Lipkin translated by Yvonne Green • POETRY CHOICE Liz Cashdan chooses poems by Wendy Klein and Terry Turk

LAST WORDS

JESUS IN YIDDISH A funny short piece by Dovid Katz on the various Yiddish terms for Jesus

+ CONTENTS –

WHAT'S NEW

LAYING THE GHOST OF WANNSEE ONE TOWN REMEMBERS Judi Herman reports on a commemoration in the Czech town of Kolin • IS AMERICAN JEWISH CULTURE IN CRISIS? Rebecca Schischa attends a conference in New York

SPORTING HEROES

A FEATURE TO MARK THE LONDON GAMES Short profiles of athlete Irena Kirszenstein Szewińska, fencer Mark Kapita, swimmer Mark Spitz and gymnast • WHEN AND WHY JEWS WERE WINNERS Jeffrey Gurock tells the story of the Hakoah Football Club in Vienna • HAKOAH TODAY – IN VIENNA AND IN AUSTRALIA HUNGARIAN SWIMMERS Paul Taylor on Arnold Guttman, one of the first modern Olympic champions, and the remarkable Éva Székely • STOPPED IN THEIR TRACKS Agi Erdos tells the stories of Gretel Bergmann and the 1936 Nazi Games and the women swimmers of Hakoah, who refused to participate in these games and whose story is told in a recent film •AND IN THE USSR Why Jews took up sport in the Soviet Union • THE VANISHING PROFESSIONALS Anthony Clavane argues that there is nothing un-Jewish about football and writes about players Harry Gilberg, Mickey Barnard, Jack Koffman, Stan Pollock, Mickey Dulin and Miles Spector • BRITISH CHAMPIONS A look at the greatest Jewish sporting figures of Britain, including the Abrahams brothers, Ben Helfgott and Angela Buxton and boxers Daniel Mendoza and Jack (the Kid) Berg • FATHER OF THE PARALYMPIC GAMES David Herman on Ludwig Guttmann • AND TABLE TENNIS TOO Howard Jacobson recalls the sport of his youth that inspired his Mighty Walzer, and talks about Viktor Barna, a Hungarian player who ended up in the British army fighting against the Nazis • INSPIRATION FROM ISRAEL Eetta Prince Gibson interviews paralympic rower Moran Samuel • ISRAEL AT THE OLYMPICS What are Israel’s chances for winning medals at the Games? Janet Levin looks at the strengths and weakness of Israeli sport • INVESTING IN THE FUTURE David Russell talks to futures trader and philanthropist David Kyte about his investment in Maccabi

THE JEWS OF BURMA

TIMELINE Saul Zadka • MY BURMESE CHILDHOOD Leah Yugin describes Jewish life in Burma after World War II • THE YOUNGEST BURMESE JEW Sammy Samuels • SURPRISED BY A RANGOON CEMETERY Saul Zadka discovers family tombstones in an unexpected place • A MUST READ Review of Almost Englishmen: Baghdadi Jews in British Burma • INSURGENCY AND MISS UNIVERSE The story of Saw Benson and his daughter Louise

FILM

A MICROCOSM OF ISRAELI SOCIETY Judi Herman reviews films by Tel Aviv University students: Ramlod directed by Maya Tiberman, The Decision Maker by Danny Yagil, Aya Somech’s Eva is Leaving and A Wonderful Day, written by Joseph Fackenheim and Ariel Weibrod, directed by Weibrod and Yossi Meiri

THEATRE

ISRAELI THEATRE IN LONDON Sonia Zafer Smith’s report of an unusual workshop in which the Tik-Sho-Ret theatre company brought together Israeli and British dramaturges, writers and actors to discuss readings of new Israeli plays

MUSIC

CHARLES VALENTIN ALKAN David Conway’s portrait of a brilliant 19th-century composer/pianist • JAZZ AT CAFÉ SOCIETY Alex Webb tells the story behind his new musical show based on the story of Barney Josephson

ART

In our new series ‘From Generation to Generation’, Angela Levine meets Ruth Dorrit and Amram Jacoby, an artist mother and filmmaker son

BOOKS

FROM REVOLUTION TO REPRESSION Ross Bradshaw remembers the murdered Yiddish poets of Russia • CLASSIC CHOICE Alexander Baron’s The Human Kind reviewed by Gerald de Groot • The Quest for the Man on the White Donkey – Sorrel Kerbel reviews an exhibition and book by Yaakov Israel • Savage Continent by Keith Lowe reviewed by David Herman • On the Eve: The Jews of Europe Before the Second World War by Bernard Wasserman reviewed by Peter Falush • Deborah Brooks reviews Ben Marcus’s The Flame Alphabet

POETRY

Faces in the Void by Jane Liddell King and Marion Davies, and Collected and New Poems by Lottie Kramer, reviewed by Liz Cashdan • POETRY CHOICE Liz Cashdan chooses a poem by Norbert Hirschhorn

FOOD

FOLLOWING THE FOODIES Judith Mirzoeff visits West End Jewish delis, Miskin’s and Del West One • TREATS FOR TWITTERATI Oliver Brooks looks at a new trend: the supper clubs • SALMON AND THE OLYMPICS David Russell’s interview with Lance Forman, owner of Forman’s smoked salmon factory

LAST WORDS

ALL THE WORLD’S A STADIUM Tamar S Drukker

+ CONTENTS –

WHAT'S NEW

BOSNIANS IN LONDON CELEBRATE THEIR 21ST ANNIVERSARY • JMI'S AUTUMN RELAUNCH • JEWISH LEARNING MEETS CREATIVITY IN TEL AVIV • NEW LIFE FOR THE KIBBUTZ?

SOCIETY

A BARON'S VISION David Russell talks to newly created peer Maurice Glasmanabout the 'Blue Labour' ideas he derived from Jewish tradition

THE JEWS OF BRAZIL

TIMELINE Kitty and Ezequiel Rosman tell the history of the community from the first settlers fleeing the inquisition, and the Moroccan Jews who came to join the rubber trade in the North, to the later settlers from Eastern Europe in the South. • FIRST CONGREGATION IN THE AMERICAS EMPEROR GOES TO SHUL IN LONDON • THE LONG ARM OF THE INQUISITION • THE RABBI WHO BECAME A SAINT Rabbi Emmanuel Shalom Muya who is now venerated by Jews and Christians • AMAZONIAN STORIES The Jews who came to live there in the 19th century and their descendents who still practice Judaism • CRYPTO-JEWS OF BRAZIL Arthur Benveniste on the descendants of the converses in north-east Brazil who are reclaiming their heritage • YIDDISH THEATRE IN ELDORADO Paula Ribeiro and Susane Worcman • THE GERMAN ROOTS OF BRAZIL’S LARGEST SYNAGOGUES and other communities in Brazil • LASAR SEGALL The Polish artist who brought Modern Art to Brazil • THE MOST IMPORTANT JEWISH WRITER SINCE KAFKA? Benjamin Moser explains his devotion to Clarice Lispector • MOACYR SCLIAR The writer/doctor from Porto Alegre whose novels embrace the diverse aspects of Brazilian Jewish identity • MAKING A DIFFERENCE Luiz Zveiter, Arnaldo Cohen, Nachman Falbel and José Ephim Mindlin and their contributions to Jewish and Brazilian society • INSPIRED IN LONDON… Kitty and Ezequiel Rosman explain how they intitiated a Jewish Film Festival and a cultural centre in Brazil • ALSO: A JCC of Dreams; The Amazing Hospital Einstein; The Brazilian Jewish Choir • A FLAVOUR OF JEWISH SAO PAULO Judi Herman reviews the film The Year my Parents Went on Vacation • FOR VISITORS Information needed to visit synagogues and other Jewish sites

FILM

ISRAEL IN CLOSE UP Judi Herman reviews films coming to the UK Jewish Film Festival: Arab Labour, Off-White Lies, A Bottle in the Gaza Sea and Poisoned • ZAYTOUN Judi Herman talks to director Erik Riklis and producer Gareth Unwin about how the first UK Israel co-production came about

DANCE

BATSHEVA Judi Herman finds out what is special about the Batsheva Ensemble that will tour the UK

MUSIC

WHEN DEATH WENT ON STRIKE Michael Haas talks to James Conway about his ETO production of Emperor of Atlantis, an opera written in Terezin, and gives the background of the opera and the stories of its composer Viktor Ullmann and librettist Peter Kien • MEYERBEER RE-EVALUATED David Conway reassesses the life of the German Jewish composer, “the Andrew Lloyd Webber of his day”

ART

JUDY CHICAGO IN THE UK Galit Mana talks to the iconic feminist artist who will have exhibitions at the Ben Uri and two other UK galleries • KITAJ IN BERLIN Monica Bohm-Duchen’s report on a major exhibition of the artist’s work

BOOKS

A STORY ABOUT A BOY CALLED MAURICE Michael Rosen's wonderful tribute to children’s writer Maurice Sendak • FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION: MY FATHER’S PARADISE Ariel Sabar tells Agi Erdos how writing his Kurdish father’s story has changed their relationship • REVIEWS I am Forbidden by Anouk Markovits and Whatever is Contained Must be Released by Helene Aylon reviewed by Judith Mirzoeff • Judaism: All that Matters by Keith Kahn-Harris reviewed by Fiona Smith • Jews in America by Stephen D. Corrsin and New Israel/New England by Michael Hoberman reviewed by David Herman • Howard Jacobson’s Zoo Time reviewed by Deborah Brooks • Shoshi Ish-Horowicz reviews The Liars’ Gospel by Naomi Alderman

POETRY

WHOSE LANDSCAPE IS IT ANYWAY? Liz Cashdan explores the landscape of Israel reflected in poetry • REVIEW Joanne Limburg’s The Oxygen Man reviewed by Liz Cashdan • POETRY CHOICE Liz Cashdan chooses Holocaust poems by Karen Siem and Miriam Halahmy

LAST WORDS

ARAMAIC AS I SPOKE IT Yona Sabar

+ CONTENTS –

WHAT'S NEW

Poem by Polish Jew Julian Tuwim brings Jewish and Polish teenagers together in a new London-based project initiated by Olga Glaznik and Marta Kotlarska • Azerbaijan and Indonesia experience a renaissance in Jewish life

JEWS IN HM FORCES

MULTICULTURAL AND MULTINATIONAL Emma Bondor talks to a young army captain about what it is like to be Jewish in the British army • SERVING THE SERVICEPEOPLE The Jewish Committee for HM Forces looks after the interests of Jewish servicemen • A JOB LIKE ANY OTHER Janet Levin meets a Flight Lieutenant who became more observant after going on operations • LETTER FROM KANDAHAR Flight Lieutenant Justin Salmon writes about his experiences in Afghanistan and celebrating Chanukah on his army base • KILLED IN ACTION Paul Mervis, killed in action in 2009, is remembered

EDUCATION

Deborah Brooks investigates the choices parents are facing: what are the pros and cons of sending your child to a Jewish school and what have the new Free Schools got to offer?

THE JEWS OF ST PETERSBURG

TIMELINE A PUBLISHING HUB Alexander Frenkel outlines the ups and downs of Jewish life in the city, from the 18th century to the present and explores the boom in Jewish publications in Hebrew, Yiddish and Russian in 19th-century St Petersburg • THE ST PETERSBURG SOCIETY AND THE NEW JEWISH MUSIC SCHOOL Jascha Nemtsov on the birth of the Society for Jewish Music and how it impacted on the evolution of Jewish music • GROWING UP IN ST PETERSBURG Rachel Bayvel, Jascha Nemtsov and Lisa Zektser describe their personal memories of life in the city • Osip Mandelstam and Nobel Prize-winning Joseph Brodsky both lived in St Petersburg/Leningrad • SHUL LIFE 2010 A revival of religious life has been taking place in St Petersburg. Janet Levin visits the newly renovated Great Choral Synagogue and Sha'arai Shalom, a progressive community • AN-SKY, PUSHKIN'S NANNY AND THE REVIVAL OF JEWISH LIFE IN ST PETERSBURG David G Roskies describes the Jewish cultural revival of the 1980s and 90s, rooted in the ethnographic work of An-sky • CULTURAL REAWAKENING Janet Levin meets Alexander Frenkel, founder of the JCC in St Petersburg, and visits the Adain Lo summer camp with its dynamic founder, Eugenia Lvova • TO STAY OR TO GO? Documentary filmmaker Alexander Gutman talks about the dilemma of leaving his beloved St Petersburg for a better life in an unknown land • ARTISTS OF THE PGISHOT Regina Khidekel's piece is about a contemporary group of St Petersburg artists who gather together to explore their identity by studying Torah and Jewish texts

FILM

UKJFF ON TOUR Judi Herman's film reviews: Yankles is the funny story of a baseball team of yeshiva students, and Berlin 36 is about the Nazi regime forcing Jewish athlete Gretel Bergmanncompete at the 1936 Olympics

THEATRE

JUDENFREI Judi Herman talks to Kate Glover, author of a new play about the hardships of two Jewish lawyers in 1938 Germany

MUSIC

DREAMS OF COEXISTENCE Malcom Miller in conversation with composer Tsippi Fleischer, whose new opera Oasis envisions Arabs and Jews living peacefully together

ART

ISRAEL'S MODERN ACADEMIST Dalia Manor assesses Ludvig Bloom's place in mid-twentieth century Israeli art • PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES Angela Levine meets creative Judaica designer Ken Goldman • MEZUZAHS RE-IMAGINED A glance at the mezuzah designs in the newly published book 500 Judaica, as part of the launch of the Judaica 21competition

BOOKS

ONE PERSON'S BOOK WEEK Janet Levin gives a taster of Sunday events at the Jewish Book Week • REVIEWS David Herman reviews Wandering Soul, a biography of S An-sky, and Jewish Renaissance in the Russian Revolution • Martin Sugarman's Fighting Back reviewed by Ross Bradshaw • Saul Bellow Letters reviewed by Gerald de Groot • Sara Shilo's Falafel King reviewed by Tsila Ratner • Agi Erdos reviews Being Jewish and Doing Justice by Brian Klug • Vesna Domany-Hardy reviews The Jews of San Nicandro by John A Davis • Judith Mirzoeff reviews Roland Camberton's Rain on the Pavements • Deborah Smith reviews We Had it So Good by Linda Grant • David Clark reviews Person of No Nationality by Ruth Barnett

POETRY

Liz Cashdan chooses a poem by Anna Fojtel and reviews new collections by Norman Kreitman and Michael Baron • PEARLS OF ISRAEL Nitza Felix visits the charming vegetarian village of Amirim in the Galilean hills and talks to its founder, Yehudi Carmeli, about the struggles of setting up a new community

FOOD

FROM BOLA D'AMOUR TO BAKLAVA Jane Gerson provides a history of English Jewish cookery books and explains how they reflect the changes taking place within Anglo-Jewry

+ CONTENTS –

WHAT'S NEW

TUNISIAN JEWS UNFAZED BY REVOLUTION Saul Zadka looks at the impact the Tunisian unrest has had on the Jewish community there • NEW HERITAGE ROUTE IN SOUTH INDIA Janet Levin on the highlights of the recent JR trip to India

ALTERNATIVES

ABRAHAM WAS A PUNK ROCKER Did you know that there was a religious Jewish punk scene in New York? Patricia Eszter Margit tells all about its present and past

JEWS AND WINE

BIBLE TIPPLE David Weitzman’s overview of the role of wine in biblical stories • HOW WINEMAKERS BECAME MONEY-LENDERS Haym Soloveitchik discovers how expertise in winemaking led Jews to become creditors in the Middle Ages • WHY ONLY ORTHODOX JEWS? Did you ever wonder what makes wine kosher? Agi Erdos looks at the historical background to all the different rules and regulations concerning wine • WHICH ISRAELI WINE? Sommelier Dan Whine recommends four of his favourites, all of them kosher for Passover • ISRAELI WINES COME OF AGE Agi Erdos reports on the recent boom in Israeli wine industry and talks to the owners of two boutique wineries, Castel and Tulip

THE JEWS OF GEORGIA USA

TIMELINE Agi Erdos THE LYNCHING OF LEO FRANK The notorious case that led to the founding led both to the establishment of the Anti-Defamation League and to the revival of the Ku Klux Klan • FROM SOUTHERN BELLES... TO PROUD JEWS The first generations of Jews in Atlanta – where they came from and what being Jewish meant to them • ALFRED UHRY – DRAMATIZING ATLANTA JEWRY The award-winning author of plays such as Driving Miss Daisy and The Last Night of Ballyhoo comes to terms with his Jewish identity • JEWS AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT How the question of Black integration split the community • THE DAY THAT MARTIN LUTHER KING JR WAS SHOT Susan Neiman recalls how as a 13-year-old she mourned for their family friend • MAKING CONNECTIONS Kavita Chhibber talks to Sherry Frank, a fighter for social justice and inter-ethnic partnership • THE STORY OF MEGA-PHILANTHROPIST BERNIE MARCUS The man who started Home Depot believes that you’re never too poor to share • WHY ATLANTA? Paula Neuman Gris, Rabbi Michael Broyde and other recent immigrants to the city talk to Janet Levin • CAN!!CAN Patrick Aleph, the leader of Atlanta’s hard core Jewish punk band, smuggles Jewish content into his music • THE TEMPLE NOW Atlanta’s first synagogue is still active today, with up to 3,000 members

FESTIVAL

THE NORTH STARS A new arts festival is launched in South Manchester, while the Leeds International Festival is larger than ever

THEATRE/TV

JACK ROSENTHAL CELEBRATED David Herman reviews the DVD box set of the writer’s work recently published by the BBC • FAMILY TRAUMA AT THE NATIONAL THEATRE Judi Herman interviews Henry Goodman and Ryan Craig about The Holy Rosenbergs, now on at the National Theatre

MUSIC

ISRAEL’S AVANT-GARDE – AND ORTHODOX – COMPOSER ANDRE HAJDU The Hungarian-born composer talks to Malcolm Miller about his daring projects and the influences that shaped his music • JEWISH WOMEN SING NEW MUSIC Abigail Wood reviews CDs by Galeet Dardashti, Tally Koren and Chava Alberstein

ART

ARTIST IN THE CATHEDRAL Galit Mana talks to Israeli David Behar-Perahia who is currently resident artist at Gloucester Cathedral

HAGGADOT

ART AND THE FOUR SONS Maureen Kendler’s analysis of the different depictions of the four sons in haggadot from the Middle Ages to the present • THE PAPERCUT HAGGADAH Archie Granot has created a unique work of art, with each letter of the text and all the elements of the design hand cut • PRINT OFF YOUR OWN… A review by Judith Mirzoeff of all the alternative haggadot you can access online – gay, Black, humanist, feminist, and even Christian • THIS YEAR IN KIGALI David Russellwrites about an unusual Seder in Rwanda

BOOKS

THREE LIVES Memoirs by Holocaust survivors Zahava Kohn, Romek Marber and Vera Forster are reviewed by Agi Erdos • COMPELLING FRAGMENTS David Clark reviews four talks at JBW 2011, all of which focused on objects as the means of telling a story. • JBW 2011 PODCAST RECOMMENDATIONS Agi Erdos reviews Shalom/Salaam by Thomas Block – a book about Sufi influence on Judaism • The Novel in the Viola by Natasha Solomons is reviewed by Marge Clouts • Judith Mirzoeff reviews The Liberation of Celia Kahn by J David Simons • Peter Falush reviews Bloodlands by Timothy Snyder

POETRY

POETRY REVIEW Wanted on a Voyage by Wanda Barford • POETRY CHOICE Liz Cashdan chooses poems by Penny Feinstein and Teresa Turk

LAST WORDS

HOLY TONGUE? FAR FROM IT Tamar S Drukker looks at Hebrew religious terms that have made it to modern secular usage

+ CONTENTS –

WHAT'S NEW

FROM LEBANON TO ISRAEL VIA LONDON Abigail Wood tells the extraordinary story of how a Lebanese song became a hit in Israel • WHY ON EARTH IN THE LAKE DISTRICT The first major UK exhibition of R. B. Kitaj’s work since 1996 takes place in Kendal • NEW CHAIR OF JEWISH STUDIES We have asked Nottingham University’s new Professor of Jewish Studies about their planned programme • ORAL HISTORY BROUGHT VIVIDLY TO LIFE Two new films on oral history have recently been launched in the UK. Double Exposure records the stories of Austrian refugees to Britain. In The Last Jews of Libya the story of the Bengazi community emerges

OUTSIDE THE BOX

OUTSIDE THE BOX BUT IN THE FOLD We interview charedi individuals who don’t fit the mould. Agi Erdos talks to Naftali and Kate Loewenthal and Chanan Tomlin; Judi Herman talks to Marton Braun • POSTMODERNISM AND JEWISH HISTORY An overview by prize-winning author Moshe Rosman of new ways of looking at history and how these raise the importance of the Jewish experience

LETTER FROM ISRAEL

VIEW FROM A TEACHER OF ARABIC Maysaloun Majali, an Arab woman teaching at a Jewish school in Haifa, writes about how she has developed a special relationship with her students

THE JEWS OF INDIA

TIMELINE Cheryll Berrebi explores the histories of the different Jewish groups in India: Bene Israel, Baghdadi and Cochini, from antiquity to the present • CASTE, COLOUR AND CLASS Cheryll Berrebi looks at how the Hindu caste system led to divisions in and between the various Jewish communities of India • THE BIRTH OF THE SASSOON DYNASTY Erica Gordon’s account of how philanthropist and businessman David Sassoon came to India • MEMORIES OF CALCUTTA Janet Levin reviews Mavis Hyman’s book Jews of the Raj • BACK TO BOMBAY ROOTS Margery Cohen returns to the city of her birth for the first time in more than 40 years • BLESSED IN ALIBAUG Joanna Ezekiel’s account of the JR tour’s visit to Elijah’s rock, a site of pilgrimage for the Bene Israel Jews of whom her father was one • DYNAMO OF THE COMMUNITY Janet Levin talks to Ralphy Jhirad, JR tour guide extraordinary, a ‘deus ex machina’ community macher and entrepreneur • MUMBAI LIFE NOW Find out about the Malida rite and see snapshots of the communal life of Bene Israel Jews • WHERE GODS HAVE FACES Novelist Esther David talks to the JR India tour group about discovering the Jewish traditions of India when researching her recent novel, The Book of Rachel • FINDING HOME Siona Benjamin tells Janet Levin how she reconciles her Jewish and Indian identities through her art • JEW TOWN We look at the life of Cochin Jews 30 years ago – and today

MUSIC

A COMPOSER WHOSE TIME HAS COME Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s opera The Passenger is coming to London in September. Martin Anderson’s piece is an overview of the life and work of Weinberg, who is often referred to as the Jewish Shostakovich • ROCKING THE HOLY LAND Abigail Wood reviews some of the best new pop albums from Israel, including Hadag Nachash, Berry Sakharof and Noam Nevo

ART

DIASPORISM IN ART A group of young Israeli artists have been advocating a return to Europe – Diana Popescu explores this unusual new trend • MANÉ-KATZ IN HAIFA Angela Levine visits the newly refurbished museum that was the artist’s home • HUNGARIAN PHOTOGRAPHERS Capa, Escher, Kertész, Moholy-Nagy, Munkácsi – all these 20th-century photographers, whose work is now showing at the Royal Academy, were Jewish. George Szirteslooks at the background to their work

BOOKS

THE JEWISH TOLSTOY David Herman on the life and recently translated works of Vasily Grossman • REVIEWS Leon Majaro’s From Odessa to Jerusalem is reviewed by Vesna Domany Hardy • The Free World by David Bezmozgis is reviewed by Judith Mirzoeff • Janet Levin reviews The Synagogues of Great Britain and Northern Ireland by Sharman Kadish • Deborah Brooks reviews Cynthia Ozick’s Foreign Bodies

POETRY

POETRY REVIEW This is the Woman Who by Claudia Jessop reviewed by Liz Cashdan • POETRY CHOICE Liz Cashdan chooses poems by Esta Lefton and Wanda Barford

FOOD

A TASTE OF THE EAST Janet Levin reviews Linda Dangoor’s Flavours of Babylon and recommends a fish recipe. • THE CUISINE OF THE BENE ISRAEL Esther David’s overview of the main elements of Bene Israel cooking and the influences that shaped it. With a chicken recipe from her novel, The Book of Rachel

LAST WORDS

BODY LANGUAGE Tamar S Drukker on how the body parts form an important part of the Hebrew language

+ CONTENTS –

WHAT'S NEW

NEW HOME FOR WIENER LIBRARY The Library will open to the public on 1 December at their new premises in Russell Square • 1936: RADICAL ROOTS Event series at the Jewish Museum commemorating the Battle of Cable Street and the Spanish Civil War • JR, MDA AND HELP FOR INDIAN CHILDREN Following JR’s visit, Magen David Adom sends financial support to the Deep Griha Society in Pune

LOOKING BACK ON THE PAST 10 YEARS

HIGHLIGHTS 2001-2011 We have asked our reviewers and other commentators to pick the best of the decade in Jewish art, books, theatre, music and film • A DECADE OF JEWISH CULTURE IN THE UK Geraldine Auerbach’s overview of the thriving activity and achievements of the past ten years on the Jewish cultural scene • AN ELEVENTH COMMANDMENT Ten years –- Ten Commandments. Rabbis from different strands of Judaism tell us what precept they would add to the existing ten

IDENTITY

WHAT FUTURE FOR THE EUROPEAN JEW? Prof Michael Brenner explores the decline of Europe’s role in the Jewish world and suggests how this might be reversed

THE JEWS OF ROME

TIMELINE A historical overview by Susan Kikoler • THEY CAME BEARING GOLD The Nazis demanded 50kg of gold. The Jews, helped by the citizens of Rome, delivered – but it was all a ploy… Susan Kikoler tells the story. • TWO REMARKABLE WOMEN Two pillars of the Italian community: Tullia Zevi and Rita Levi-Montalcini • ON A ROMAN STREET Eli Abt reconstructs the life of the earliest Jewish community of Rome, in Ostia Antica • THE POPE AND THE RABBI An overview of the history of Vatican-Jewish relations by Susan Kikoler • LEAVING THE GHETTO OF THE MIND Vesna Domany Hardy finds out what is behind the new vitality of the Jewish community of Rome • MICAELA PAVONCELLO Janet Levin takes a tour with the super-guide

CROSSING CULTURES

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS AMONGST DREAMING SPIRES Graduates of the Ariane de Rothschild Fellowship for Muslim and Jewish social entrepreneurs and the Tikvah Institute interfaith workshop speak about their experiences

HERITAGE

WHEN THE CONGREGANTS HAVE LEFT Sharman Kadish looks at how redundant synagogues in Britain are being put to new uses

FILM

FILM FESTIVAL Judi Herman reviews two new films, Intimate Grammar and The Human Turbine, and highlights other Israel screenings of UK Jewish Film Festival

THEATRE

BROKEN GLASS Review by Judi Herman of Iqbal Kahn’s production at the Vaudeville Theatre, and an excerpt from her interview with Sir Antony Sher • THEN AND NOW Emma Bondor sees Broken Glass for a second time after 16 years

ART

SIGISMUND’S WATCH – A TINY CATASTROPHE Galit Mana talks to artist Barbara Loftus about her new exhibition at the Freud Museum, inspired by her mother’s memories of 1920s’ Germany • JOSEF HERMAN: THE IMMIGRANT On the occasion of Ben Uri’s new exhibition, Monica Bohm-Duchen explores the influences the artist brought with him from Warsaw to Glasgow • THE BENEFACTORS: NASSER DAVID KHALILI David Russellmeets one of the richest men in the world who talks about the pursuit of dreams – and his collection of Islamic art

BOOKS

SPEAKING UP FOR GOD David Weitzman compares The Great Partnership – God, Science and the Search for Meaning by Jonathan Sacks and David Gelernter’s Judaism – A Way of Being • REVIEWS David Breuer-Weil: Radical Visionary reviewed by Julia Weiner • Scenes from Village Life by Amos Oz reviewed by Deborah Brooks • Lea Goldberg’s And This is the Light reviewed by Agi Erdos • Accident of Fate – A Personal Account 1938-1945 by Imré Rochlitz reviewed by Vesna Domany Hardy

POETRY

POETRY REVIEW Liz Cashdan looks at Evgeny Rein’s Selected Poems • POETRY CHOICE Liz Cashdan chooses poems by Joanna Ezekiel and Michael Berg

FOOD

A TASTE OF ROME Silvia Nacamulli on artichokes, aubergines and inventive thrift • Recipe: spinaci con pinoli e passerine • IN SEARCH OF CARCIOFI ALLA GIUDIA Vesna Domany Hardy visits the Jewish restaurants of Rome’s ghetto

LAST WORDS

JUDAEO-ROMAN On Hebrew words and unique creations in the Italian Jewish vocabulary