 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
Please click HERE for details of how to submit poems to JR
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
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