SUMMER 2004




Bobowa photo by Chris Schwartz Traces of Memory Exhibition, Krakow


Stephen Berkoff


Rudolph Rodker


Jackie "Kid" Berg, 2002, Oil on linen, 18 X 20in, by Charles Miller, www.jewishboxers.com


In the Synagogue oil on canvas by Alfred Walmark, 1906

New Synagogue, Dresden, Germany, 1997-2001
New Synagogue, Dresden, Germany, 1997-2001

Linda Grant at Hay on Wye
Linda Grant at Hay-on-Wye

'Moses' acrylic by poet and painter Rhoda Hodes
Moses acrylic by poet and painter Rhoda Hodes

  WHAT'S NEW

Innovative new museums open in Copenhagen and Krakow; new discoveries of Jewish music announced in Potsdam. Must Jewish heritage be owned by Jews? – report on discussion at Prague conference

  SOAP BOX

SELF-HATING JEW. ME?
Deborah Smith, a "comfortably affiliated, marrying-in, eating out kind of Jew" deplores intolerance of Guardian readers

  DEBATE

BELIEF IS NOT IMPORTANT
Clive Lawton claims that it is what we do that matters. Rabbi Sybil Sheridan disagrees

  THE JR INTERVIEW

TESTING THE LIMITS
Golda-Zafer Smith finds out what is behind Steven Berkoff's belligerent personality and captures some cogent comments on literature and life

   JUDAISM AND...

JUDAISM AND DRESS
Jack Lukeman finds out what a Scotsman in a kilt and a chassid have in common, and discovers what is law and what is lore in customs of dress

   EAST END JEWS

TIMELINE
Key dates and facts of Jewish settlement in the East End
RUDOLPH ROCKER
Erica Gordon on the German radical who learnt Yiddish to champion Jewish workers
STARS OF THE YIDDISH THEATRE
David Mazower's photo-story
FIRST LADY – AND LAST
Anna Tzelniker, the last star of the Yiddish theatre, relives a past world. Nicola Taylor listens enthralled.
INDELIBLE STENCL
Derek Reid reminisces about the poet who devoted his life to championing Yiddish
I WAS THERE...
Ubby Cowan gives a first-hand report of what happened at the Battle of Cable Street, on the streets and on the roof
MAJER BOGDANSKI
The 92 year-old singer and composer tells Barry Davis a remarkable story of survival and self-education
IN THE RING
Howard Fredrics on East End boxing champions – and the opera he is creating about them
SETTLING BACK IN
David Russell finds out from film-maker Elliott Tucker why he has chosen to live in the East End
VISIBLE ECHOS OF A JEWISH PAST
The unexpected stories behind buildings still to be seen on East End streets
HIDDEN OASES
Julian Litten explores the history of the burial grounds
CONTEMPORARY INSPIRATION
Rachel Lasserson reviews Stenclmusic
FIND OUT MORE
Organisations, books, websites

   ART

FROM WHITECHAPEL BOY TO POST-IMPRESSIONIST
Rachel Dickson and Sarah MacDougall explain Alfred Wolmark's conversion from painter of Jewish scenes to post-impressionist
AT THE EYE OF THE CYCLONE
Britta Jürgs on why and how Jewish artists are making their presence felt in today's Berlin

   ARTS IN ISRAEL

IGAEL TUMARKIN – BAD BOY OF ISRAELI ART
Angela Levine talks to the controversial winner of the Israel Prize

   EXHIBITION

ARCHITECTURE SPEAKS OUT
Judy Jaffe-Schagen reviews Yibaneh! Jewish Identity in Contemporary Architecture, the exhibition which will be touring Europe

   FILM AND THEATRE REVIEW

Reviews of the films My Architect and Almost Peaceful and the play The Arab-Israeli Cookbook

   MUSIC

TALISMAN
Michael Miller previews a new work by Brian Elias which is based on the Hebrew text of a 19th century amulet

  BOOKS

REALITY BREAKS INTO AN ENGLISH PARADISE
Janet Naim hears forceful words from Israeli Etgar Keret, Palestinian Samir El-Youssef and Britain's Wesker at the Hay Festival
FABULOUS MORALITY
Meshal Haqadmoni Erica Gordon reviews a remarkable new translation of medieval morality tales told as animal fables
SURVIVING IN EASTERN EUROPE
Judith Mirzoeff reviews film-maker Mira Hamermesh's memoir The River of Angry Dogs; Peter Falush finds many gems in Contemporary Jewish Writing in Hungary
HIDING BEHIND THE CAMERA
Michael Mail's Exposure, a novel about photography, set in today's East End, reviewed by Marge Clouts
YOUNG READERS
Wondrous Oblivionreviewed by Alexander Newton

  POETRY

POETRY CHOICE
Liz Cashdan selects poems by Penny Finestein and Lynette Craig
POETRY REVIEW
Anthologies by Rhoda Hodes and Naomi Jaffa

  FOOD

RECIPE AND RESTAURANT REVIEW
Simon Falush eats at Bevis Marks the Restaurant and acquires the recipe of one of the dishes he enjoyed

  LETTER FROM ISRAEL

VIEW FROM A BEDOUIN
Ishmael Khaldi explains his community's point of view

  LAST WORDS

YINGLISH
Derek Reid finds a Yiddish argot in the music halls