Tuesday 28 October

Shylock's Venice: The Remarkable History of Venice's Jews and the Ghetto

In the 1500s, Venetian Jews were exiled to a corner of the city, where they were free to roam by day and locked behind gates and walls each night. This imprisonment, despite its obvious flaws, became inspiration for a remarkable cultural renaissance where inhabitants flourished into scholars, poets, philosophers, painters, musicians, dancers and more. Harry Freedman’s recent book uncovers this pivotal point in European Jewish history, shining a light on the evolution of the confinement and how culture prevailed.

8.15pm. £5. Chigwell and Hainault Synagogue, IG7 5NT. www.jhse.org