Currently Browsing: History 50 articles
Jews & Chess
Tim Cowen asks if chess is a Jewish game. Beth Harmon, a 9-year-old orphan chess prodigy, walks into a high school. She beats all 12 of the school’s best players simultaneously. The Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit is entirely fictional, but it reveals the reality of the ancient game. An orphan girl can succeed against the […]
An Uncomfortable Period of British and Zionist History
Nathan Abrams reviews a new book which sheds light on an a forgotten snippet of British Imperial History. In her new book, The People on the Beach: Journeys to Freedom After the Holocaust, Rosie Whitehouse explores that forgotten period in Britain’s history, the years between the end of the Second World War and the birth […]
A Great Film but Strangely Washed of Jewishness
Jack Shamash reviews the new release The Trial of the Chicago 7. Last Friday, the film The Trial of The Chicago 7 was released in cinemas and on Netflix. It depicts the Chicago Conspiracy Trial that began in 1969 and ended in 1970. It stars, among others, Jeremy Strong as Jerry Rubin and Sacha Baron […]
Churchill and Alexander Korda
Peter Lawson finds flaws in the fascinating documentary Churchill and the Movie Mogul A fascinating documentary about Hungarian-Jewish émigré director, Alexander Korda (1893-1956), was screened on 25 September on BBC4. (It is still available to watch on BBC iPlayer. Titled Churchill and the Movie Mogul, it relates the relationship between Korda and Churchill from the […]
From Aliyah to ‘I’m A Celebrity’: Gwrych Castle’s Secret Jewish History
Nathan Abrams reveals the forgotten Jewish history of Gwrych Castle. One thing that has been missed in the excitement of the announcement that Gwrych Castle in Abergele, north Wales is hosting I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here is the location’s Jewish history. During the Second World War, Jewish refugee children were housed in […]
‘Is It Good for the Jews?’ is giving us a moral blindspot
Jon Abrams reflects on the responses to his piece on Anglo-Jewry and slavery. The responses to our recent article published by JewThink, ‘Why we need more research on how Anglo-Jewry profited from slavery’, have been baffling if not downright disturbing. Apart from a few exceptions, most of the comments have completely ignored the content of our article that argued for greater […]
‘Chlandidneh’: The Jewish History of the Queen of Welsh Resorts
As many of you consider, go on, or return from your staycation this summer, one place that remains a draw is the north Wales town of Llandudno. The Daily Telegraph recently described it as, ‘The old-fashioned seaside town that’s suddenly back in vogue’. It is so popular with Haredi visitors that they were even willing to break England and Wales’ lockdown […]
Racial Inclusivity in the Jewish Community: The Long View, Part II
In Part 2 of a two-part series, Jay Prosser concludes that loving strangers is the solution. So, having identified the historical problem of racial exclusion within Jewish communities, what’s the solution? Can the past also offer us lessons here? While there were racial divisions in Bombay and Singapore, in both places, my family history presents a different story. They leave me, I’ve come to realise, with a Jewish legacy of loving strangers. Much […]
Racial Inclusivity in the Jewish Community: The Long View
In Part 1 of a two part series, Jay Prosser explores Jewish Racism in Bombay and Singapore. The Board of Deputies’ Commission on Racial Inclusivity in the Jewish Community could herald a sea change in Jewish communities becoming truly welcoming of Black (and other non-white) members. The six-month enquiry, which has been initiated by the Board itself, is an expression of solidarity with […]
Why we need more research on how Anglo-Jewry profited from slavery
Jews were not overrpresented in the slave trade but we still have a difficult history to confront. Nathan and Jonathan Abrams call for more research to assess Anglo-Jewry’s legacy of slavery. The database of the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slave-ownership makes interesting reading and some of it is not so comfortable for England’s Jews. It reveals […]