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An Open Letter to Jessica Krug on Rosh Hashanah
The lessons of the festival of Rosh Hashanah offers good news for Jessica Krug.
Antisemitism and Stanley Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’
The Shining, which marks its fortieth anniversary this year, is probably the ur-horror film. Its template for pyschological horror has been much copied over subsequent decades. Given its director’s ethnicity, which has been established by various authors (including myself), we can also view The Shining through the lens of Jewishness and Judaism. In so doing, […]
Britain’s Most Northerly Shul’s Deluge of Disasters
Debby Taylor catalogues the problems that have befallen Britain’s most northerly congregation over recent years, and how you can help out. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the UK’s most northerly synagogue. Aberdeen Hebrew Congregation was founded in 1893 but didn’t own its own place of worship until 6th June 1945, when the current […]
A Golden Age of Jewish Television?
Nathan Abrams reflects on current Jewish television, wondering if we are now enjoying a golden age of Jews on the box. ‘When Did TV Get So Jewish?’ proclaimed Vanity Fair recently. On almost every channel, we find Jews on television, both factual and fictional. We have also seen more and more Jews both as central and incidental characters and […]
David Cronenberg: Jewish King of the Venereal
While one famous Canadian Jew has been in the news recently, another has been overlooked: David Cronenberg. His first feature, Shivers, opened 45 years ago this October, soon making him the nascent new horror’s ‘Baron of Blood’ and ‘King of the Venereal’. It also established many of the Jewish themes and characteristics that would become staple elements of all his […]
On Bournemouth beach
The boundary-crossing of Haredim on the beach.
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 […]
The Night I Had Dinner with RBG
Sue Fox recollects a memorable evening with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Karen Skinazi’s article on ‘bageling’ in connection with Mrs America was an eye-opener to this reader who watched the entire series hating Phyllis Schlafly. When evil Phyllis told the maid to collect her child from school, knowing said maid needed to collect her own child, she made me explode with venom. I took it […]
Looking like a Philip Roth Scholar; or, Looking Jewish in Scotland
Joshua Lander reflects on his Jewish looks and being a scholar of Philip Roth. At my first ever conference I was told I looked like a Jew but didn’t sound like one. A few years later at the Vilnius Yiddish Institute, a classmate told me I had the look of a Philip Roth scholar, and […]
Ben Cross: Non-Jewish Actor Who Excelled at Playing Jewish Roles
Sean Alexander reflects on the Jewish roles of Ben Cross who passed away on August 18th. Inevitably, the obituaries for actor, Ben Cross, who died yesterday aged 72 following a short illness, started with his starring (and arguably name-making) role in 1981’s Chariots of Fire, in which Cross played the real-life Jewish athlete Harold Abrahams. He and Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson) portrayed Jewish and Christian runners both competing for […]