Alan Parker’s Five Most Jewish Films
While he was not Jewish, Alan Parker who passed away on July 31st, created some memorable Jewish moments onscreen. Here are the top five. The Evacuees (1975) The Evacuees was an episode of the BBC’s Play for Today series written by Jack Rosenthal. Loosely based on Rosenthal’s own experiences of World War Two, it focuses on the lives of […]
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 […]
48 hours later: Now let’s confront our own hatefulness on Twitter.
Clearly, Twitter needs to change. The licence that allowed Wiley to continue with an antisemitic rant unimpeded for hours and days only highlights the persistent reluctance of the platform to prevent its use for hate, abuse and bullying. I don’t know whether a 48 hour Twitter silence is the most effective way of protesting, but […]
Jewish Art: Where Are You?
The UK is slowly emerging from lockdown and people can see art again. From last week, museums and galleries reopened for visitors. This may not be news for everyone, but art is my love, as well as my profession. Not being able to go to galleries has been a deprivation. I feel starved of the art of others. There has been much art on the internet – […]
‘The Plot Against America’ comes back to haunt me
I can vividly remember reading Philip Roth’s novel when it was published in 2004 and being completely gobsmacked that Charles Lindbergh was the American President. We were on holiday in Portugal in the same place we’d gone back to every year since who knows when, for a week of walking, Scrabble and reading. I can still […]
Why Isn’t Anybody Talking About…
Why isn’t anybody talking about the North London lockdown murders? You hear a lot about how domestic violence has risen by 24 per cent under lockdown, but nobody talks about the fact that in one area of London – the small, largely Jewish boroughs of Finchley, Hendon and Golders Green — the murder rate has […]
Marmite? Hummus? Am I hearin’ you right?
If, to paraphrase the great Lenny Bruce, hummus is Jewish, then Marmite is definitely goyish. But what do you do when the two are combined into, wait for it, Marmite hummus? It sounds like an abomination, two ingredients that should never meet, like shatnez or mixing milk and meat. Really, we shouldn’t be surprised by this hybrid given that they’ve added Marmite to Mini […]
A Letter from Portland
On the day I write this, we have witnessed 60 days of daily demonstrations in the streets of downtown Portland Oregon. After the murder of George Floyd by police, it was awe-inspiring to see myriads of thousands rise up across the US. Horrified by the blatant injustice, peaceful crowds in Portland Oregon, masked, observing safe […]
‘And spet upon my Jewish gaberdine’
Jay Prosser reviews The Merchant of Venice on BBC iPlayer. Watching the BBC iPlayer’s screening of The Merchant of Venice, Culture in Quarantine: Shakespeare on the BBC iPlayer in the age of COVID makes for a surreal experience, either like time-travelling or being dropped onto a different planet. It’s not only because this recording is from 2015, of the Royal Shakespeare Company directed under Polly Findlay. Nor is […]