Jewish Multiculturalism
Jewish Multiculturalism? Never mind the ‘M’ word, start with the ‘J’ word. Which part of British multiculturalism is Jewish? Is Multiculturalism a social experiment, a form of social engineering? The authors here resist and refute lazy stereotypes which so often lead to suspicion, conflict, division.
Edited by: Simon Liebesny
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Fragments of my Father
Simon Liebesny
"In searching for clues to my father’s hidden and unspoken past, defined by his own escape, internment and confinement, I find that his survival mechanism was to embrace the present and the world of multiplicity."
Beginning with his father's internment in Britain and Australia, Simon Liebesny considers whether Britain has ever been a haven for refugees.
The Death of Beelzebub
Will Self
"If culture is a vector for transmitting values through time via objects, artworks, practices, rituals etc .. then ‘multiculturalism’ is an oxymoron."
Will Self riffs on the death of Beelzebub.
(In)Security
Stephen Frosh
"Are Jews safe? To make ourselves secure, we put in place all sorts of security; but is this just an indication of rising insecurity - and does it make things worse?"
Stephen Frosh contemplates safety for British Jews and whether security measures amplify feelings of insecurity.
The Missing Mizrahi
Shelley Silas
"The Missing Mizrahi is my attempt to spotlight and remember the Jews who are invisible, the Jews who are slowly dying out."
Playwright Shelley Silas reveals the complexities of different Jewish heritages inside and beyond Europe.
Yiddish as a Living Language
Ross Bradshaw
"Yiddish is still a living language, one that is attracting new speakers wanting to find a different way to express their Jewishness and their passion for keeping the language and its culture alive."
Radical bookseller and publisher Ross Bradshaw surveys Yiddish in British and American cultures over the past century.
Beatty Orwell: The Battle of Cable Street
Rachel Lichtenstein
"The protestors were singing songs and after a while the police come over the loudspeaker and said, ‘[the Blackshirts] are not going to come, they will not pass.’ Huge cheers erupted. The battle had been won."
Rachel Lichtenstein looks back at the life of Beatty Orwell, one of many thousands of antisemitic protesters in London in the 1930s.
Jewish Multiculturalism
Michael Rosen
"There is no Jewish pope for secular Jews. Secular Jews are by no means a homogeneous, monolithic group with the same opinions."
Michael Rosen on the traditions that have made him, including socialism, Marxism and specific attachments to aspects of Jewish culture.
On Assimilation
Jonathan Wolff
"Jewish people with a platform have the duty to come forward to make common cause with immigrants and refugees confronting levels of discrimination comparable to those our parents and grandparents faced in the past."
Professor Jonathan Wolff believes that assimilated immigrants should reach out and make common cause with refugees from all backgrounds.
Distinctions & Extinctions
Devorah Baum
"Identity, for most people, isn’t political, it’s existential – a name for who and what they are. Politicisation only entrenches that fact. The more political my identity appears to you, the more existential it becomes for me."
Devorah Baum on identity politics and existentialsim in the 21st century.
Jews and Poles in Interwar Poland
Eva Hoffman
"I have drawn...on my own and my family’s history, which began with World War Two and the Holocaust; but I have also tried to move beyond it, to considerations of what unites us in multicultural democracies, as well as what divides us."
Eva Hoffman celebrates the long and rich history of Jewish Poles in Europe before their extermination in the Shoah.