The inaugural Jewish Culture Month was launched last night at the Freud Museum, in Hampstead in front of 150 guests, including Communities Secretary Steve Reed, broadcaster Vanessa Feltz, representatives from participating cultural institutions, members of the Jewish community, and a giant pickle mascot.
Guests at the launch, which introduced the month-long festival celebrating British-Jewish culture, community and creativity, were invited to explore Freud’s study and view works by surrealist artist Leonora Carrington. An analyst and artist also welcomed visitors onto a couch to share their dreams, with guests receiving artistic interpretations of their dreamscapes to take home. Attendees had the opportunity to hear brief talks on themes related to Freud and Jewish culture.
Completing the evening’s cultural kaleidoscope were a fiddler on the roof and the roaming pickle mascot, who circulated among guests throughout the night.
Communities Secretary Steve Reed told guests: This is a time to celebrate Britain’s Jewish community and its contribution to our shared story. It’s a time for coming together. It’s a time for friendship.”
He added: “Jewish experience cannot just be about defending against fear, it also has to be an expression of hope and joy and freedom.”
Vanessa Fetz said: “We Jews excel at finding beauty and humour in the most unpromising places. This revivifying month of Jewish culture will bring balm to our souls and smiles to our faces and much needed stimulation to our beleaguered brains.”
Board of Deputies Acting President Adrian Cohen said: “There’s something for everyone – Jewish or non-Jewish alike. British Jewish culture is not something that exists in isolation. It is woven deeply into our cultural life. For hundreds of years, Jews have been part of this country’s story, as writers, musicians, artists, entrepreneurs, performers, thinkers and organisers. Jewish creativity has helped shape modern Britain in countless ways.
“Jewish Culture Month doesn’t just look backwards with pride. It is about who we are today: religious and secular, traditional and experimental, rooted and evolving.”
Board of Deputies Director of Culture, Education and Communities Liat Rosenthal said: “Jewish culture has never been something sealed behind glass. It is living culture. An argumentative culture. A hospitable culture. A culture of memory and reinvention. Of stories carried across borders and generations, then remade anew.
“This month has been created collectively by the picklers, the bakers, the candlestick makers; by scholars and singers, volunteers and visionaries. We are all part of this moment.”
Jewish Culture Month, which runs until 16 June, will feature more than 100 events celebrating Jewish heritage, creativity and culture across the UK.
National institutions spotlighting their Jewish collections and stories include the British Museum, British Library, Tate Britain, Tate Modern, Victoria and Albert Museum, Museum of the Home, Science Museum, The Whitworth, Manchester Museum, Museum of Liverpool, The Story Museum and the BBC.
Photos: Sophie Shaw