Gershom Scholem Summer Conference

Three day conference on the life and work of Gershom Scholem (1897-1982)

Hadley Freeman – Be Awesome

In Be Awesome, Guardian columnist Hadley Freeman offers an instruction manual for life as a modern woman, tackling body image, sex, dating and feminism head on. Always sharp, funny and startlingly acute, Hadley will be sharing her advice for living life as a feminist in a world where, for too many, it can still be a dirty word.

New Gen Big Summer Bash with Israel’s rising star

The Big Summer Bash! Live pre-Glasto gig with Israel’s Ester Rada, for young professionals in London!

Before taking to the stage at Glastonbury, Ester will be performing exclusively for New Gen. Come and hear her mix of soulful, klezmatic, RnB grooves, before the rest of the country.

Rabai al-Madhoun – The Lady from Tel Aviv

The Arab British Centre, in partnership with Telegram and English PEN, presents one of the Arab world’s prominent literary figures as he discusses The Lady from Tel Aviv. Shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2010, the novel focuses on the intersection in the lives of an Israeli actress and a Palestinian writer whose chance encounter on a plane exposes the chasm between them in the land they both call home.

Geoff Berner Trio

Once Upon A Time In The East is JMI’s new series presenting original artists who draw on the heritage of Jewish music and culture and express them within the frame of 21st century London. Hosted at Jamboree, in the legendary Cable Street Studios, we pay homage to the old Jewish East End where identity, politics and people collided to help make London the global city it now is.

We launch the series with Canada’s finest alt-klezmer Geoff Berner and his trio. Berner fuses klezmer melodies and Ashkenazic rhythms with a cabaret flavour and more than a dose of punkish posturing, gaining a cult following for his controversial wit, politically charged songs and legendary showmanship.

With DJ Jamie Renton in support.

Chagall: Modern Master tour by Rabbi Tony Walker

Rabbi Anthony Walker shares his interpretation of the symbolism in Chagall’s work and how it relates to Jewish ritual and culture.

Marc Chagall (1887–1985) is one of the great artists of the last century. Bringing together more than sixty paintings and a selection of works on paper from across the world, Chagall: Modern Master takes a fresh look at this compelling artist who created some of the most poetic and enduring images of the twentieth century. This exhibition will be the first major presentation of the Russian painter’s work in the UK for more than fifteen years.

The exhibition will explore Chagall’s development from the ‘naïve’ folkloristic narratives in his early work, towards his unique style combining fauve, cubist, expressionist and suprematist influences while reflecting his native Jewish Russian culture.

Chagall: Modern Master will focus on the artist’s time in Paris before the First world War, his visit to Berlin and his exhibition there in 1914, and the years he spent in his native Russia around the time of the Revolution in 1917. Chagall’s experiences during this period reinforced his highly personal visual language. The universal, timeless themes of these early works – including love, suffering and death – alongside self-portraits and depictions of the circus, music and peasants, recurred and formed the core of his art for the remainder of his long career.