Jewish Renaissance

Jewish Renaissance
October 2018 issue
EditorRebecca Taylor
CategoriesJewish culture
FrequencyQuarterly
Circulation4,000 – 5,000
PublisherRenaissance Publishing Ltd
FounderJanet Levin
First issueOctober 2001
CountryUnited Kingdom
Based inLondon
LanguageEnglish
Websitewww.jewishrenaissance.org.uk
ISSN1476-1769

Jewish Renaissance is a quarterly cultural magazine, founded in October 2001,[1][2] covering Jewish culture, arts and communities in Britain and beyond. It is edited by Rebecca Taylor, a former News Editor at Time Out London.[3]

Scope and content

The magazine focuses on the arts – visual arts and architecture, music, cinema, theatre and literature in Europe and in Israel – as well as on Jewish identity and relations with other cultures and religions. In each issue there is a 10–16 page illustrated feature (now called Passport) on a different Jewish community around the world, drawing on historical material, contemporary interviews, and a cultural events listing, among other content.[4][5] The October 2012 issue, for instance, looked at the Jewish community in Brazil,[6] in January 2014, Jews in Kraków, Poland,[7][8] in April 2016, the community in Brighton[9] and, in July 2017, the Jews of Gibraltar.[10]

The magazine also contains in-depth interviews of people of interest from a Jewish historical or cultural viewpoint. For example, it interviewed Mike Leigh prior to the National Theatre production of his 2005 play Two Thousand Years,[11] Glasgow artist Hannah Frank[12] and philanthropists Elizabeth Sackler of the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation[13] and Nasser David Khalili.[14] The magazine published an interview with Helga Bejach, a Jewish child rescued on the Kindertransport and subsequently adopted by the family of Richard and David Attenborough.[15] In July 2012, on the eve of the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, it interviewed Israeli Paralympic rower Moran Samuel. In October 2013 it interviewed Dame Vivien Duffield.[13] It interviewed violinist Irmina Trynkos in January 2015[16] and author Howard Jacobson in January 2016.[17] In January 2017 the magazine interviewed British surgeon and cochlear implant pioneer Ellis Douek.[18]

Organisation

The magazine is independent and is financed by subscriptions, advertising and grant funding. It is published by Renaissance Publishing, a registered charity,[19] whose Executive Director is poet, academic and arts curator Dr Aviva Dautch.[20] Jewish Renaissance was founded by Janet Levin who edited the magazine from 2001 to 2014 and was Chief Executive until early 2019. Individuals from the British Jewish community who sit on its editorial advisory board include the educator Clive Lawton; actress Maureen Lipman; Ben Barkow, Director of the Wiener Library; and Alex Brummer, City Editor of UK national newspaper the Daily Mail; the music historian David Conway is a member of the editorial committee. David Dangoor is the organisation's President.[21]

References

  1. ^ Kahn-Harris, Keith; Gidley, Ben (2010). Turbulent Times: The British Jewish Community Today. London/New York: Continuum Books. p. 128. ISBN 978-1-8471-4476-8.
  2. ^ "Jewish renaissance: magazine of Jewish culture". Stanford University Libraries. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  3. ^ "2015 Festival: Bright Star in a Dark Chamber". Jewish Book Week. 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  4. ^ "History of the Jews in Liverpool". Chicken Soup and Scouse. August 2011. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  5. ^ "Jews of Jamaica: The art of Anna Ruth Henriques" (PDF). kosherdelight.com. January 2007. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
  6. ^ "Brazil 2016 – JR's Jewish connection" (PDF). Jewish Renaissance. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  7. ^ "Jewish Krakow and a Reflection on Jewish Places". Jewish Heritage Europe. 28 January 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  8. ^ "JCC Krakow in UK's Jewish Renaissance magazine". Jewish Community Centre of Kraków. 4 February 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  9. ^ Webmaven (11 April 2016). "Jewish Renaissance Brighton issue April 2016". Press mentions. Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  10. ^ Taylor, Rebecca (13 July 2017). "Life on The Rock: Meet Gibraltar's Jewish community". Jewish News. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  11. ^ Rosenthal, Daniel (2013). The National Theatre Story. London: Oberon Books. p. 183. ISBN 978-1-84002-768-6.
  12. ^ Levin, Janet (Winter 2003). "Critical Acclaim about Hannah Frank: Article from Jewish Renaissance magazine". Hannah Frank: A Glasgow Artist 1908–2008. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  13. ^ a b Russell, David (8 October 2013). "Dame Vivien". The Social Enterprise. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  14. ^ Russell, David (23 October 2011). "The Benefactor". The Social Enterprise. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  15. ^ Brooks, Richard (30 November 2008). "The Attenborough Sisters who escaped Hitler". The Times. London. Retrieved 23 November 2009.[dead link‍]
  16. ^ Levin, Janet (January 2015). "Taking strings to heart" (PDF). Jewish Renaissance: 48. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  17. ^ Herman, Judi (January 2016). "Meet Shylock – the single dad" (PDF). Jewish Renaissance: 18–19. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  18. ^ "Jewish Renaissance features SVUK interview with Ellis Douek". Sephardi Voices. 16 May 2017. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  19. ^ "1152871 – Renaissance Publishing". Charity Commission for England and Wales. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  20. ^ "Arts expert named new head of quarterly Jewish magazine". Jewish News. 29 April 2020. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  21. ^ "Jewish Leadership Council Appoints New Vice Presidents" (Press release). Jewish Leadership Council. 14 June 2016. Archived from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2017.