From our poets to our picklers, our star performers to our deepest thinkers, this is the best of Jewish culture in the UK, past and present. With almost 1,000 years of shared history, the programme is as diverse as Britain’s Jewish community.
National institutions spotlighting their Jewish treasures include the British Museum, Tate Britain and Tate Modern, the National Portrait Gallery, V&A, Museum of the Home and the Science Museum.
Activations are happening up and down the country, from Manchester – home to Britain’s second largest Jewish community – to Norfolk, Stockport, Oxford, Leeds, King’s Lynn, Plymouth, Cardiff, Salford, Liverpool, Bath, Chichester, Cambridge and Margate.
London’s Jewish centre JW3, the Freud Museum and London Metropolitan Archives are among the capital’s venues taking part.
Celebrations begin on 16 May and are timed to coincide with Sivan, the third month of the Hebrew calendar in which God gave the Torah to the Jewish people on Mount Sinai.
The month concludes when Anish Kapoor opens at the Hayward Gallery’s Southbank Centre in London on 16 June.
Public bodies and schools are invited to take part in the programme and learn about Jewish life via learning and workplace programmes – and maybe even via cheesecake, a dessert associated with the holiday of Shavuot, which takes place during the month.
This landmark project brings together cultural institutions, community organisations, artists, chefs, performers and educators to create an accessible, vibrant and proudly public celebration of Jewish life in the UK.
Jewish Culture Month is a project of the Board of Deputies of British Jews.