Londoners may have spotted a giant green pickle bobbing through the capital, turning up at landmarks including the Tate Modern and Southbank Centre, with a simple message: the UK’s first Jewish culture month has been launched. The celebration is aimed at bringing “less oy and more joy” after difficult years for the Jewish community.
Beginning on 16 May, the festival, organised by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, will include more than 150 events across the UK, spanning food, music, comedy, architecture, fashion, film and literature. Institutions taking part include the V&A Museum, National Portrait Gallery, JW3, the British Library and the National Holocaust Museum.
Liat Rosenthal, the Board’s director of culture, education and communities, said the project emerged from conversations with artists and cultural workers who felt Jewish life had become increasingly defined through hostility, grief and security concerns since the 7 October 2023 attacks in Israel. “For me, the response to antisemitism has to be this bold, proud, public moment,” she said. She stressed that the month was intended for all, regardless of background or religion.
Food features heavily in the programme. The east London pickling company Shedletsky will host a traditional Friday night dinner. Co-founder James Cooper noted the deep roots of pickling in eastern European Jewish traditions. Natalie Preston, his co-founder, said food had been a way of opening conversations between communities, helping to “break down these awful barriers”.
At JW3 in Hampstead, an event titled L’Chaim / L’Chaos: 50 Years of Jewish Punk will explore the relationship between Jewish youth culture and Britain’s 1970s punk scene. Other events include walking tours by the Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) exploring Jewish histories outside London, and a session at the National Holocaust Museum titled What Does it Mean to be Jewish?.
