Sherman Community Lecture in Jewish Studies 2020

"Spades and Shovels: Louis Jacobs, Northern Grit, and the Reshaping of British Jewry"
Dr Miri Freud-Kandel (University of Oxford)

Time and date: 3 December 2020

BIOGRAPHY: Miri Freud-Kandel, a scholar of the theological development of modern and contemporary Judaism with a particular focus on Orthodox Judaism in Britain, is Fellow in Modern Judaism in the Faculty of Theology & Religion at the University of Oxford. She is also co-convener of the annual Oxford Summer Institute on Modern and Contemporary Judaism.

ABSTRACT: Louis Jacobs is in many ways best understood as a product of his Northern roots. The experiences that shaped him as he grew up in Manchester — moving between different types of immigrant Jewish communities — all helped to inform the account of Jewish theology that he came to construct. An important component of all these experiences was his consistent sense of being an outsider, compelled to develop his own account of how to address the theological challenges he faced. Although this led him to develop a theological model built on certain contradictions, the contemporary search for religious truth has itself shifted so that the appeal of Jacobs’ teachings is potentially increasing. When considering the changing shape of British Jewry, this talk will ask if there is value in returning to Jacobs to consider what lessons he can teach Jews today.