British Museum Tanach Tour

If you would like us to organise a private tour for friends or community please contact the LSJS office.

Israel in the shadow of ancient super powers.

Founded in 1753, the British Museum is one of the greatest museums in the world. It houses countless treasures from the biblical era. But how do you fi nd them and what is the signifi cance of each? To complement the popular LSJS Tanach courses, we are repeating this sell-out tour of the museum. It is designed to transform your understanding of the Bible through ancient texts and unique artifacts. The tour will span more than 500 years of ancient Jewish history. Explore the politics of Israel’s monarchy, the Assyrian annihilation of the northern kingdom of Israel and the Babylonian destruction of the southern kingdom of Judea.

TEACHING FACULTY:

Maureen Kendler is Head of Educational Programming at LSJS. A born communicator with a gift for teaching, she often broadcasts for BBC Radio and writes for the Jewish Chronicle.

Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz is a Teaching Fellow at LSJS. She studied archaeology at Cambridge University and the Hebrew University and lived in Israel for seventeen years.

Fee: £20 per tour.

All tours have strictly limited places

East End Jews and Food Tour

Cold Fried Fish, Blooms waiters and the Rogellech Invasion

How does food shape our identity as British Jews? We trace the story through great institutions of the Jewish East End, including the original Blooms, a 1902 soup kitchen and the first Grodszinski bakery. Along the way we discuss the history of gefilte fish, a hundred years of kosher cookery books, and we ask the all-important question: did the bagel acculturate, assimilate or intermarry?

We will walk in a circle starting and ending at Aldgate East Station.

Begining at Whitechapel Library we will be visiting sites of the original Blooms restaurant, Petticoat Lane, the soup Kitchen at Brune Street, Fashion Street, Brick Lane, the Beigel Bakery and finally Fieldgate Street, where Grodzinski's began.

TEACHING FACULTY:

Maureen Kendler is Head of Educational Programming at LSJS. A born communicator with a gift for teaching, she often broadcasts for BBC Radio and writes for the Jewish Chronicle.

Fee: £20 per tour.

All tours have strictly limited places

National Gallery Seeing the Bible Tour

A word is worth a thousand pictures

The National Gallery in Trafalgar Square houses one of the greatest collections of Western European painting in the world. Many of them have biblical themes but do they have meaning for Jews? In this tour we will look at these paintings from a Jewish point of view and address questions such as: What is the role of art in portraying the Tanach? How has Christianity influenced these paintings? Why does traditional Judaism struggle with the visual arts?

TEACHING FACULTY:

Maureen Kendler is Head of Educational Programming at LSJS. A born communicator with a gift for teaching, she often broadcasts for BBC Radio and writes for the Jewish Chronicle.

Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz is a Teaching Fellow at LSJS. She studied archaeology at Cambridge University and the Hebrew University and lived in Israel for seventeen years.

Fee: £20 per tour.

All tours have strictly limited places

Natural History Museum Genesis Tour

Dinosaurs, Ancient Man and Biblical Creation

First opened in 1881, the Natural History Museum is home to the largest and most important natural history collection in the world.  It is home to 70 million specimens, ranging from microscopic slides to mammoth skeletons.  Should a traditional Jew feel challenged by what they find here?

In this highly original tour, we will study ancient creatures and Jewish creation texts inorder to gain an even deeper understanding and appreciation of our world.

Fee: £20 per tour.

All tours have strictly limited places

Wallace Collection Tour

PRECIOUS but PRECARIOUS: The Impossible Dilemma of Mediaeval Jewry

In the 14th century, Europe was devastated by the 'Black Death' plague, which killed a third of the population.  Jews were targeted as scapegoats and many died in the pogroms that followed.  The Treasures of the Black Death exhibition at the Wallace Collection features superb jewellery, coins and precious items found in two hoards from Colmar and Erfurt that were hidden by Jews at this time.  They throw a unique light on the possessions, business activities and the precarious position of mediaeval Jews. 

LSJS offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit this temporary exhibition that ends in May.  We will look at these objects buried and abandoned by Jews and learn about the tragic effect of the Black Death on the Jewish community of Europe, using mediaeval sources and eye-witness accounts.

Led by Maureen Kendler and Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz

Two date options: 5 & 6 May 2009

10:30am-12:45pm

Fee: £20 per tour

All tours have strictly limited places.