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	Thursday, August 28, 2008 27 Av, 5768

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Celebrating 350 years of Jewish life in Britain

Updated: 27/Jun/2006 13:33

Photo: Jewish Museum

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LONDON (EJP)--- A new exhibition marking the 350th anniversary of the readmission of Jews to Britain has opened in London, with the aim of celebrating Jewish life.

The “3½ Centuries of British Jewish Life” exhibition, staged by the Jewish Museum, together with the organising group for 3½ centuries of British Jewish life, explores the development of what it calls the “vibrant” Jewish community and looks at how it has played an active role in society, whilst retaining its own distinctive religion and identity.

Designed specifically as a travelling exhibition, it opened on June 19 in the House of Commons — the lower chamber in Britain’s parliament — and is now touring venues across the country, including Brighton & Hove Jewish Community, Cambridge Jewish Residents Association, a Jewish school in London.

Different local authorities have also expressed interest in booking the exhibition and it is also expected to travel to libraries and other schools and community centres.

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Its aim is to give audiences — Jewish and non-Jewish — an overview and understanding of Jewish history and how it relates to British history.

It consists of 16 freestanding panels charting British Jewry's history, and details the experience of Jews, from their persecution in the 12th and 13th centuries — culminating in their expulsion from Britain in 1290 through the Edict of Expulsion — to their readmission under Oliver Cromwell in 1656 and the Sephardi and Ashkenazi waves of immigration.

The panels explain the establishment of the Sephardi Committee of Deputies of British Jews in 1760, eventually merging with the Ashkenazi equivalent to form the Board of Deputies of British Jews in 1817, and the establishment of Jewish charitable concerns such as the Jews’ Free School, which is still in evidence today, and the Jewish Board of Guardians to look after the Jewish poor, the precursor to today’s Jewish Care.

They take in Jews’ search for civil and political equality, the further waves of immigration from Eastern Europe in the 19th century, when Jews fled the pogroms in places like Russia and Poland and their movement to industrialised centres in Britain, including Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool.

They also span the two world wars, and explain the British mandate and Britain’s role in setting up what is now the State of Israel and, more recently, look at the contributions Jews have made to British life, despite being a minority.

Communities interested in hiring the exhibition, at a cost of 75 pounds per week plus transport, should contact the Jewish Museum directly.

For more information on the museum, visit www.jewishmuseum.org.uk or call +44 (0) 207 284 1997.