The 7 October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel was the worst massacre suffered by Jews since the Holocaust. Unleashing waves of anti-Zionism and antisemitism, the Jews’ right to a national homeland has been challenged; Israel stands accused as a colonialist, genocidal state denying the rights of native Palestinians.

Led by Dr Miri Freud-Kandel, this lecture series explores critical questions faced by various strands of Jewish life and thought in the aftermath of 7 October, such as:

• How did we get to this point?
• How did Zionism emerge?
• What were the formative influences shaping modern Jewish identity construction?
• The French Revolution promised a society in which religious discrimination would be eliminated. How did Jews respond to the opportunities heralded by Emancipation?
• At what cost to Jewish life, faith, and thought?
• Against a centuries-old legacy of Christian anti-Judaism, Enlightenment thought seemed to promise new beginnings. How did that play out?

Talks will take place in Room 207, Clarendon Institute.