Dr Miri Freud-Kandel, hosted by the Manchester Jewish Representative Council, on December 3rd 2020 gave the Sherman Lecture – “Spades and Shovels: Louis Jacobs, Northern Grit and the reshaping of British Jewry.”
Miri’s talk contends that the experiences of different immigrant communities, as Louis Jacobs grew up in Manchester, gave him a consistent sense of being an outsider, compelled to develop his own account of how to address the theological challenges he faced.
The contemporary search for religious truth has itself shifted so that the appeal of Jacobs’ teachings is potentially increasing.
When considering the hanging shape of British Jewry, Miri asks if there is value in returning to Jacobs to consider what lessons he can teach Jews today.