Jacobs’s
Gift: To Be a Jew
Sunday 7 March 2004 1.30pm
Jonathan
Freedland in conversation with Jay Rayner
Jacob's Gift is Jonathan Freedland’s
forthcoming family memoir, about Jewishness, identity
and belonging. An inquiry into the inheritance he is giving to his young son,
it is told through the story of three members of his family, stretching across
the generations and ranging from Czarist Russia to London's
East End and British-ruled Palestine.
In this session, Jonathan Freedland gave us a sneak preview of his forthcoming book
and in conversation with Jay Rayner, who chipped in
some of his own remarkable family history (he is Claire Rayner’s
son), he shared the very different answers that the three family members he
writes about responded to the eternal question - just what does it mean to be a
Jew?
Jonathan Freedland is a columnist for The Guardian and the Jewish
Chronicle. He also presents BBC Radio 4’s The Long View and BBC 4’s The
Talk Show. Jacob’s Gift,
is published in October 2004.
Jay Rayner is an award-winning journalist, writer and broadcaster.
His forthcoming novel, The Apologist, is published in May 2004.
