Jewish Renaissance is a quarterly cultural magazine, founded in 2001, covering Jewish culture, arts and communities in Britain and beyond. It is published and edited by Janet Levin.
The magazine focuses on the arts – visual arts and architecture, music, cinema, theatre and literature in Europe and in Israel – as well as on Jewish identity and relations with other cultures and religions. In each issue there is a 10-16 page illustrated feature on a different Jewish community around the world, drawing on historical material, contemporary interviews, and a cultural events listing, among other content. It also contains in-depth interviews of people of interest from a Jewish historical or cultural viewpoint. For example, it interviewed Mike Leigh prior to his Royal National Theatre production of his 2005 play Two Thousand Years.[1] The magazine published an interview with Helga Bejach, a Jewish child rescued on the kindertransport and subsequently adopted by the family of Richard and David Attenborough.[2] It also contains articles on such contemporary subjects as how the Jewish community is responding to climate change.[3]
The magazine is independent and financed by subscriptions and advertising. It won the awards for the Best Non-Synagogue Magazine and for the Best Professional Article in the Board of Deputies of British Jews Awards in 2002, among others. Jewish Renaissance is published and edited by Janet Levin and chaired by Lionel Gordon, a former Chairman of The Jewish Chronicle. Notable individuals from the British Jewish arts world who sit on its editorial advisory board include the actress Maureen Lipman; Director of the Wiener Library, Ben Barkow; City Editor of London's Daily Mail, Alex Brummer; and playwright Arnold Wesker.[4]