A celebration of words, culture and life

IT’S only when you start listing them that you begin to realise just how many outstanding public figures the Leeds Jewish community has produced over the years.

From luminaries such as Dame Fanny Waterman, founder of The Leeds International Piano Competition, to Messrs Marks and Spencer, singer Frankie Vaughn and actor Ronald Pickup, through to entrepreneurs and philanthropists like Montague Burton, the Ziff family and Leslie Silver.

Leeds has a proud association with Jewish life and culture. It was used as a place of refuge for the poor and persecuted from around the globe long before it was officially designated a City of Sanctuary a few years back.

Its first dedicated synagogue opened in Belgrave Street in 1860 and as the anti-Jewish pogroms in eastern Europe in the 19th century drove more of the population from their homes, some of that diaspora found its way to Leeds via ships bound for Hull or Grimsby, with many so destitute they were forced to complete the journey on foot.

Those early settlers were a mixture of skilled craftsmen, including jewellers and tailors, pedlars and wool merchants. Often a man would travel alone, then save to bring his family to join him.

The remarkable story of the Jewish community in Leeds and its contribution to the city was captured by Diane Saunders and Philippa Lester in their book, From The Leylands To Leeds 17, which then inspired them to set up the Leeds Jewish Literature Festival.

The inaugural festival, launched yesterday at the British Library at Boston Spa, runs throughout March and includes a creative writing workshop, a poetry cafe and literary talks. “This time last year there were three books published on Jewish people in the space of a week and there were talks on each of them in different parts of Leeds and Diane and I thought this merited something,” says Lester.

“We felt there was something to build on and came up with the idea of a mini-festival.”

Among the guest speakers is Baroness Joyce Gould, the Leeds-born Life Peer, who will be talking about her political career. Lester and Saunders have also pulled off a coup by getting acclaimed novelist Howard Jacobson to come up to Yorkshire. The former Man Booker Prize winner will be talking about his new book, Shylock is My Name, an updated version of The Merchant of Venice, written to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.

“He was very keen to come to Leeds because he liked our approach which is to get book clubs involved and to have a discussion, we’re delighted to have him,” says Lester.

In its heyday back in the 1950s, the Jewish community in Leeds numbered something like 25,000. Whereas today that number has dwindled to less than 8,000, thanks, in part, to the disappearance of the textile industry, but also changing demographics and smaller families.

There has been a string of new literary festivals popping up across the country, and particularly in Yorkshire, over the past five years which Lester believes reflects the growing appetite for local history.

“There’s a resurgence of interest in local history and culture because these old communities are shrinking and there’s a desire to preserve as much as we can for future generations,” she says.

“We’ve used the profits from our book to fund the festival and although it highlights Jewish culture and heritage we see it as something for anyone who is interested in community, words and culture.”

The Leeds Jewish Literature Festival runs throughout March. For more information go to www.milim.org.uk