The display was held for two weeks and consisted of different stalls presenting the aspects of the Jewish faith such as the Torah, the Sabbath, our dietary laws, our way of life, and the Jewish calendar which has many festivals.
Clive Lawton, the author of the Judaism GCSE Religious Studies text-book, visited the college and discussed his involvement with The Board of Deputies of British Jews and his book.
What subjects does your book cover?
"I didn't decide them actually, the government decided them. Personally I might have chosen some other things or I would have not chosen them in that order. The book was produced in order to help schools know an authentic understanding of these things."
What would you have included in your book if it was completely up to you?
“I think one of the things might have been about the approaches to God, I think that the government’s definitions of God were quite limited and particularly preoccupied with God as a kind of spiritual source, I think Jews are much more interested in God as an exemplar so I think I would have put a different accent on that. I think I would have put in front ‘how to live’, whereas this syllabus put in front ‘what to believe’. I think Jews are much more interested in ‘how do I make a difference?’ rather than ‘am I believing the right things?’"
Clive Lawton concluded with an emphasis on how important appreciating diversity is.
“It is really important to learn about diversity. I hope they’ll just learn that people are different and that when you come across somebody doing something different you will say ‘how interesting’ not ‘how weird’. That you don't find it absurd, you find it engaging. That you recognise that learning how to allow people to be different is probably the single most important lesson for the future of the world.”
Did you visit the Jewish Living Experience display? Drop the Snapshot team an e-mail if you would like to share your experience!