This year’s Purim celebration at IJC was exceptional in many ways. Thanks to the enthusiasm and volunteer spirit of many IJC members, our community was treated to a celebration of mega proportions. The initiative came from Monica and Pierre who worked with our events coordinator Peter D to create a varied programme with something for everyone, but with a focus on the kids. Many hours of preparation, clocked up largely by Peter D, Pierre and Monica in the weeks and days prior

By Steve Brummel The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from a New York production I recently took  my wife Marion to see an afternoon matinee of Verdi’s opera “Nabucco” at the Antwerp opera house.   It is about the Babylonian invasion of Israel around 586 BCE, the destruction of King Solomon’s Temple and the forced movement of many Jews to Babylon.  The storyline combines the Babylonian conquest and the subsequent Persian conquest and freeing of the Jews to return to Jerusalem.  Th

While disappointed to miss this year's outstanding IJC Purim party, I was elated to come across three paintings depicting the Purim Story by the artist Jacopo del Sellaio (Florence 1442-1493) painted in 1485-90 and hanging in the Uffizzi Museum in Florence. The two below and presented together are The Banquet of Ahasuerus and The Banquet of Queen Vashti. The third (here on the left) is the Triumph of Mordechai. Reported by Leslie O The Banquet of Ahasuerus and The Banquet o

The name Sarah Bernhardt conjures up not only one of the greatest actresses of her time, but also one of the greatest courtesans. Her list of lovers is amazing. She even had a liaison with a man nearly forty years her junior! Her life was long and truly eventful. However, let us turn to an aspect of her life story that is significant but little known. She was a friend of the author Alexander Dumas who gave her letters of introduction when she moved to Brussels in 1862, aged 1