The Jewish Book Week 2026 fringe programme offers opportunities to enjoy guided tours, talks and workshops around some of London’s most important Jewish cultural sites and subjects.

Purim & Persia Tour of the British Museum – 12:00pm
(Location: British Museum)

Rabbi Raphael Zarum leads a tour of some of British Museum’s Persian treasures, looking at real artifacts that illuminate the Purim story.

Have you ever seen Achashverosh sit on his throne? Wondered at the wealth and grandeur of his palaces? Speculated where Shushan might actually be located? This tour addresses all these questions and uncovers the Persian politics behind the Purim story. It will provide you with fascinating insights into the intrigue and excesses related in Esther’s Megillah. The British Museum houses countless treasures that bring the Bible to life. Experience the wonders of the museum in-person. Aided by audio equipment you will hear every word from the expert guide. Rabbi Dr Raphael Zarum is dean of LSJS and holds the Rabbi Sacks Chair of Modern Jewish Thought, established by the Zandan family. He has been guiding in the British Museum for over twenty years.

Click here to book

This event will last approximately 2½ hours.

In association with London School of Jewish Studies

Raphael Zarum

Rabbi Dr Raphael Zarum is Dean of the London School of Jewish Studies (LSJS) and holds the Rabbi Sacks Chair of Modern Jewish Thought, established by the Zandan family.

Jewish Worlds & Words in Medieval England – 7:00pm
(Location: British Library)

Rare manuscripts offer insight into Jewish life in medieval England, and several remarkable examples have recently entered the British Library from Longleat House. They include a unique Hebrew grammar, a trilingual Hebrew-Latin-French dictionary, and a Hebrew Psalter compiled around 1250 at Ramsey Abbey in consultation with Jewish scholars. Dr. Dean Irwin outlines the period’s Jewish culture, followed by Professor Judith Olszowy-Schlanger, who discusses what she sees as the most important surviving manuscript for Christian-Jewish relations.

Click here to book

This event will last approximately 1 hour.

In association with British Library

Judith Olszowy-Schlanger

Judith Olszowy-Schlanger is President of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies at the University of Oxford.

Dean Irwin

Dr Dean A. Irwin is a Visiting Fellow at the University of Lincoln. He is currently working on several volumes relating to medieval Anglo-Jewry: an edited collection of the Medieval Lincoln Jewry (Arc Humanities Press), volume 3 of Hebrew and Hebrew-Latin Documents from Medieval England (with Judith Olszowy-Schlanger), and a monograph on Jews and Christians as Neighbours in Medieval England (Palgrave Macmillan).