Jewish Book Week Online Events - Wednesday
Jewish Book Week
Haman: The True Story of a Villain – 3:00pm
| Adam Silverstein | speaker |
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Faith After 7 October – 5:00pm
| Erica Brown | speaker |
|---|---|
| Sally Berkovic | chair |
Making Israel’s History: Behind Closed Doors – 7:00pm
| Amit Segal | speaker |
|---|---|
| Philip Rubenstein | chair |
Wednesday’s online events see explorations of religion, history, and biography, from Adam Silverstein’s analysis of the villain Haman across centuries, to Erica Brown reflecting on faith after crisis, and Amit Segal revealing the hidden stories behind Israel’s most pivotal political moments.
Haman: The True Story of a Villain – 3:00pm
A free, online discussion taking us on a fascinating journey through two millenia of material on Haman; a figure reviled as a villain in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Adam J. Silverstein examines the evidence of Haman’s existence and the response to his story across the ages.
Infamous as the antagonist in the book of Esther, Haman is portrayed as a villain across Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Adam J. Silverstein traces his evolution from the ancient Near East to the present in the first book-length study, Haman: A Biography. He examines the evidence for a historical Haman and analyses the vast material showing how readers of the Bible and Qur’ān have understood him over two millennia. The Max Schloessinger Chair of Islamic Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem joins us online to discuss.
This event will last approximately 1 hour.
In partnership with Lockdown University
In association with British Friends of The Hebrew University
Adam Silverstein
Adam J. Silverstein holds the the Max Schloessinger Chair of Islamic Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the author of Veiling Esther, Unveiling Her Story; Islamic History: A Very Short Introduction; and Postal Systems in the Pre-Modern Islamic World.
Faith After 7 October – 5:00pm
Erica Brown reflects on the stories of faith, unity, pain and hope explored in her book Morning Has Broken, in conversation with author Sally Berkovic.
Rabbi Sacks wrote that prayer “gives us the words when there are no words” and offers “sacred space to the tears that otherwise would have nowhere to go”. Dr Erica Brown, founding director of Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks-Herenstein Center, joins Sally Berkovic online from New York to discuss Morning Has Broken: Faith After October 7th, weaving personal reflection and Jewish texts on faith, unity, pain and hope.
This event will last approximately 1 hour.
In partnership with Lockdown University
Erica Brown
Dr. Erica Brown is the Vice Provost for Values and Leadership at Yeshiva University and the founding director of its Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks–Herenstein Center for Values and Leadership. She has written or co-authored fifteen books on the Hebrew Bible, spirituality, and leadership. She currently serves as a community scholar for Congregation Etz Chaim in Livingston, New Jersey. Her latest books are Morning Has Broken (Maggid, 2024) and Ecclesiastes-Kohelet and the Search for Meaning (Maggid, 2023). She is the proud mother of four children, four in-law children, and five beautiful grandchildren.
Sally Berkovic
Sally Berkovic is the author of Under My Hat, examining the challenges to Orthodoxy by the increased engagement of women in Talmud study, ritual life and religious leadership, and Death Duties, an account of her involvement on the Chevra Kadisha, the Jewish burial society. She is the CEO of the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe.
Making Israel’s History: Behind Closed Doors – 7:00pm
For Jewish Book Week 2026, political correspondent Amit Segal speaks on his international bestseller ‘A Call at 4am’, offering an unprecedented view of how Israel’s leadership have handled some of the most newsworthy events of our day.
From Golda Meir’s sleepless nights before the Yom Kippur War to Benjamin Netanyahu’s relentless power struggles, Israel’s Channel 12 News chief political correspondent Amit Segal takes us inside the moments where history was made in real time. With unprecedented access, his international bestseller A Call at 4AM: Thirteen Prime Ministers and the Crucial Decisions that Shaped Israeli Politics reveals the gripping, untold story of governing a nation that never knows a quiet day. One of Israel’s most influential journalists shows how its leaders manage crises while fighting for political survival.
This event will last approximately 1 hour.
In partnership with Lockdown University
Amit Segal
Amit Segal is Israel’s most influential journalist, known for his sharp analysis and insider access to the country’s power corridors. As the chief political correspondent for Channel 12 News and a columnist for Yedioth Ahronoth, he has covered Israeli politics since the early 2000s. His bestselling book, A Phone Call at 4 AM (originally The Story of Israeli Politics), became Israel’s top-selling book of 2021 and has been translated into Arabic and Russian.
Philip Rubenstein
Philip Rubenstein was director of the Parliamentary War Crimes Group, which campaigned to bring to justice Nazi war criminals living in the UK, and founder-director of the Holocaust Educational Trust. Today, he works with family businesses. He also lectures on history, politics and film.