Benjamin Disraeli and Judaism Talks

Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl Beaconsfield, by his own admission had a difficult climb of the greasy pole. Since birth he had been raised and regarded as different from those around him. He was born to an immigrant family with an exotic name. Raised Jewish in a world sceptical of non-Christians, and fascinated by cultures outside of Europe, he faced judgement and suspicion from an early age. It would have been tempting to disown or shrink from this ‘otherness’, but Disraeli embraced all that made him stand out from his contemporaries

The talk will cover Benjamin Disraeli’s relationship with his Jewishness and how that relationship shaped his life and political career. The talk will not be bookable and will be a free talk, lasting about 20-25 minutes. We run talks every day on Disraeli’s life as a matter of course but for European Days of Jewish Culture & Heritages, we replace the usual Disraeli talk with a talk that is specifically about his Jewishness..