LONDON — Stepping quietly into the brightly lit hall of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Photography Centre on an unusually sunny London day, dozens of visitors followed a curator through a display dedicated to American photography — possibly the largest such public collection outside the United States.

The group stopped beside one iconic photo after another, by artists such as Diane Arbus, Alfred Stieglitz, Joel Meyerowitz, Simon Leonard Stein and many others — all of them Jewish.

Like many other British cultural venues, the Victoria and Albert Museum hadn’t created a special display for the UK’s first Jewish Culture Month, but crafted tours and talks around existing exhibits, many of which feature contributions by Jewish creators.

“We were pleasantly surprised by the willingness of prominent establishments to take part in the project; they understood its importance,” said Liat Rosenthal, director of culture, education and communities at the Board of Deputies of British Jews, a cross-communal umbrella body representing the Jewish community in the UK, which is behind the initiative.

The Board of Deputies branded Jewish Culture Month as an attempt to bring “Less Oy, More Joy,” hoping not only to empower the Jewish community and its creatives, but also to expose the wider public to Jewish life, history and cultural contributions beyond the grim themes of the Holocaust and antisemitism.

With over 100 events across the UK, ranging from heritage tours, food fairs and music concerts to one giant green gherkin mascot — Mr. Pickle, who roamed major London landmarks — the festival has run from mid-May to mid-June, coinciding with the Hebrew month of Sivan.

“It is a real celebration of British Jewish culture in all its different forms. We think that at this point in time, it is remarkably important that in the UK we show a very proud, open and bold vision of what it means to be Jewish. There is so much pride to take in and so much to celebrate,” Rosenthal said.

But it is impossible to ignore the “oy” in the room, as an unprecedented surge in antisemitism casts a heavy pall over the local Jewish community. Jewish Culture Month events, some under heavy security, have taken place with the community reeling from a recent wave of antisemitic and anti-Israel activity in Britain — including beatings, stabbings, arson and deadly terror attacks, along with increasingly visible hate speech and vandalism.

The nonprofit Community Security Trust reported that 3,700 antisemitic incidents were recorded targeting the community of 290,000 last year.

“Based on the Home Office data from the end........

© The Times of Israel