Kaufmann Memorial Lecture 2009
Annual Event for Leo Baeck College raises over £80,000
A total of 126 guests attended this year’s event - with leading figures from the academic, business and professional worlds. Guests enjoyed the elegant surroundings in the Hall of the Inner Temple, one of the four ancient Inns of Court based in the heart of London’s legal quarter. The cost of the evening was sponsored by anonymous donors and the Blavatnik Family Foundation.
Following the reception and dinner, the lecture - entitled “Israel, Iran and the United States: Thirty Years After the Revolution” – was given by Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman, Professor of War Studies and Vice Principal at King’s College London.
After his recent review of developments in Iran and Israel, Professor Freedman concluded, “It would be to much to be optimistic, but for a moment at least perhaps we can go easy on the despair”.
Rabbi Professor Marc Saperstein, Principal of Leo Baeck College, reported that eight fifth-year rabbinic students had satisfactorily completed their MA dissertations, five of which received Distinction.
This annual event is in memory of Dr Arthur Kaufmann, an eminent jurist who came to Britain from his native Leipzig just before the rise of Nazism. He enjoyed a warm friendship with Rabbi Leo Baeck, and after Dr Kaufmann’s death in 1978 his family established the annual Memorial Bequest in his name for the College.
