The curators of the inaugural exhibition at the new Community Gallery inside the MCC Museum harbour ambitions of inspiring a Jewish Test cricketer for England.
Australia moved 1-0 up in the Ashes after a thrilling conclusion to the curtain-raiser at Edgbaston on Tuesday and the action now moves to the Home of Cricket, with the second Test set to begin next Wednesday.
The next instalment of this summer’s Ashes will give spectators at Lord’s the chance to visit an exhibition titled ‘Cricket and the Jewish Community’, which was curated by MCC members Zaki Cooper and Daniel Lightman KC alongside the MCC Heritage & Collections Department.
The exhibition – free to ticket-holders or accessible via a tour of Lord’s – features the stories of Jewish cricketers to have played for Australia, South Africa, West Indies and Ireland, while former England bowler Fred Trueman, who claimed towards the end of his life that his grandmother had been Jewish, also has his own section in the display.
However, with the list of Jewish cricketers to feature in the long history of international cricket small, one of the many motivations for this exhibition was to inspire the next generation.
“We did it because of our passion for the game,” Cooper told the PA news agency.
“I think from the MCC’s perspective and the (England and Wales Cricket Board’s) too, they need to reach out to all communities and this is great because of the trickle-down it will create in the Jewish community.
“We have already had a lot of interest from people we know in the community who want to take a look when they go to Lord’s.
“There is a real passion and zest for the game and it is everyone’s game. It doesn’t belong to any segment of the population – it belongs to everyone.
“Broadening out that appeal will be good for the cricketing authorities because it will create more fans, more supporters and maybe more players.
“Maybe one day we will have a Jewish English Test player. If Daniel and I can inspire anything like that, what an amazing thing that would be.”
The wheels in motion for this exhibition can be charted back to when Cooper and Lightman co-wrote ‘Cricket Grounds from the Air’ and interviewed more than 100 cricketers for the book published in 2009.
Upon discovering the “untapped stories” of various Jewish international cricketers, the duo decided to drive forward with an exhibition, but plans to roll it out during the action-packed summer of 2019 had to be shelved.
Talks with the MCC took place after the Ashes of that year and, with its backing, the ball started to get rolling in 2020.
Lightman told PA: “We got to know some cricketers from writing a book where we found out personal recollections that were deserving of being recorded.
“We had a particular interest in the often untold or little-known stories of Jewish cricketers.
“They may not have been greatest legends of the game but their stories were often interesting, quirky and shared a lot on the antisemitism they faced.”
The end result is the ‘Cricket and the Jewish Community’ exhibition, which is the first in the new Community Gallery, formerly the Brian Johnston Film Theatre, that will aim to rotate displays about the bonds different communities have with cricket over the coming years.
It will create more fans, more supporters and maybe more players. Maybe one day we will have a Jewish English Test player. If Daniel and I can inspire anything like that, what an amazing thing that would be.— MCC member Zaki Cooper
A number of the items have been donated by Lightman, including the blazer and cap of South African Sid O’Linn, whose Irish-sounding name concealed the fact that he had been born Sydney Olinsky, the son of a kosher butcher.
Grassroots cricket, the Maccabiah Games and antisemitism are covered in the exhibition with video contributions from MCC president Stephen Fry, Irish internationals Jason and Lara Molins and South African opening batter Mandy Yachad, who wore religious garment ‘Tzitzit’ in his first one-day international.
Lightman continued: “In 2014 I interviewed Norman Gordon, then 99 years old, and he was the last survivor of the Timeless Test.
“He played in that match (against England) and was the first openly Jewish cricketer to play for South Africa.
“He told me on the first ball he bowled in Test cricket someone shouted out, ‘Here comes the Rabbi’, which was meant to be a negative comment but he shut him up by taking five wickets.
“So, I think this is important in terms of showing the MCC is actively promoting inclusivity and diversity through the exhibition and through other activities like the launch events connected to it.
“There hasn’t been many role models of Jewish cricketers playing at the highest level which can inspire the next generation. That is why the exhibition is important to show there has been people in the past.”
The official launch for the exhibition took place at the MCC Museum on Wednesday evening, with MCC president Fry and DCMS secretary Lucy Fraser guest speakers, with a further event set to be held there on Thursday.
Monday will see an event open to the public where Julien Wiener, the only Jewish man to play Test cricket for Australia, joins South Africa’s Yachad for a conversation at the Jewish Community Centre in Finchley Road.
Supporters of England and Australia will get the chance to visit the exhibition for free with their match ticket during next week’s second Test at Lord’s.
“It will run for two years. There is the opportunity for school visits, youth group visits. We really do hope the community embrace it and it is early on but there has been a lot of enthusiasm for it,” Cooper concluded.
“For both of us, it has been a big learning curve.
“There have been some amazing stories that have come out and maybe, as a result of this, more will come out.”
