Bouncing Back – and Forward

From Immigrant Household to Cambridge Fellowship

Stefan C Reif

• Publisher: Vallentine Mitchell
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN: 9781912676668
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Education Biographies

The tale of how a boy of working-class, immigrant Jewish parents in Edinburgh became a Cambridge scholar of international repute. Stefan Reif traces the numerous obstacles encountered as he struggled to make a life that released him from poverty and anonymity but maintained the best of Ashkenazi Judaism. We follow his adventures as a pupil subjected to the rigours of a Scottish Presbyterian education, as well as the demands of traditional Jewish learning. The account describes London, Glasgow, and Philadelphia before concentrating on Cambridge and describing how difficult it was for a scholar who had degrees from London to win academic recognition. This is not only the personal tale of how a poor boy made good that will touch the hearts of many who have struggled to achieve success or seen others who have failed to do so. It is also a readable, informative, and moving account of Jewish life in immigrant Edinburgh; of the teachers and politics of Jews' College, London, in the 1960s; and of the intricacies of Cambridge academia in the final third of the twentieth century. It contains fresh information, controversial revelations, and frank assessments of individuals and institutions.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Glossary of Hebrew and Yiddish Terms
• 1. Wee Stenom (1944–47)
• 2. Early Schooling (1948–55)
• 3. Other Learning Activities (1949–56)
• 4. Leisurely Pursuits (1950–55)
• 5. Secondary School and Early Teens (1955–60)
• 6. Ḥeder Influences and Barmitzvah (1954–56)
• 7. Final Years at Boroughmuir (1958–60)
• 8. Israel and Leaving Edinburgh (1960
• 9. Undergraduate in London (1960–64)
• 10. Maturing as a Graduate (1964–68)
• 11. Belonging to Glasgow (1968–72)
• 12. In and Out of Philadelphia (1972–73)
• 13. Bricks Without Straw (1973–84)
• 14. Raising Funds and Conserving History (1973–84)
• 15. A Talented Team (1973–84)
• 16. Meanwhile at Home (1973–84)
• 17. Working for Rachel and Leah (1984–98)
• 18. Changing Theories of Relativity (1984–98)
• 19. But Pleasures Are Like Poppies Spread (1999–2006)
• 20. You Seize the Flower, its Bloom is Shed (2000–10)
• 21. Still Doing It My Way: Regeneration not Degeneration (2010–19)
• Appendix A: The Reif Story
• Appendix B: The Rebtsov Story
• Select Index of Names