Presenters - M

Organisation: House of Commons

Denis MacShane is a Labour MP. A former Europe Minister, he currently sits on the Assembly of the Council of Europe. He is the author of several books including Globalising Hatred: The New Antisemitism, and chairs the European Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism.

Sessions:

• Anti-semitism in Europe

Website: http://adam-mader.com/

Adam Mader has played with all the Israeli greats: Meir Ariel, Eti Ankri, Hanan Yovel, and now Kobi Oz. This multi-instrumented musician is known for his electrifying performances throughout the world.

Sessions:

• The Gift
• That's Why I'm (Still) Here
• Mizmorei Nevuchim (Psalms for the Perplexed) in Concert
• Mizmorei Nevuchim (Psalms for the Perplexed) in Concert

Organisation: Leo Baeck College

Jonathan Magonet is the former principal of Leo Baeck College and emeritus Professor of Bible. He is editor of Seder Ha-t’fillot, Forms of Prayer, the siddur of the Movement for Reform Judaism and of the journal European Judaism. He has a decades long engagement with interfaith dialogue.

Sessions:

• Polemical Texts in Christian-Jewish Relations: Their Context, Evolution and Contemporary Understanding
• Humour in the Bible

Organisation: Kahal Kadosh Sheerit Yisrael - Jews of Uganda
Website: http://www.thejewsofuganda.org/

Enosh Keki began the studying of Hebrew and Torah as soon as his mother passed away in 1989. His first time to teach the youth was in 1995, and from 1996 Enosh was appointed Hazan by his community members.

Sessions:

• Being Jewish in Uganda: The Unfolding Story of the Abayudaya - Jews of Uganda
• CANCELLED How to be an observant Jew in a Ugandan village
• How to be an observant Jew in a Ugandan village

Organisation: Israel Seminars
Website: http://www.israelseminars.org/

Jeremy Maissel is founding director of Israel Seminars - presenting innovative, interactive discussion programmes about issues in Israeli current affairs. Born in London, Jeremy has a BA in philosophy and MA in Jewish education. He made aliyah in 1984 to Kibbutz Alumim. Jeremy is passionately dedicated to Jewish and Israel education.

Sessions:

• Gilad Schalit - At Any Price? The Israeli Public Debate about Prisoner Exchange.
• Israel's Settlements: Building Blocks?

Website: http://www.torahinmotion.org/

Elliott Malamet teaches Jewish studies and religious education at York University in Toronto, and the Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto. He is consulted worldwide on matters of Jewish education. He is the co-founder of Torah in Motion, an organization which explores the interface between Judaism and the modern world.

Sessions:

• Do We Need Religion to Be Good People?
• Judaism and Forgiveness
• Where Do I Go From Here? Multiple Options in Teaching Torah Texts
• The Hardest Subject: Teaching about Evil and Suffering
• Reconfronting Familiar Texts: The Torah We Missed as Children
• Living Torah: Integrating Secular Material into Religious Education
• What Happened at Sinai? Revelation and its Interpreters

A psychotherapist for 25 years, Leah Malamet treats adults, children and adolescents in her private practice in Toronto. She holds a Masters in Clinical Psychology from the University of Toronto and is currently completing her doctorate. Ms. Malamet is trained in psychodynamic, cognitive behavioural and mind-body theories and techniques.

Sessions:

• The Interface between Psychology and Religion (1 of 2)
• Interface between Psychology and Religion (2 of 2)
• Leaving Religion: Kids at Risk?

Organisation: City Circle
Website: http://www.thecitycircle.com/

Rabia Malik is the chair of City Circle, a grassroots network of young Muslim professionals. She holds a doctorate in social psychology and is a practicing systemic psychotherapist.

Sessions:

• Muslim Community 101: In Conversation with Young Muslim Professionals
• CANCELLED Bulding Grassroots Communites: Muslim and Jewish Perspectives

Organisation: UJIA

Shelley works as the director of informal Jewish education at UJIA Jewish Life Education Centre. She has an MA in Community Leadership. She has developed much work around self esteem in young people in Israel and the UK. Shelley is mother to two fantastic daughters, Jordan and Eden.

Sessions:

• Intensive Motherhood
• Raising Kids to Listen, Talk and Love being Jewish
• The Magic of Mentoring

Organisation: HUC-JIR

Dalia Marx was ordained at Hebrew Union College and Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in Jerusalem and Cincinnati and received her PhD in Jewish liturgy from the Hebrew University. Marx is an assistant professor of liturgy and midrash HUC-JIR. She also teaches in various institutions in Israel and Europe. She is married and has three sons.

Sessions:

• 'I created a Haggadah, therefore I am'
• Gender and Liturgy
• Healing through studying
• Kavanah: two lanes of spirituality

Aliza Mazor is an independent organizational consultant specializing in non-profit start-ups and the social change sector. She is program director for Bikkurim: An Incubator for New Jewish Ideas in New York City and senior consultant at the Center for Leadership Initiatives (CLI), in Vancouver. Aliza's work includes social entrepreneurship, human rights, international and community development, anti-poverty work and women’s rights. Aliza spent 15 years in Israel and now resides in New York City with Yhun, her two year old son.

Sessions:

• Leadership and Fundraising (1 of 4)
• Compass – where can it guide you?
• Collaboration (2 of 4)
• Vision and Purpose (3 of 4)
• Social Entrepreneurship (4 of 4)

Organisation: Leo Baeck Education Center
Website: http://www.leobaeck.org.il/

Ofek Meir is the rabbi of the Leo Baeck Education Center in Israel, the principal of the Leo Baeck Education Center Elementary School and a teacher of Jewish philosophy and history at the Leo Baeck Senior High School.

Sessions:

• Conversion as a Mirror of Our Jewish Identity, Values & Beliefs (1 of 3)
• The Role of Music in T'filla; Shiru l'Adonai Shir Hadash
• Conversion as a Mirror of Our Jewish Identity, Values & Beliefs (2 of 3)
• Conversion as a Mirror of Our Jewish Identity, Values & Beliefs (3 of 3)

Michael Melchior has served as a Knesset member for over a decade and as a minister in successive Israeli governments. He is responsible for initiating major legislative reforms in the areas of education, the environment and children’s rights.

Sessions:

• Choosing Jews: Conversion in the 21st Century
• One People, Many Nationalities – A Global Conversation
• Green Jews: The New Jewish Environmental Agenda
• Shehechiyanu Ve’kiyamanu: Sustaining a Vibrant Jewish Future
• Bringing Religion Back to the Frontlines of Peace

Website: http://www.jaymichaelson.net/

Jay is a colu mnist for Forward, Huffington Post, Tikkun, Zeek, Reality Sandwich and author of Everything is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism, God in Your Body, J.D., Yale; Ph.D (soon), Hebrew Universty. Jay is director of Nehirim:Gay LesbiaBisexualTransgender (GBLT) Jewish Culture & Spirituality. Preached on National Public Radio; performed@CBGB's; taught at Burning Man Festival; 5 months' silent meditation in Nepal.

Sessions:

• What is Spirituality? Is it Nonsense?
• Torah Queeries: Reading the Bible Through a Bent Lens
• God does not Exist -- God is Existence Itself
• Uncle Shabtai's 17th Annual Neo-Kabbalistic Poetry & Music Jam
• Does Homosexuality Matter?
• Bringing Heaven Down to Earth: Spirituality Confronts Reality

Organisation: Newcastle University

Mary is a philosopher and former lecturer in philosophy, whose special interests are the relations of humans to nature and the tendency of science to become a religion. Recent publications include, Science and Poetry and a memoir, The Owl of Minerva. She has three sons and lives in Newcastle.

Sessions:

• What's Scientific About Atheism? (1 of 2)
• What's Scientific about Atheism? (2 of 2)

Website: http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/minisites/earlofpetticoatlane

Andrew Miller is the author of The Earl of Petticoat Lane, a book about Jewish immigration, class, the blitz and the underwear industry, published by Random House. Andrew is political editor of The Economist magazine and writes its Bagehot column. His novel, Snowdrops, will be published in 2011.

Sessions:

• The Myths of the Jewish East End

Organisation: UJIA

Helena Miller is the Director of Research and Evaluation at United Jewish Israel Appeal (UJIA). She has a PhD in Jewish Education and has taught and written widely on many aspects of Jewish Education over the years. She is, and has been, significantly involved in many Jewish Education initiatives in the UK and overseas.

Sessions:

• Taking Limmud Back Home - Should Limmud be Mainstream or Alternative?
• "If you will, it is no dream": making the dream come true
• The Impact of the JFS Case
• Art as Midrash: A creative look at this week's sedra
• The Limmud Phenomenon: a Jewish Peoplehood Experience

Organisation: Letakeyn

Steve is a social entrepreneur, community activist and visionary. Founder of many organisations including Tzedek, Restore Community Projects, and Faiths Forum for London. Steve is co-chair of the Jubilee Debt Campaign. Letakeyn, Steve's latest project focuses on integrating personal, social and political transformation.

Sessions:

• Social Action and Political Engagement – Judaism and social justice "101"
• Jews and the Olympics – traditional and contemporary perspectives on the Olympic juggernaut

Dolf Mogendorff PhD FRSA has studied and taught aspects of the Dutch experience of the Shoah for many years. He is a board member of the Movement for Reform Judaism and represents it on the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust. He is co-chair of Leeds Limmud.

Sessions:

• Bystanders: Holland in WWII

Jumana Moon is a storyteller who has always loved stories and tales of all kinds. She is particularly dedicated to traditional stories from her Islamic faith. As a Muslim storyteller she is commited to interfaith work, sharing time and stories with people from different faiths.

Sessions:

• Interfaith storytelling

Organisation: Bureau of Jewish education of San Francisco

Fuzzy haired Israeli-Irish realist Michal is an incurably passionate & professional Israel educator. She has worked with the major players worldwide on both sides of the 'Israel engagement bridge'. She works with the Bureau of Jewish Education in San Francisco on a major innovative school-based initiative called BASIS.

Sessions:

• An 'A' in Israel Education? What does that mean? (1 of 2)
• A Holistic Approach to Israel Education: BASIS (2 of 2)

Organisation: ResponseAbility

Abigail is director of ResponseAbility, a new cross-communal organisation that bridges the Jewish and secular worlds, providing a contemporary Jewish commentary on cutting edge issues. ResponseAbility aims to help Jews think and act ethically. She’s been coming to Limmud Conference for 12 years, has three girls and is a keen runner.

Sessions:

• V'yarutz v'yomer: He Ran and He Talked (1 of 4)
• V'yarutz v'yomer: He Ran and He Talked (2 of 4)
• Value Judgements: British and Jewish Values – Can They Coexist?
• Obama and Tikkun Olam: Jewish Social Justice US-style.
• V'yarutz v'yomer: He Ran and He Talked (3 of 4)
• A Good Death
• V'yarutz v'yomer: He Ran and He Talked (4 of 4)

Organisation: LJY-Netzer

Robin Moss is a movement worker for LJY-Netzer, the youth movement of Liberal Judaism. He has been an active member for ten years. He has a degree in physics and philosophy from the University of Oxford, with a particular focus on political philosophy and the work of John Rawls.

Sessions:

• Liberal justice and Jewish justice
• When will Israel learn? LJY-Netzer, Reform Zionism and Israel today