Presenters - S

Organisation: Amaravati Buddhist Monastery
Website: http://www.family.amaravati.org/

Venerable Amaranatho has been a Buddhist monk for 10 years living at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in Hertfordshire. He leads residential family, young people. and creative retreats. (www.family.amaravati.org) He also works with the AFAN (All faiths and None) to support young people to explore the big questions in life (www.afan.uk.net)

Sessions:

• Buddhism in Britain : A world religion and its challenges today.
• Introduction to Meditation

Organisation: Kehillat Ohel Avraham
Website: http://www.ohelavraham.org.uk/

Jonathan Samuel is a spiritual activist in Ohel Avraham, the unique synagogue congregation in Hendon that evolved out of Yakar. Over the years, at Yakar/Ohel Avraham, he has learned from 10 Rabbis, many lay educators, and his wife whom he met there at a Shabbaton.

Sessions:

• 'Open Orthodoxy' - a radical new model for Orthodox communities

Organisation: Ohel Avraham

With limited success, Leonora has been trying to help create an inclusive shul community for some twenty years. She is a graduate of the Susi Bradfield programme for women educators. She is interested in Biblical text and in children's stories, and she is learning to teach mathematics.

Sessions:

• Inclusion: is it happening?

Organisation: Religious Action Centre

Designated in Newsweek’s 2009 list as the most influential rabbi in the U.S. and described in a Washington Post profile as "the quintessential religious lobbyist on Capitol Hill," David Saperstein represents the national Reform Jewish Movement to Congress and the Administration as the Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. In 2004 and 2006, the Wall Street Journal and the Religion News Service, respectively, described him as among the country’s most influential shapers of religious issues in national elections. In 1999, he was elected as the first Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, created by a unanimous vote of Congress, and in 2009 was appointed by President Obama as a member of the first White House Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. A prolific writer and speaker and an attorney, David Saperstein teaches seminars in both Church-State Law and Jewish Law at Georgetown University Law School.

Sessions:

• The use and abuse of Jewish texts and tradition in contemporay political debates
• Am Ehad B’Lev Ehad – One People With One Heart?
• Limmud Town Hall: 2020 Vision – What Next for the Jewish People?
• Uses and Abuses of the Holocaust in Contemporary Political Discourse
• Obama and Tikkun Olam: Jewish Social Justice US-style.
• The Jewish Roots of Anglo-American Law and Politics

Organisation: Leo Baeck College
Website: http://www.lbc.ac.uk/component/option,com_contact/task,view/contact_id

Marc Saperstein, Principal of the Leo Baeck College in London, previously held prestigious positions at three American Universities. He is author of five books—most recently Jewish Preaching in Times of War, 1800-2001 (Littman Library)—and more than 50 articles on various aspects of Jewish history, literature, and thought.

Sessions:

• Jewish Messiahs and Their Followers: The Jesus Movement (1 of 3)
• Jewish Messiahs and their followers: Messiahs of Medieval Islam (2 of 3)
• Uses and Abuses of the Holocaust in Contemporary Political Discourse
• Jewish Messiahs and Their Followers: The Apostate Messiah (3 of 3)

Organisation: Yeshivat Hadar

Hannah Sassoon spent an awesome summer at Yeshivat Hadar; a pioneering learning space in NYC, where halachic contemplation and egalitarian values meet. Having graduated from University College London, she now trains teachers at Cambridge University to teach secondary school geography. Hannah is fascinated by exploring how her Talmudic and geographic minds complement each other.

Sessions:

• On Being Neither Here nor There; Tensions of Liminality in the Talmud
• Reinventing the Yeshiva.

Organisation: Detica

Rik spent four years as a madrich for the Association for Jewish Sixthformers, followed by one year of movement work as educational development worker. Rik also has an MEng in computer systems engineering from the University of Bristol, and now works for IT consultancy Detica, currently specialising in cybersecurity and cyber intrusion detection.

Sessions:

• Intruder Alert: CyberSecurity, Jewish Ethics and Gary McKinnon

Organisation: Brandeis University
Website: http://www.brandeis.edu/cmjs

Len Saxe is a social psychologist and Professor of Jewish Community Research and Social Policy at Brandeis University. Among his publications is a recent book, Ten Days of Birthright Israel (with Barry Chazan). Professor Saxe has been a Science Fellow for the U.S. Congress and a Fulbright Professor at Haifa University.

Sessions:

• Obama one year on - is he good for the Jews?
• Taglit-Birthright Israel (1 of 2)
• Taglit-Birthright Israel: Its Impact (2 of 2)
• Understanding Jewish Life: Social Science Research on the Jewish Community
• Dine 'n' Discuss: Intermarriage and the Jewish Future

Organisation: University of Portsmouth

Gavin Schaffer is Senior Lecturer in European History at the University of Portsmouth. He is the author of Racial Science and British Society: 1930-62 and is currently working on a new book about race relations and the BBC in the nineteen sixties and seventies.

Sessions:

• Reading currents of anti-semitism: is it really on the increase?
• Jews on the TV: Race relations and the BBC in the 1960s and 1970s

Organisation: Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies and Le

Jeremy Schonfield lectures at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies and at Leo Baeck College, London. His book, Undercurrents of Jewish Prayer, published by the Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, was runner-up in the Modern Jewish Thought category in the National Jewish Book Awards.

Sessions:

• Radical Rabbinic Writing

Organisation: Nefesh B'Nefesh
Website: http://www.nbn.org.il/

Ari Schuchman is the associate director of overseas programs at Nefesh B’Nefesh where he is responsible for creating and maintaining partnerships between Nefesh B'Nefesh and Jewish organizations and communities in the US, Canada & UK. Prior to that Ari served in various positions at the Jeiwsh education service of North America (JESNA), Jewish Federation of North America (UJC) and the Board of Jewish Family Life (JF&L).

Sessions:

• So, you want to become a Jewish Communal Professional?

Organisation: jewish community of poland
Website: http://www.jewish.org.pl/

Chief Rabbi of Poland since 2004, Michael was Rabbi of Warsaw 2000-04. Formerly at the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation 1990-2000 and Rabbi of Tokyo 1983-89.

Sessions:

• Jews of Poland today: 21st century Marranos
• Polska Year: Poland and the Jews - Past, Present and Future
• Anti-semitism in Poland: Fact and Fiction
• Post-Spanish expulsion responsa as a guide for dealing with Eastern Europe today
• Halachic Challenges of Poland Today: From Cemeteries to Verification of Jewish Identity

Organisation: Beit Warszawa Foundation

Senior Rabbi at Beit Warszawa Foundation, Warsaw's Progressive Jewish community, and senior Progressive Rabbi for Poland. He is a frequent speaker across Poland and internationally, and author of numerous articles on education and Jewish life. Rabbi Schuman received his rabbinic ordination from Hebrew Union-College NY; spiritual leader at Temple Beth Israel, Altona, PA, 1995-2006.

Sessions:

• Polska Year - Poland's Unique "December Dilemma": Its Residual Impact on Jewish Life in Poland Today
• Polska Year: Poland and the Jews - Past, Present and Future
• Polska Year - Confronting the "Poland Allergy": Myths and Stereotypes about Jewish life in Poland Today
• Polska Year - Joseph as a Model for the Challenges of Jewish Identity in Poland Today
• Polska Year - Progressive Judaism in Poland: Its Pre-war History and Current Developments

Even friends struggle to track Kevin's professional life - a smorgasbord of ideas mixing technology, finance and education. Luckily, his role here is clear - welcoming guests onto the Talk Show sofa. Oh, he's also the trustee for Limmud International, and considers meeting groups worldwide to be like visiting family.

Sessions:

• The Talk Show With...
• Taking Limmud Back Home - Love Your Budget
• The Talk Show With...
• The Talk Show With...
• The Talk Show With...

Organisation: New York Uni. in London
Website: http://www.hagaisegal.com/

Hagai is an award-winning academic, consultant and analyst specialising in terrorism and the Middle-East. A regular expert contributor on radio and TV, Hagai works with and advises national counter-terror and security organisations from the UK, to Australia, to the US, and serves on London First's security & resilience advisory board.

Sessions:

• Holocaust Denial - Deny It Now, Repeat It Later?
• War & Peace In the Middle-East – The Latest Developments
• Terrorism Today & The Al Qaeda Threat – A Tactical and Strategic Assessment
• The Iranian question

Chaim Seidler-Feller is the Director of UCLA Hillel. He received ordination at Yeshiva University where he completed a Masters in rabbinic Literature. A lecturer in the Departments of Sociology and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, he is also a faculty member of the Shalom Hartman Institute for Advanced Jewish Studies.

Sessions:

• Encounters Between Isaac and Ishmael: A Jewish Perspective on the Relationship Between Judaism and Islam
• Obama one year on - is he good for the Jews?
• Sexual Repression and Obsession in Traditional Jewish Practice: The Case of the Kitzur Shulhan Arukh. Part I: The Rules Governing Sexual Intercourse (1 of 2)
• Sexual Repression and Obsession in Traditional Jewish Practice: The Case of the Kitzur Shulhan Arukh. Part II: The Scandal of Masturbation (2 of 2)
• Holy Matter, Sacred Space: Land for Peace in the Jewish Tradition
• Exile as Redemption: The Secret of Jewish Survival

Doreen Seidler-Feller has been a psychologist in private practice for thirty years. She has been on the Clinical Faculty at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA for fifteen years, where she teaches a human sexuality series to psychiatry residents. She also teaches medical students a course on Doctoring.

Sessions:

• Relationships and Sexuality in Consumerist Culture: Creating a Contemporary Jewish Sexual Ethic
• Raising Kids to Listen, Talk and Love being Jewish
• Tensions Between Erotic and Intimate Needs in Long Term Relationships: Keeping Erotic Elements Alive

Emma, who is of Canadian and English origin, lives in Amsterdam. Emma has co-created a new inclusive, spirited minyan in Amsterdam which meets every 6 weeks on a Friday night. She has enjoyed singing in harmony for as long as she can remember. She is the President of Limmoed Netherlands.

Sessions:

• Taking Limmud Back Home - Interactions with the Wider Community
• 'Who Can Blame Them For Wanting Judaism That Way?' Running Independent Minyanim

Organisation: New Routes

James is director of New Routes, a UK-based charity, which opens up and facilitates spaces for dialogue, leading to action focused on devising solution-oriented and non-violent strategies, to transform the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Sessions:

• The Effect of the Middle East Conflict on Faith Relations in the UK: A Muslim and Jewish Response
• Solidarity Complex: Israel at times of crisis
• Broadening the ‘pro-Israel’ conversation

Organisation: Limmud Toronto

Originally from the UK, Peter emigrated to Toronto with his "fantastic" wife in 1972. President of Limmud Canada . His two children -Emma and James are both Limmudniks - one who is head of Limmud Amsterdam and Taste of Limmud and the other a presenter. A chartered accountant by profession, advising owner managed businesses .

Sessions:

• Taking Limmud Back Home - Love Your Budget

Organisation: Shabbat Resouled
Website: http://shabbatresouled.org/

The musical project, Shabbat Resouled, is the internationally renowned and critically acclaimed band that accompanies Kabbalat Shabbat at Finchley Progressive Synagogue. . New music and familiar melodies are performed by a talented live band. Shabbat Resouled is a UK Jewish music experience with an album to be released in early 2010.

Sessions:

• Shabbat Resouled in Concert

Organisation: Jeneration / New North London Synagogue
Website: http://www.jeneration.org/

Zahavit brings Jewish and Jew-ish people closer to Judaism through her work for New North London Synagogue (Masorti) where she runs the conversion course, and Jeneration where she reaches out to mixed-faith couples. She loves dancing, books with titles like Blink, Sway, and Snoop, and dark chocolate.

Sessions:

• So you want to be Jewish....
• Marrying out: not the end of the world?

Nicci recently spent four months volunteering with refugees and asylum seekers in Tel Aviv. This included organising a campaign with the Israel section of Amnesty International,demanding improved treatment of asylum seekers. She also enjoyed cleaning shelters and changing a nappy. Nicci is now in her first year of University.

Sessions:

• Because we were strangers

Organisation: Ta Shma

Haim Shalom is an informal Jewish educator, teaching in Israel and around the Jewish world. Born and raised in Manchester, he now prefers the sunnier climes of Jerusalem, where he is studying towards becoming a reform Rabbi. Haim is teaching at Limmud Conference as part of the Ta Shma team.

Sessions:

• What Should the 614th Commandment Be?
• Is Shabbat really a day of rest?
• Aliyah 2009: time to move on?
• Is Limmud Just for Christmas? Can we live together after New Year's?
• Are Denominations Dead? Should Movements Move On?
• Can men and women ever really be friends, or does sex get in the way?
• Revenge in the Jewish tradition

Organisation: Three Faiths Forum
Website: http://www.threefaithsforum.org.uk/

Born in Canada, of Iraqi-Jewish descent, Stephen has spent the past 5 years with the Three Faiths Forum, previously as project director. He led the development of the organisation from a two-person office into one of the largest interfaith organisations in the UK running a variety of innovative programmes.

Sessions:

• Muslim Community 101: In Conversation with Young Muslim Professionals
• CANCELLED Bulding Grassroots Communites: Muslim and Jewish Perspectives
• The Effect of the Middle East Conflict on Faith Relations in the UK: A Muslim and Jewish Response

Organisation: Jewish Chronicle
Website: http://www.thejc.com/miriam_shaviv

Miriam Shaviv is the foreign editor of the Jewish Chronicle. She was previously the editor of the JC's comment section and letters page. Between 2000-2004, she was a senior features writer, and then literary editor of the Jerusalem Post in Israel.

Sessions:

• Has Israel lost the battle with Iran?

Marvin J Shaw is an author, holistic therapist, educator and Kabbalistic life-coach. His second book, Kosher Happiness - A 12 Step Programme To Reveal And Release Your Inner Potential - is newly published. Affectionately called "The Colour Doctor", Marvin's vision is to teach and spread the Kosher Happiness Course worldwide.

Sessions:

• Kosher Happiness - The Colour Kabbalah Experience
• Kosher Happiness - Spiritual Meditations Of Body, Mind And Voice
• Kosher Happiness - Discovering Joy In The Dark Month Of Tevet

Miki Shaw (nee Grahame) is a visual artist and freelance graphic designer. She uses both traditional and digital techniques in her work - from drawing and papercutting to computer animation and VJing (mixing live visuals).

Sessions:

• Papercut Workshop
• Papercut Workshop
• Eco Halachah

Organisation: Eretz Acheret Magazine
Website: http://www.acheret.co.il/

Bambi Sheleg is an Israeli journalist and magazine editor dedicated to promoting a profound and wide-ranging Israeli and Jewish discourse. As a means of advancing these goals, in September 2000 she founded the Eretz Acheret (A Different Israel) bi-monthly magazine. The Eretz Acheret NGO also publishes an English weekly webzine.

Sessions:

• To shape a shared Jewish Future: The challenge of Leadership in Israel and the Jewish world
• The Invisible Territories
• Limmud Town Hall: 2020 Vision – What Next for the Jewish People?
• Why We Need to Build a New Kind of Media
• A new Jewish sector

Organisation: Israel Democracy Institute

Yair is Senior Researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute, Religion & State Department; and a columnist on the Israeli daily newspaper Ha'aretz

Sessions:

• Humanism V. Liberalism
• The New Religious People
• Limmud Town Hall: 2020 Vision – What Next for the Jewish People?
• The Renaissance of Israeli Judaism
• Translation Within the Text

Organisation: International Jewish Women's Rights Project

American born women's rights lawyer, Sharon moved to Israel in 1979, where she has represented hundreds of women in the Rabbinical Courts, won precedent setting cases and lobbied for legislation favorable to women. The only woman, she has served on the Commission to Appoint Dayanim for six years. Sharon received the Israeli Feminist Award for 2009.

Sessions:

• The Iranian Ayatollah and the Israeli Women's Rights Lawyer
• Judaism and the future of Israeli Democracy
• Divorce: Jewish Style
• Divorce: Jewish Style - Discussion
• Choosing Dayanim: An Insider's Experience

Anthony Sheppard is currently Vice-Chairman of North West Surrey Synagogue, with particular responsibility for adult education. He studied Classics at Oxford, completing a research degree in Roman history. He spent most of his working life in product management with British Telecom, retiring in 2007.

Sessions:

• Jews, Greeks & Romans 1. Why Chanukah? (1 of 2)
• Jews, Greeks and Romans 2. Rabbis & Revolutionaries - After the Destruction of the Second Temple (2 of 2)

Na'ama Shik is the head of the internet department at the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem. She is currently finishing her PhD at the Tel Aviv University focusing on gender studies and the Holocaust. She has been working at Yad Vashem for approximately a decade and has worked with educators from all over the world. Since 2007, Na'ama has been the production manager for the film project that is being featured this year at Limmud Conference, in cooperation with the Hebrew University.

Sessions:

• Limmud Film Debut: A Greek Holocaust Love Story
• Special Screening: She Was There, and She Told Me
• New Film: Rescue at the Bottom of the Barrel
• Special Film Debut: Lodz is No More

Miriam is a veteran Limmud volunteer! She was Chair of Limmud Fest 2009 and lives with the Conference co-chair. In her spare time she enjoys attempting to learn languages.

Sessions:

• Israeli Coffee Shop (1 of 2)
• Israeli Coffee Shop (2 of 2)

Danny’s a Limmud addict. His sessions are like marmite – you either love em or hate em. They’re designed to touch you and affect your life so only come if that floats your boat! If you want to know the truth about him, ask his wife and kids!

Sessions:

• Rotating Rebbes
• Spiritual Speed Connection
• Jewish Silence

Organisation: Leo Baeck College
Website: http://www.lbc.ac.uk/

Michael Shire is the vice-principal of Leo Baeck College, London with a PhD in Jewish religious education. He teaches on the MA in Jewish education at LBC/London Metropolitan University and in the rabbinic programme at Leo Baeck College.

Sessions:

• The Spiritual Child and Jewish Childhood
• Rabbinical School: A Day In An Hour
• Faith in Schools
• Leo Baeck College Live
• Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael in the Torah and Quran

Organisation: Shloman

Revital Shloman is the Jewish Agency shlicha to Redbridge London for the fourth year. Iin her role as well as in her life, as an informal educator, she wishes to give tools to her community to get closer to Israel by sharing a personal story and a dialogue.

Sessions:

• Tel Aviv Stories - women's way (1 of 3)
• Tel Aviv Stories - from the hood to the beach through the great synagogue (2 of 3)
• Tel Aviv stories - "anachanoo al hamapa" (3 of 3)

Noam Shlomo lives and creates in Sderot, Israel. He is both a musician and writer in his own right, runs the famed "Sderot Youth" band, and is the guitarist for Kobi Oz' Mizmorei Nevuchim - Psalms for the Perplexed.

Sessions:

• Mizmorei Nevuchim (Psalms for the Perplexed) in Concert
• Mizmorei Nevuchim (Psalms for the Perplexed) in Concert

Organisation: Clore Shalom School
Website: http://www.cloreshalom.org/

Marc is Jewish ethos leader at Clore Shalom School, Hertfordshire. He is a graduate of the Melton Senior Educators Programme, has an MBA in Educational Leadership and owns many certificates, confirming his qualification collecting skills. Marc is married to Shelley Marsh, and they are the parents of Jordan and Eden.

Sessions:

• Family Philosophy 1
• Playing with Praying

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

Founding trustee of the City Circle, a grassroots network of Muslim professionals. He is also a founding board member of Cedar, a pan-European Muslim professional network. Featured on TIME Magazine's front page in 2008 as part of a cover piece on Europe's Muslim Success Story.

Sessions:

• CANCELLED Bulding Grassroots Communites: Muslim and Jewish Perspectives

Website: http://www.hennabysienna.com/

Noam Sienna is an anthropology student studying Jewish henna rituals from around the world, as well as a professional henna artist. He is currently researching henna rituals in Israel at Hebrew University.

Sessions:

• Henna Body Art in Judaism

Organisation: Paul Silk Acupuncture & Massage

Paul Silk is an Massage Therapist and Acupuncturist. He is a member of the British Acupuncture Council with a (extended) background in Jewish Youth Work. He's running Youth Limmud this Conference so come and watch him fall asleep during the slowest of the gentle movements he will be teaching to aid health and happiness!

Sessions:

• Qi Gung

Website: http://www.judithsilver.com/

Judith composes, teaches, records and performs music across a very wide spectrum. In the Jewish community she's sung and led music for many years in services and at conferences - including many a far-flung Limmud event!

Sessions:

• Limmud Choir! (1 of 4)
• Limmud Choir! (2 of 4)
• 'Gathering': a new CD of Jewish harmony songs
• Limmud Choir! (3 of 4)
• Limmud Choir! (4 of 4)

Website: http://www.juliesilver.com/

Julie Silver is one of the most celebrated and beloved performers in the world of contemporary Jewish music today. She has been engaging audiences with her lyrical guitar playing and her dynamic stage presence for over twenty years. She has just released her 8th CD of original Jewish music, Reunion.

Sessions:

• Writing Memorable Lyrics: The Art and Craft of Songwriting
• Julie Silver in Concert!
• These are a Few of my Favourite Songs
• Reaching and Teaching from the Bima

Organisation: Limmud
Website: http://www.limmud.org/

Raymond has been involved with the Limmud community for a decade, currently serving as Executive Director. He has qualifications in Jewish studies, applied anthropology and community & youth work; twenty years experience in informal Jewish education, training, mentoring and educational consultancy; a gorgeous little son; and a mean record collection.

Sessions:

• Bubbelehs Love to Boogie
• Now That's What I Call Jewsic 09
• Taking Limmud Back Home - Don‘t Curb Their Enthusiasm: Motivation, From Theory to Practice

Organisation: Windows for Peace UK
Website: http://www.windowsforpeaceuk.org/

Ken Singer is one of the founders and a trustee of the charity Windows for Peace (UK). In a former life he was the Professor of Solid State Electronics at Univerity of Manchester Institute of Technology (UMIST) in Manchester.

Sessions:

• Windows for Peace: Confronting the Issues - Building Foundations

Organisation: Wings of the Spirit

Tirtza Singer - singer, songwriter and instrumentalist, has a passion for stringed instruments. Tirtza says: Music is a powerful vehicle to bring healing, joy and peace into the world. My deepest desire is to bring light and blessing and a deeper appreciation of the beauty of Judaism through my music.

Sessions:

• Spiritual
• Wings of the Spirit in Concert

Organisation: Windows for Peace UK
Website: http://www.windowsforpeaceuk.org/

Yvonne Singer is a founder of Windows for Peace (UK). As a counsellor trainer she has been involved with the dialogue process with young people and adults - a background which led to her recogniton of the huge value of the Windows philosophy with young Israelis and Palestinians.

Sessions:

• Windows for Peace: Confronting the Issues - Building Foundations

Kineret Sittig is research student at University College London and works as a freelance rabbi in the Netherlands. She is also a physicist and a longtime Limmud addict.

Sessions:

• Torah meditation

Organisation: Leo Baeck College

Chani holds a doctorate on Tuning the Soul - Music as a Spiritual Process in the Teachings of Reb Nahman of Bratzlav. She teaches cantillation at Leo Baeck College, and has published Learn to Leyn: The Cantillation of the Hebrew Bible. She is a flautist and an occasional composer.

Sessions:

• On Lovingkindness and Music

Micah is in his final year at university, studying politics, philosophy, and economics. He went to Jewish Free School (JFS), grew up in RSY-Netzer, and was an Israel tour madrich (leader) this summer. A former president of the Oxford University Jewish Society, he currently teaches GCSE Jewish studies at the Oxford Jewish Centre.

Sessions:

• From Hasbara to Hakshava: Rethinking Israel Education

David is a practising psychotherapeutic counsellor in Bournemouth and London. Part time rabbi, currently with Holland's Masorti community.

Sessions:

• Healing Words

Organisation: Wandering Jews
Website: http://www.wanderingjews.co.uk/

Social worker, creative writer, grassroots Jew and (according to Jewish Renaissance Magazine) “inspirational” co-founder of Wandering Jews. Naomi values the opportunity that Limmud provides to fuse all these areas of interest. She looks forward once more to learning as much as she teaches in her sessions.

Sessions:

• Towards A Non Divisive Lexicon of Diversity

Organisation: The Solomon Sisters
Website: http://www.solomonsisters.com/

The Sisters have performed at venues across Europe and the USA including the Royal Festival Hall, Soho Theatre, Hackney Empire (London), Sodra Teatern (Stockholm), Muzeikgebauw (Amsterdam), Makor (New York) and Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Pleasance sell-out show, 2007). They have also been guests on Nicholas Parson’s ‘Happy Hour’ and BBC Radio Manchester.

Sessions:

• 'Back from Broadway'
• 'Back from Broadway'

Organisation: In One Hour
Website: http://www.inonehour.net/

David Solomon is an internationally renowned speaker, a scholar and author across numerous disciplines and one of the most dynamic Jewish educators in the world today. David provides fundamental, big-picture frameworks that immerse students in a total Jewish learning experience. David lives in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Sessions:

• Trei Asar: the spiritual transformation of the ‘minor’ prophets
• Yeshivat Limmud: Bible 2 (Hagai) (1 of 3)
• Yeshivat Limmud (2 of 3)
• The Whole of Jewish Philosophy in One Hour
• Yeshivat Limmud (3 of 3)
• The Whole of Creation in One Hour: the kabbalistic doctrine of Tzimtzum and its evolution

Organisation: In One Hour
Website: http://www.inonehour.net/

Three years ago Marjorie Solomon transferred her communications expertise from the corporate world to work with her husband David on a unique Jewish educational initiative: www.inonehour.net. She has since collaborated with other Jewish teachers and created www.edushuk.com to promote and advise educators. Marjorie lives in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Sessions:

• Even Jewish educators need a little PR
• How anyone – even you – can read the weekly parsha in Hebrew and enjoy it!

Organisation: Liberal Judaism

Mark Solomon is interfaith consultant of Liberal Judaism and rabbi of Edinburgh Liberal Jewish community; lecturer in Talmud at Leo Baeck College, co-chairman of the London Society of Jews and Christians, trustee of the Interfaith Alliance UK and Scriptural Reasoning.

Sessions:

• Reason and Religion - A Jewish-Muslim Dialogue
• Scriptural Reasoning

I have functioned as Orthodox Rabbi, Founder-Director of an institute devoted to interfaith relations, and Oxford University lecturer in Modern Jewish Thought. I have published several books on Judaism.

Sessions:

• Making Talmud Make Sense
• Divded by a Common Scripture

Organisation: Reading Hebrew Congregation
Website: http://www.rhc.org.uk/

A US-educated economist with roots in South Africa, Shira is excited about her new adventure, re-launching the cheder at Reading Hebrew Congregation, where she works as the Rebbetzin. She is passionate about practical spirituality and Jewish education that enables children, women and men to expand their intellectual and spiritual horizons.

Sessions:

• Jewish Origami
• Songs to Spice up your Seder
• The Bracha for Sunrise and Other Stories

Organisation: Reading Hebrew Congregation / Religious Spark
Website: http://www.rhc.org.uk/

Zvi graduated from Jews' College, is Rabbi at Reading Synagogue, and is active on three local authority religious education advisory groups. Husband of Shira and a father of three, Zvi has been a confirmed Limmudnik for 13 years. Expect 2be stimulated and challenged by his thoughtful approach to Judaism.

Sessions:

• Making it count - Minyan (1 of 4)
• One for the Road: How Kosher is our Whisky?
• Making it count - Minyan (2 of 4)
• Making it count - Minyan (3 of 4)
• Making it count - Minyan (4 of 4)

Organisation: Jewish Agency

As a representative of the Jewish Agency, Etty took part in intensive courses in the UK, Israel and Europe, and has taught officials from the Ministry of Defence, including the British military, air and naval attaches. Etty is currentlyi teaching groups of lawyers in the City and in ulpanim (courses) for new olim (arrivals) through the Aliya Department.

Sessions:

• Hebrew Intermediate (1 of 4)
• Hebrew Intermediate (2 of 4)
• Hebrew Intermediate (3 of 4)
• Hebrew Intermediate (4 of 4)

Vivien works as a primary school teacher specialising in arts and crafts. She has also worked in Jewish education. In her spare time she enjoys making beautiful things.

Sessions:

• Embroider your Hebrew Initial

Organisation: Merkavah Theatre
Website: http://www.joelstanley.net/

Joel is a director, actor and Jewish educator. He is also founder-resident of Moishe House London, a non-denominational alternative Jewish community in Willesden Green.

Sessions:

• The Biblio Files - an open rehearsal and scratch performance

Organisation: Tony Blair Faith Foundation
Website: http://www.faithsactfellows.org/natasha

Natasha is one of 30 worldwide Faiths Act Fellows, a program of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. The work involves multi-faith action to raise awareness and resources about the millennium development goals, focusing on malaria. She is a recent Archaeology and Ancient History graduate from the University of Birmingham.

Sessions:

• Jews for a Free Tibet?
• Faiths Act?

Avra is a primary school teacher in Hendon. She is passionate about interfaith work and has founded interfaith organisation in South Africa and run interfaith camps in both South Africa and America. In between shaping young minds she loves knitting, voulnteering at Limmud events and finger painting.

Sessions:

• Interactive Identity
• Stitch and Kvetch

Website: http://www.youtube.com/sterndavid

David is on the 2009 Limmud Conference team. He graduated from the University of Nottingham with a B.A. (Hons.) in television & film studies, focusing on the interplay between human rights and the media. He currently studies full-time at Yeshivat Hadar, a halachic, non-denominational, egalitarian Yeshiva in New York City.

Sessions:

• Reinventing the Yeshiva.

Miles is a 29 year old barrister. He has given various talks in his local synagogue on aspects of the characters that appear in the Torah and has chosen to come to Conference to speak about one of his favourite aspects.

Sessions:

• Sell me your lentils

Organisation: Israeli Dance Institute
Website: http://www.idi.org.uk/

Maurice, the co-founder of the Israeli Dance Institute, is an inspiration to generations of Israeli dancers and volunteer teachers around the world. His motto is "to live is to dance, to dance is to live". His sessions at Limmud events buzz with fun and lots of energy.

Sessions:

• Any fiddle will do! (1 of 3)
• Israeli Dance Party (1 of 4)
• Any fiddle will do! (2 of 3)
• Israeli Dance Party (2 of 4)
• How to Teach Israeli dancing
• Any fiddle will do! (3 of 3)
• Food for the Soul: Israeli culture & Jewish identity
• How to do Israeli dancing
• Israeli Dance Party (3 of 4)
• Bereshit - Teach Creation in dance
• Israeli Dance Party (4 of 4)

Organisation: JCORE
Website: http://www.jcore.org.uk/

Adele Stowe-Lindner is a professional community worker, currently deputy director of the Jewish Council for Racial Equality (JCORE), having previously run the St Mungo’s gardening programme for homeless Londoners and the Scarman Novas Community Champions programme. She has an MA in community work and coordinates the Creative Judaism website.

Sessions:

• Divided Camps

Organisation: JCoSS
Website: http://www.jcoss.org/

Jeremy Stowe-Lindner is headteacher of JCoSS, the Jewish Community Secondary School. JCoSS is the UK's first cross-communal inclusive high school. Jeremy has held leadership positions in three London schools, has published in the UK and abroad and holds an MBA in educational management.

Sessions:

• Faith in Schools
• JCoSS - Inclusivity in Action
• JCoSS - An Introduction

Raphael is officially an orientalist, having studied Oriental (Hebrew) Studies for his first degree. Now an aspiring teacher, Raphael has the dubious honour of being co-chair of programming for Limmud Conference 2009.

Sessions:

• Meet the Rabbis