Presenters’ Biographies           

Nathan Abrams

Dr. Nathan Abrams is a Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at Bangor University. He has present at Limmud many times and written widely on Jewish history and culture, including Jews and Sex (2008), Caledonian Jews (2009) and Norman Podhoretz and Commentary Magazine: The Rise and Fall of the Neo-Cons (2009).

Jeremy Beecham

Newcastle City councillor and former Leader of the Council.     Vice Chairman of the New Israel Fund UK and a member of the Advisory Board of the Harold Hartog School of Government, Tel Aviv University. Participant in Conferences of  Union of Local Authorities Israel.

Nathalie Boobis

I am a practising artist living in Brighton. I work predominantly with video and moving image and am concerned with notions of narrative, stories and language. I exhibit regularly, run educational workshops and currently working at the ICA, London. I studied critical fine art practice at the University of Brighton.

Barbara Borts

Ordained by Leo Baeck College, 1981. Rabbi Bortshas worked as a congregational rabbi and chaplain in the UK and North America; in Montreal, she was a popular adult Jewish studies educator. She is now rabbi of Newcastle Refoem Synagogue, of a small community in Basel, Switzerland, is pursuing a PhD at Durham University, and is studying to become a chazzan.

Harris Clarke

A working ceramic sculptor with an interest in Art History, originally involved in the world of retail commerce. Now making sculpture related to natural forms which are intended to be sited in a horticultural setting and due to their nature are created enhance their surroundings.

Laoise Davidson and Zing

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Versatile Jazz, Yiddish and folk singer, Laoise also plays Klezmer and Irish Trad on mandolin and fiddle.  She started Zing in 2007 to revitalise the wonderful, spirited Yiddish Swing hits of the 1940s.  A Limmud favourite, Laoise has performed and given workshops at Limmud events across the UK since 2004 including Limmud Newcastle.
Paul Tkachenko started his musical career playing in variety shows and circus in Germany. He has since played in ensembles from bluegrass to Balkan brass band and from symphony orchestra to stilt walking band on a wide range of different instruments. He is currently writing up a PhD on Klezmer musicians in London
Since studying Jazz at Leeds College of Music, Ross Wall enjoys playing in many bands, whilst also working as a Musical Director and Pianist.  Most recently, he has finished collaborating on the 'News Revue Show' at the Canal Cafe Theatre, Paddington as Musical Director, which has been preceded by many other theatre credits in and around London.  

Pavel Dolukhanov

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Prof  Dolukhanov is Emeritus Professor of Archaelogy at the University of Newcastle. He was born and educated in Leningrad/St Petersberg, where he became a Professor of Archaeology, with an international reputation in the archaeology of Europe and the Middle East. He joined the University of Newcastle in 1989. While retired from formal university responsibilities, he is still very active in research and is currently directing multi-national research on the origins of European civilisation.  He is the author of a number of books, including ‘Environment and Ethnicity in the Ancient Middle East’.

Nicholas J Evans

Dr Nicholas J Evans is a Lecturer in Diaspora History at the Wilberforce Institute for the study of Slavery and Emancipation (WISE), and the History Department , University of Hull. He has previously worked on numerous projects examining migration to, through, and from Britain,  1830 -1960 at the universities of Leicester, Hull, Aberdeen and Cape Town, and is currently editing a series of papers that examine Jewish history, heritage and culture in Scotland, 1879 – 2004 and writing a monograph on European transmigration via Britain, 1836 – 1914. His research intersts to date have focussed on voluntar yand coerced migrations within and from Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Edie Friedman

Edie Friedman was born in Chicago.  A student in the 1960's, she was heavily influenced by the civil rights and peace movements.  She founded the Jewish Council for Racial Equality (JCORE) in 1976, of which she is now the director. She is a regular speaker and writer on race and asylum issues.

Michael Grant

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Michael Grant is a member of the Finchley-based Masorti minyan Assif (http://www.assif.org/), and of the New North London Synagogue (http://www.nnls-masorti.org.uk/).  He has been attending Masorti Jewish learning events for five years, and spent three weeks in the summer of 2007 studying at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem.

Robert Hayward

I have been Professor of Hebrew at the University of Durham since 2001. My academic research has centred on Second Temple Literature, Targumim and the Midrashim, and my recent book “Interpretations of the Name ‘Israel’in Ancient Judaism” (OUP 2005) reflects these interests. I am presently working on a Tosefta Targum of 1 Samuel 17:43.

Jordan Herskowitz

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Jordan Herskowitz is an accomplished actor, writer, and teacher. Visiting from the United States, Jordan has lots of stage experience and has developed his own creative drama curriculum for Jewish students. Jordan is excited to be kicking off his Europe tour of his one-man show, "Jordy Pordy", in Newcastle!

Saul Issroff

Retired dermatologist. One of the founders of the JGSGB in 1991. An Hon Vice President of JGSGB and on Board of Governors of JewishGen Inc. Project Director Centre For Migration and Jewish Genealogy Studies at Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Cape Town
Special interests: Migration studies, Lithuania and South African Genealogy, Holocaust Studies. Genetics and Genealogy

David Jacobi

David (a regular at Limmud !) is a UK Pollution Inspector, who in recent years has been directly involved with some of the important environmental issues in Israel.

Julia Kay

­­ With 250,000 + dances commonly danced all over the world, Julia routinely attends weekend, residential and week-long courses to keep up with the latest materials.  Russian, South American, Greek, Middle Eastern, European and modern Israeli influences bring a range of steps into the repetoire as well as music from the soulful to the sassy.  Her motivation is to bring communities together – Jewish and not – just to connect

Clive Lawton

­­Clive is currently Limmud’s Senior Consultant, primarily working on Limmud’s international expansion. He is also a Governor of the Metropolitan Police, a magistrate, Scholar-in-residence at the London Jewish Cultural Centre, on the faculty of the London School of Jewish Studies and the European Centre for Leadership Development, and Chair of Tzedek, British Jewry’s Third World Development charity.

Dovid Lewis

Born and raised in Manchester, Rabbi Dovid Lewis learnt for 5 years in Yeshiva culminating with Semicha in Israel. In 1999, Rabbi Lewis opened and ran the first Jewish school in the Crimea. He was the Youth Minister in Chigwell and is currently the Rabbi in Newcastle upon Tyne. He has recently been awarded an M.A. with Distinction in ‘Theology and Religion’ from Durham University.

Helen Lewis

Helen Lewis the mother of two sets of twins, which is what sparked her interest in this topic.  She is a graduate of Oxford University, Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies in Jerusalem and the Melton adult Mini-School.  She is a Trustee of Leeds Jewish Welfare Board, a Governor of Brodetsky Primary School in Leeds and a past Programme Chair of Leeds Limmud.  In her spare time she is an NHS manager.   She is a member of Etz Chaim Synagogue in Leeds.

Gabrielle Mandell and Paul Graveling

Gabrielle’s background is in law and community development. From Toronto, she has worked for an international charity in Newcastle for the last 7 years. Prior to retirement, Paul was an NHS statistician and IT specialist, who moved to Newcastle 12 years ago. Paul and Gaby are wine enthusiasts who regularly attend the lively Newcastle Wine School.

Jeremy Newmark

Jeremy is CEO of the Jewish Leadership Council and is former official spokesperson for the Chief Rabbi. Jeremy has advised government on antisemitism and its relationship with faith communities. A member of the CIPR, Jeremy is a former National Executive Officer of the NUS.

Susan Olsburgh

Susan Olsburgh delivers modules on British Culture and English Literature at Newcastle University and the Centre for Lifelong Learning. A past president of the Representative Council for North East Jewry, Susan currently represents NEJCS on the council, as well as being involved with Hillel House. As a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Glovers of London, researching gloving and literary connections is another interest.

Bryan Reuben

Bryan Reuben is Professor of Chemical Technology at London South Bank University. Since going emeritus (i.e. unpaid) he has written books on the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. He has recently co-authored a book on the history of bread and added a “Jewish Bread” supplement.

Kurt Schapira

Born in Vienna. Came to this country on a Kindertransport in July 1939. Education: Jewish Secondary School; Owen’s School London. Studies medicine at King’s College (Newcastle), University of Durham. Interest and hobbies: Love of music and passion for opera. History of Art.

Martin Sugarman

Born and educated in Hackney, then Bristol University; 23 years teaching, 3 years in Israel on kibbutz; IDF; Archivist AJEX Jewish Military Museum; many research papers published and on internet. Currently Deputy Exams Manager at Westminster Kingsway College. Married, 3 grown-up children. Involved in Holocaust education, Auschwitz and Anne Frank Exhibitions in London.

Francesca Terberg

 

Leah Thorn

Leah Thorn is a spoken word poet and an acclaimed workshop facilitator, leading exciting creative writing workshops in prisons for the Anne Frank Trust, in schools for the Poetry Society and in mental health crisis centres. She is currently Writer-in-Residence at HMP Bronzefield, a women’s prison.

Malcolm Weisman

Malcolm  Weisman is Visiting Minister to Small Communities in Britain and parts of the Commonwealth, Hillel Chaplain to Oxford and Isolated Universities, and President, NATO Chiefs of Chaplains Committee. Trustee of Council of Christians and Jews, and of the Jewish Music Institute. Fellow of Essex and Lancaster Universities.

Sharon Welsh

Sharon Welsh was born in England and has worked in England, Israel, USA and is now working in The Netherlands. She is an Information Scientist working at the Institute for Housing and Development Studies (IHS) at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. She also works in the field of art, teaching and running workshops for children and adults, and as a book translator, editor and illustrator.