Presenters: B

Nava B. Meiersdorf

Nava B. Meiersdorf was ordained at the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary. She and her husband established an innovative and successful egalitarian minyan in the Ein Karem neighborhood of Jerusalem. Nava has recently started a new 'lab shul' at the Fuchsberg Center in Jerusalem.

Yerach B. Meiersdorf

Yerach serves as the rabbi of Marom, the Masorti/Conservative movement for young adults around the world. With his wife Nava, also a rabbi, they founded a young adult spiritual Masorti congregation in Ein Karem, Jerusalem. Earlier this year Yerach published a book on spiritual education.

Liora Baram

You may know Liora from the controversial JC headline 'Woman Sings Haftarah in Leeds'. Liora has spent her adult life challenging the boundaries that keep women and LGBT+ people excluded from mainstream Orthodox Judaism. Born in Sydney, married to a Londoner, currently living in Leeds.

Rina Barbut

Rina Barbut studied computer engineering and holds an MBA. She works at Microsoft and has been running her initiative JConnect Forum, a network for Young Jewish Professionals from Israel and Europe to encourage innovation, nurture business cooperation, share knowledge and skills, attract investors, and offer access to new markets.

Allison Barclay

Avielah is the first woman certified as a soferet (Jewish scribe) in 250 years, and both her sofrut (calligraphy) and Judaica are widely collected. She has taught at venues including the Conservative Yeshiva and Machon Pardes. Her areas of research/scholarship include religious feminism, Kabbalah of the Hebrew letters and materials such as ink and parchment.

Isabel Bard

Isabel loves Torah. She has expressed this in movement work at Noam Masorti Youth as well as studying at Yeshivat Hadar, the Conservative Yeshiva and at the Drisha High School Program. She is currently giving 'Torah im derech eretz' a go via a normal job, combined with furiously chavruta-ing after 5:30pm. She enjoys Python and vegan baking.

David Bash

David is a sculptor, storyteller and dyslexia tutor. He also co-leads the monthly 'fully inclusive' multisensory b'Yachad services (geared to congregants with learning disabilities) for Finchley Reform Synagogue. He has recently fulfilled a commission from a large London synagogue for an original modern sculptured piece of Judaica.

Gershon Baskin

Gershon Baskin is director of the Holy Land Bond. Baskin negotiated between Israel and Hamas for the release of Gilad Shalit. From 2012 to 2020, advised GigawattGlobal on solar energy in Palestine, and from 1988 to 2011 was the founding director of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research & Information, a joint Israeli-Palestinian public policy think-tank in Jerusalem.

Eddie Bass

Eddie has an eclectic education, but is now very interested in drama, poetry, comedy and the humorous stories, which he writes himself. He digs deep from the legends of Chelm - the ancient 'Village of Idiots'. In modern Chelm, there's plenty of shaggy dog tales to get you laughing (or weeping)!

Nadine Batchelor-Hunt

Nadine is a broadcaster and journalist. As a Black Jew, she has written about the intersection of the two identities and the importance of solidarity against racism across ethnic minority groups. Last year, she travelled to Israel to record a BBC documentary called Black, Jewish And Proud.

David Becker

David is 85 and for the past seven years has been leading a singalong class for Mill Hill U3A (University of the Third Age). He leads songs which older people enjoy - from shows, musicals, ballads, soul jazz etc.

Nadia Beider

Nadia Beider recently completed a doctorate in contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is currently a Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe post-doctoral fellow at the Social Research Institute, University College London.

Michael Ben-Gad

Michael is a Professor at City, University of London and former head of its economics department. He previously taught at the University of Haifa and worked at the Bank of Israel. Between 2014 and 2016 he served on the US National Academy of Sciences Panel on the 'Economic and Fiscal Impact of Immigration'.

Edward Ben-Nathan

Edward is a retired computer man who has been an avid reader of history and politics for some decades and has been delivering talks on History at the School of Economic Science in London and elsewhere.

Geoffrey Ben-Nathan

Geoffrey Ben-Nathan first met Israelite Samaritan 'roving ambassador' Binyamim Tsedaka through Nitza Spiro's Spiro Ark which invited the Samaritan Choir to London in 2007. Geoffrey Ben-Nathan was born in London and is a member of the Wembley Spanish & Portuguese Jews' Congregation and is President of Bedford Progressive Synagogue.

William Dovid Berisch Secretan

William is Principal Psychotherapist within an NHS service for adults with severe and complex mental distress. He specialises in the theory and practice of group psychotherapy and ecopsychology. William is qualified in arts psychotherapy and psychodrama psychotherapy, and is a training member of the Independent Group of Analytical Psychologists.

Sally Berkovic

Sally is a member of a Chevra Kadisha, a team that ritually prepares the deceased for a Jewish burial. Originally from Melbourne, an epistolary romance brought her to London and she is the chief executive of the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe, a foundation supporting Jewish heritage and culture across Europe. Her freelance writing is at https://sallyberkovic.com

Sophie Bigot Goldblum

Sophie Bigot-Goldblum is the director of Jewish education at BBYO Europe and Talmud Faculty at Hillel Germany. Additionally, she co-facilitates Paideia’s Paradigm program, bringing together European, American and Israeli Jewish professionals and thought leaders for a week of intense discussions and learning on Jewish identity.

Dalia Blass

Dalia joined Yachad as their Youth and Student Worker after graduating from Edinburgh university with a 1st in Classics. She has been actively involved in the Jewish community from an early age, including over a decade in the Zionist youth movement Noam. She has led a wide range of programmes for young people in both Jewish and non-Jewish spaces.

Carolyn Bogush

Carolyn has been an active Limmudnik for more than 25 years and is currently chair of Trustees as well as vice-chair of UJS. She believes passionately in cross-communalism, volunteering and developing the future leaders of our community. Professionally she is an organisational psychologist.

Joel Brahams

Joel is 14 years old and a proud Jew. He has taken a keen interest in the history of British Jewry since he was young. Growing up in Golders Green, he loves being surrounded by Jewish culture, from the cuisine to the community. He is an experienced public speaker, having been on TV to speak about his love of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Miryam Brand

Miryam Brand is a scholar and lecturer on Second Temple texts, the Bible and the Ancient Near East. She is best known for her book 'Evil Within and Without: The Source of Sin and Its Nature as Portrayed in Second Temple Literature', her podcast (http://understandingsin.com/), and her YouTube classes on biblical and ancient texts.

Pamela Brenner

Pamela Brenner is a Yiddish researcher and translator. She holds an MSt from the University of Oxford and a BA from Barnard College, both in Yiddish Studies, and studied at Drisha and Migdal Oz. A 2021 Translation Fellow at the Yiddish Book Center, Pamela is translating popular Yiddish stories by Shomer. She is director of the Begin Scholars.

Jess Bricker

Raised in Australia and based in Israel, Jess is an educator, activist and avid gardener. Jess works with the refugee community in Tel Aviv managing educational programs at the African Refugee Development Center.

Sarah Bronzite

Sarah is Head of Education at KeshetUK. Outside of KeshetUK, she is a primary school teacher and is conducting academic research about school-based sex education. In her ‘spare time’ she writes about gender-based violence, is a Trustee for Migdal Emunah and is learning to temper chocolate. She has two religions: Judaism and choral singing.

Rich Brownstein

After a career in Hollywood, Rich has lectured for Yad Vashem's International School for Holocaust Studies, specializing in the use of Holocaust film history and their use in the classroom. His book, 'Holocaust Cinema Complete: A History and Analysis of 400 Films, with a Teaching Guide' was published in 2021.

Isaac Brynjegard-Bialik

Isaac Brynjegard-Bialik cuts up comic books and reassembles them into papercuts that explore the stories of the Jewish people, connecting popular culture with sacred texts. He and his wife, Shawna Brynjegard-Bialik, a rabbi, co-founded Paper Midrash, offering engaging artist- and scholar-in-residence programs and workshops.

Shawna Brynjegard-Bialik

Shawna Brynjegard-Bialik is an engaging teacher of Torah, adapting traditional Jewish concepts to a modern Reform context, and bringing that synergy to students of all ages. She and her husband co-founded Paper Midrash, offering engaging artist- and scholar-in-residence programmes and workshops.