Presenters: S

Sarah Sackman

Sarah is a public interest barrister who is standing to be Labour's next MP in Finchley and Golders Green. She is also Vice Chair of the Jewish Labour Movement and a trustee of Abraham Initiatives. She is especially excited to be returning to Limmud, where she met her husband!

Eve Sacks

Eve is the chair of Nahamu, an advocacy charity set up to combat extremism in the UK Jewish community. Eve lives in NW London with her husband Josh, children and dog.

Erez Safar

Based in Los Angeles, Erez is an award-winning producer and best-selling author of 'Light of the Infinite'. Erez was recognised as one of the world’s most influential Jews in The Forward media outlet's annual 'Forward 50' list. His companies have graced Billboard magazine and he's been featured in NPR, NY Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal and more.

Tal Sagi

Tal Sagi grew up in an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. From 2010-2012, she served as an Education Officer in the IDF. Tal spent part of her service as an Educational Officer in Hebron, providing tours of the city and the Tomb of the Patriarchs to other soldiers. Today, Tal serves as Breaking the Silence’s Israeli Education Director.

Jeffrey Samuels

Jeffrey is neurodiverse and specialises in working with his peers. He holds two post-graduate qualifications in autism and an MSc in Counselling. He has attended may Limmuds over the last 25 years.

Jenny Sandler

Jenny is a highly experienced educator working with autistic, dyslexic and ADHD children. She holds an MA in literacy and an MEd in autism in children. She uses her professional and personal experience to advise families and schools on ‘best autism and ADHD practice’ to make learning, school and home accessible to neurodivergent learners.

Jonathan Sandler

Jonathan studied politics and history at Leicester University and has spent much of his career in the software industry. Jonathan, a keen sketcher, has always been passionate about World War II history and graphic novels. He combined these dual interests by producing 'The English GI', the wartime memoir of his grandfather, published in 2022.

Noa Sattath

Noa Sattath is the executive director of the Association of Civil Rights in Israel - the largest, human rights organisation in Israel, and the only one advocating across the broad spectrum of civil and human rights in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Noa is a reform rabbi and spent 11 years as executive director of the Israel Religious Action Centre.

Miriam Scheier

Miriam was born in Baltimore, but has been living in Israel for 15 years. She handles marketing and manage overseas volunteers making a global impact at the Jewish Agency's Project TEN. She's looking forward to speaking to anyone who is interested in learning about how they can make an impact in TEN's various centres abroad!

Amos Schonfield

Amos is vice chair of this year's Limmud Festival. He is the Deputy Director of HIAS+JCORE, the Jewish voice on refugees and racial justice. He also founded, and is CEO, of Our Second Home, a refugee-led youth movement. Amos volunteers as a Deputy, gives time to several climate & refugee organisations and makes crispy chilli oil that is to die for.

Marloes Schoonheim

Marloes has a PhD in history. She works for Friends of the Earth, Netherlands, and is an active member of the Liberal Jewish Community Amsterdam.

Gidon Schwartz

Gidon is the outreach and education executive at Jnetics, the only cross communal charity in the UK dedicated to the prevention and diagnosis of Jewish genetic disorders. He has a BSc in Medical Genetics from Queen Mary University. He is passionate about the Jewish community, helping to raise awareness and help prevent Jewish Genetic disorders.

Aleksander Schwarz

Aleksander Schwarz, Rabbinical Commission for Jewish Cemeteries in Poland expert and vice-president at Zapomniane Foundation, specializes in Jewish law for cemeteries, using noninvasive research to locate Holocaust-era unmarked Jewish burial sites, reconstructing historical cemetery borders per halacha.

Moses Seitler

Moses Seitler is a person who, having worked in the refugee sector for not even that long, is tired. He is also hopeful, thanks to the folk he has met in the areas of digital inclusion, lived experience leadership, refugee education, youth advocacy, volunteer management and community building. He is the Executive Director of Screen Share UK.

Monica Selo

Monica is a writer and teacher and loves to do comedy in her spare time.

Shawn Shafner

Shawn is an artist, educator and activist based in Washington, DC. Founder of The People's Own Organic Power Project, he has catalysed conversation about sustainable sanitation through award-winning theatre, film a book and more since 2010. Shawn is an accomplished theatre artist and mindfulness coach, devoted to manifesting a more loving world.

Janine Shalev

Janine has worked with UK charities for over 30 years supporting some of Britain’s most vulnerable individuals and families. A member of the Centre for Nonviolent Communication she will be introducing the work of psychologist Marshall Rosenberg around the power of language, emotional intelligence and empathy in transforming conflict.

Nathan Sharp

Nathan likes to think that given a different life, he would have been some kind of radical Jewish revolutionary. However, tempered by the material comforts of modernity, he has, at times, diminished his fervour for such grand pursuits. Instead he's settled for armchair contrarianism and a morning skincare routine.

Daniella Shaw

Daniella is an equity and inclusion specialist, interfaith activist, LGBTQ+ community organiser and a sociologist. She splits her time between inclusion work and academic research into identity and belonging. Side-gigs include asylum seeker advocacy, writing a book on LGBT+ people of faith, saying YES to everything and trying to parent a pre-teen.

Marvin Shaw

Marvin is an English and Jewish poet and author of seven life-affirming books that celebrate the exciting potentials of life, while promoting creative approaches towards cultivating positive mental health. His latest book ‘Seize The Day!’ contains 385 poetic vignettes that challenge and inspire us to reach new untold heights!

Miki Shaw

Miki is a visual artist, graphic designer and educator. She runs creative workshops including a 12-week "Artist’s Way" zoom course. She also creates and performs live visuals for concerts, music festivals and eco-education shows. Her current work-in-progress is a graphic novel about motherhood.

Warren Sher

Warren is an electrical engineer who works in IT. He has recently been ordained as an orthodox rabbi. He studied in Yeshivat Har Etzion in Gush Etzion, Israel. Warren Sher the 2024 co-chair of Limmud Johannesburg and is a former national chairperson of Bnei Akiva. Warren is passionate about the intersection of technology, culture and Judaism.

Helen Shiner

Helen is the director of the Moissey Kogan Catalogue Raisonné, which seeks to locate and fully document all of Moissey Kogan's sculpture and prints, as well as map his life and career. Helen is an art historian, specialising in the history of early 20th-century avant-garde sculpture.

Shir

Shir started out 25 years ago as a klezmer band, but quickly evolved into a complete Jewish music band playing a varied repertoire of modern Israeli songs, Ladino favourites and Mizrahi/Arabesque/Henna dance tunes that cater for the Jewish diaspora in the UK. Come sing and dance with us.

Anya Shire-Plumb

Born and raised in London and now living in Boston, Anya has been a Limmud participant since she was in the womb. She holds a dual degree in Studio Art and Psychology from Brandeis University. When she’s not working as a Mental Health Specialist at McLean Hospital, Anya paints in her studio and exhibits her work in the Boston area.

Sharona Shnayder

Sharona is a Nigerian/Israeli environmental activist, National Geographic explorer and founder of the global movement, Tuesdays for Trash. Despite how intimidating climate change often feels, in 2020 Sharona chose to channel her fear into mobilising a movement that has brought people from over 40 countries to remove over 20 tons of litter from our environment.

Rachael Shomer

Rachael is a professionally trained actress from London, training at Guildford School of Acting BA Theatre. She is currently the lead singer on an Israeli Cruise Ship, Mano Cruises. Previous credits include Roz Keith in 9-to-5, Penny Pingleton in Hairspray, Cosette in Les Miserables and Kiss-Me-Feel-Me in The Producers.

Alan Silman

Alan is a Professor in the Division of Medicine at Oxford University with a particular interest in epidemiology and genetics. He is a Limmud Trustee and a regular presenter on science and medicine and has a passion for communicating his subject in an accessible and entertaining way – reflecting his other spare time activity in amateur dramatics!

Anna Silver

Anna is the education officer at the Board of Deputies. Prior to joining the Board she was a primary school teacher, special educational needs teacher, museum educator and art teacher.

Jon Silverman

Jon is Emeritus Professor of Media and Criminal Justice, University of Bedfordshire (UK) and the former BBC Home Affairs Correspondent (1989-2002). In 1996 he won the Sony Gold award for his reporting on BBC's Today programme on the UK's Nazi war crimes inquiries in the 1990s.

Ali Simmons

Ali is a visual artist, primarily drawing on and with paper. Ali studied Illustration at Leeds Arts University and is now based in South London. You may recognise her from many Limmud Festivals working behind the bar. This year Ali co-chaired the Arts and Culture Programme and co-created the Artist Print Stall.

Gary Sinyor

Gary's first film was the cult British hit Leon the Pig Farmer. In 2019 Gary wrote/directed 6-part sitcom HAPLESS. It was compared to the British Curb Your Enthusiasm/Seinfeld. In 2023 he finished 8 more episodes. HAPLESS 2 was released on Amazon Prime to 5-star reviews. Apart from the JC which gave it 4. Gary has four children and lives in London.

Debra Slonim

Debra is the director of international relations at the Israel Trauma Coalition, responsible for strategic development and donor relations. Married with three children, Debra is active in the fields of formal and informal education. When she isn't working, Debra likes to relax with a good book and a cup of tea – or two.

Dennis Snower

Dennis J. Snower is president of the Global Solutions Initiative, Berlin; professorial fellow at INET, Oxford University; visiting professor at University College London; and non-resident fellow at Brookings. He is an expert on labor economics, macroeconomics, digital governance reform, and the psycho-social underpinnings of economics.

Arielle Sokoloff

Arielle is the Director of Engagement at JDC Entwine and oversees the strategic direction for bringing global awareness to young adults. Arielle served as a volunteer in Nepal with Tevel b’Tzedek and was a Jewish Service Corps Fellow in Rwanda. She holds a BA in political science from Binghamton University.

Chlo Spinks

Chlo Spinks is a long-time Limmudnik, Music Industry Professional, and Music Journalist for publications like 'Gigwise' and 'The Skinny'. As a multi-instrumentalist with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, she likes to dig into the reasons why music affects us, using psychology and music theory to explain the hidden wonders of music.

Dan Squires

Dan is a leading human rights and education law barrister. He is a KC practising at Matrix Chambers in London, and has represented a wide range of individuals, non-governmental organisations and central and local government bodies in domestic and international courts.

Mikael Stein

Mika, originally from Dallas, Texas, works for JDC (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee) Entwine as a Global Programs and KAHAL Coordinator in New York. He was an active member of BBYO and served as the 89th Grand Aleph Godol of AZA, an international youth-led fraternal organisation. Thrilled to rejoin the professional Jewish world, Mika's enthusiasm is matched by his love for comic books, movies and TV. He’d love to follow your Letterboxd!

Joel Stokes

Joel is a PhD scholar at UCL. His research applies a critical heritage lens to the socio-political history and current affairs of Israel/Palestine. Joel is also a chef with a seasonal tasting menu supper club. He collaborates with two Palestinian chefs exploring Jewish/Palestinian fusion cuisine.

Yehuda Stolov

Yehuda is executive director of Interfaith Encounter Association that has worked since 2001 to build peaceful inter-communal relations in the Holy Land by fostering mutual respect and trust between people and communities through interfaith dialogue. He holds an MSc in physics and a PhD from Hebrew University. He lives in Jerusalem.

Chava Stone

Chava Stone is an educator and artist. Growing up in the Stamford hill Hasidic community, she has journeyed towards finding her unique self and voice. Alongside being head of Relationships and Sex education in school, she is an emerging artist, using her life experiences to create abstract art to express the human experiences; from the void to the vibrant.

Helen Stone

Helen is a co- founder of the Holocaust Charity, Generation 2 Generation. She is a retired secondary teacher of English and Special Needs and is one of G2G’s 31 presenters, telling the story of her mother, Emmy Golding. She also teaches English to refugees and asylum seekers.

Maurice Stone

Maurice is Chairman of the Israeli Dance Institute (IDI). He has been teaching dance for many years at Limmud in the UK, Russia & Ukraine. He believes that Israeli dance is a fundamental educational tool promoting Jewish identity and a connection with Israel. So let’s dance!

Robert Stone

Robert L Stone is the author of ‘The Golden Bell’, a fictionalised biography of the great poet and philosopher Yehuda Halevi. A historian and political anthropologist, Robert has a long-standing fascination with the melting pot of the medieval Mediterranean. Robert is a member of Finchley Reform Synagogue and Kol Nefesh Masorti Synagogue.

Sheldon Stone

Sheldon is a retired NHS teaching hospital physician and academic. Now advisor to Stop Uyghur Genocide and activist for Defend IsraelDemocracyUK. Spurs season ticket holder. Enthusiastically orthodox. Travels in hope. One wife. Three kids. One cat.

Yoni Stone

Hobbies: football, reading and spreadsheets; favourite book: the Haggadah; favourite food: pasta; favourite Jewish festival: Limmud

Daniel Susser

Daniel lives in London and works as an agile coach (read: summer madrich [youth leader] for software developers). He is an alumnus of Moishe House London and studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion a lifetime ago, when he was what you might call frum. He is currently the services coordinator for Grassroots Jews.

Benjamin Sweiry

Ben is project manager for Maccabi GB's Antisemitism in Sport project in partnership with the Office of HM Government's Independent Advisor on Antisemitism, and working closely with CST and Kick It Out. He is from NW London, a big Fulham fan and privileged to be educating about Antisemitism in the world of sport everyday.

Sydney Switzer

Sydney is a Jewish educator and artist working with diverse Jewish communities, from her native Canada to her current home in Scotland, as well as in Poland, Israel and India. She makes use of traditional methods and skills to explore ideas of Jewish identity, land, home and traditions, blending textiles, photography, writing and community.