Presenters: S

Sarah Sallon

Sarah Sallon has worked as a physician and researcher at Hadassah Hospital Jerusalem, for many years. Her areas of interest in research include ancient medicines and healing in eastern medical traditions and the flora of Eretz Israel including their history, ethnobotany and conservation. In 2005 her team germinated the most ancient seed ever grown, a 2,000-year-old date seed discovered during the excavations of Masada by Yigal Yadin. More recently the team has germinated additional ancient date seeds from the Judean desert and, in collaboration with French and Swiss researchers, examined their genetic heritage. These studies provide a fascinating insight into the Judean Date Palm, once an iconic symbol of ancient Israel but which disappeared centuries ago, a victim of war, upheaval and agricultural disruption.

Hagai M. Segal

Hagai M. Segal is a multi-award-winning and globally renowned expert on geopolitics, terrorism and Middle-East affairs. A lecturer at New York University London, he is also a consultant who has advised a range of public, private and NGO sector organisations in over 30 countries. Hagai has participated in Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, and served for a decade on the London First Security & Resilience Advisory Board, the UK Board of the South African Afrika Tikkun charity, and continues to sit on the Advisory Board of Solutions Not Sides. Hagai has participated in past Limmuds from Manchester to LA to New Zealand!

Nicola Shindler

Nicola Shindler is a television producer making many dramas for many different channels. She established Red Production Company in 1998 producing distinct and award winning shows including, Queer As Folk, Clocking Off, Scott&Bailey, Happy Valley, The Stranger and Years and Years. In 2021 she has produced ‘Finding Alice’ for ITV, ‘Traces’ for BBC1 and ‘It’s a Sin’ for Channel 4. At the end of 2020 Nicola left Red and has set up a new production company, Quay Street Production.

Daniel Raphael Silverstein

Daniel Raphael Silverstein is a rabbi, educator, meditation teacher and MC/poet. He lives in Israel with his family, where he directs Applied Jewish Spirituality, an online portal which makes the transformative spiritual wisdom of our tradition accessible to all who seek it. He is also a faculty member at Romemu Yeshiva and the Conservative Yeshiva. Daniel received rabbinic ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School in New York after graduating from the Universities of Cambridge and Warwick. His recent teaching clients include the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, Nishmat, IDC Herzliya and the Orthodox Union.

Jon Sopel

Jon Sopel has been the BBC North America Editor since 2014. He also presents the Americast podcast with Emily Maitlis and Anthony Zurcher. He has interviewed Barack Obama, clashed at numerous news conferences with Donald Trump, and been a fixture on our screens covering the Trump Presidency, 2020 election and tumultuous handover to President Biden. His first two books on the US, "If Only They Didn’t Speak English" and "A Year At The Circus" are bestsellers. His new book "UnPresidented" came out in January and is his personal diary of an election like no other.