Sandra Abudaram

Sandra Abudaram is a senior business analyst and project manager based in Istanbul. Sandra has worked as a consultant on software security and later on Oracle applications. She is currently working on Bancassurance projects. She holds a BA in Computer Science and Maths and an MBA from Istanbul Bilgi University. Sandra is a Sephardic Jew, having both Italian and Turkish nationalities. She knows several languages including English, French, Spanish and German. Sandra has been a Limmud participant since 2005 and also volunteers for several Jewish organisations in Istanbul.

Robyn Ashworth-Steen

Robyn is the principal rabbi at Manchester Reform Synagogue. Rabbi Robyn studied Theology at Newnham College, Cambridge and then worked as a human rights lawyer. Robyn is a passionate social justice activist, particularly through her work with Greater Manchester Citizens (a broad-based community organising movement) and Tzelem. Rabbi Robyn has published journal articles and other works, including a chapter in the recently published book – ‘Mapping Faith: Theologies of Migration and Community’. She also regularly appears on local and national media, is a chaplain at Manchester University and was named in the Jewish News’ 40 under 40 in 2020. Robyn is interested in creating relational, textured, activist communities built by individuals who are enabled to step into their own power and collectively organise for a more just world.

Roland Brandman

Roland is the chairman of HaMakom, the leading British charity for Jewish mindfulness and meditation. He is also a professional chazzan, a lawyer and a member of the Athenaeum Club. He is currently writing a book on Jewish foundations for a meditative spirituality.

Andy Burnham

Andy Burnham was elected as Mayor of Greater Manchester in May 2017. Responsible for shaping the future of Greater Manchester, Andy’s priorities include ending rough sleeping, transforming Greater Manchester into one of the greenest city regions in Europe, and making Greater Manchester a great place to live, get on, and grow old. Before being elected Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy was MP for Leigh from 2001. In government, Andy has held Ministerial positions at the Home Office, Department of Health and the Treasury. In 2008 he became Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, before returning to Health as Secretary of State in 2009. In opposition, Andy has served as Shadow Education Secretary, Shadow Health Secretary and Shadow Home Secretary. Andy lives in Leigh, Greater Manchester, with his wife and three children. He is a keen supporter of Everton FC.

Daniel Cainer

Daniel is a multi-award winning songwriter, storyteller, broadcaster and a veteran of six off-Broadway runs, fifteen years at Edinburgh Fringe and concerts all around the world with his ever-evolving Jewish themed stories-in-song. He also writes music for TV, theatre, radio and synagogues and has recently written songs for Dillie Keane and Maureen Lipman amongst others. Little known fact: he often forgets to remember that he was a Womble. Daniel was ‘christened’ as The Comic Bard of Anglo Jewry by The Jewish Chronicle. Who knew?

Raphael Cohen-Almagor

Raphael Cohen-Almagor, DPhil Oxford University; Professor and Chair of Politics, Founding Director of the Middle East Study Group, University of Hull. Raphael taught, inter alia, at Oxford (UK), Jerusalem, Haifa (Israel), UCLA, Johns Hopkins (USA) and Nirma University (India). He was also Senior Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington DC, and Distinguished Visiting Professor, Faculty of Laws, University College London. Raphael has published extensively in the fields of politics, philosophy, media ethics, medical ethics, law, sociology and history, including most recently Confronting the Internet's Dark Side (2015) and Just, Reasonable Multiculturalism (forthcoming), both by Cambridge University Press.

Alexandra Cropper

Alexandra Cropper has been the curator at Manchester Jewish Museum since 2007. During her time, she has been responsible for the museum’s temporary exhibition programme and the care and development of the museum’s collection. As part of the museum’s redevelopment project, she is currently designing MJM’s new exhibition gallery due to open in 2021 and creating a digital platform to celebrate MJM’s incredible collection.

Aviva Dautch

Aviva Dautch is the Executive Director of Jewish Renaissance, the UK's quarterly Jewish arts magazine. She lectures on modern Jewish culture at the University of Roehampton, LSJS and JW3 and her poems, reviews and literary essays are widely published. Aviva is a regular contributor to courses and programmes for the British Library, British Museum and BBC Radio 4.

Margaret de Haas

Margaret has had over 40 years’ experience in the Law, as a Junior Barrister, and then as Queen’s Counsel. She was appointed a Circuit Judge in 2004. Margaret was the designated Family Judge for Cheshire and Merseyside and sat as a Deputy High Court Judge and Senior Circuit Judge in the Family Courts. She retired as a Judge on 31st August 2020, but continues to sit part-time as a Family Judge.

David Dee

David Dee is Associate Professor/Reader of Modern History at De Montfort University, Leicester. He has researched and written widely on the modern History of the British-Jewish community and is the author of Sport and British Jewry: Integration, Ethnicity and Anti-Semitism (Manchester, 2013) and The ‘Estranged Generation’? Social and Generational Change in Interwar British Jewry (London, 2017). He is currently working on a project on the History of immigrants and minorities in British boxing.

Liz Diament

Liz Diament is a senior educator at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. where she develops and implements curriculum for volunteer educators and manages school and general public tours. She also conducts innovative professional development for teachers around teaching critical thinking through art. She received a degree in Art History from Manchester University, (so is thrilled to be returning here!) and a Masters in Museum Education from Bank Street College of Education, New York. Liz is also passionate about using works of art to uncover connections to Jewish texts.

Max Dunbar

Max Dunbar is the CEO of Manchester Jewish Museum and is responsible for steering the museum’s ambitious redevelopment project.

Joseph Dweck

Rabbi Dweck is American born and studied at Yeshiva Hazon Ovadia under former Sephardi Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef z”l. Rabbi Dweck received rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Ovadia Yosef under the auspices of Sephardic Rabbinical College of Brooklyn. He also studied psychology and philosophy; reived a Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Studies from Excelsior College and an MA Degree in Jewish Education from Middlesex University at The London School of Jewish Studies. As Senior Rabbi, Rabbi Dweck is Deputy President of LSJS; a President of The Council of Christians and Jews and Ecclesiastical Authority of The Board of Deputies.

Yehudis Fletcher

Yehudis Fletcher is the founder of Nahamu, a think tank examining extremism in the Jewish community. She is an Independent Sexual Violence Advisor at Migdal Emunah and a student of social policy at Salford University.

Giles Fraser

Giles Fraser is a priest in South London. He is a journalist and broadcaster, having written for the Guardian and the Telegraph and currently writing for Unherd. He is a regular on the BBC’s Moral Maze and Thought for the Day. He taught philosophy at Oxford University and was Canon Cancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral. His book Chosen: Lost and Found between Christianity and Judaism is to be published by Penguin in April. His wife is Israeli.

Suzy Glaskie

Suzy Glaskie is a former PR boss who left behind an award-winning career in marketing to become a health coach. She qualified as one of the first Functional Medicine Certified Health Coaches in the UK and combines this with EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique – also known as tapping) to help clients via her practice, Peppermint Wellness. She also hosts Wellness Unwrapped – a highly rated podcast which features straight-talking conversations on physical, mental and emotional health. Her mission is to empower people to make small lifestyle changes to transform their wellbeing – and start to thrive.

Jenny Goodman

Dr Jenny Goodman has been practising Ecological Medicine for over 20 years, improving peoples’ health by addressing the nutritional and environmental factors that have such an impact on our bodies. These include everything we eat, drink and inhale, both indoors and outdoors, including synthetic chemicals we may be blissfully unaware of. Jenny is the author of “Staying Alive in Toxic Times: A Seasonal Guide to Lifelong Health”, published by Hodder and Stoughton in January 2020. She lives in North London with her husband, two adult children and a cat, but nothing else about her life is a cliché! Follow Jenny on: Instagram: @dr_jenny_goodman Facebook: @Dr_jenny_goodman Website: www.drjennygoodman.com

Nicholas Hytner

Nicholas Hytner is a theatre and film director and producer, born and educated in Manchester. He is director of the Bridge Theatre, which opened next to Tower Bridge in London in 2018. He was director of the National Theatre 2003-15. He was Associate Director of the Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester 1985-1989. He has directed plays and films by Alan Bennett (The Madness of King George, The History Boys, The Lady in the Van) and many of Shakespeare’s plays (A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Julius Caesar at the Bridge; Othello, Timon of Athens, Much Ado About Nothing at the National). His plans include a new theatre in King’s Cross, to open in 2022.

Clive Lawton

Clive, co-founder of Limmud worldwide, is an internationally acclaimed speaker and educationalist, working worldwide in the fields of educational development and diversity. He is currently CEO of the Commonwealth Jewish Council, scholar-in-residence at JW3 in London, an NHS tribunal Chair and a magistrate on the Bristol Bench. Founder of the field of Holocaust education for school aged children in the UK in the late 70s, Clive was President of Shap, the leading lobby and development group for RE in the UK. He has published over a dozen books, broadcasts widely and in 2016 was appointed an OBE for services to Education and the Jewish Community.

Dovid Lewis

Rabbi Dovid Lewis is a native of Manchester and father of two gorgeous girls. He likes cycling, single malts, Man United and good food, so decided to become a Rabbi.

Jacqueline Lewis

Jackie Rose is appearing solo for Manchester Limmud. She is co-author of ‘To Life! Healthy Jewish Food’, a beautiful recipe book which aims to improve the way we eat and to make readers more mindful of the impact of diet on their health. Jackie is a GP/nutritional therapist and is passionate about her work. She is also co-chair of Salford Healthy Communities, advocating for the health of Jewish families living in Broughton.

Chava Mirel

Chava Mirel is an internationally acclaimed singer, musician, composer, recording artist, prayer leader and activist known for her rich, luxurious vocals and rhythmic phrasing. She has toured and recorded with a spectrum of artists from Reggie Watts to punk icon Ari Up. She is currently musician in residence at Temple de Hirsch Sinai in Seattle.

Gareth Redston

Gareth Redston is Head of Programmes at Manchester Jewish Museum and has over 20 years of experience in the informal learning sector, including at Museum of Science and Industry and Chester Zoo.

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.

Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz

Lindsey studied at Cambridge, Hebrew University, UCL, and now Yeshivat Maharat. She teaches at King's College London & is a Research Fellow at LSJS. Her first book 'Challenge and Conformity: The Religious Lives of Orthodox Jewish Women' comes out in February 2021. She’s now a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Manchester University, researching the history of Limmud!

Marie van de Zyl

Marie van der Zyl was elected President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews in May 2018, having become a Deputy in 2012 and elected Vice President in 2015. She has played a crucial part in the fight against antisemitism in Labour, on the far right and elsewhere, and represents the UK’s Jewish community on the world stage. In her professional life, Marie is a Solicitor specialising in employment law.

Adam Wagner

Adam Wagner is a barrister specialising in human rights at Doughty Street Chambers in London. He is the founder and chair of human rights charity EachOther and hosts the Better Human Podcast.

Raphael Zarum

Dean of London School of Jewish Studies (LSJS), the UK’s centre for training, teaching and scholarship. Lectures in Jewish Education and Classical Texts. Trains teachers and rabbis. Semicha from Montefiore Kollel and Rabbi Sacks, PhD Theoretical Physics, MA Adult Education, graduate of Mandel School in Jerusalem. Teaches across the Jewish world.

Miriam Zendle

Miriam is a body positive yoga teacher who believes that yoga is for every body and every mind. Her organisation LIT Yoga (standing for 'Loving, Inclusive, Transformational Yoga') offers one-to-one and group classes tailored to you and your needs, focusing on technique, inclusivity, focus, strength and fun. She’s pregnancy and post-natal qualified and Accessible Yoga-trained and teaches a range of styles and practices every week on Zoom.

Tony Zendle

Born in the small shtetl of Crumpsall, North Manchester, Tony has a background as an educator and communicator, and is a trivia maven collecting the arcane and obscure, especially if Jewish. In recent years he has become aware that a great deal of Jewish History is being forgotten or ignored. Tony has been working hard to rescue it from oblivion. To this end he has written a number of books, including “The Definitive Guide to Jewish Miscellany and Trivia”, and regularly gives talks to large and small groups. He is a member of the Jewish Historical Society of England.