Presenters - M

Organisation: Leo Baeck College

Jonathan Magonet is Emeritus Professor and former Principal of Leo Baeck College and a Vice President of the Movement for Reform Judaism. He is the editor of the new edition of the Reform Siddur, Forms of Prayer, due in 2008, and co-edited its predecessor, the 1977 edition, with Lionel Blue.

Sessions:

• A Siddur for the Twenty-First Century
• God Is Also a Character in the Bible
• God!? (4 of 4)
• Tell me Text
• Who Is A Jew?

Website: http://www.myspace.com/hadarmanor

Hadar Manor is a London-based Israeli singer songwriter, who has been described as 'a prodigy' (The Observer), 'an outstanding talent' (Melvyn Bragg) and 'a cross between Kate Bush and Bjork, but with a middle Eastern twist' (BBC5 Live). Having played at LimmudFest in 2005, she is delighted to be back at Limmud for this year's Conference. Come and be touched by her music.

Sessions:

• Hadar Manor Performance
• Hadar Manor Workshop

Organisation: Yad Vashem
Website: http://www.yadvashem.org.il

Orit Margaliot is completing a masters’ degree in Holocaust Art at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She has worked at the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem over the past seven years. She coordinates the Croatian, Slovakian, Polish and Czech desk of the European Department of the School.

Sessions:

• Who Is Samuel Bak?
• Why Didn't You Come Before the War?
• Why Didn't You Come Before the War?
• Why Didn't You Come Before the War?

Organisation: Jewish Agency for Israel, Liberal Judaism
Website: http://www.liberaljudaism.org/israel

Noa Marom is the Jewish Agency shlicha to Liberal Judaism and LJY-Netzer and is looking forward to her second year in the UK. Born in Israel, Noa moved around as the daughter of a shaliach. She is passionate about Israel, Progressive Judaism, singing and her family.

Sessions:

• Shirim Min Ha'aretz: Israeli Songs in Jewish Song Books

Organisation: Folkertsma Institute for Talmud
Website: http://www.folkertsmastichting.nl

Tzvi Marx grew up in New York where he became a rabbi after graduating from Yeshiva University. He was educational director of the Jerusalem Shalom Hartman Institute and is currently director of the Folkertsma Institute for Talmud in Holland and a lecturer at Radboud University. He wrote ‘Disability in Jewish Law’.

Sessions:

• Ambivalence Towards Handicap (2 of 4)
• Inclusion or Exclusion: Exodus and Sinai (3 of 4)
• Jewish Sensitivity Training Towards the Specially Challenged (4 of 4)
• Sensitising and Desensitising Towards Handicap (1 of 4)

Organisation: University of Manchester
Website: http://josephmaslen.googlepages.com/

Joseph Maslen is a doctoral student at the University of Manchester, researching Jewish life-stories as part of his thesis on the recollections of members of the left-wing youth movements of the 1930s in England and Scotland.

Sessions:

• Jewish Lives on the Left in Twentieth-Century Britain

Amnon Melzer has a first class degree in mathematical statistics and is a qualified actuary working in Cape Town, South Africa. He is interested in all things mathematical, particularly when they have a Jewish aspect.

Sessions:

• A Fascinating Bankruptcy Problem from the Talmud, and a Solution

Illana Melzer is a consultant living in Cape Town, South Africa, where she focuses on analysing and understanding the changing nature of consumer markets in her country. Her main area of interest is the poor as a market and on making markets - primarily financial services - work for the poor.

Sessions:

• Frum Africa

Merkavah is a new, London-based theatre company. It aims to bring Jewish wisdom and storytelling to life; to use theatre to explore Judaism and Jewish issues in exciting and original ways; to be a platform for Jewish theatre-makers; and to explore the rich interface between performance and participation.

Sessions:

• Yeshivah of the Absurd

Organisation: american jewish world service
Website: http://www.ajws.org

For nine years Ruth Messinger has been the president of American Jewish World Service, a $30 million international development organisation committed to alleviating poverty in the developing world, making service a Jewish rite of passage and educating Jews in global responsibility. She was formerly in local politics in New York.

Sessions:

• Circles of Obligation
• Day Trip to Beth Shalom and Aegis Trust
• Genocide in Darfur - Our Responsibility
• Tell me Text
• Why Volunteer?

Fabiana Meyochas is an Israeli actress and drama tutor. She's appeared in leading parts at the main theatres in Israel (Viola - Midsummer Night's Dream; Olga - Three Sisters and more) and on television and cinema. She won the best actress prize at Akko fringe festival.

Sessions:

• Why Didn't You Come Before the War?
• Why Didn't You Come Before the War?
• Why Didn't You Come Before the War?

Organisation: SWESRS

Maurice Michaels is senior rabbi of South West Essex and Settlement Reform Synagogue, a governor of Clore Tikva School and teaches Practical Rabbinics at Leo Baeck College. His primary interests include working with young people, interfaith work, his five grandchildren, studying when he finds the time, and sleeping.

Sessions:

• Dozing or a Deep Sleep
• Sitting, Standing or Lying Down?

Organisation: UJIA
Website: http://www.ujia.org

Helena Miller is the Director of Research and Evaluation at the UJIA, London. She has a doctorate in Jewish education and has taught in a diverse range of educational contexts. She has written widely on aspects of Jewish education.

Sessions:

• Teach Your Children Well
• The Four Children in the Pesach Haggadah - 80 Years of Images

Malcolm Miller is a musicologist, pianist, and shofar specialist and is Director of the ‘Forum for Israeli Music’ of the Jewish Music Institute, SOAS. He holds a doctorate from Kings College London, he lectures for the Open University and City Literary Institute and his articles include many on Israeli and Jewish music.

Sessions:

• Jewish Music in Britain Since Henry VIII
• Shofar Workshop
• Sixty Years of Israeli Classical Music

Organisation: Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Website: http://www.fmams.org.il

Yonatan Mirvis is the International Director of the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem's academic specialist in adult education and the new subject of social entrepreneurship. He lectures on these subjects to graduate students in the fields of Jewish education, non-profit management, business administration and Jewish philanthropy.

Sessions:

• Social Entrepreneurship in Israel - a Growing Sector (4 of 4)
• Social Entrepreneurship: the Use of Entrepreneurial Strategies for the Enrichment of Our Jewish Existence (1 of 4)
• Strategies for Social Innovation in the Jewish Community (2 of 4)
• Using Entrepreneurial Strategies to Further a Jewish Social Vision (3 of 4)

Tough to pigeonhole, David Morgan is a songwriter, singer, producer, arranger and educator. He is at Limmud with Neshama Carlebach, a long-time collaborator, as well as in his own right. His goals are always to bring love, skill and dedication to every project he's involved in.

Sessions:

• Anatomy of a Niggun
• Artistry and Spirituality - What Do You Have to Say?

Organisation: Jewish Women's Aid
Website: http://www.jwa.org.uk

Abigail Morris became Chief Executive of Jewish Women's Aid (JWA) in May. JWA raises awareness of domestic violence in the Jewish community and helps women victims and their children. She has been coming to Limmud for the last ten years. She is a keen runner, has three girls and lives in Islington.

Sessions:

• Do the Charedi Beat Their Wives?
• V'yarutz V'yomer: He Ran and He Talked; or Run and Chat
• V'yarutz V'yomer: He Ran and He Talked; or Run and Chat
• V'yarutz V'yomer: He Ran and He Talked; or Run and Chat

Organisation: Faith Matters
Website: http://www.faith-matters.co.uk

The Director of Faith Matters, set up in 2005, Fiyaz Mughal works to provide platforms for discourse and dialogue between Muslim and Jewish communities in the UK, Palestine and Israel. Appointed to be the Extremism Task Force after 7/7, he also writes for the Jewish News.

Sessions:

• Bosnia - Resonances of the Holocaust for Muslims?
• Launch of the Muslims Against Anti-Semitism Group