Fest delights
NATHAN ABRAMS is a senior lecturer in film studies at Bangor University, a popular Limmud presenter and author on many topics in Jewish history and culture, including Jews and Sex and Caledonian Jews
SHARON ALEXANDER – a Limmud and Fest favourite – teaches Jewish gospel singing styles, encouraging the use of music and song to make prayer a truly spiritual experience. She presently lives in Basel, Switzerland, where she leads services for Migvan, a new progressive Jewish congregation. At Fest she will be coaxing us all into lifting our hearts with song.
FUNK’N’STEIN THE BAND is an Israeli based funk dance band. They are on a mission to spread the funk, check out their website
JEREMY GORDON is the rabbi of New London Synagogue. His passions include Limmud, cycling in the Peak District, Midrash and his family, though not necessarily in that order!
VANESSA HIDARY, ‘The Hebrew Mamita’, is an extraordinary hip-hop performance poet. Her writing is influenced by growing up Sephardi mixed with the different ethnic backgrounds of her native New York. Check out her website
JEWDYSSEE is a German Jewish music project led by Maya Saban, which fuses club culture and yiddishkeit. Accordion meets club beats, celebrating Jewish tradition in a very different way. Guaranteed to make you dance til you drop.
MICHAEL KAGAN (originally of London and for 32 years Jerusalem) is a high-tech entrepreneur and the developer and teacher of ‘Holistic Judaism’ and the author of the popular ‘Holistic Haggadah’. He will be raising questions about Judaism and Jews and climate change (the only debate is whether we will actually do something) as well as presenting a Jewish/Sufi approach to understanding the divine.
MAUREEN KENDLER, a Limmud favourite, is head of educational programming at the London School of Jewish Studies, a UJIA Ashdown Fellow and was named by the London Jewish Cultural Centre as Educator of the Year 2004. She's a regular BBC broadcaster and reviews books for the Jewish Chronicle.
SHIRA KLINE, also known as SHIRLALA, is a very popular American musician for children and families. This will be her second Limmud Fest and she's back with a new album on ecology.
JOSH LAKE has spent the last fourteen years leading Jewish nature programming for Jewish communities throughout the United States, Canada and Israel. He’s a graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary and has continued his education by trekking and meditating through our amazing world, bringing Jewish traditions alive as a hike becomes a walk through creation. Visit his website
FRAN LANDESMAN, lyricist, poet and beat generation survivor, the poet laureate of lovers and losers. She lives in London where she regularly performs with her son Miles Davis Landesman and writes songs with composer Simon Wallace. Her songs have become jazz standards, recorded by the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Georgie Fame and Barbra Streisand.
JEREMIAH LOCKWOOD, New York indie musician, driving force behind The Sway Machinery, steeped equally in his family's cantorial tradition and in blues, will be coming as a solo performer and educator.
HELENA MILLER is the Director of Research and Evaluation at the UJIA, London. As well as her wide professional involvement in Jewish Education, she uses the visual arts to explore Torah ideas
HOWARD SCHWARTZ is a three-times winner of the National Jewish Book Award and master storyteller and Jewish folklorist. He is the editor of four important collections of Jewish folklore: Elijah's Violin, Miriam's Tambourine, Lilith's Cave and Gabriel's Palace. He is also the author of Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism, which won the National Jewish Book Award in 2005. His most recent book is Leaves from the Garden of Eden: One Hundred Classic Jewish Tales. Check out his website
DANIEL SINCLAIR is a professor of Jewish Law and Jurisprudence and a rabbi. His sessions will explore the interface of traditional halacha (Jewish law) and modern liberal ethics.
SUE SURKES is from the beautiful Jerusalem Botanical Gardens. She will be leading sessions for children and families exploring the natural world.
RAPHAEL ZARUM is the Chief Executive of the London School of Jewish Studies. He has a passion for texts and will be teaching the Torah of the eternal vision of Eden.