MEET OUR 2024 PRESENTERS
From Scotland, Israel, United Kingdom, United States, Australia and all across Aotearoa, meet your 2024 LIMMUD NZ presenters!
INTERNATIONAL SPEAKERS
Anton Goodman
Israel
Anton Goodman is a peace activist living in Israel. He is the Director of Partnerships at Rabbis for Human Rights, and serves on the board of Oz VeShalom the Orthodox Jewish Peace Movement in Israel. Anton has worked to promote partnership and equality for Arab citizens of Israel at the Abraham Initiatives; built new initiatives in Diaspora-Israel relations as the Jewish Agency emissary to Washington DC; and designed Israel education programs as the director of the World Bnei Akiva Leadership Institute.
Ben Freeman
Scotland
Founder of the modern Jewish Pride movement, a leader, thinker, and educator, Ben M. Freeman is the author of the seminal Jewish Pride: Rebuilding a People and its follow up, Reclaiming our Story: The Pursuit of Jewish Pride. He is due to publish the finale of his Jewish Pride trilogy, The Jews: An Indigenous People in 2025. Educating, inspiring and empowering, his work focuses on Jewish identity and historical and contemporary Jew-hatred. A Holocaust scholar for over fifteen years, Ben came to prominence during the Corbyn Labour Jew-hate crisis in the UK and quickly became one of his generation’s leading Jewish thinkers and voices against Jew-hate.
Daniel Yesgar
Sydney
Jacob Sacher
Melbourne
Joel Hoffman
United States
Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz
United Kingdom
Daniel Yesgar, a notable figure in Jewish studies and finance, serves as a Senior Manager at NAB Private, managing the wealth of Ultra-High-Net-Worth families. On Shabbat and Chagim, he engages as a Rabbi speaker in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs Jewish community.
Daniel holds a B.A. degree with a double major in Economics and Business Management, alongside a rabbinical Ordination from leading Yeshivot in Israel, a B.A. in Jewish Studies, and a Doctor of Jewish Studies, Honoris Causa. His diverse published books range from Jewish justice rulings and exemptions to cultural influences on international advertising.
As a dedicated public speaker, he shares Torah insights weekly, advocating for intergenerational wealth and philanthropy within the Jewish community. Alongside his wife, Atara (and two sons), they organize Shabbatons and Pesach retreats for families in the Blue Mountains, Australia.
Jacob Sacher is a comedian based in Naarm (Melbourne). He has performed his unique brand of Jewish comedy in multiple countries around the world, and is excited to add Aotearoa to the list. Offstage he is a masters by research student in Jewish Cultural Practice (Jewish Comedy) at the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation, and is the Chairperson of the NFP comedy theatre Corner Shop Comedy.
A popular speaker, Dr. Joel M. Hoffman focuses on "bringing the Bible to life" and is known for his "fresh insights and interpretations about religious life in the 21st century." He has been invited to appear before audiences on all six inhabitable continents, including at Limmud conferences around the world, at the world's second largest Rotary club, and for a TED talk on translating the Bible. He has authored or contributed to some two dozen books, and served on the faculties of Brandeis University in Waltham, MA, and HUC-JIR in New York City. When not teaching or writing, he usually has a camera in his hand. He lives in the New York City area.
Rabba Dr Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz studied at Cambridge, Hebrew University, and University College London, and has published Challenge and Conformity: The Religious Lives of Orthodox Jewish Women (Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2021). She is a Teaching Fellow at the London School of Jewish Studies, edits books for the Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, presents at Limmud, and has lectured at the universities of Cambridge, Oxford, King's College London, and Vassar College, NY. Active in interfaith, she has led Scriptural Reasoning groups, and is a co-founder of Azara, a new initiative bringing text learning open to everyone.
Rachelle Unreich
Melbourne
Ron Kampeas
United States
Rachelle Unreich has been a journalist for 38 years, contributing to publications including The Sydney Morning Herald, Harper’s Bazaar and Rolling Stone. Her first book, A Brilliant Life, is a memoir about her late mother, a Holocaust survivor. It has been published in Australia, New Zealand, US, Canada, UK and South Africa and is set for its first translation. It was shortlisted for The Age Book of the Year and the ABIAs Matt Richell New Writer of the Year awards.
Ron Kampeas is JTA's Washington Bureau Chief. He worked previously at The Associated Press, where he spent more than a decade in its bureaus in Jerusalem, New York, London and, most recently, Washington. He has reported from Northern Ireland, Afghanistan, Bosnia and West Africa. While living in Israel, he also worked for the Jerusalem Post. He has won several Rockowers, Jewish media’s premiere journalism award. He has led JTA’s political coverage of every election since 2004.
Over his career he has interviewed a diverse array of personalities including Yehuda Amichai, Barack Obama, Olivia Newton John, the Taliban’s education minister and the Wiggles. He got his start working for Jeremy Jones at the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies.
local presenters
Abby Spilg-Harris
My name is Abby Spilg-Harris (she/her) and I live in Ōtepoti Dunedin having been born and brought up in Glasgow, Scotland, with my family originally coming from Eastern Europe.
In my formal mahi I work as a Social Worker in Former Refugee Health and in another role as a Therapist with Children, Adolescents and Families.
I am currently the Co-President of the Dunedin Jewish Congregation (DJC).
Ariel Levinson-Waldman
Ariel Levinson-Waldman is an American lawyer. Since 2017, he has been the Founding Director of Tzedek DC, a nonprofit public interest center in Washington, D.C. Drawing from the Jewish teachings of “Tzedek, tzedek tirdof,” or “Justice, justice you shall pursue,” Tzedek DC’s mission is to safeguard the legal rights and financial health of DC residents with low incomes dealing with the often devastating consequences of abusive debt collection practices and other consumer related issues. Previously, Ariel served in President Obama's administration; in the DC Office of the Attorney General; and as a lawyer for the U.S. House of Representatives
Bryan Walpert
Bryan Walpert is the author of nine books of poetry, fiction and criticism, most recently the novel Entanglement (Mākaro Press), named a best book of 2021 the New Zealand Listener and shorted -listed for the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the 2022 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards; Late Sonata (Brio Books), winner of the 2020 Seizure Viva La Novella prize; and Brass Band to Follow (Otago UP), included among the top 10 poetry collections of 2021 by the New Zealand Listener. His poems, stories or essays have appeared in journals or anthologies in the U.S., UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. He is a professor of creative writing at Massey University in Auckland.
David Cohen
David Cohen is a journalist, editor and essayist. He is the author of eight books and writes frequently about Jewish subjects. He lives in Wellington.
Illana Stein
Illana Stein (she/her) is an international director and dramaturg based in NYC. Directing credits include tour of Julius of Caesar for Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival and co-writer and director of Hans and Sophie that premiered at Amphibian Stage in Texas, garnering five DFW Critic Awards including Outstanding Director and Outstanding New Play. She is a Guest Director for New York University Tisch / Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute. Ms. Stein is the Program Director for the emerging artist program for the Alliance for Jewish Theatre, is an Artistic Producer for Jewish Plays Project, and serves on the board of the League of Professional Theatre Women.
Keren Segal
Keren has always been passionate about Jewish history and culture, arts and working with children. Homeschooling her daughters for the last 4 years, she has incorporated Jewish learning throughout this journey. She is the co-president of the Dunedin Jewish Congregation and has been a board member since 2015.
She is a social-cognitive psychologist and works as an associate editor in an international journal in psychology.
Sacha Sampson
Sacha has recently finished being a youth movement madricha for Bnei Akiva & AZYC (Australasian Zionist Youth Council). Alongside her university studies, she works as a Yachad Jewish Values teacher at Beth Shalom, and is current on the Zionist Federation NZ exec. She is passionate about young Jews being involved in & connected to their communities and Judaism.
Adam Gluckman
Adam (he/him) was born in Los Angeles, California and has lived in various parts of California and New York before moving to Wellington about six and a half years ago (The why? might depend on the day, but it wasn't for the weather!) He loves trying on different hats and learning about the world through different lenses. He has recently returned to full-time study at Victoria University for pursuit of a post-grad degree in Statistics / Data Science. His favourite thing about being Jewish is filling up on holiday food, while his least favourite thing is filling up on too much holiday food.
Atara Yesgar
Atara is a Senior Occupational Therapist, working with children and young people to increase independence through functional skills. She has gained diverse experience in the disability sector and also in running Jewish programming having lived in Melbourne, London and New York, before settling in Sydney.
Daniel Josephs
Daniel Josephs has been a resident of Moishe House Auckland for three years. He is also a board member of Beth Shalom. Formerly, he was heavily involved in Habonim Dror, both in Aotearoa and in the UK, where he served on the UK Mazkirut (national executive committee). By day, Daniel is an employment lawyer.
David Menkes
David Menkes is an academic psychiatrist with a background in psychology and pharmacology (MD 1982; PhD 1983, Yale). Since completing specialist training in Dunedin (FRANZCP 1989) he has worked as a liaison psychiatrist in NZ and the UK. His academic role includes scholarly publication (200+ articles and chapters, h-index 31), teaching, and research supervision. With expertise in the pharmacology of drug treatments in psychiatry, he contributes to the WHO Centre for International Drug Monitoring, PHARMAC’s Mental Health Advisory Committee, and the International Society of Drug Bulletins.
Jessica Young
Dr Jessica Young is a sociologist and senior research fellow in the School of Health at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. Her PhD (Otago) focused on the perspectives of terminally ill people who would consider choosing assisted dying. Since the End of Life Choice Act passed, her post-doctoral research has been investigating the experiences of people using the assisted dying process, their families, and assisted dying providers. She leads several projects on assisted dying including the first national study ‘Exploring the early experiences of the assisted dying service in Aotearoa New Zealand’, with $1.4m funding from the Health Research Council
Kris Clancy
Kristopher Clancy moved to New Zealand in June 2019 from Houston, Texas. Before moving to New Zealand, Kris graduated from the University of Houston and was a
teacher for 12 years, having taught European History and Psychology. He joined the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand in November 2019 as Education Director. Since
starting with HCNZ, he has worked to expand the educational programmes offered at the centre as well as expand the online presence of the Centre to help students and teachers with Holocaust education. Throughout the year, Kris works with students and teachers to enhance their Holocaust education and bring the relevant lessons of the Holocaust alive for them today.
Vivienne Ullrich
In an earlier life Vivienne was a lawyer and Family Court judge. She has had poems published in Poetry New Zealand (now Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook), Takahe and Turbine/ Kapohau. Her first collection ‘We came from Hamburg’ was published in 2022. Those poems
tell a Jewish family story and a story of the Holocaust. A new collection is to be published later this year.
Annaliese Rosa Brown
Annaliese is an artist born and raised in Auckland, currently based in Wellington. Their work centres around making clay golems, but they also work in video, stop motion and painting. Annaliese's creative practice is informed by art therapy and spirituality.
Barbara Sumner
Barbara Sumner is the author of The Gallows Bird (Pantera Press, 2024), and Tree of Strangers (Massey University Press, 2020). She is fascinated by epigenetic memory. In her just-released historical novel, Barbara found herself writing a fictional character called Mendel Finkelstein, only to much later discover an ancestor with the same name, location and trade. She asks: “Did I conjure him? Or maybe in his long patience, he conjured me, placing himself in my mind like a flag so that I would find him and, in doing so, reclaim a small fragment of our shared DNA. And then I wonder what if, as Jews, with our endless history of dispossession, all we really own is our genealogy?”
Danny Bultitude
Danny Bultitude hails from Porirua and holds a master’s degree in English Literature. His poetry has been published in Ōrongohau | Best New Zealand Poems, Landfall, The Spinoff, Minarets and more. He was a recipient of the 2019 Newsroom / Surrey Hotel Writer’s Residency and has been a two-time winner of the Bell Hill Apartments Poetry Prize.
Debbie Miller
Debbie Miller is a student of Jewish meditation. She studied with Esther Rose in Jerusalem for six years, doing a listening meditation utilizing the spherot. Debbie is a long time student of Judaism. She also creates pottery, both Judaica and alternative pots.
Jonathan Adler
Having been born and raised in North London, Jonathan was enticed over to NZ by a Kiwi and loved the place so much, he got the passport too. He is a consultant doctor specialising in palliative medicine, and 24 years ago established the Wellington Hospital Palliative Care Service where he still works. His professional interests include teaching skills which improve how clinicians can compassionately talk with the people they are looking after, the ethics of care for people at life’s end; and (a vital one this), the best ways of sourcing good coffee during a chaotic working day.
Monica Tempian
Victoria University of Wellington academic, author and editor, Dr Monica Tempian’s work focuses on the inter-related research areas of Jewish-German Studies, Diaspora and Exile Studies, and Memory Studies. She is the author of Maria Dronke: Glimpses of an Acting Life.
Yael Gezentsvey
Yael Gezentsvey is a Wellington based multi-cultural arts practitioner. Artistic Director of Kavanah Productions, she is passionate about storytelling, and creating works that nurture personal and community wellbeing. Yael is an actor, writer, director, voice-over artist, producer, publicist and mother of two.
Zachariah Miller
Zachariah is a student of meditation and yoga. Together with Debbie Miller, he will run a guided meditation and walk session on Sunday morning.
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