MEET OUR 2024 LOCAL PRESENTERS

From all across Aotearoa, meet your 2024 LIMMUD NZ presenters!

Click image for link to presenter's sessions

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 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).	ADAM Gluckman Adam (he/him) was born in Los Angeles, California and has lived all over CA and NY 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 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, his least favourite thing is filling up on too much holiday food.	ANNALIESE Rosa Brown Annaliese is an artist born and raised in Auckland and 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.
ARIEL Levinson-Waldman Ariel is an American lawyer and since 2017 has been the Founding Director of Tzedek DC, a nonprofit public interest center in Washington. Drawing from the Jewish teachings of “Tzedek, tzedek tirdof, their mission is to safeguard the legal rights of low income DC residents dealing with the devastating consequences of abusive debt collection practices. Ariel has served in President Obama's administration in the DC Office of the Attorney General and as a lawyer for the US House of Representatives.	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.	BARBARA Sumner Author of The Gallows Bird (Pantera Press, 2024), & Tree of Strangers (Massey Uni Press, 2020) Barbara is fascinated by epigenetic memory. In her latest historical novel, she wrote about a fictional character Mendel Finkelstein, only to discover an ancestor with the same name, location & trade. “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 reclaim a small fragment of our shared DNA.
BRYAN Walpert Bryan is the author of 9 books in poetry, fiction and criticism, most recently the novel Entanglement (Mākaro Press) was named best book of 2021 by NZ Listener and short-listed for the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the 2022 Ockham NZ Book Awards; Late Sonata (Brio Books), winner of the 2020 Seizure Viva La Novella prize & Brass Band to Follow (Otago UP) included among the top 10 poetry collections of 2021 by the NZ Listener. He is professor of creative writing at Massey University	DANIEL Josephs Daniel has been a resident of Moishe House Auckland for three years. He is also a board member of Beth Shalom. 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.	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.
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.	DAVID Menkes David is an academic psychiatrist with a background in psychology and pharmacology (MD 1982, PhD 1983, Yale). Since completing specialist training in Dunedin he's worked as a liaison psychiatrist in NZ & the UK. His role includes scholarly publication, teaching & research supervision. With expertise in pharmacology of drug treatments in psychiatry, he contributes to the WHO Centre for International Drug Monitoring, PHARMAC's Mental Health Advisory Comm & the International Soc. of Drug Bulletins.	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 and also creates pottery, both Judaica and alternative pots.
ILLANA Stein Illana (she/her) is an international director & dramaturg based in NYC. Directing credits include tour of Julius of Caesar for Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival & co-writer/director of Hans and Sophie, garnering five DFW Critic Awards including Outstanding Director & Outstanding New Play. She is a Guest Director for NY University Tisch / Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute. She is the Program Director for the emerging artist program for the Alliance for Jewish Theatre.	JESSICA Young Dr Jessica Young is a sociologist & senior research fellow in the School of Health at Te Herenga Waka - Victoria Uni, Wellington. Her PhD focused on the terminally ill considering assisted dying & when the End of Life Choice Act passed, her post-doctoral research follows people's experiences using the assisted dying process, their families & providers. She is currently leading the 1st national study 'Exploring the early experiences of the assisted dying in Aotearoa NZ" with $1.4m funding.	JONATHAN Adler Born and raised in North London, Jonathan was enticed to NZ by a Kiwi and loved the place so much, he got the passport. He is a consultant doctor specialising in palliative medicine & 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 use compassion with their patients, the ethics of care for people at life’s end and sourcing good coffee during a chaotic working day!
KEREN Segal Keren has always been passionate about Jewish history & 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.	KRIS Clancy Kristopher moved to NZ in 2019 from Houston, Texas. He graduated from the University of Houston & was a European History and Psychology teacher for 12 years. He became Educational Director of the Holocaust Centre of NZ in November 2019 and has worked to expand the educational programmes as well as it's online presence to help students & teachers with Holocaust education. Throughout the year Kris works with students and teachers to enhance their Holocaust education.	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.
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.	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.	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.