Presenters 2017

Ilai Aharonov

Reporter

Galina Aksenova

Theatre historian, screenwriter, direct as well as a specialist in history of cinematography and silent film

Grigory Asmolov

PhD candidate at ‘New media, innovation and literacy’ program at the LSE

Jonathan Arkush

Barrister and agent specialising in real estate, trade and bequests

Avi Benayahu

Former press secretary of the Israeli Defense Army and director of the ‘Galei Tzahal’ radio station. Currently a journalist

Misha Beshkin

Software developer, test designer, founder of the company KosherDev

David Bilhitz

Professor of Fundamental Rights course in the University of Johannesburg, director of SAIFAC center, general secretary of the International Association of constitutional rights and member of the South African Youth Academy of Sciences

David Bitan

Attorney, member of Knesset

Leonard Blavatnik

Entrepreneur

Andrey Borovsky

Artist and art historian

Erik Bulatov

Artist, one of the founders of the Sots Art movement. He is one of the most thought after modern Russian artists

Slava Brooke

Internet analyst, yoga instructor

Matthew Bronfman

Businessman, philanthropist, chairman of the international monitoring committee of Limmud FSU

Dan Brown

Founder of eJewishPhilanthropy

Robert Brown

Former adviser to Israel’s prime ministers Ehud Barak and Benjamin Netanyahu in matters of the Diaspora and relations with Christians communes

Josephin Burton

Artistic Director of international cross-arts organisation Dash Arts

Sandra Cahn

Co-Founder and chairperson of financial planning for Limmud FSU

Tamara Candala

Writer and playwright whose plays are very popular at the best European theatres

Victoria Chernyak

Blogger, vlogger, author of ‘Israel Today’ project

Chaim Chesler

Founder and chairman of the executive committee of Limmud FSU project

Carina Cockrell

Philologist

Doron Cohen

Editor

Marina Cohen

Choreographer

Yiftah Curiel

Diplomat

Rachel Dickson

Head of Curatorial Services at Ben Uri Gallery: Art, Identity and Migration and Partner at Dickson Rusell Art Management

Anton Dolin

Anton is a Film critic, journalist, columnist for ‘Evening Urgant’, TV show author of books about the film directors Lars Von Trier, Alexei German and Takeshi Kitano

Ilona Domnich

Opera singer

Semyon Dovzhik

Journalist

Vladimir Dribinski

Chief Program Officer responsible for networking projects and collaboration in many of the countries on which Global ORT functions (www.ort.org)

Victor Dubin

Engineer

Nechama Duek

Journalist and political commentator

Ira Dvoretskaya

Director of the children’s programs Department at the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center

Dimitri Feldman

Co-founder and member of many community and charity organisations

Aaron Frenkel

Businessman, philanthropist and president of Limmud FSU

Stephen Frosh

Professor and Pro-Vice-Master in the Department of Psychosocial Studies at Birkbeck, University of London

Anatoly Gakenberg

Attorney

Inna Gardiner-Krotova

Organisational psychologist

Aleksandra Geller

Psychotherapist and psychologist, specialising in the field of child development

Eli Gervits

Attorney

Andrew Gilbert

Head of UJIA

Michael Gilichinsky

Researcher of the physical arts, in the cross-section of traditional Jewish arts and modern design

Leonid Gluzman

Investor and entrepreneur

Dorit Golender

Vice president of external relations of the Charity Fund ‘Genesis’

Linor Goralik

Poet, writer and artist. Specialist on the theory of costumes

Boruch Gorin

Heads of the public relations department in the United Jewish Federation of Russia. Started the journal ‘LeChaim’

Marina Goutman

Certified organisational consultant and specialist on group dynamics

Marat Guelman

Russian collector, gallery manager and publicist

Yulia Gutkovich

Attorney

Menachem Hacohen

Member of Knesset

Yaniv Halily

London correspondent of ‘Yedioth Ahronoth’ newspaper

Lizaveta Hilman

Nutritionist

Malcolm Hoenlein

Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations. A Middle East specialist at the Foreign Policy Research Institute

David Hoffman

Barrister and author on human rights law, and a longstanding Limmudnik, who has been chair of Limmud International and co-chair of Limmud Fest and Manchester Day Limmud

Simon Johnson

Executive director of the British Jewish Leadership Council

Mendel Kalmenson

Rabbi of the Beyt Baruch community and executive director of Chabbad Belgravi

Loli Kantor

Photo essayist who focuses on culture, community and the human condition, most recently centering on Jewish life in Central and Eastern Europe

Michael Kapustin

Reform rabbi

Olga Karasik

Doctor of philology, Associate professor in the department of Russian and Foreign Literature

Katya Katsman

Family psychoanalyst and sexologist as well as a master of clinical social work

Evgeny Kogan

Investor and businessman

Roman Kogan

General Director of Limmud FSU

Lev Konstantinovskiy

Mathematical linguist

Psoy Korolenko

Poet, musician

Eugeny Kreinin

Investor

Michael Labkovsky

Top level psychologist with 30 years work experience and 20 years experience working directly on radio and television

Ishai Lapidot

Composer, radio host

Berel Lazar

Chief Rabbi of Russia

Marianna Levtov

Political analyst, specialist in Chinese studies, systems trainer

Marc Levy

Writer, playwright and educator. A Fellow in Holocaust Education at the Imperial War Museum in 2006

Mikhail Libkin

Director of development in ORT

Cnaan Lipshitz

Head editor of the European bureau of Jewish Telegraph Agency

Deborah Lipstadt

Historian, holocaust researcher

Zhenya Lopatnik

Singer, composer

Lev Lurie

Historian, journalist, writer and educator. Author of many publications and more than 10 books. Specialist in Russian history

Igor Meerson

Stand-up comedian, previous participant of KVN and resident of the ‘Comedy Club’

Merav Michaeli

Member of Knesset from the Zionist party

Arieh Miller

Social entrepreneur, public figure

Steve Miller

Executive Director of the Zionist Federation

Oleg Minich

Rabbi-in-training

Seva Novgorodtsev

Radio presenter of BBC Russian Service, excellent knowledge of English, plays Jazz, actor and producer as well as a recipient of the Order of the British Empire

Olga Novgorodtsev-Levenshtein

Artist and costume designer

Katya Novominski

Professional worker for the Jewish communes of Germany

Daniel Oppenheimer

Financial director in non-commercial sector

Eli Ovits

Chief Executive of Limmud

Aleksandra Pashkina

Yulia Patrakova

Art historian and principal of educational projects in the sphere of literature and painting

Ashley Perry

President of the movement to unite 100 million descendants of Sephardic communes

Gueorgui Pinkhassov

Photographer

Natalia Polenova

Director of the history, arts and nature V.D. Polenov museum and sanctuary

Vladimir Pozner

Television journalist and host

Aleksandra Pravdukhina

Crowdfunder, founder of the brand Sasha’s Knits

Ron Prosor

Jewish diplomat, writer, journalist

Joel Rappel

Historian, Judaism researcher, writer

Mark Regev

Israel’s ambassador to United Kingdom

Kateryna Roshchyna

Coordinator of Livelihood Development program in the ‘Worldwide Jewish Aid’ organisation

Tatyana Ryklina

Psychologist

Tanya Sakhnovich

Rabbi of the Nottingham Liberal synagogue

Ilia Salita

Chief Executive Officer, Genesis Philanthropy Group

Sonya Samsonova

Correspondent of ‘Echo Moskva’ in London. Founder of new web platform TheQstn.com

Hagai Segal

Expert on geopolitics, the war on terror and the Middle East

Chaim Seidler-Feller

Rabbi, honorary director of Hartman Fellowship

Doreen Seidler-Feller

Sexologist, lecturer

Igor Selivanov

Director of global data systems and operations department for a Wall Street bank and an expert level chess player

Judy Shalom Nir-Mozes

Entrepreneur, journalist, television and radio host

Colin Shindler

Professor of Israeli Studies at University of London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and the founding chair of the European Association of Israel Studies

Simona Shulman

Professional image designer

Raymond Simonson

General director of the Jewish Community Center JW3

Sir Erich Reich

Kindertransport refugee, was one of the 10 000 children supported in coming to the UK and placed in British foster homes through the Kindertransport rescue effort in 1939

Veniamin Smekhov

Theatre and movie actor and director, playwright, most famous for his Athos role in a film adaptation of Dumas’ ‘Three Musketeers’

Nadezhda Solovyova

Producer in the world of Russian show business

Dimitri Stepanov

Drum player

Ilai Szpiezak

Choreographer

Sergey Tchernyak

Photographer, emissary of Sohnut, realtor

Georgy Tchkhartishvili

Writer, translator and orientalist. Writing under the pseudonym Boris Akunin authored the series of novels ‘The adventures of Erast Fandorin’

Laurina Todesaite

Chef, specialising in Jewish and Israeli food

Daumantas Todesas

One of directors of Yakov Boonkie Charity and Aid Fund

Georgy Urushadze

General director of the National literary prize fund ‘Bol’shaya Kniga’, co-founder of All-Russian literary competition ‘Kniguru’, journalist

Dimitri Vasserman

Expert Business Developer in Nordea Bank

Yossi Verter

Israeli commentator

Dimitri Vysotsky

Theatre and film actor best known for ‘A Driver for Vera’, ‘The Russian Game’ and ‘Metro’

Mike Whine

Independent scrutineer of hate crime prosecution cases, UK Member, European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), Member, Hate Crime Advisory Group, Ministry of Justice

Michael Wegier

Chief Executive of UJIA. Was Executive Director of the Melitz Educational Centre in Jerusalem

Diane Wohl

Philanthropist

Michael Yedovitsky

Director of the Jewish Agency department of employment in Germany and German speaking European countries

Alex Yentin

Psychologist with a specialisation in family relationships

Anat Zalmanson-Kuznetsov

Filmmaker, daughter of Sylva Zalmanson and Edward Kuznetsov, director of the documentary film ‘Operation Wedding’

Irina Zegerman

Flight attendant

Mikhail Zelman

Restaurateur, author of the single dish manifest and the creator of the ‘Burger and Lobster’, a successful chain of restaurants

Arkadi Zeltser

Director of Moshe Mirilashvili Holocaust research center in USSR, director of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem

Ilya Zhegulev

Journalist, special correspondent for the Meduza publication and the direct of the Journalism Major at the Liberal Arts Faculty at Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration

Igor Zinkov

Student Rabbi at Leo Baeck College

Irina Zonabend

Art gallery director

Ephraim Zuroff

An American-born Israeli historian and Nazi hunter who has played a key role in bringing indicted Nazi and fascist war criminals to trial. The director of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre office in Jerusalem