What can be learned about the fate of minority peoples from the Anti-Jewish Riots in Spain in 1391? Benjamin Gampel is a specialist in medieval and early modern Jewish history at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.  

In this talk, Mimi Feigelson casts the funeral as a sacred drama, and challenges us to become the playwright of this drama. She asks us to claim our lives in their totality, in the understanding that, if you know how you want to be buried, you know how you want to live. Mimi Feigelson is the first female Orthodox rabbi, an international teacher of Chassidut & Spirituality and a storyteller.

In this talk, Miriam Shaviv shows that the idea of an “authentic” Jewish tradition, unbroken and unchanged for 2,000 years, is a myth which stems from our lack of familiarity with the history of Judaism (as opposed to the history of the Jews, which is widely studied). Although we are a people who claim to revere history, we seem to prefer myths. She examines why this is the case, and argues that Orthodoxy must become much more familiar with and honest about its past, if it wants to secure...

David Aaronovitch’s family were atheists and their faith was Marxism. At the same time, he knew he was “half Jewish”, but he didn’t know what this meant. All in all, he imagined his Jewishness to be like his Irishness – a story of the past, exotic but irrelevant. But in fact, it hasn’t been irrelevant, far from it. In this talk, David explains how, whilst he was happy to cherry-pick from this identity – if there was anything he particularly liked about Jewishness, he would lay claim to it –...

“The Uncomfortable Jew” is an invitation to make yourself uneasy: Tim Franks draws on his experience as a journalist based in Jerusalem – and his experience as a practising Jew – to explain why being between a rock and a hard place is a great place to be. Tim Franks is the presenter of Newshour: the flagship news and current affairs programme on BBC World Service radio.

‘I will lie on a cold metal table…’ If you’ve ever wondered what the Chevra Kadisha (Jewish burial society) will do with your body when you die, this talk is for you. Sally Berkovic intersperses reflections on the early deaths of her parents and her own life as a ‘motherless mother’ with the physical rituals undertaken by the Chevra Kadisha as her dead body will be prepared for her burial, six feet under. Berkovic is the CEO of the Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe

The Jewish world has got itself into an alarming position. Despite its reputation as a community that cares about learning, it seems to have consigned many of its most important features into the bag marked ‘kids’ stuff’. This is not only a terrible piece of mis-selling, it’s also a woefully poor strategy for the future. Time to grow up! My talk explores how we got here and what we should do about it.

Examining ‘impostor syndrome’ and how some of our greatest Jewish leaders have been sufferers of it. Each and everyone of us has a unique gift to bring to this world, and it is specifically our outsider and imposter status that makes us uniquely us, and must be brought to bear on Jewish tradition. Yaffa Epstein is the Director of Education, North America for the Pardes Institute of Jewish  

Daniel Finkelstein was brought up in Hendon Central. This talk is a call to understand what we have in Britain and to appreciate it.  We are living in one of the most prosperous countries in the world at one of the most prosperous moments in history. If politicians are so bad how is it that we have it so good? Daniel Finkelstein is Associate Editor, Columnist and Leader Writer for The Times newspaper

A fascinating and honest life story. It starts as a story of a five year old clutching the hand of her nine year old sister, travelling from Vienna on a Kindertransport to escape the Nazis in 1939. Dame Stephanie describes how all that she is stems from that discontinuity in her life and how the trauma remains with her 75 years on. However, this is also a story of how she went on to embrace change and life in the UK, becoming a hugely successful early technology entrepreneur. Dame Stephanie...

When Yisrael Campbell sat and thought “what’s the most important thing I have to say?”, he realized that it’s  “the story” that has been the connecting factor of his life. Both the stories of others that have helped guide him as well as the story of his life that has helped ground him. Yisrael Campbell is a comedian who lives in Jerusalem Israel with his wife and four children

Think all Muslims hate us? Think again. Jews – and most people in the Western world – have let fear mongers and extremists paint a picture of Islam that is out of touch with reality. In fact, our fear, our ignorance, and our arrogance, may be the biggest detriment to peace. Ilene Prusher is an award-winning journalist and novelist living in Jerusalem

Jonathan Wittenberg is not an atheist. He believes that we are all connected by the one consciousness of God and that God is within and beyond all. In his talk, he speaks of why he holds these beliefs, how God makes him feel accountable and how these sensitivities are the foundation of his moral and spiritual being. Jonathan Wittenberg is Senior Rabbi of the Assembly of Masorti Synagogues UK and Rabbi of NNLS

It’s often said that Israel faces “an existential threat”, the phrase usually used to refer to the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran.  Without dismissing that fear, here Jonathan Freedland looks at what he regards as the far greater threat to Israel’s existence – the country’s apparently permanent grip on the territories it gained in the year of his birth, 1967. Jonathan Freedland is an award winning columnist and author

It’s time to take a good look at who Jews today really are and what we want. If we are truly going to embrace the new face of American Jewry and stay relevant, three kinds of walls must come down: The Walls of Hierarchy, Denominations and Institutions. Emergent Jewish communities – those that exist outside of established institutions – embrace this philosophy and are filling the multi-varied needs and interests of Jews in new and dynamic ways. Beth Finger is the founder of Jewish Without...

Avraham Infeld’s vision for the Jewish People is to find a way to be unified without being uniform. Listen to this talk to hear his suggestion as to how we can achieve this vision by constructing a “five legged table” which allows each person to choose at least three of the following legs to express their Jewish identity:  memory, family, covenant, Israel and Hebrew. Avraham Infeld is  President Emeritus of Hillel, the Foundation for Jewish Campus life

The talk proposes that improved relations between Jews and Christians requires mutual knowledge and mutual respect, it corrects several misperceptions that Jews and Christians have of each other, and it provides one answer to Christian missionaries who want to “save” Jews. Levine is Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of New Testament Studies, and Professor of Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School and College of Arts and Science in...