Would you like to arrange a talk?
Jonathan Bergwerk gives talks and seminars either as one-off events or as part of a series of talks. He is an experienced and engaging speaker to large audiences and facilitator of small groups.
You can choose the characters for the talks and the length of the talk can vary from 45 to 90 minutes. Many of the talks come with optional, attractive audio or visual presentations.
Each session stands on its own and participants do not need any prior knowledge. They will get comprehensive notes plus a lively debate in a friendly atmosphere.
For the seminar sessions, many of the characters lend themselves to debate and discussion. The lives can be used as an entry point into many ethical and religious questions. Some are accompanied by text study.
The list of people, Jonathan has given talks on is shown below.
To make an enquiry please email at info@audaciousjews.com
Jacob |
The most successful Biblical patriarch, despite his family problems. He lived a life of crime and punishment. | |
Judah |
Son of Jacob, brother of Joseph, the brave and inspirational man who put the ‘Ju’ in ‘Judaism’. | |
Naomi |
The heroine of the Book of Ruth and a role model of female fidelity and lovingkindness. | |
Moses |
The leader of the Biblical Israelites and the most important character in Judaism. |
|
King David |
The third monarch of the united kingdom of Judah and Israel. A memorable warrior, leader, sinner, and lover. |
|
King Solomon |
The fourth monarch of the united kingdom of Judah and Israel and son of David. The leader in its golden age, and builder of the Temple, renowned for wisdom and justice. A ruthless womaniser. |
|
Jonah | The reluctant Biblical prophet who had more sympathy for a plant than for people. What is the meaning of the story? Why its not just about redemption. | |
Hillel | A first century Rabbi, who became the greatest sage of the second Temple era and one of the biggest influences on Rabbinic Judaism. |
Jesus of Nazareth |
First century preacher, religious leader and the founder of a new movement within Judaism. Was he a rabbi, revolutionary or Messiah? |
4 BCE-30 |
Paul of Tarsus | The obsessive Jew who did more than anyone else to create Christianity. | 8-63 |
Akiva ben Yosef |
The leading 1st century Rabbi, revolutionary and martyr whose values and ideas on practice were a critical influence on how Judaism developed and how it is practised today. |
50-135 |
Titus Flavius Josephus | The 1st century priest, politician, soldier and writer who deserted the Jewish cause, rejected its leaders as Zealots and became the first Jewish historian. Is he a traitor to the Jewish cause or a hero of moderation? | 37-100 |
Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi) |
Medieval French commentator; the most influential Jewish author in the last 2000 years. |
1041-1105 |
Abraham Ibn Ezra |
Radical writer and thinker of the Middle Ages. |
1089-1167 |
Maimonides (Rambam) |
The most important medieval Jewish scholar who radically changed Judaism. |
1135-1204 |
Nahmanides (Ramban) |
The medieval scholar who was the Jewish defendant in the disputation of Barcelona and a leading figure in the re-establishment of the Jewish community in Jerusalem. |
1194-1270 |
Gracia Mendes Nasi |
Medieval businesswoman and philanthropist, the outstanding Jewess of her day. |
1510-1569 |
Baruch Spinoza |
Radical 17th century thinker. |
1632-1677 |
Moses Mendelssohn |
18th century German philosopher and instigator of Jewish enlightenment. The first modern Jew. |
1729-1786 |
The Rothschild Family |
19th century bankers and philanthropists; the richest and most influential Jewish dynasty. |
1744-1868 |
Moses Montefiore |
The legendary British Jew of the 19th century who liberated countless Jews from oppression. |
1784-1885 |
Benjamin Disraeli |
19th century British Prime Minister, who despite converting who was still the most important British Jew of his time. What makes people Jewish? Is Judaism a religion, a race or something else? |
1804-1881 |
Karl Marx |
Revolutionary 19th century economist and socialist. |
1818-1883 |
Solomon Schechter | The greatest scholar, teacher and leader of his generation within English-speaking Jewry, the creator of 20th century American Conservative Judaism and the dynamic force behind the recognition of the importance of the Genizah collection. | 1850-1915 |
Sigmund Freud |
The founder of psychoanalysis. |
1856-1939 |
Louis Brandeis | “The People’s Attorney” who defended civil liberties, and fought big business. The first Jewish justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. A key Zionist leader. What is the balance between free speech and the right to privacy? | 1856-1941 |
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda |
One of the first Zionist leaders and the idealistic driving spirit behind the revival of the Hebrew language. |
1858-1922 |
Claude Montefiore | A founder of Liberal Judaism, scholar of Christianity and opponent of Zionism. | 1858-1938 |
Henrietta Szold |
The American founder of Hadassah and a leading force in social and child welfare. |
1860-1945 |
Theodor Herzl |
The journalist, writer and inspiration of modern political Zionism: "If you will it, it is no dream." |
1860-1904 |
Abraham Isaac Kook | The first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Palestine. A visionary writer, original thinker, mystical tzaddik and messianic Zionist, who provided a way for ultra-traditional Jews to engage with modernity. | 1865-1935 |
Leo Baeck |
Leader of German Jewry in the 1930s. |
1873-1956 |
Harry Houdini | The world-famous illusionist, stunt performer and showman. He overcame poverty, bigotry and self-doubt to live the American dream. But is practising magic a kosher career for a Jew? | 1874-1926 |
Chaim Weizmann |
Zionist, chemist and the first President of Israel. |
1874-1952 |
Martin Buber |
20th century philosopher, Zionist and creator of the ‘I-Thou’ idea. |
1878-1965 |
Leon Trotsky |
Marxist leader, revolutionary and writer. |
1879-1940 |
Albert Einstein |
Brilliant physicist, an avowed pacifist and Zionist. |
1879-1955 |
Franz Kafka |
A literary genius, giant of 20th century literature, and prophet of the horrors and angst of totalitarianism. |
1883-1924 |
David Ben-Gurion | First Prime Minister of Israel. | 1886-1973 |
Marc Chagall |
The most famous Jewish artist of the 20th century who created his own style of modern art, based on Jewish Eastern European folk culture. |
1887-1985 |
Irving Berlin | The greatest American songwriter. A classic rags-to-riches story of a Jewish immigrant to America from Russia who made good. A musical extravaganza. | 1888-1989 |
Groucho Marx |
The American comedian, writer, stage, film, radio, and television star. One of the Marx Brothers. |
1890-1977 |
George Gershwin | An American composer and pianist who wrote Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris, Porgy and Bess, Swanee, and hundreds of songs for musicals with his brother Ira. | 1898-1937 |
Golda Meir |
Pivotal to the founding of Israel and its fourth Prime Minister. Said to be both "the best man in the government" and at fault in the Yom Kippur war. |
1898-1978 |
Isaac Bashevis Singer | The prolific Polish-American novelist, critic and journalist, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He wrote in Yiddish about the lives and culture of East European Judaism. How real were his descriptions of shtetl life? | 1902-1991 |
Lillian Hellman |
A
modern American dramatist, screenwriter, socialite and communist, a leading
defendant against McCarthyism. |
1905-1984 |
Abraham Joshua Heschel |
20th century rabbi and a model for compassionate social action. |
1907-1972 |
Isaiah Berlin |
The liberal philosopher and one of the finest minds of the 20th century. How should people live a moral life in a time of uncertainty? |
1909-1997 |
Abba Eban | A South-African born, British scholar, Israeli diplomat and politician who became one of the greatest statesmen of the 20th century. | 1915-2002 |
Leonard Bernstein |
The American composer, conductor and pianist. A maestro in both classical music and popular musicals and the composer of West Side Story. |
1918-1990 |
Primo Levi |
An Italian survivor from Auschwitz and one of the first to write about his experiences. |
1919-1987 |
Louis Jacobs |
British Jewry’s most prolific and controversial rabbi and its only world class scholar. |
1920-2006 |
Rosalind Franklin | An English chemist and X-ray crystallographer whose work was central to the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA, especially the famous photograph of the double helix. | 1920-1958 |
Yitzhak Rabin | A military commander, diplomat and politician and the fifth Prime Minister of Israel. He signed a peace treaty with the Palestinians, won the Nobel Peace Prize and was assassinated. What is his legacy today? | 1922-1995 |
Stan Lee | An American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and film producer, who created the flawed model of the superhero, such as Spider-Man and the Silver Surfer. Did these have Biblical role models? | 1922-2018 |
Simone Veil | A survivor of the Shoah, who was responsible for establishing the law legalising abortion in France and was the first President of the elected European Parliament. | 1927-2017 |
Elie Wiesel | A Romanian-born American writer, teacher, political activist, and Nobel Laureate for peace, who more than anyone else, was responsible for the widespread knowledge about the Holocaust. Where was God in the Holocaust? | 1928-2016 |
Leonard Cohen |
A Canadian poet and singer. |
1934-2016 |