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 1^st 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 1^st century priest, politician, soldier and writer who deserted the Jewish cause, rejected its leaders as Zealots and became the first Jewish historian. Was 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 17^th century thinker.	1632-1677
Moses Mendelssohn	18^th century German philosopher and instigator of Jewish enlightenment. The first modern Jew.	1729-1786
The Rothschild Family	19^th century bankers and philanthropists; the richest and most influential Jewish dynasty.	1744-1868
Moses Montefiore	The legendary British Jew of the 19^th century who liberated countless Jews from oppression.	1784-1885
Benjamin Disraeli	19^th 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 19^th century economist and socialist.	1818-1883
Solomon Schechter	The greatest scholar, teacher and leader of his generation within English-speaking Jewry, the creator of 20^th 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 are the legal limits on free speech – and do you agree with them? And is there a Jewish view on when to talk and when to keep silent?	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	20^th 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 20^thcentury 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 20^th 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	20^th century rabbi and a model for compassionate social action.	1907-1972
Isaiah Berlin	The liberal philosopher and one of the finest minds of the 20^th 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 of Marvel Comics, and film producer, who created the flawed model of the superhero, such as Spider-Man and the Thing. How Jewish were these characters?	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