Jeremy Leigh was born in London, moving to Israel in 1992. He is currently the Director of Israel Studies at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem. For the last thirty years Jeremy has been heavily involved in developing the fields of Jewish travel, to sites of Jewish interest around the world. He runs an educational travel project “Jewish Journeys” (which many members of Mosaic Reform have joined) and especially during the current lockdown has provided a number of online related courses. He is the author of a book also entitled “Jewish Journeys” published in 2007. Jeremy is an advisor to the ‘European Routes of Jewish Heritage’ project, under the auspices of the Council of Europe and the AEPJ.
If you are interested in Jeremy’s latest ‘virtual’ Jewish Journey, you can view details here: Journeys out of the Ark
Maurice recently treated us to his presentation in January showing us just a small part of his personal collection of weird and wonderful objects.
On March 2nd he was interviewed by Steve Levinson focusing on his latest book Minding our own Business – so why don’t you mind yours’. This includes his own life story and career and covers 25 others who started their own amazing businesses who equally have had their own journey.
Originally Maurice worked in the printing industry, was a manufacturer of boxed games, imported and distributed fancy goods, was involved in the Exhibition business and property development and investment. In this book he imparts advice to budding entrepreneurs with knowledge he has acquired over the years. Knowing Maurice, this will be informative as it follows the stories of many entrepreneurs relating their stories of their road to success.
Other books of his are ‘Kith and Kids’, ‘Eccentric Contraptions’, ‘Ingenious Gadgets’, ‘Bizarre and Outlandish Gadgets and Doohickeys’ ‘Marketing History 1851-1951’ and this latest one as co-editor  of ‘ Minding our own Business – so why don’t you mind yours’Â
Proceeds from the sale of the Book are in aid of Kith and Kids, a charity very close to his heart.
Nadia was born in Moscow and moved to the UK in 2000. She is a senior journalist at BBC World News and has also worked for BBC World Service Radio and France 24 in Paris. Nadia writes and blogs about sustainability and zero waste living, which, other than books and her family, is her passion in life. She lives in London with her husband and two daughters.
Worlds Apart is her first book : Two brothers grow up on the Jewish streets of Warsaw. At the turn of the twentieth century, Adolphe leaves to seek work and start a family in Switzerland. Marcus moves east, inspired by his Communist beliefs. In Moscow, he is arrested and exiled. They would never see each other again.
A hundred years later, Marcus’ great-granddaughter, Nadia Ragozhina, rediscovers the missing part of her broken family. Could she piece together the stories hidden for generations?
Love and separation, hope and paranoia – the lives of the patriarchs, their daughters and granddaughters are set against the Russian Revolution, Stalin’s repressions, the persecution of Jews across Europe and the Second World War. Worlds Apart is a rare portrayal of the tumultuous events of twentieth century Europe, seen through the eyes of six women who fought for the survival and happiness of their families.
We were delighted that talented local resident and Pinner artist, Robyn Wilson-Owen, joined us on Sunday to talk about and show her wonderful illustrations.
Trained in theatre and puppet design, Robyn is an artist and illustrator specialising in hand drawn and hand made images. She loves using dip pens, watercolours and pencil in bold but carefully chosen colours, and her work, however fantastical, is always rooted in everyday observations.
Robyn has illustrated both fiction and non-fiction including children’s books No Longer Alone by Joseph Coelho and Bloom by Anne Booth.
In 2021 Robyn’s  book Close Your Eyes will be published, her first as both author and illustrator. You can see further examples of Robyn’s work on her website: http://robynwilsonowen.com/
On Tuesday Jonathan Braude talked about, “Journalism; It’s not all fake news, sensationalism or biased reporting! …….At least: not unless the proprietor has an axe to grind (or money to make).
Jonathan, a business writer and former daily newspaper reporter, presented anecdotes and sober judgements from behind the computer screen.
Last Sunday we were delighted to meet Sam Phillips, who shared what it’s like to work on rockets and ionocraft and answered the key question – how hard is rocket science anyway? (easier than you think!).
Sam grew up at Mosaic and is an engineering student at UC Berkeley, California. He is Business team lead and deputy propulsion team lead for STAR – UC Berkeley’s Space Technologies and Rocketry team.
If you are a year 9 to 12 student and would like to find out more then contact us and we’ll put you in touch with Sam and the STAR team to join one of their upcoming outreach events.
Steve Levinson interviewed Peter Altman. Peter qualified as a biochemist in the 1960s and spent 20 years in medical research, gaining a PhD and a DSc. After being made redundant in the 1980s, he went into medical book publishing, setting up his own medical publishing company which Peter ran for some 10 years.
He is also a Member of the Magic Circle and, rather impressively, and without the use of magic, Peter has held not one but two Guinness World Records (for the fastest journeys round the London Underground [1979]; and the Moscow Metro [1989]).
Peter started work on Mysteries at least 15 years ago, and came up with the approach of framing each of the 14 chapters as a question; Does Alien Life Exist? Is Time Travel Possible? How Did the Universe Begin?Does Payer Work? etc., and provides a personal ‘Best Guess’ answer to each unknown.
At the end, he has included his first attempt at science fiction. This is a 3-part short story and, so as not to spoil the ending, Peter has hidden the last sentence in the Index. It’s his thank you to those who buy the book……
Paul Gross, son of our member Jacqueline, spoke to us directly from Jerusalem on this subject.
Paul Gross made Aliyah at the end of 2007 having worked for two years in public affairs at the Embassy of Israel in London and prior to that completing a Masters in Middle East Politics from SOAS. Today he is a Senior Fellow at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center, with responsibility for developing educational programming and public events in English at the national institute commemorating Israel’s sixth Prime Minister. He lectures to a variety of groups on Israeli history and politics and has written on Israeli and Middle East current affairs for several publications in Israel, the UK, the US and Canada. He has also appeared as a political commentator on two Israeli English-language news channels, i24 and ILTV.
Paul lives in Jerusalem with his wife and three children. He stays connected to the “old country” primarily by watching English football and getting depressed by the current state of Arsenal.
Maurice recently treated us to his presentation in January showing us just a small part of his personal collection of weird and wonderful objects.
On Sunday we were joined by authors Judi Rose, daughter of the legendary Evelyn Rose, and her cousin, Dr. Jackie Rose, a GP nutritionist.
On Tuesday Steve Levinson interviewed Nadia Ragozhina.
We were delighted that talented local resident and Pinner artist, Robyn Wilson-Owen, joined us on Sunday to talk about and show her wonderful illustrations.
Steve Levinson interviewed Peter Altman. Peter qualified as a biochemist in the 1960s and spent 20 years in medical research, gaining a PhD and a DSc. After being made redundant in the 1980s, he went into medical book publishing, setting up his own medical publishing company which Peter ran for some 10 years.
Paul Gross, son of our member Jacqueline, spoke to us directly from Jerusalem on this subject.
