Elli Tikvah Sarah

Join us for a lunchtime event with Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah celebrating ‘Breaking Binaries’ (Unusual Publications, 2026), her new book challenging the oppositions that shape contemporary thought and practice. 'Breaking Binaries' explores gender, Jewish identity, conflict, interfaith engagement, and our responsibilities to the planet. An LGBT+ pioneer, equal-marriage campaigner, and longstanding advocate for Israeli-Palestinian coexistence, Rabbi Sarah brings decades of rabbinic, interfaith, and activist experience to these urgent questions. Discover how moving beyond either/or thinking can open richer, more compassionate possibilities for communities, relationships, and our shared future as earthlings in a divided world.

This event is sponsored by the Edinburgh Jewish Literary Society and the Edinburgh Jewish Studies research group at the University of Edinburgh.  

Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah was ordained in July 1989 by Rabbi Lionel Blue (Leo Baeck College). An LGBT+ pioneer and campaigner for equal marriage, Elli has also been engaged in interfaith dialogue and actively committed to Israeli-Palestinian coexistence for decades, and has written extensively on these areas. Author of ‘Trouble-Making Judaism’ (2012), Elli’s latest book is ‘Breaking Binaries. A Progressive Rabbi Engages with Contemporary Issues’ (2026). Rabbi of Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue for twenty years, following her retirement (2021) Elli became Emeritus Rabbi of the congregation. Elli is married to artist and biblical scholar, Dr Jess Wood MBE.

Hannah Holtschneider is Professor of Contemporary Jewish Cultural History at the University of Edinburgh. She has published widely on Holocaust representations in history in a range of media, most recently with Peter Davies, Sheila Jelen, and Christoph Thonfeld, ‘Olga Lengyel, Auschwitz Survivor: Interdisciplinary Explorations’ (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025). Her current research concerns experiences of the Holocaust as reflected in personal documents and memory discourses.