
About Us
Azara is creating a culture of Jewish learning in the UK.
We want to open the complex world of Torah to everyone, and build the skills to unlock our texts and traditions. Azara was born from two grassroots cross-communal learning projects, Pop-Up Beit Midrash and Open Talmud Project.
Our Story
Open Talmud Project was founded in 2009 in order to give all Jews close encounters with Talmud and other Jewish texts, and has run successful intensives for the last twelve years. Pop-Up Beit Midrash has provided living-room learning led by the best teachers from across the community. Together, we’re ready to create learning opportunities at every level, from evening classes to long-term, immersive programmes.

‘Azara’ is the Hebrew word for courtyard. The Temple had an azara in which all the Jews could gather, regardless of gender or priestly status. We aim to be a space where Jews of all denominations, backgrounds, and genders can gather to learn and to make religious meaning.

Title
Description
Rabbi Benji Stanley

Allan is a practising Chartered Accountant and was a founder member of Edgware Masorti Synagogue. He taught at and co-chaired Gesher, the Masorti Teenage Centre, and studied at the Masorti Kollel. He graduated from Leo Baeck College in 2009.
Allan Myers
Trustee

Title
Lilinaz’s bio goes here
Lilinaz Evans
Trustee

Sarah McCulloch is an NHS manager, theology graduate and interfaith minister who has learned at the Conservative Yeshiva and Pardes. She is also a trustee of Kehillat Nashira, a partnership minyan in Borehamwood.
Sarah McCulloch
Trustee

Leah is Rabbi of Kehillah North London and a founding member of Na’amod: British Jews Against Occupation. Having learnt at Yeshivat Hadar, the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, and the Conservative Yeshiva, Leah received semicha from the Leo Baeck College and holds an MA in Jewish Studies from King’s College London. She hails from “deepest, darkest” midwestern America, and lives in London with her partner, also a confirmed yeshiva bucher, Benji Stanley. (She/They)
Rabbi Leah Jordan
Co-founder

Rabbi Jessica Spencer teaches Talmud and other rabbinic texts in synagogues, the Jewish Theological Seminary, and Azara. She received ordination from Hebrew College and the Yashrut Institute. She is currently pursuing a doctorate in religion at Columbia University, focusing on questions of relationship, care, and community in the Babylonian Talmud.
Rabbi Jessica Spencer
Co-founder

Rabba Dr Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz received her doctorate from University College London. She is a former Research Fellow at the Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Manchester, and has lectured at several universities, including Cambridge, Oxford, and Vassar College, New York. She has taught at the London School of Jewish Studies since 2005. In 2021 she received Orthodox rabbinic ordination from Yeshivat Maharat, New York. Her first book, Challenge and Conformity: The Religious Lives of Orthodox Jewish Women, was published by the Littman LIbrary of Jewish Civilization in 2021.
Rabba Dr Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz
Co-founder
Stay in touch
Sign up to our newsletter to be first to hear about our classes, events, and news.