Who is Nahamu?

Yehudis Fletcher, Founder

Yehudis leads Nahamu’s analysis of the harms arising from extremism in the Jewish community and shapes our advocacy and policy response. Yehudis has a background in project management and development. She is a independent sexual violence adviser, and has been battling violence against women and girls for the past decade. Yehudis began writing as a child and is now writes for a variety of publications including the Jewish News, Jewish Chronicle, Haaretz, The Forward, and The Times.  Yehudis took part in the Susi Bradfield women’s Leadership Program at LSJS, is a graduate of the UJIA’s Manchester Leadership Program, and of the Dangoor Senior Leadership Program. She is a graduate of social policy at Salford University, and is undertaking a master’s degree in Religion and Theology at the University of Manchester. Her work on the AHRC funded project researching abuse in religious communities will be published soon. Her memoir, Chutzpah, will be published by Penguin in 2025.

Eve Sacks, Trustee

Eve is a chartered accountant, specialising in corporate taxes; she works as a group tax manager for a firm of investment managers. She is also the co-chair of trustees of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance UK (JOFA UK). Eve completed the Susi Bradfield women’s leadership programme run by LSJS in 2015. Eve has a significant track record of supporting people who feel trapped in haredi communities and lobbying for greater personal autonomy and the exercise of their civil rights. She focuses on the issues of denial of secular education and forced marriage. She was named “A Notable Woman Who Paved the Way” for 5780 (2020) by JOFA (USA) for her advocacy around forced marriage and denial of women’s rights in the Orthodox community.

Sir Leigh Lewis KCB, Trustee

Leigh was a civil servant for some 38 years, latterly as Permanent Secretary at the Department for Work and Pensions from 2005 until his retirement at the end of 2010. Since retiring he has held a number of part time roles in the private and not for profit sectors. He is currently the Vice Chair of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust; trustee and Senior Independent Director of Fair4All Finance which aims to make affordable finance more widely available; Honorary President of the homelessness charity, St Mungo’s; and a visiting fellow at Greenwich University. Leigh is a member of Watford United Synagogue and was the Synagogue’s representative to the Board of Deputies from 2015-2021.

David Toube, Trustee

David is a barrister by training. He taught law at Queen Mary University of London, and then practiced law for 25 years, where he headed the European bank regulatory practice of a prominent international law firm. David has been active in counter-extremism activism and writing for fifteen years, and has written for and appeared on a number of news outlets. He has worked as an expert advisor at the Commission for Countering Extremism.

Benjamin Black, Trustee

Benjamin Black is a senior human resources professional based in London. With a career spanning almost 20 years across a range of industries and sectors, including work with Accenture, Shell and RBS, his focus within Nahamu centres around advocacy for employability, education and life skills. Benjamin grew up in north Manchester in a traditional, but not observant, Jewish community. His interest in Nahamu was driven by his concern on the reliance of this type of community on religious leaders who do not subscribe to the same values around secular education, self reliance and societal integration. Benjamin is passionate about giving young people the same choices he grew up with, regardless of their level of religious observance. Benjamin has a long history of voluntary work within the community, including several years as a trustee of the Manchester Jewish Museum.

Doreen Samuels, Trustee

Doreen Samuels was born and grew up in Sunderland and began her professional life as a pharmacist.  Requalifying as a teacher, she then continued her studies to qualify as a Jewish Studies teacher.  Doreen is currently a teacher and writer on Jewish topics for children and adults, was the initiator and editor of the Chief Rabbi’s Children’s Siddur, now re-issued as the Tribe Siddur; was Deputy Head and Head of Jewish Studies and Safeguarding Lead at Sinai School, a teacher-trainer, mentor, and a trained Pikuach inspector.  She has recently published her children’s book, ‘Boris the Jewish Monster’. As a US Trustee after 8 years, she was heavily involved in education.  She recently retired as Chair of Governors of King Solomon High School in Redbridge.  Doreen lives in Pinner. She is a Bradfield Graduate and heavily involved in educational and social action activities in the Jewish community, as well as an advocate of interfaith relationships, having being co-Chair of  the Teachers’ Group of Nisa-Nashim, Harrow and a member of the CCJ.  Doreen was Chair of Governors of Moriah School, and is a Trustee of the Moriah Legacy Trust. Doreen is married, with three adult daughters and eight grandchildren.

Nicola Garcia, Trustee

Nicola read History at UCL and gained her PGCE at Cambridge University. She is an educational consultant and teacher. She has also written for various educational publications including articles and resources for History GCSE and A level. She has taught in a mixed comprehensive school, a voluntary-aided Jewish school and a selective independent school, before working as the education liaison between schools and businesses for Young Enterprise in central London. Subsequently she established an educational consultancy, Learning Well UK, which she has run for 25 years. She is also a dyslexia specialist, having gained a PGCDL from York University. She frequently works with children who are encountering learning difficulties or who have fallen behind with their education through illness or other causes. Nicola has always been interested in Jewish education: in 2001 she established J-Smart, a programme of story-telling with music and art for KS1 children who attended secular schools; in 2008 she participated in the Susi Bradfield Educators’ Fellowship run by the London School of Jewish Studies and, having trained with P4C, she runs ‘Think outside the Box’, a discussion group at the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue for ks2 and ks3 children.  In spring of 2024, Nicola became a school governor, at Kerem School.