Joey Leskin
Joey is a Yemeni Jew from London but has spent much of the last decade out of the city. He currently works for KAHAL Abroad as their Director of Abroad Experiences, helping students and young people connect with Jewish experiences wherever they study, work or travel. Prior to that he worked for the Joint Distribution Committee as their Senior Fieldworker in Istanbul, Turkey. Joey graduated from Nottingham University with an M.A. in International Relations and Global Issues. His love of different cultures and Judaism led to an exploration of intersections between the two. He became a Director of RSY-Netzer youth movement, having been an active member from age 15. Following this, he produced a cutting-edge online educational resource for Jewish youth movements and schools in the UK about socially and politically marginalized minorities in Israel. He utilised his communication and presentation skills in a more hands-on role as a London tour guide, eventually producing an innovative audio-tour, which continues to entertain visitors to London to this day. Throughout this, he travelled to over 50 countries to better understand the global landscape. This, along with the desire to assist Jewish life in the Diaspora, led him to pursue service work with JDC in summer 2015. Joey worked across the Istanbul community spectrum, with the goal of enriching Jewish life, empowering Turkish Jews to explore personal creativity, and providing young people with space to develop individual Jewish identities. His main focus was spearheading the Jewish high school’s new Jewish Cultural Studies curriculum, which revolutionized the way Jewish culture is taught.