Abraham Foxman has spent most of his adult life attempting to debunk racist stereotypes. As national director of the US-based Anti-Defamation League, his voice is regularly heard condemning antisemitism. Ironically, so strident has been that voice that some feel he has turned himself into a stereotype - that of the touchy Jew.

Two scraps of paper were all it took to change Carol Savage's life. On them were scrawled recipes that her husband had brought back from a visit to his mother in South Africa. The recipes gave Savage the germ of an idea for a recipe exchange website, which she turned into a thriving business, culminating in a successful appearance on the BBC programme Dragon's Den.

Jewish leaders do not come more much more influential than Daniel Mariaschin. As executive vice president of B'nai B'rith International and the director of the BBI Centre for Human Rights and Public Policy, the American has the ear of world leaders on matters of Jewish interest and much more.

B'nai B'rith has been accredited as a non-governmental organisation (NGO) by the United Nations since 1947 and as such plays a prominent role in campaigning and lobbying. So what does Mariaschin (pictured) plan to discuss with Foreign Office representatives - his next appointment after our interview?

When the Coalition government came to power in May it faced an unprecedented budget deficit of over more than £150 billion, at a time when Britain seemed to be on the verge of sinking back into recession.

We may be living through an era of savage cuts and austerity, but not everyone is tightening their belts. Millionaire former care-homeowner Bradley Reback has been busy putting money back into the community.

There are not many rabbis whose transformative experience occurred at a gay sauna in Amsterdam. However, there are very few rabbis like Lionel Blue.

Blue, known as the gently avuncular voice of Radio 4's Thought For the Day, was the first British rabbi to come out publicly as gay. His gayness has presented him with religious and emotional challenges but also has enabled him to establish his own religious philosophy, which he has shared with Radio 4 listeners and now with readers in the form of a new book, The Godseeker's Guide.

Among his many talents, Yehuda Avner was always good at taking notes. As adviser and speech-writer to five Israeli Prime Ministers there was a lot to take down - there were the discussions about policy, meetings with great statesmen and all those jocular off-the-record comments.

On the face of it, James Inverne would not seem to have a huge amount in common with Simon Cowell. Inverne is, after all, not a showbusiness impresario but rather a classical music journalist who is much more enthusiastic about Berlioz than boy bands.

The history of peace negotiations between Israelis and the Palestinians does not inspire a huge amount of confidence that the present talks will lead to agreement. However, there are those on both sides who continue to hope, if not believe, that this time an agreement will be reached.

Gideon Levy has no illusions about how he is perceived in the mainstream Jewish world. The veteran Ha'aretz journalist is one of the most outspoken critics of Israel's presence in the West Bank and Gaza, and has been for 25 years. The fact that he has promoted his new book, The Punishment of Gaza, at a series of events organised by pro-Palestinian groups, has not endeared him to Zionist groups here, and he has been called "a propagandist for Hamas" by right wingers at home in Israel.

I am sitting in the Central Synagogue in London sipping tea, hoping that I will get a chance to speak to Josef Levinson. Levinson is 93 years old and exhausted after his flight from Vilnius. He has an ongoing high blood pressure problem and has apparently had a bad night. His son Alex, a tall, square-jawed man with a booming voice, tells me that his father has been having doubts about whether to talk to the newspapers.

Look at Britain's Jews from the outside and you will see a shining success story. An influx of poverty-stricken refugees a century ago has evolved into a middle-class community with superb educational facilities, vibrant cultural life and outstanding achievement in many fields.

Tim Samuels is famous for his stunts. The pensioner's choir that he assembled, named The Zimmers, topped the YouTube charts. He invaded Trafalgar Square with a platoon of disgruntled ex-soldiers, and organised a guerrilla clean-up of dirty hospitals by MRSA victims. He also drove a car bedecked with England football regalia through Scotland during the 2006 World Cup only to have it trashed outside the Celtic stadium.

If you have been watching the World Cup over the past month you will have been marvelling at the way Argentinian superstar Lionel Messi manages to glide his way through defences with the ball seemingly attached to his left foot - how he evade tackles, finds team-mates with a flick of his boot and shoots unerringly at the goal.

Messi is sublimely gifted - a natural-born genius like Maradona and Pele before him. Or is he? Is it just conceivable that Messi's genius is due to the fact that he practises harder than his contemporaries?