Paul Freedman Lawrence Hoffman Naamah Kelman
Red 1
Three Reform rabbis representing the evolving story of Reform, from Europe, to the US and to Israel will critically discuss and lovingly assess Reform Judaism as it prepares to reach the 200th anniversary of the founding of the first Reform Synagogue in 1817. What have we accomplished and what is the next frontier? Would our founders recognise us?
Orange 12
2017 is the year of Israel anniversaries including: the centenary of the Balfour declaration, the centenary of Allenby marching into Jerusalem, 120 years since the First Zionist Congress, 70 years since the UN vote in favour of Partition Plan, 50 years since the Six Day War and 40 years since Anwar Sadat’s visit to Israel.
Limmud Beit Midrash Group A Michael Pollak
Red 8 (Boulevard Back)
Limmud's Beit Midrash programme is studying Chapter 8 of Sanhedrin “Wanton and Rebellious Son”.In this session our perspective on the text moves to early 20th century and the yeshiva of Brisk listening to the intellectual revolutionary – Rav Chaim Soloveitchik. This is a double-length session.
Limmud Beit Midrash Group B Shoshana Cohen
Red 8 (Boulevard Back)
Limmud's Beit Midrash is studying Chapter 8 of Sanhedrin “Wanton and Rebellious Son”. This lesson will analyse the Talmudic text that explores the connection between keeping mitzvot and staying alive. When is it preferable to live and when to die in the name of God? [We will also compare the conclusions of this text to others that deal with the question of martrydom in different ways. This is a double-length session.
Limmud Beit Midrash Group C Shlomo Zuckier
Red 8 (Boulevard Back)
Limmud's Beit Midrash is studying Chapter 8 of Sanhedrin “Wanton and Rebellious Son”. Today’s section deals with The Tunneler, an intriguing legal category sanctioning standing one’s ground and protecting one’s household against an intruder. This is a double-length session.
Blue 33
Take a look at the issues and developments of contemporary Israel during the last few years, as seen through the lens of some of the best recent productions.
Amy Braier Daniel Infeld Lara Smallman Michelle Jacobs
Blue 32 (Millers)
Collaborative working spaces are popping up everywhere and the Jewish Community has not been immune to their benefits. We will discuss why they are so popular, why they work and why they are a great opportunity for the community to support innovation and entrepreneurship whilst also gaining from new perspectives.
Orange 10
Learn about how creating an ethical food policy - what some are calling community food covenants - at your local Jewish institution can help create a better future for global agriculture and build community. Learn about past victories that have improved the lives of hundreds of millions of animals and how to duplicate them!
Yellow 21
What does the story of building the world’s largest structure in Babel have in common with a tale of subjugation in Egypt? We will note the actions and motivations of a number of outstanding female characters in the Exodus narrative, whose acts of individual heroism help to repair the fractured connection with the Divine.
Red 6
How is guilt portrayed in films by Jewish filmmakers? From guilty feelings to investigating and accusing others, guilt is a prevalent theme in many genres of filmmaking, spanning Hollywood noir to Holocaust documentaries - and not forgetting Woody Allen. This session explores some striking and pertinent examples, using clips and discussion.
Red 2
Mishka (Moshe) Ben-David wrote his first novel as a young soldier after the Yom Kippur war (1973) and ever since found himself in between the literary world (gaining a PhD in Literature, lecturing and writing many more books) - and serving his country, which he felt as an obligation. Mishka will describe how this conflict influenced his life.
Green 25
How to harness the entrepreneurial spirit towards the service of others. When a patient story becomes an international platform; the story of iCAN:israel-cannabis.
Orange 11
The Talmud is, among much else, a great work of Jewish thought. Themes and ideas developed in each tractate are subtly announced in the opening pages and can be elicited by literary readings. Avodah Zarah illuminates dynamics and dilemmas of our relationships with non-Jews, their religions and cultures that we still face. Open to all levels.
Orange 14
Difficulties with halachah (Jewish law) often come down to perceived conflicts between the divine will and human morality. Both the observant and the non-observant often agree that this conflict exists and that one side must triumph. We will explore a third path, one that insists that these conversations must be unified into a holistic quest.
Shani Rosenbaum Yarden Zornberg Avivah Zornberg
Orange 15
What can be learned when we bring our tradition in conversation with our world’s most pressing challenges? In this live spin-off of OLAM and Pardes’s Global Torah podcast, Torah scholar Dr. Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg and her son, global service professional Yarden Zornberg, explore “otherness” in the Book of Ruth and talk about modern social responsibility.
Red 5
The advent of the internet has had a devastating effect on the traditional media worldwide. For Israel's Anglo press, it facilitated access to a huge, hitherto untapped readership, raising the number of titles from two a mere 20 years ago to more than a dozen today, thereby reshaping and enriching the understanding of Israel among diaspora Jews.
Green 26
From birth to death, life is punctuated by moments of profound transition. While some are marked or celebrated through a Jewish lens, many others are not. This session will explore how we can mine the trove of Jewish traditions to spiritually elevate these significant moments in our lives.
Purple 29 (Monarch Overflow)
Today Islam and Muslims are seen generally through the lens of terror and turmoil. However there is a history that has not been fully told. This session will explain what went wrong
Judith Hauptman Rex Bloomstein Irene Wise Aviva Dautch
Blue 34
Jews are known as the "people of the book," but if you take the Bible as a given, what other reading matter would you bring to your desert island? Some of Limmud’s best-read presenters offer us their essential lists of Jewish books and Jew-"ish" books, and discuss their literary lives.
Lindsay Simmonds Shmuel Klitsner Mimi Feigelson
Yellow 24
A panel discussion on women's religious status within the confines of Orthodox Judaism with three leading activists. Our discussion will explore the progress accomplished in certain areas to increase the participation of women in the judicial-halakhic process, the obstacles that still lie ahead, and the tensions inherent in the entire endeavour.
Yellow 22
An interactive presentation on the history of "Rus", "Rusyns" and "Russians", Mongols in the history of Russia and Muscovy, and past battles in Russian history.
Zev Farber UK Jewish Film Elie Jesner
Orange 13
Sensitive and deeply complex, Sacred Sperm explores one of the most suppressed and hidden issues of the Orthodox Jewish community: the sin of ‘wasting sperm’. Opening a rare window onto the taboos of sex and masturbation, director Ori Gruder sets out to understand the prohibition of male self-pleasure. Dir Ori Gruder, Israel, 2014
Green 27
The Torah justifies slavery, patriarchy, even rape. Is this merely a ruse to fool the powerful into accepting laws that actually overturn the social order? We tease out paradoxical texts whose literal meanings contradict their social impact. Today: If the adulteress is condemned to death by ordeal, why is pregnancy evidence of her innocence?
Etan Blass Izzy Posen Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz Stephen Frosh Linda Turner
Red 3
An exploration of the driving forces behind the UKs fast-growing Charedi community. Is communal loyalty motivated by personal faith based on halachah, wider cultural norms and ideologies, or the control mechanisms of its leaders? Join the discussion.
Ilana Ordman Hannah Brady Doreen Samuels Miriam Shaviv
Marquee 2
Miriam Shaviv chairs a panel of four Jewish women - from Progressive to Orthodox - who will give their contrasting views on the meaning of feminism, and its place within modern Jewish life.
Red 4
Many texts offer ways to give us hope in a world that has marginalised and battered us. Now that we have a strong and vibrant Jewish state, how might we read these stories anew? How might they inform the nation we are creating? We will look at biblical and rabbinic texts - not through the lens of our historic powerlessness, but of our power.
Aylana Meisel Ariela Migdal Leonard Saxe Jodi Rudoren Andrew Silow-Carroll
Yellow 23
The 2016 US presidential election was polarising and has created deep fissures in America's political landscape. The panel will provide perspective on the election and assess the role of the Jewish vote, how it divided or unified Jews, and how the results alter the map of Jewish political positions. The panel will consider the implications of the election for policy issues of concern to Jewish voters, in particular Israel.
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