Limmud Festival 2018

Limmud Festival 2018 – Tuesday 16:00

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Can career mothers have it all? Can we really lean in?

Fleur Hassan Nahoum 

Blue 34

In this session we will explore why being a mother makes you a better professional and being a professional makes you a better mother. We will analyse the mothers tool kit and see its positive applications in the workplace and run through the professional's tool kit that helps us at home.

Do Jews do karma? Reincarnation in Jewish thought (2 of 2)

Philippa Gamse 

Orange 13

In this second class, we’ll look in more depth at Jewish teachings about the “journey of the soul”, how various commentators from different times in our history have understood this, and what their ideas might mean for our own lives. We’ll also leave space for personal reflections and stories of individual experience. Come with an open mind.

Embroider a Hebrew letter

Vivien Spevock 

Purple 29

In this session, participants will embroider a Hebrew letter, possibly their Initial. Materials will be provided. Some knowledge of needlework would be useful. Suitable for people aged 12 and above. Numbers will be limited to 12 people.

Forgetting the Torah We Learn

Ilana Kurshan 

Red 1

What is the point of learning Torah when we inevitably forget so much? Through a close reading of sources from the Talmud, midrash, poetry, and fiction, we will examine the practice of studying Torah – why we do it, why we keep at it, and why even at those moment when it seems most futile, we may be engaging with Torah on the deepest level.

 Forgetting Torah sourcesheet.docx

#Hashtag Israel

Sahar Sazgar 

Green 27

There are some pictures that every Israeli must have on his Instagram account. What is the useful Hashtag in Israel? And what unique in Israelis Facebook wall? Media and social networks are the biggest stage to show our opinions and personality today - meet the posts that brought people to the streets and made history.

Herzl and Jerusalem

Mordechai (Motti) Friedman 

Orange 14

A comparison between the "Altneuland" description and the reflections following Herzl’s actual 1898 Jerusalem visit.

How do you say Anne Frank in Tigrinya?

Yochai Maital 

Red 4

In a makeshift library in Ethiopia a refugee makes an unlikely friend. Her tale stayed with him as he fled his country, crossed the desert, finally reaching Israel. He was found by a soldier along the border. His first question was "do you know Anne Frank's family?" Through his story we will examine the complicated situation of refugees in Israel.

How Muslim Spain from 8th century onwards has influenced Jewish food, art, music, culture, architecture and folklore

Hilary Pomeroy 

Orange 12

Many features of Sephardi life have been influenced by Muslim Spain - synagogue décor, musical instruments and the hamsa. Many hagadot & ketubot featured Islamic design. Sephardi cooks and pastry chefs were inspired by the products their Muslim neighbours introduced to Spain from the Middle East. This Islamic influence lives on to this day.

In the belly of the whale: a psychological and anthropological approach to the Book of Jonah.

Lea Taragin-Zeller  Mordechai Zeller 

Red 3

The story of Jonah is one of the most fascinating tales in the Bible, traditionally read on Yom Kippur. In this session, we draw on both psychological and anthropological theories of death, rebirth and atonement as we offer a creative and existential reading of the Book of Jonah.

Israel and Diaspora stories: can this marriage be saved?

Shirah Hecht 

Orange 11

The Israel-Diaspora relationship is one of the most potent “yin-yang” dynamics in Judaism. Yet it seems to be changing at an ever-rapid pace. How enduring is this bond and what is its nature? I will offer research, interpretations, and facilitated discussion about our personal connections to Israel.

Jesus was a magic mushroom

Michael Green 

Green 26

Or was he? Now I've got your attention, I'd like to talk to you about mushrooms. Jewish mushrooms. But what's Jewish about a mushroom? A lot, as it happens. This session will explore the place of fungi in Jewish traditions (and vice versa), as well as their role in tikkun olam - from medicine and nutrition to healing damaged ecosystems.

Jewish Bloomsbury: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (2 of 3)

Aviva Dautch 

Orange 10

‘I do not like the Jewish voice’, Virginia wrote in her diary, yet she loved Leonard Woolf, ‘my Jew’, enough to marry him despite the prejudice of her contemporaries. Known for her casual anti-Semitism, she had close Jewish friends and, after visiting Nazi Germany, wrote an indictment of 1930s fascism. So should we fear, or admire, Virginia Woolf?

Jews and Money - The Ultimate Taboo?

Raphael Zarum  Abigail Morris 

Orange 15

Is Jews and money the ultimate taboo? A major new exhibition at the Jewish Museum seeks to tackle this issue. Should we be tackling this stereotype or keeping schtum? And will this debunk negative stereotypes or fuel them? Come and have a sneak preview of the exhibition whilst there’s still a chance to influence it.

Limmud Chavruta Project - Israel @ 70 - Independence (2 of 3)

Limmud Chavruta Team 

Red 9

This year the Limmud Chavruta Project has created five accessible and thought-provoking resources to mark Israel @ 70. Come and study them with us! Everyone welcome with no experience or expertise needed. Come as a pair or we'll pair you up. Today we'll explore the resource from Yom Ha'atzmaut, which explores the theme of Independence.

Otto Freundlich: The greatest artist you never heard of

Naomi Verber 

Green 25

Have you ever heard of Otto Freundlich? Come to this session to discover one of the most exciting, versatile and groundbreaking artists of the early 20th Century. We will explore how Freundlich pioneered abstract art, and why his Jewish identity lead to tragedy and the obscuring of his dazzling legacy.

Student guide to being unstoppable!

Matthew Halfin 

Red 7

Exam pressure getting to you? Relationships getting complicated? Not as confident as you’d like to be? IHEART (Innate Health and Emotional Resilience Training) is being delivered in schools and unis across the UK and this session will give you a taste of how it helps students be unstoppable, whatever ups and downs they face.

Village of hope

Laurence Brass 

Red 5

Discover the background to Israel's unique "Oasis of Peace" village ("Neve Shalom/Wahat al Salam") where Christians, Muslims and Jews coexist and the village school and the School for Peace trains Arabs and Jews to advance peace and equality.

What's got into you?

Jenny Goodman 

Blue 33

We are inhaling, swallowing and absorbing a cocktail of chemicals every day, without being aware of it. Find out how hidden environmental toxins get into your body, how they cause illness, and what you can do about it, both as prevention and treatment. You can't poison the planet without poisoning the people.

When Rebbe Nachman met Gal Gadot: From proto-to post-Feminism

Naftali Moses 

Yellow 21

Man versus woman: a struggle as old as the Garden of Eden. This session will read the R' Nachman's "Tale of the King and the Emperor" as a discussion of the challenges and opportunities presented by female empowerment. We will discuss kabbalistic notions of gender and seek deeper understanding about the possibility for harmony between the sexes.

 Once upon a time there was an emperor who had no children.docx

When two worlds meet: the impact of neo-Hasidism on Progressive Judaism

Naomi Goldman 

Yellow 22

How has Jewish mysticism influenced modern progressive Judaism? We will look at the development of the idea of "tikkun" and how key 20th century thinkers, including Buber and Heschel, brought Hasidic thought to the Progressive Jewish world.

Your city as you've never seen it before

Leon Fenster 

Red 2

Leon’s deliciously all-encompassing portraits of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are part of a quest to capture in art the totality of our love for our cities. All through a Jewish Exilic lens, brimming with colour and stories. Surprisingly, Leon's search for a Jewish aesthetic led him to China and his attempts to depict Chinese cities led him to Israel.

Reading Biblical Poetry (2 of 2)

Adele Berlin 

Purple 31

Poetry can be used to provoke both people and God to take a different course of action, as we will see in the Prophets and in the book of Lamentations.

 Bib. Poetry 2. Isa 40. Jer 31. Lam 2, 3.docx

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