Limmud Festival 2022

Limmud Festival 2022 – Monday 18:20

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'So how's the Limmud research going?' An update

Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz 

Red 4

Since 2020 I've been researching the history and development of Limmud, and so far have interviewed 138 Limmudniks! Come and hear what I've discovered - from Limmud's origins and transformation from an educators' get-together, to its impact on British Muslims and its ambiguous relationship with Christmas - and how many marriages started in the bar!

20 Jewish characters in non-Jewish fiction

Martin Kaye 

Blue 34

We may all be aware of the vast canon of English and American literature, even meaning to read them one day. But are we aware of the existence of Jewish characters in some of them and the roles they play? In this session Martin will bring to life some of these Jewish characters, their significance and why some are even venerated to this day.

Find your Adam or Eve (for 35-45 year olds)

Limmud Social Programming  Rachel Creeger 

Purple 31

Welcome to the Garden of Eden of Jewish dating. Limmud is not only Jewish paradise, but we’ve been finding our partners here since the 1980s! Make your parents happy and bring home a lovely Adam or Eve. There’ll be quick-fire rounds to meet more Jews than you can swipe on a Saturday night. This will be opposite-gender speed dating.

Flip the script: intermarriage is good for the Jews

Denise Handlarski 

Yellow 21

What if everything you ever heard about intermarriage was wrong? Come hear stories and strategies about how intermarriage is good for helping to build Jewish families, homes and communities.

Haredim and the future of Israel: a social and demographic challenge (2 of 3)

David Newman 

Orange 10

The haredi population is by far the most rapidly growing sector of the Jewish population worldwide - especially in Israel, North America and the UK. The society faces major economic, social and demographic challenges as it confronts modernity. Where will Israel's haredi population be in 20 years from now and how will it face the internal tensions of maintaining its closed society while, at one and the same time, being part of the power elites?

Leadership crisis? What leadership crisis? (Talmud with the backstory left in)

Ben Crowne 

Red 8

An obscure talmudic precedent about a sheep's split lip provokes a leadership crisis, the fall of a great house, a debate about the nature of divine and human justice, prophetic and rabbinic authority, a look inside the home lives of the sages, and perhaps a lesson or two for us all. Sources will be in Hebrew and English - no prior knowledge is required.

Meditation, distraction and connection

Lisa Goldstein 

Blue 33

Much of our suffering comes from our relationship with our own minds. The term 'mahshavot zarot' (foreign thoughts) describes how our minds proliferate worries, distractions and desires. What can we do with these unwelcome thoughts? We will explore a few Jewish answers to this question and apply them to our actual experience in guided meditation.

Punishment or prevention - how to best deal with crime?

Sefi Kraut 

Red 5

Leaders have a duty to protect their citizens. But to whom and how should that protection be extended? What is the appropriate leadership response when some citizens threaten the safety of others? We will explore opposing viewpoints in Jewish texts and consider how these competing positions are reflected in explosive contemporary debates.

 Punishment or Prevention, source sheet, Limmud UK 2022 .pdf

The Fifth Zionist Congress (3 of 4)

Mordechai (Motti) Friedman 

Yellow 22

From Congress to Congress there was increasing pressure on Theodore Herzl to deal with cultural matters. At the Fifth Congress, tension reached its peak. Another issue at this Congress was the founding of the Jewish National Fund (JNF), a proposal that was rejected at first. How were the issues of culture and the founding of the JNF managed?

The pig-faced lady: kashrut and anti-Jewish sentiment in 18th-century England

Noelle Dückmann Gallagher 

Red 3

In this session, we will explore some of the misconceptions about, and prejudices against, Jewish dietary laws in 18th-century England. We'll ask why pork became such an important symbol in anti-Jewish propaganda, and we'll view some of the many cartoons depicting Jewish immigrants as either figures of self-denial or secret binge eaters.

The stolen narrative of Bulgarian Jews and the Holocaust (2 of 3)

Jacky Comforty 

Orange 12

We will share a complex tapestry of voices of memories previously underrepresented, ignored and denied. My book sums up 35 years of research and exposes how the narrative of the survivors was manipulated and hijacked by Bulgarian politics.

Unknown Sephardim: exploring the philosophies, language and culture of Ladino-speaking Jewry

Ethan Marcus 

Orange 15

From Maimonides to Ovadia Yosef, Sephardic Jewry has had a proud, robust and vibrant intellectual heritage. Yet today, few in the Jewish world know about the Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) speaking Sephardim of the former Ottoman Empire. Join us as we explore some of the unique perspectives of this community's scholars, language and cultural practices.

Vayehi erev, vayehi voker – And there was evening and there was morning: words of Torah to help us rediscover the light in moments of personal darkness

Ephraim Mirvis 

Red 1

In this session, Ephraim Mirvis, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth since 2013, will offer a Jewish approach to finding comfort in difficult times.

What's new in... ancient Judaism?

Ezra Margulies  Miryam Brand  Ishay Rosen-Zvi 

Red 2

A light-hearted conversation featuring two leading scholars of ancient Jewish history, Miryam Brand and Ishay Rosen-Zvi. We will shed light on our favourite recent books and breakthroughs in the field, contemporary debates and what makes the study of Jews in the biblical and Second Temple period so interesting!

Why Jews love money

Ze'ev Maghen 

Orange 11

In Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, our only cameo appearance comes when Miss Ophelia demands that Mr. St. Claire sign over Topsy to her right away. 'Why do you come at me like a Jew?' he asks her. When the reunited characters at the end of Voltaire's Candide are in need of cash, 'a Jew was quickly found...' - and so on, across the length and breadth of Western literature. What gives? Ta Shma [come and hear]...

DJ workshop with DJ Tamboi

Limmud Social Programming 

Red 7

Ever wanted to learn how to DJ? Join DJ Tamboi for a workshop aimed for women, trans, and non-binary people at Festival. The workshop will be a great introduction to DJing for those wanting to give it a go. Come learn how to use the decks and create new sounds with music that you love!

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