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Photo: Jerrold Bennett
Steady global growth. Limmud backpack
Photo: Jerrold Bennett

What are UK Jews doing on Christmas?

Matisyahu, Y Love and 2,500 Jews to rock ‘n roll one step further in their Jewish journey as part of Limmud Conference 2012

Over Christmas week, 2,500 British Jews and activists from 40 Limmud communities worldwide will converge at the University of Warwick to celebrate Jewish learning, at Limmud Conference 2012, on December 23-27.

 

The conference will also welcome new Limmud International Chair David Hoffman.

 

“I’m delighted to be taking on the role of coordinating support for Limmud activist teams around the world,” said Hoffman, a commercial barrister, human rights law author and occasional rock musician, who is on the Limmud Board and has held many Limmud leadership positions since 2005.

 

“Limmud’s steady global growth is immensely exciting and I look forward to helping Limmud reach more Jewish communities and more people within each community.

 

“I salute the outgoing Limmud International co-chairs Uri Berkowitz and Helena Miller, who oversaw Limmud International inroads in Asia, Latin America and Israel, among other places.”

 

Limmud continues to innovate, with dynamic presenters and powerful new formats, including:

 

  • "Later…at Limmud" – think BBC 2’s "Later…with Jools Holland" – will bring together top musicians, artists, actors and even a puppeteer to fashion and discuss a new creation inspired by a Jewish text. One night, reggae legend Matisyahu and fine artist Jacqueline Nicholls, who is behind “Draw Yomi” based on "Daf Yomi" and has exhibited in New York, London and Israel, will be interviewed by philosopher Sam Lebens. Another night, Y Love, the first African-American Orthodox Jewish hip-hop artist, will share the stage with Robbie Gringras, who has performed his own plays on London’s West End and throughout the world.
  • The first Cairo Genizah exhibit to feature newly-plumbed discoveries in medicine and midrash as reflected in the everyday lives of 11th, 12th and 13th century Jews in the Middle East and North Africa, comes from The Interdisciplinary Center for the Broader Application of Genizah Research at the University of Haifa. One medical nugget: Eleventh century prescriptions reveal that sugar was one of the top 10 contemporary medications in Fustat, or Old Cairo. And, fragments of midrash in Arabic attest to better days in the encounter between Judaism and Islam.
  • Panels offering fresh and refreshing perspectives on the complicated relationship between Jews and Christmas.

 

Also on offer are 900 sessions spanning the arts, culture, current events, Torah, philosophy, history, and interfaith dialogue, as well as hands-on workshops, and pop up encounters that ignite spontaneously in the round-the-clock learning environment.

 

“We’re thrilled to welcome Limmud activists from the four corners of the earth – Atlanta and Austria, Boston and Bulgaria, the Galilee and Germany, Mexico and Moscow, New Orleans and the Netherlands, Shanghai, South Africa, Stockholm, and Sydney –and the list goes on,” said Limmud Conference 2012 Chair David Renton.

 

“We all share the Limmud credo: ‘Wherever you are in your Jewish journey, Limmud will take you one step further.’”

 

At Limmud Conference 2012, Limmud Chair Carolyn Bogush, who was in high demand at international Jewish gatherings to present Limmud’s wildly successful formula, will pass the baton to Limmud Chair-elect, Kevin Sefton. Sefton and incoming Limmud International Chair Hoffman will work together closely.

 

Limmud International is a project of Limmud, the global organization founded in the United Kingdom in 1980, which offers the most extensive opportunities for Jewish engagement the world over. The outstanding success of Limmud in the UK has inspired over 60 communities in 26 countries to run local Limmud gatherings.

 

Limmud International facilitates the establishment of new Limmud communities, provides training, mentoring and support for Limmud groups around the world, and creates a forum for the sharing of ideas and best practices.

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 12.22.12, 07:33
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