Limmud Article

Check out this article on Limmud from the Jewish Community Online – "the digital arm of The Jewish Chronicle Ltd, which publishes The Jewish Chronicle, the world's oldest and most influential Jewish newspaper."

"Why Limmud is now the Festival of Festivals"

LimmudFest

The effects of Limmud UK continue... I just got back from the first "volunticipation" interest meeting for our first-ever LimmudFest. Great turnout, great ideas, great people, and a great start overall. I'm so excited (but realistic and hopefully down-to-earth) about Limmud's growth in our community, and I'm thrilled to be a part of it.

At the meeting, I noticed that the spirit of Limmud UK drove many of my thoughts, and it's given me a sense of--and ability to share that sense--where we should go from here.

Noah

I went to Limmud for the first time this year. In fact, I had never even heard of Limmud until one month before the conference. I went with my friend Eli and his mom. Friday night was really fun, although we didn't sit next to people my age, we sat next to people from Switzerland and London. Saturday was an easy day, we just hung out, relaxed, and played some games. Eli and I started Young Limmud Sunday afternoon. It was really fun, we played get to know you games, and we listened to some presenters. I made a lot of new friends that are really nice. One night, my friends and I went to a grown up session called Sofia's Drawings. It was a puppet show of sorts about a girl in the Holocaust, Sofia. Sofia's granddaughter did the show. It was really amazing. On the last day of Young Limmud, the whole group went to a session about Zionism. It was supposed to get us ready for the regular conference. It was really interesting. The food at the conference was really good too, but the sandwich combinations were a little weird. I hope to go back next year.

                 Sydney Joffre                

Brilliant!

We're back in the States with a full-night's sleep, and I'm as invigorated, inspired, and excited about Limmud as ever. The UK experience was an amazing one on a personal level and as a Limmud Atlanta volunteer. Both of me is completely refueled for the new year.

I hope to keep posting and reflecting on what Limmud was, is, and will be for me, but I'm even more hopeful that I get to work and learn with more and more volunteers here at home to make our version the absolute best it can be.

Shabbat Shalom,
Noah

Reflections

I write this upon returning from Limmud Conference 2008 at Warwick University in the UK. I had an incredible exhilarating experience. I would describe it as the ultimate vacation for mind body and soul. Like a ski trip, I took it easy on the first couple days which included a relaxing Shabbat and as each day progressed I spent more time on the slopes and getting more comfortable with the expert slopes. Limmud UK took place on a large University campus during the holiday break. Limmudnicks totaled about 2400 and there were endless round the clock experiences for the beginner to the expert and everything in between. I quickly leaned that Limmud is as much about what you have to give up by choosing certain options as it is about you do attend. There were as many as 25 choices at a time and I found myself feeling like a student again at University with the most knowledgeable, engaging and informative teachers in the world. My days included no less then 8 sessions and included topics as diverse as A Muslims experience of Yom Kippur, How to Process Jesus , Jewish Identity in the US, the Four Megillot, How to end Poverty and Jews and Porn. At a time when war broke out in Gaza, you felt as if you were part of a White House advisors team meeting with leading world experts from all points of the spectrum including a Palestinian and an IDF official dialoging in open formats on the complexities of the issues. Evenings were spent till very late hours over pints of Guinness processing with our Atlanta team (7 of us) as well as representatives from Limmud's all over the world including places like Romania, Israel, FSU South Africa, France and Australia. When your mind needed a break from the intensive dialogue, the arts options were extraordinary with film, music, comedy and theater options that were exceptional. We were represented by some of our Atlanta own on the program including Deborah Lipstadt and Mel Konner both Emory professors and favorite presenters at Limmud UK.

So what does it all mean for Limmud Atlanta + Southeast? Here are my takeaways:

1) It is all about the VOLUNTEER. Limmud only happens with Volunteers like you empowered to make things happen. True success for Limmud is when all participants volunteer for some aspect of Limmud. They have coined a word in the UK called "volenticipation". If you want to be involved in Limmud, there is a place for you and we need to assure that you are engaged and feeling empowered. If you're someone who wants to be engaged and is not, please let me know because we have plenty to do.

2) DIVERSITY-it is something we have been pushing, but it deserves a renewed emphasis. Limmud ATL + SE needs to appeal to a diversity of the Jewish community in all aspects and everyone needs to feel welcome in both putting it together and participating.

3) Limmud ATL+SE must create dialog. We need to bring people from far and wide with different viewpoints together and give them a constructive format to share their perspectives and perhaps most importantly give everyone a chance to learn. We need lots of panels and discussions on a wide array of topics. We need to highlight our local gems, but also continue to introduce national and international teachers .

4) Limmud ATL+ SE needs to be a CATALYST for Jewish life here helping anyone to move our community members along their particular Jewish journey. We need to aim to empower everyone to be involved in making the world a better place by inspiring new projects, new learners, new teachers and a city of Jews that celebrates its placement as a world class Jewish community.

5) Lastly we need to create a Limmud where presenters want to be there as much as everyone else and they want to fully participate. I now understand why we don't need to pay well deserving experts; a great teacher wants to learn too and there is no better place to learn for anyone then Limmud.

In closing, I will update you on another exciting happening with Limmud ATL+ SE. We have decided to launch a mini "Limmud Fest" over Labor Day weekend at Ramah Draon in addition to our March date at Oglethorpe this year. It will be offered to only a limited number of participants with the goals of offering a true multi-day Limmud in residence. Limmud Fest is being chaired by Renee Rosenheck. We hope it will help us to continue to shape the best future for our Limmud. Stay tuned for details on how you can get involved.

It is 2009 and we are in the home stretch for Limmud ATL + SE 2009. Please if you're not engaged yet, let us know and we will help you along as we need everyone to assure this is a success and we have a lot to do in just over two months.

Happy New Year and Shabbat Shalom!

Eric M. Robbins

Co-chair, Limmud Atlanta + SE