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Limmud Festival is the antidote to polarisation, say organisers
The UK’s biggest cross-communal Jewish event kicks off in less than a fortnight
December 10, 2024 10:44
The UK’s biggest cross-communal Jewish event kicks off in less than a fortnight
December 10, 2024 10:44Limmud Festival is “desperately needed” in the Jewish community as an antidote to the current polarisation in society.
This is the message of the organisers of Anglo-Jewry’s largest cross-communal learning and cultural gathering, which kicks off in less than a fortnight.
Speaking to the JC, co-chair of programming Noa Gendler, said that one of the challenges was how to cover the topic of Israel since October 7 and the ensuing war to reflect the diversity of opinions within the community.
“In our role as programme planners, it was important that we put aside our own feelings about Israel and listened across the community to ensure that we were touching every part of the political and emotional spectrum. We tried to cast a really wide net.
“We’ve got Israeli diplomats coming who will speak on behalf of the Israeli government, Liberal Zionists, who will speak out against the government, Israeli anti-Zionists and Palestinians.”
Describing Limmud Festival as “pluralistic”, Gendler said that it didn’t matter which side of the political spectrum people were on “as long as they show tolerance and respect for people of different viewpoints. The purpose of Limmud is to bring people together across divides, and in this polarised world, this is desperately needed in the community.”
While she hoped participants would “find solace from being like-minded people, we are also hoping that they will want to stretch themselves by hearing perspectives they haven’t listened to before”.
She added: “We are hopeful that whoever joins Limmud will feel that it’s a place for them to share their hopes and fears, thoughts and values, and that it’s a safe place to grapple with what has been a horrible time for all of us.”
Aside from sessions on Israel and Gaza, festival coordinators would also be creating three separate spaces around the venue for participants to have the opportunity for personal reflection on the past year.
The first would be a memorial space, where people would be able to say Kaddish if they wished to and have some quiet time away from the intense activity of the festival. “This is a non-prescriptive space. People can remember anyone they would like to,” said Abi Symons, the team-organisational link.
“While Limmud is a Jewish environment with mostly Jewish participants, we are very aware that Palestinians, Lebanese people and people with dual citizenship have died in this conflict. It’s not just about Israeli lives. This is a place for people to grieve for whoever they want to”
The second space connected to October 7 would be a space dedicated to the hostages with an empty table, inspired by the Shabbat tables which have been set up in several cities, including London and Leeds. As well as regular chairs, it would also include a highchair, symbolising the Bibas children, who have been held in captivity for 14 months.
Rather than being in a room, the installation would be in an open setting, said Symons. “We are communally holding our breath. We asked ourselves how we could honestly and authentically hold space for [the hostage situation]. We can’t shut it away – it is now part of the fabric of our world,” said Symons.
The third space would be a tree of hope, on which people would be able to pin a self-penned message. “Very loosely, the spaces symbolise the past, the present and the future,” said Symons.
This year’s festival, held once again in Birmingham at the end of the month, is expected to attract some 1,800 people across congregations and generations.
Over six days, the predominantly volunteer-led event will hold over 700 sessions within Jewish fields including arts and culture, history, politics, Torah and philosophy and spirituality and wellbeing, led by educators from the UK, Israel and a number of other countries.
Limmud Festival is a key event of Limmud, a Jewish cross-communal educational charity, which runs events throughout the year. Since Limmud was founded 41 years ago in the UK, over 80 other Limmud organisations have been set up around the world, including in the States, New Zealand and China.