The annual Limmud festival kicked off on Friday night as around 700 participants from from the UK and overseas descended on Birmingham to experience six days of Jewish education, culture and spirituality. Over 1,000 more are expected to join over the next few days.
With at least five different types of Shabbat service, including Orthodox, egalitarian and humanist, the vastly diverse range of Limmudniks came together for a communal Friday night dinner, singing and Havdalah. Shabbat-friendly sessions continued on Saturday until sundown, which saw the opening of the Limmud bar, the social centre of the festival.
Bringing in Shabbat on Limmud
“It’s going really well; there is lovely vibe,” said Noah Ottman, the festival’s commerce co-chair. “Everyone seems to be having a good time, and there have been some amazing sessions.
“I really enjoyed Havdalah where people from lots of different strands of Judaism came together. It’s so rare to have the opportunity to see people from Orthodox and Reform congregations stand side by side in a communal, religious setting.”
Anticipating another four days of “beautiful communal activity”, Noah said: “Our goal is for everyone to enjoy the experience, take something from it and to want to come back”.
Edward Ben-Nathan from Cricklewood in north-west London who was attending his 15th Limmud said that the festival was “the antithesis of staying at home at this time of year, where there isn’t much going on. At Limmud, there is a lot going on and sometimes, too much. There are all these very well produced and professionally run sessions, but there is only the time to take in so much.”
Aside from the education, he was enjoying spending time meeting people. “If I sit at the bar, even on my own, either someone I know will come and talk to me or someone I don’t know. I have just met someone who was born in Uruguay, lives in Berlin and speaks three languages.”
Edward Ben-Nathan
Rebecca, 29, from London, was experiencing Limmud for the first time. She told the JC: “I come from a more Orthodox background, and I wanted to come to broaden my experience of other Jewish spaces.”
Particularly enjoying “the open-mindedness and the warmth” among festivalgoers of all backgrounds, Rebecca said that she was struck by how people “were really receptive to what other people are bringing to the festival”.
She added that she would like to see more people from the Orthodox community at Limmud. ““I think that some people who are more on the right [Jewishly] might see the open-mindedness of Limmud as a threat to their more insular communities.
“I think that they are missing out as there have been some really insightful lectures and there is such a lot of diversity. You can either choose to go to something you are already familiar with or step out of your comfort zone.”
Also experiencing her first Limmud was Kaley Halperin, 36, from Israel, who was attending as a singer and musician.
Involved in Hadar, a halachic egalitarian organisation in Israel, Kaley said of Limmud: “There is a good feeling of family here. Within the diversity, there is kinship. It’s really inspiring that people can carry out their own [Jewish] practice while respecting other people’s practice”.
Asked whether she could imagine a similar event taking place in Israel, Kaley said: “It would be a challenge to have a Jewish learning festival with such different schools of thought and practice. Israel could learn a lot from diaspora Jews. The only place in Israel where you really see this happening is in the army.”
Kaley singing on stage at Limmud
The 700-plus sessions, sometimes with ten different options in one hour, range from Talmud study, Israeli politics and the future of UK Jewry to mysticism, trans inclusion, “Knit and Knatter” – and everything in between.
But Dan Jacobs, from Hendon, has been at nearly every single Limmud since 2000, has set himself a challenge.
The former festival programme chair, who oversees the alternative gala on the last night, told the JC: “I have decided to try to go to as few sessions as possible this year, and I am doing well so far. I’m still having as good a time though as there are always people around to chat to and I went on a walk for an hour and a half earlier…I walked around lots of carparks.”
Dan Jacobs
Sarah-Beth Neville, 32, who is from the UK and training to be a rabbi in New York, described the festival as “a magical combination of a lot of experienced, professional speakers in a grassroots setting”.
“Limmud creates a level playing field for people who are just starting out or want to be experimental and creative, alongside lots of elite speakers”.
She said that a highlight had been “a really fun Oneg [singing circle] on Shabbat. I had just come back from a singing course, so I was able to teach the group some different songs”.
First-time Limmudnik, Tova, 30, from Tel Aviv, was at the festival on the recommendation of friends. “They told me that I would love Limmud, and I am really grateful to be here, teaching and learning and meeting passionate and interesting people in a meaningful and intentional space”.
Shabbat had been reminiscent of Friday nights “at youth movement or in school, but a grown-up version. It felt like being on a retreat or on our own island.”
