Limmud is a British-Jewish educational charity which, in the UK, produces a large annual winter festival and several other regional events throughout the year on the theme of Jewish learning. Limmud is not affiliated to any strand of Judaism, stating "We have no part to play in the debates between/across denominations" in its mission statement. Limmud markets itself as open to "anyone interested in Jewish learning". The Limmud event in the UK has inspired a worldwide movement of Limmud groups, so the name 'Limmud' now refers both to the UK charity and the worldwide network (Limmud itself only operates in the UK). Its motto is "wherever you find yourself, Limmud will take you one step further on your Jewish journey." Limmud (from the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

word meaning "to learn") was originally a conference for "educators", basing itself on

CAJE The Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education (CAJE), founded as the Coalition for ''Alternatives'' in Jewish Education, was a non-profit organization based in New York City. Its activities included an annual conference that draws more Jewi ...

, the Conference on Alternatives in Jewish Education of North America. Taking CAJE's volunteer ethos, not paying presenters and not using people's titles, Limmud has grown to be a large international movement. During the 1990s there was the significant change as Limmud reinvented itself as a community gathering, giving rise to a significant increase in the number of attendees and leading it to be described as "British Jewry's greatest export". The Limmud model has now spread to many other countries. A distinctive feature of Limmud is that the events are organised by volunteers, who also take part as equals in what is now called the Limmud Festival (held in the UK). Limmud Festival's largest group of volunteers are in their 20s and 30s. Around half of the UK "Forty under 40" (a community-wide initiative to identify the future leaders of British Jewry, published by ''

Jewish News The ''Jewish News'' is a free weekly newspaper, established in 1997, that serves the Jewish communities of Greater London – specifically Middlesex, Hertfordshire and Essex. In 2002, it won the ''Press Gazette'' free newspaper of the year. In F ...

'') have volunteered for Limmud and a former Chair of Limmud, Elliott Goldstein, topped the list.

History

Limmud held its first conference in 1980 for 80 people organised by Alastair Falk, Michael May, Jonathan Benjamin and

Clive Lawton Clive Allen Lawton (born 14 July 1951) is a British Jewish educator, broadcaster and writer who was one of the founders, in 1980, of the educational charity Limmud. He is chief executive officer of the Commonwealth Jewish Council, a lecturer a ...

, inspired by a visit to the Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education (CAJE) in North America. Its aim was to build bridges between professional and nonprofessional educators and between those of differing religious commitments. The next year participation had doubled and all aspects of Jewish learning were covered. By 1996 the main Limmud conference had expanded and moved to Oxford with attendance of over 1,000, 250 sessions and 140 speakers, becoming the largest Jewish conference in Europe. During this period the organisation also held smaller one day events in Glasgow and Leeds. In 1999 the first non-UK Limmud was held in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. 2006 saw Limmud appoint its first full-time Executive Director, Raymond Simonson. Prior to this Limmud had been run by part-time directors. The late 2000s saw Limmud participation in the UK grow dramatically. In 2007 Limmud held their conference at Warwick University, with 2,000 participants and 600 at Limmud Fest, a smaller summer festival. With numbers more than doubling in 2008 to 7,000 for their UK events. International conferences were now held in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Limmud Conference moved to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

for Conference 2015, with a record 2,800 participants. New Limmud groups include

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" is a s ...

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

and

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

. In 2017 Limmud Conference became Limmud Festival. Limmud set up affiliates in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. Limmud estimates there are 40,000 participants annually in a Limmud worldwide, run by 4,000 volunteers. In 2017 Limmud was also awarded the Jerusalem Unity Prize for contribution to Jewish life, presented by Israeli President Rivlin. In 2018 and 2019, formal legal entities were set up to co-ordinate and support Limmud teams in North America and Israel. A structural review in 2020 recommended the creation of a new global entity to represent Limmud groups around the world.

Organisation

Limmud is a company and a charity. It is run by a board of directors and trustees, all of whom are volunteers. Initially, there was no difference between Limmud the organisation and Limmud Conference, the annual event, so the chairs of the Conference/Festival team were the chairs of the organisation. In 1990, a chair for the organisation who was separate from the Conference chairs was appointed for the first time. In 2006,

Limmud International Limmud International, a section of the Limmud organisation between 2006 and 2016, is a volunteer-led Jewish international organisation, based in London. It was initially chaired by Andrew Gilbert, then by Helena Miller and Uri Berkowitz, by Davi ...

was created, as a separate unit within Limmud to manage relationships with other Limmud groups around the world. Limmud International was absorbed back into Limmud at the end of 2016. Chairs of Limmud Conference/Festival Chairs of Limmud * 1990–1997 Andrew Gilbert * 1998–2001 Judy Trotter * 1998–2000 Natan Tiefenbrun * 2001–2003 Claire Straus * 2003–2005 Claire Mandel * 2006–2009 Elliott Goldstein * 2010–2012 Carolyn Bogush * 2013–2015 Kevin Sefton * 2016–2019 David Hoffman * 2019–2020 Shoshana Bloom * 2020 – Carolyn Bogush, Elliott Goldstein Chairs of Limmud International * 2006–2009 Andrew Gilbert * 2010–2012 Uri Berkowitz, Helena Miller * 2013–2014 David Hoffman * 2015–2016 David Bilchitz Chairs of Limmud Global Board * 2020 – Shoshana Bloom Chairs of Limmud UK Executive * 2021 – Ysabella Hawkings, Abigail Jacobi

Staff

Limmud's first professional appointment in 1998 was of

as part-time Executive Director; he gradually became backed by a full-time administrator. In 2006 Limmud recruited its first full-time Executive Director, Raymond Simonson, former Director of UJIA Makor: The Centre for Informal Jewish Education. When Simonson became Chief Executive of London's Jewish Community Centre, now

JW3 JW3, also known as Jewish Community Centre London, is an arts, culture and entertainment venue, an educational facility and a social and community hub in north London. It is located at 341–351 Finchley Road, London, and opened on 29 Septembe ...

, in 2012 he was succeeded by Shelley Marsh. She stepped down from the role in 2015. Mike Schindler was the Limmud Director of Operations and the senior professional in the organisation between March and August 2015, and then Dani Serlin was Acting Executive Director until February 2016. In February 2016, Limmud appointed Chief Executive, Eli Ovits, as senior professional. Ovits left in 2020.

Limmud events in the UK

Limmud Festival

Limmud Festival (until 2017 known as Limmud Conference), takes place every year in the last week of December and is the organisation's

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

event. It was inspired by the

conference in the United State

and now attracts more than 2,000 participants annually; in 2015 the numbers rose to 2,750. A typical day at Limmud Festival includes around 200 sessions spanning religious, cultural and political aspects of Jewish life. After the first conferences at

Carmel College (Oxfordshire) Carmel College was founded in 1948 as a British, Jewish boarding school for boys, modelled on British public schools. In later years it was, to some extent, co-educational, and there were a few non-Jewish day pupils. It closed down in 1997. Ca ...

, Limmud Conference has been held at Portsmouth Polytechnic (1984),

Oxford Brookes University Oxford Brookes University (formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic (United Kingdom), Polytechnic) is a public university, public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and High ...

(1986–1994), Worcester (1995–96), Manchester (1997), the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

(1998–2006) and Warwick University (2007–14). From 2015 to 2019 this annual event was held at the hotels surrounding Pendigo Lake, near

. The 2020 and 2021 festivals, held during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, were online events.

Limmud summer events

Limmud held a summer event in the last week of August which was called Limmud Fest from 2004 to 2012 and Limmud in the Woods from 2013 to 2016. It involved camping as well as staying indoors, had a less intense programme centred on

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...

and was more cultural and outdoors-focused than its winter sibling. Limmud Fest had a peak attendance of 650 people; Limmud in the Woods was attended by around 200–250 young adults and young families.

Day and weekend Limmud events

The first Day Limmud was in Sheffield in the early 1980s, followed by Leeds in the mid-1990s. Day and weekend Limmuds are now held at a number of venues in the UK, including Birmingham, Cambridge, Harrow, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, and the Thames Valley. Limmud events have also been held in Bournemouth, Brighton, Glasgow,

Hackney, London Hackney is a district in East London, England, forming around two-thirds of the area of the modern London Borough of Hackney, to which it gives its name. It is 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Charing Cross and includes part of the Queen E ...

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

, South London and South East London.

Other Limmud events in UK

Other events run by Limmud in the UK, either on their own or in partnership with others, have included music events and the

Florence Melton Florence Zacks Melton (November 6, 1911 – February 8, 2007) was an American inventor known for innovating the foam-soled and washable slipper. Early life Melton was born Florence to Meir and Rebecca Spurgeon in Philadelphia. Melton grew up in P ...

Adult Mini-School, organised in partnership with the

London Jewish Cultural Centre The London Jewish Cultural Centre (LJCC; formerly the Spiro Institute) was a charitable organisation based (from 2005) at Ivy House, the former home of prima ballerina Anna Pavlova, in North End Road, Golders Green, London. It provided an educa ...

Limmuds around the world

The Limmud model has now spread to many other countries. More than ninety communities in 42 countries on six continents have hosted Limmud events including Hong Kong,. Peru, India, Montenegro, Majorca and Jamaica. Limmud events around the world have included: UK
Limmud Bristol SW, Limmud Cambridge, Limmud Festival, Limmud Harrow, Limmud Hull, Limmud Leeds, Limmud Liverpool, Limmud Manchester, Limmud Midlands, Limmud Scotland, Limmud Thames Valley Africa, Asia and Australasia Australia: Limmud Canberra, Limmud Oz Melbourne, Limmud Oz Perth, Limmud Oz Sydney
Limmud New Zealand
Limmud China: Limmud Beijing, Limmud Shanghai
Limmud India
Limmud Réunion
South Africa Limmud SA: Limmud Cape Cape Town, Limmud Durban, Limmud Johannesburg North America USA: Limmud AZ, Limmud Bay Area, Limmud Boca, Limmud Boston, Limmud Chicago + MW, Limmud LA, Limmud Miami, Limmud Michigan, Limmud NOLA, Limmud NY, Limmud Philly, Limmud Seattle, Canada: Limmud Kingston, Limmud Ottawa, Limmud Toronto, Limmud Vancouver, Limmud Winnipeg Latin America Argentina: Limmud Buenos Aires, Limmud Mar Del Plata Limmud Bogota Limmud Caracas Limmud Chile Limmud Costa Rica Limmud Mexico Europe Limmud Baltics (covers Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) Limmud Czech Republic- Slovak Republic Limmud ExYu (covers Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia) Limmud France- Limmud Paris, Limmud Marseille Limmud Germany- Limmud Berlin, Limmud Cologne, Limmud Essen, Limmud Frankfurt A.M, Limmud Freiburg, Limmud Hamburg, Limmud Munich Limmud Helsinki Limmud Hungary Limmud Italia -Limmud Italia in Jerusalem Limmud Keshet Bulgaria Limmud Latvia Limmud Lithuania Limmud Netherlands Limmud Oresund (covers Copenhagen, Lund and Malmo) Limmud Poland- Limmud Wrocław Spain: Limmud Barcelona, Limmud Madrid, Limmud Mallorca Limmud Stockholm Limmud Turkey Limmud Vienna Israel Limmud Arava Limmud Galil Limmud Golan Limmud Haifa Limmud Jerusalem Limmud Modi'in Limmud Tel Aviv Limmud Yeroham FSU Limmud FSU Belarus Limmud FSU Canada Limmud FSU Europe Limmud FSU Israel Limmud FSU Moldova Limmud FSU Moscow Limmud FSU NY Limmud FSU St Petersburg Limmud FSU Ukraine Limmud FSU Volga-Urals Limmud FSU West Coast Events based upon the Limmud concept Russia: Lsaran
Switzerland: Jom Ijun
United Kingdom: British Islam Conference
United States: Tidewater Yom Limmud, Jewish Community Day of Learning Naples Other international Limmud entities: Chair of Limmud North America 2017–2019 Shep Rosenman 2019–2021 Faye Rosenberg-Cohen, Sivie Twersky 2021– Tony Abrams Chair of Limmud Israel 2018–2020 Danielle Nagler 2021– Eli Ovits Chair of Limmud FSU (Former Soviet Union) 2006– Chaim Chesler, Sandy Kahn

Relationships with Orthodoxy in Britain

The former London United Synagogue

Beth Din A beit din ( he, בית דין, Bet Din, house of judgment, , Ashkenazic: ''beis din'', plural: batei din) is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel. Today, it ...

's Head

Dayan (rabbinic judge) A beit din ( he, בית דין, Bet Din, house of judgment, , Ashkenazic: ''beis din'', plural: batei din) is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel. Today, it ...

Chanoch Ehrentreu Chanoch Ehrentreu (27 December 1932 – 24 November 2022) was a German-born British Orthodox rabbi. He served for many years as the head of the London Beth Din in Great Britain (also known as The Court of the Chief Rabbi), serving the United S ...

, advised Orthodox rabbis not to attend Limmud Conference. However, in the UK many United Synagogue pulpit rabbis have attended Limmud. In December 2010 Rabbi

Yitzchak Schochet Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet arrived in the UK in 1991. Having previously served as assistant principle of Oholei Torah Boys School in New York, he assumed the position as Minister of the Richmond Synagogue in Southwest London for two years, while a ...

of Mill Hill United Synagogue, who had been seen as a notable absentee and critic of Limmud, attended, took part in and taught at Limmud's 30th annual Conference. Following this he wrote on the synagogue's website: "upon return all I could ask myself was, 'where was I until now?'"

Jonathan Sacks Jonathan Henry Sacks, Baron Sacks ( he, יונתן הנרי זקס, translit=Yona'tan Henry Zaks; 8 March 19487 November 2020) was an English Orthodox rabbi, philosopher, theologian, and author. Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United He ...

did not attend Limmud whilst being Chief Rabbi but attended when he was the head of Jews College. Sacks, when looking back on his rabbinate, considers Limmud to be one of the great successes of his time. Controversy erupted again in 2013 when newly elected Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis announced his decision to attend. Subsequently, a public notice signed by seven leading Orthodox rabbis including Dayan

and Rabbi

Avrohom Gurwicz Avrohom Gurwicz is an English-born Orthodox rabbi and Talmudic scholar. Since 1982 he has been the rosh yeshivah of Gateshead Talmudical College, a yeshiva in Gateshead, England, where he has been giving the largest ''shiur'' (Torah lecture) in E ...

was published in the '' Jewish Tribune'', highly critical of pluralism and urged "God-fearing Jews" not to participate in Limmud. This sparked condemnation by non-

Charedi Haredi Judaism ( he, ', ; also spelled ''Charedi'' in English; plural ''Haredim'' or ''Charedim'') consists of groups within Orthodox Judaism that are characterized by their strict adherence to ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions, in oppos ...

communal leaders, with

Jewish Leadership Council The Jewish Leadership Council (previously known as the Jewish Community Leadership Council) is an organisation in the United Kingdom, founded in 2003, whose declared aim is to forward the interests of the organised Jewish community in Britain. ...

chairman Mick Davis,

Board of Deputies The Board of Deputies of British Jews, commonly referred to as the Board of Deputies, is the largest and second oldest Jewish communal organisation in the United Kingdom, after only the Initiation Society which was founded in 1745. Established ...

president

Vivian Wineman Vivian Wineman (born 14 February 1950) was president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the representative body of the Jewish community in Britain, from 2009 to 2015. Early life He was born in London, on 14 February 1950, to Joseph and D ...

and United Synagogue president Stephen Pack writing to ''

The Jewish Chronicle ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

'', describing the statement as showing "a shocking failure of leadership". ''The Jewish Chronicle'' itself described the statement as "crass, ill-judged and ultimately self-defeating". Mirvis's attendance at the 2013 Limmud Conference was well received by fellow participants. At least nine other United Synagogue rabbis also attended the event.

Notes and references

External links

Limmud
(UK parent organisation) {{Authority control 1980 establishments in the United Kingdom Educational charities based in the United Kingdom Educational organizations established in 1980 Jewish British culture Jewish charities based in the United Kingdom Jewish educational organizations