It’s a core Limmud value that “Everyone should be a student and anyone can be a teacher”, and we encourage anyone who wants to present a session to do so – whether your interest is Talmud, Jewish History, Israeli Dance or 12th century marginalia, there will be people at Limmud who’ll share your interest and passion.
Offer a Session
Anyone can be a teacher at Limmud Festival and offer a session. To present, please sign up to Festival and ensure you tick “offer a session” within our booking form. Once you have completed your booking and paid for your place, you will receive an email with a personalised link to upload your biography on a Presenter Information Form and details of the session(s) you are offering on Session Information Form(s). The deadline for uploading your session and biographical details is 29 September 2026. Offering a session doesn’t guarantee inclusion in the programme but the Programme Team will do their best to include at least one of your sessions.
Family and Young & Teen Limmud (YTL) Programme: Would you like to present for our youngest Limmud participants? We are looking for presenters to join our Families and YTL Programme. If so, please sign up to Festival and ensure you tick “offer a session” within our booking form. Once you have completed your booking, you will receive a separate email with your personalised link to upload your biography and details of the session(s) you are offering. The deadline for uploading your session and biographical details is 29 September 2026.
FAQs for Presenters
What is a PIF and a SIF?
PIF stands for “Presenter Information Form”. Use it to tell the Limmud community a bit about yourself and why you are presenting. The biographical information in your PIF will be transferred to the Festival App, reproduced in the Festival handbook and displayed on the Festival website. The information will influence people’s decisions about whether they want to come and hear what you want to say.
SIF stands for “Session Information Form”. You will need to complete one SIF for each session you want to present. The SIF serves two purpose; first it describes what the participants will gain from learning with you, and secondly, it tells the Limmud team what you need in the room where you are presenting to make the session happen as you want it to.
Do you have tips for submitting the SIF?
The SIF contains information which will appear in the Limmud Festival handbook, app, and website. This is the basis on which our participants will decide which session to attend at any time slot. We recommend that your title and description are concise, informative, but also thought-provoking or amusing. Puns or alliterations often go a long way in catching people’s attention! Since Limmud’s mission is to take participants “one step further on their Jewish journey”, we also encourage you to accentuate the Jewish relevance of your session.
What is the length of a session at Limmud Festival?
This year we are offering two different session lengths for presenters:
- Our Standard Session which is 60 minutes, designed for a general overview of a topic or idea.
- Our Double-Length Session is 2 hours 15 minutes, and is designed to enable some more time for audience participation, discussion, primary source engagement, or chavruta. We recommend scheduling in a short break within your session.
What can I teach about?
Presentations about Jewish texts, philosophy, history, spirituality, music, visual arts, culture, community, society, politics, and science are all acceptable provided they further Limmud’s mission. Sessions which highlight the diversity inherent in Jewish life, including diversity in beliefs, religious customs, and practices are encouraged.
We also encourage you to submit sessions designed for younger age groups (children or teenagers) and contribute to our YTL (“Young & Teen Limmud”) programming. Finally, social activities are a core element of any Limmud programme, so you can also consider leading a pub quiz, hosting a speed dating or cooking session, organizing an exercise or sports club, DJing the night away, etc.
What formats are appropriate for Limmud Festival sessions?
Sessions at Limmud Festival come in all shapes and forms. You can opt for a traditional lecture-style presentation (with or without slides), or innovate with a fireside chat, panel discussion, arts & crafts workshop, etc. When submitting your SIF, consider the purpose of your session and which format best serves it. You can also request specific resources in your form within reason (e.g. art equipment, disco ball, parachute or cooking ingredients, etc.) and our Resources team will endeavour to supply; or ask for a special room set-up (chairs in rows, in a circle, or no chairs at all).
I would like to take part in a panel discussion. How can I do so?
If you would like to offer a panel you want to be part of, one of the panel members should submit the SIF with the title and description of the panel discussion and indicate in the form who the other panelists are, so that their names can appear together in the programme. All these panellists need to book their own independent place at Limmud Festival.
If you would like to organise or chair a panel about a topic but do not know who else might be able to feature in it alongside you, you may reach out to our programming team (festivalprogramming@limmud.org) to enquire about appropriate suggestions.
How many sessions can I submit?
You can submit as many sessions as you want, but our programming team cannot guarantee to include all of them in the final programme. Our programming team will generally include at least one of your sessions or a maximum of 3 of them. There is limited space available, and we want to ensure that as many people as possible have the chance to present at least one session.
Printing of resources and handouts
Limmud is unable to provide printed resources or handouts for presenters. All resources and handouts can be uploaded through your presenter area and added to our app for participants to have access to.
Sessions on Shabbat
Sessions on Shabbat will not be able to use any electronic equipment, writing implements or musical instruments. The only exception is that musical instruments can be used in religious services on Shabbat if permitted by the denomination conducting the service. If your session is over Shabbat no screens can be used, so if presenters want to share any resources they will have to be printed in advance by the presenter.
When will I receive confirmation of the timing for my session?
You will receive a notification email at least one month prior to Limmud Festival confirming which sessions were included in the programme, and detailing the day/time in which they will take place. Should you have an objection or concern regarding the scheduling, you will have a short window of time to email the programming team to ask for a different slot, and they will do their best to accommodate your request.
Find out more on our programming page