Around 2000 participants from more than 40 countries worldwide came together for Limmud Festival 2021 

Limmud is thrilled to have been able to bring people together again as a community of learning, despite the ongoing pandemic, for a programme of over 300 diverse, inspiring and thought-provoking sessions.  

The core team of 16 dedicated volunteers led the way in creating Festival 2021 alongside the efforts of 1 in 4 participants who contributed their time, to provide the Limmud community with another fantastic event for participants of all ages. 

The five-day event (including programming before and after Shabbat) saw sessions from 367 presenters on subjects from the topical – such as current political issues and impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on the community, to the niche – such as shmita laws for Jews in the Diaspora and the Jolles Encyclopaedia of British Jewish cantors, chazanim, ministers and synagogue musicians. 

The event welcomed political speakers David Lammy MP, Councillor Carla Denyner, and former MK Aliza Lavie, alongside performers including Chava Mirel, Joanie Leeds and The Macaroons. In addition, the programme featured 27 sessions from European Limmud volunteers spotlighting 15 different communities. 

---

For press coverage see below:

What to expect at this year’s Limmud Festival – The Jewish Chronicle

David Lammy apologises for nominating Jeremy Corbyn as leader – The Jewish News

David Lammy: I regret nominating Corbyn for leadership – The Jewish Chronicle

Labour’s David Lammy apologises for nominating Jeremy Corbyn to be leader – The Guardian

David Lammy says he made a mistake nominating Jeremy Corbyn for Labour leader – The Telegraph

A telling admission from David Lammy – The Telegraph

David Lammy apologises for nominating Jeremy Corbyn to be Labour leader – The Independent

David Lammy says sorry for nominating Jeremy Corbynas Labour leader – The Times

Communities should embrace the ‘Ashkenazi Marranos’ – The Jewish Chronicle

Importance of educating against ‘rape culture’ the focus at Limmud session – The Jewish News

Limmud moves children’s sessions online in wake of omicron wave – The Jewish Chronicle

The cross-communal must continue to innovate if it is to remain true to its spirit

Ben Crowne, Jewish Chronicle, 1 January 2021

Limmud Festival 2020 was by far our largest event ever, transformed into an online experience by a volunteer team who never met in person.

In a year which paralysed so much, Limmud ran more UK events than ever before, alongside dozens of teams around the world. At the height of the first lockdown, in the worried weeks around the chagim, and now in tier 4, we were able to bring people together to learn, entertain, collaborate and share connections despite our isolation. Our experience was not unique and is a testament to the resilience and goodwill we have seen displayed throughout the pandemic.

But as we cautiously plan for 2021, the temptation to revert back to established patterns can be overwhelming. Our anniversary activities – panels, an archive project and on-going academic research – have emphasised how little some things have changed in decades.

Limmud Festival 2019 was perhaps a little better catered, had more efficient logistics and hewed slightly closer to the communal mainstream than Limmud Conference 2000, but its essential features were the same – and most of them transitioned into our online event this year.

The same is probably true for much of our Jewish lives and for many institutions – yet in the same time our professional and domestic lives have been transformed by new technologies, structures and social trends. The recovery from Covid-19 offers the opportunity to ask ourselves: what truly needs to go back to the way it was? Where are we confusing familiarity with quality? These are questions we are asking ourselves as we start thinking about Festival 2021 but they are concerns which the whole community should consider.

For Limmud, one fresh perspective comes from the remarkable ways that a distinctively British event has evolved to the needs of other communities. There are nations where Limmud is a central fixture in Jewish life, with events drawing ten or 20 per cent of the Jewish population.

A UK event of similar proportions might look something like Rosh Hashana Urbano, a vast street festival run by Limmud Buenos Aires. What would a 25,000-person gathering in Golders Green, or on Hampstead Heath, look like? And aren’t we the poorer that it seems unrealistic to even ask?

Another approach would be to consider the generations of Limmud volunteers who have helped transform the wider Jewish landscape. An impact study in 2018 found that involvement in Limmud led almost 20 per cent of UK volunteers to set up a new Jewish initiative or organisation.

Although inspiring, many of these projects should challenge us – what is it about our community that pushes people to found something from scratch, rather than work with established organisations? What would it look like if more organisations gave volunteers the autonomy and resources that Limmud gives its Festival teams?

And how could Limmud transform our own events and ideas, if some of that energy for change was redirected inside our own structures?

Even as a virtual event, Limmud succeeds when it gathers a cross-section of our community into a single setting, and acknowledges all that we share. As an online event, we have seen hundreds of first-time participants – Charedim dialing into Zoom from landlines, students who would never go to Jsoc, Jews from towns with no synagogue or communal life.

Their presence this year is uplifting, but also a reminder that there remains much work to be done for us to be truly accessible and inclusive. What barriers have we temporarily lowered, and how can we ensure that they are not re-erected in a return to the status quo?

For years we have aspired to have “a Limmud in every country where there are Jews” – and we are most of the way there. But we have only been able to accomplish that via local teams of volunteers who saw a set of ideas that they liked, and wanted to use that to create something new and impactful in their own communities.

After 40 years of expansion and growth, that impulse to see change remains at the heart of Limmud’s success and needs to be embraced as we look to the next 40.

Ben Crowne is a trustee of Limmud

---

The JC Leader, 30th December 2020

We of all people know that the transition from 2020 to 2021 is merely an arbitrary marker which signifies nothing of substance in itself. And yet the start of 2021 is as good as any point to reflect on how life will soon — so we all hope — change for the better.

The invention of a Covid-19 vaccine is a miracle of human ingenuity; the roll out of the vaccination programme will require mass planning that dwarfs anything seen since 1945. There may no equivalent of VE Day but the release from the virus’ tyranny will have a similar feel.

Yet while we may long for an imminent return to normality, now is the time to consider what lessons we can learn from out time in the virus’s grip.

No one suggests the virus was anything other than a disaster; but in learning to cope with it many of our community institutions adopted new modus operandi that were, for some people, an improvement on what went before.

Zoom has been depressingly ubiquitous but for all that we have missed sheer human contact, a combination of the ease of attending digital meetings and their relative anonymity has prompted far greater participation in many events than before.

This week’s triumphant online Limmud is a case in point. Clearly there is no desire to repeat the force of circumstance behind it, but as we return to physical contact, we must learn from this year and adapt how we define ‘normal’.

We need to remember, far more than we used to, that inclusivity is not a buzz word to be trotted out but a prerequisite for a thriving community. Given how eager we are to rebuild communal life, that is pretty fundamental.

---

Organisers estimate that this year’s event attracted 5,000 from around the world

Simon Rocker, The JC, 30th December 2020

This year’s digital version of the Limmud Festival attracted record participation as the cross-communal event celebrated its 40th anniversary.

More than 3,800 people bought tickets but organisers calculate that once multiple viewers on screened sessions were factored in, the number of participants reached 5,000.

The combination of Torah study, lectures on literature, history and Jewish thought, comedy, music and political debate drew audiences from 46 countries including Iceland, Madagascar and the United Arab Emirates.

While Dame Maureen Lipman charmed younger viewers with her reading of an old Yiddish folktale, Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis revealed during a talk on resilience in times of adversity his favourite Leonard Cohen song, Anthem.

The Chief Rabbi said his favourite lines from the song were: “Ring the bells that still can ring/ Forget your perfect offering/There is a crack in everything/ That’s how the light gets in.”

“Just marvellous words,” Rabbi Mirvis said. “Let’s make music with what is left. Let’s remember those desperate times behind us but at the same time count our blessings and make our blessings count.”

Rob Simmons, the festival’s chair, said it had “united 5,000 Jews from around the world in a virtual community.

“Despite the distance and the difficulties, we are proud to have delivered 350 sessions, a welfare hub, chat rooms, participatory programming, and countless other innovations.

“Our steering team of 20 volunteers have dedicated 10 months to bringing this event together and I know the entire Limmud community is grateful for the spectacular results they have achieved.”

Although Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid was a late withdrawal owing to the country’s latest political meltdown, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was able to speak to an estimated 2,500 people.

An average of eight Zoom sessions an hour ran over three days from nine in the morning till nine at night from Sunday to Tuesday, as well as a pre- and post-Shabbat programme, with participants able to exchange views using the Slack messenger platform.

Some of the 80 who took part in the first educational retreat at Carmel College, Oxfordshire in 1980 reconvened to reminisce, including Michael May, the former director of London’s Institute of Jewish Affairs, who gave the event its name.

Sian Beenstock, 39, of Hendon, North-West London, confessed to being “in tears” when she learned that the physical event would not be taking place this year.

She and her husband, Gerrard, 45, met at Limmud in Nottingham 2001 and have been dedicated attenders since.

Mrs Beenstock enjoyed “great sessions but I miss the in-person bit, I was in the virtual bar and you could chat to people in some of the sessions but it’s not the same.” Overall, she said, “they have done a great job in this situation”.

---

The new festival chairman, Rob Simmons, speaks to Simon Rocker as Limmud returns for 40th year

Simon Rocker, The JC, 24th December 2020

Barely had the 2019 Limmud Festival ended when preparations for the next year began.

The new festival chairman, Rob Simmons, 25, from Surrey, has a typical profile for a Limmud activist: a youth movement leader who saw involvement in the cross-denominational organisation as the next step in community volunteering.

This year was going to be special, marking the 40th anniversary since a group of Anglo-Jewish educators hit on the idea of a winter retreat.

“We had all sorts of idea about the 40th and how we were going to make it more international,” he said. “Because Limmud’s 40th isn’t just about the UK, Limmud is a worldwide organisation.

“At the beginning, we said we wanted to make it more accessible and bring people that had never been before and introduce them to a whole different world of Limmud. And we thought the 40th would be a good opportunity to bring people back who had potentially forgotten Limmud was there.”

But then came lockdown. “I wouldn’t say we fully grasped the gravity of it in March,” he said. It took a few weeks before they began to reconsider their plans.

“One of the important pillars of Limmud is that community feel, the social aspect,” he said. “Our initial idea was to have multiple hubs, Limmud spheres, across the globe. Wherever anyone was who wanted to do them they could create their own little area where they could tune into events across the world.

“Very quickly, maybe towards mid-summer, we realised that was not going to be feasible and by August fully committed to a virtual event.”

They were encouraged by the response to two online learning days they had staged in May and August, the first organised in a matter of weeks. “It came at a really good time in terms of people needing that feeling of community. I think we provided that in some way.”

Already a week before festival, more than 2,000 people had signed up and since more than one person could be gathered at the computer, it may attract its largest number yet.

“This will be our most accessible event because people who couldn’t have otherwise travelled to Birmingham can now participate from their own home,” he said. “The older generation should be able to attend even more easily this year.

“People from across the world can participate, even if there are slight time-zone differences. People in Mexico, for example, and South America are running an add-on event so that they continue the programming past hours in the UK. So the global element of festival has become apparent.

“Doing it online is in many ways a great opportunity but in others it does throw up constraints we normally don’t have. From a programmatic point of view, we need a volunteer in every online room to moderate and make sure that things are going smoothly.

“In a normal year, we have a thousand sessions. This year we have got over 300, it’s still eight sessions every hour. If we were trying to triple that, it would be almost impossible to manage.”

Another challenge was to try to retain some sense of the communal atmosphere. “Everyone has friends they only see at Limmud Festival and we wanted to find a way of making sure those people could talk to each other,” he said.

“We’ve added an additional piece of technology which will allow people to do exactly that. Within a session there will be a session chat room and people will be able to go into that room and talk to the other participants.”

The programme will also contain social slots where participants can meet new people.

And for those not so au fait with the digital mechanics, a helpdesk of Limmud volunteers will be available to answer queries.

He is full of praise for the many volunteers behind the programme together. “They have managed to pull through the hardship that everyone has faced this year and create a fantastic event. We have never met each other in person – apart from the few of us who knew each other personally. We virtually created this virtual event.”

It was the organisation’s spirit of volunteerism that got him hooked. A member of Kingston Liberal Synagogue, he was a summer camp leader and while studying mechanical engineering at Nottingham University, taught at the local Liberal cheder. It was six years ago, in his first year at uni, that he signed up for Yad, the scheme where young adults get a subsidised Limmud place in return for a few hours daily volunteering.

Subsequently becoming part of the organising team, he took on various roles. “I managed the bar and the coffee shop last year. I love it, you get to talk to so many people. You get a really good feel for what is going on at Limmud.”

There will be no bar to manage this year. But he will be engaging with the punters by running one of the first sessions – a Challah baking session for the pre-Shabbat programme, though by his own admission, he is hardly a practised challah-maker. But that is the part of the experience of Limmud – learning as you go.

---

The festival returns for its 40th year but in an all-digital format

Simon Rocker, The JC, 23rd December 2020

While Covid-19 may have disrupted Limmud’s 40th anniversary celebrations, organisers can see some benefits in this year’s all-digital event.

“The virtual element has provided challenges and also some wonderful opportunities, the most obvious of which is extremely wide international participation,” said the chair of the programme committee, Joey Leskin.

“In my opinion some of the most exciting sessions are ones that would have been challenging at an in-person event.

“We have the president of the Jewish Council of the Emirates speaking from Dubai, interactive walking tours focused on Sephardi history and culture live from the streets of various cities in Spain, plus Limmud groups from every continent bringing their best people to present for the UK audience.”

The three-day festival from Sunday to Tuesday (plus a Friday pre-Shabbat and Saturday night programme) will feature on average eight sessions an hour from 9 in the morning till 9 at night, ranging from the latest archaeological discoveries in Israel to the religious challenge of artificial intelligence.

While Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid are the political headliners, a strong current affairs menu will cover Brexit, racial inclusivity in the Jewish community in the wake of the Black Lives Matter campaign and much more.

Green Party co-leader Sian Berry will join a discussion on climate change. Rahima Mahmut, director of the London office of the World Uyghur Congress, who recently moved Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis to speak out, will talk about the plight of her people in China.

One of the liveliest conversations promises to be between Professor David Feldman, whose criticisms of the IHRA definition of antisemitism have prompted controversy, and the government’s adviser on antisemitism Lord Mann.

Jeremy Ben-Ami, director of the left-wing American lobby group on Israel, J-Street, will be looking at what a Joe Biden presidency means for Israel, while making her Limmud debut will be new Israel Ambassador to London Tzipi Hotovely.

Other guests from Israel include its Minister of Strategic Affairs Michael Biton, on “the return to Zion” in the Negev, and veteran Israeli peace campaigner and former Shin Bet head Ami Ayalon, whose new book is entitled, Friendly Fire: How Israel Became Its Own Worst Enemy and Its Hope for the Future.

Another recent author who will speak is Sunday Times journalist Gabriel Pogrund, who co-wrote Left Out: The Inside Story of Labour under Corbyn.

A number of sessions will reflect on the impact of coronavirus, from the view of a member of a chevra kadisha who prepares the dead for burial to a hospital director to Chief Rabbi Mirvis, who will be speaking on resilience.

One of American Jewry’s leading historians, Jonathan Sarna, from Brandeis University, will compare the response to Covid with that of the Yellow Fever outbreak in America in the 19th century.

There’s a large cast of Torah teachers as well as children’s and family programmes, which include a bedtime story from Dame Maureen Lipman.

Along with the learning there are comedy, music and social sessions, which range from a musical shacharit from the Nigunim Ensemble from Jerusalem to a concert from Nefesh Mountain, who offer bluegrass and American roots with a Jewish flavour.

---