Hanah Kehat is an orthodox Feminist women we brought to Limmud from Israel. Here is what she wrote about the confrence:
Exactly between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, in the midst of a British university, a huge conference of Jewish studies takes place.
Hanah Kehat reports from Nottingham – 27/12/2006
NRG Maariv Online (http://www.nrg.co.il/online/11/ART1/523/073.html)
Translation: Yuval Keren & Clare Rees.
Every year between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, when the Christian world is in the midst of the festive season and most universities are on vacation – the largest conference for Judaism takes place.
In a magical place, in the buildings of Nottingham University in England, among pleasant groves, a wonderful pond and immense lawns, thousands of Jews gather from all over the world, especially from England and Israel, for a full week of Jewish studies. They include families, children, adolescents, the young and the old; academics, Yeshiva students, housewives, artists and even Jewish Hollywood actors – from all strands and denominations of Judaism. This year the Israeli group who came to teach and study was particularly noticeable.
There are thousands of sessions, chavrutah study groups (including hundreds of simultaneous chavrutah groups), Israeli and Jewish music performances, a marketplace of Israeli crafts and accelerated courses in a variety of fields including Bible, Oral law, Kabbalah, Chasidism, Israel, Zionism, Hebrew mysticism, Feminism and Judaism. Everything goes!
Alongside these sessions there are panels on current affairs. There are even special activities for children of which one of the highlights is Israeli-style Pyjama parties.
The walls of the campus were decorated with thousands of posters presenting hundreds of key Jewish figures, past and present. There was a large display of the map of Israel on the floor. Thus, whichever direction you turn, you catch Judaism and ‘Israeliness’.
During the conference there were a few unique experiences. The Havdallah ceremony at Limmud is a very unique sight of hundreds of candles glowing in the dark accompanied by magical Jewish melodies. The variety of prayer services and the long discussions that continue deep into the night alongside singing and dancing also contribute to the magical atmosphere.
The special theme of this year is responsibility and mutual obligation. The emphasis on kindness and graciousness causes the participants to wisely and sensitively initiate friendships and personal introductions at every opportunity. The kindness is also extended to the environment. The conference is characterised by deep awareness to the environment. The use of non-recyclable items is avoided and there are recycling bins everywhere.
This year a new project was introduced to Limmud - ‘Tell me Text’. It is a ‘marathon’ that takes place three times a day where each of the speakers presents to the audience a text close to their heart. This personal choice of text teaches more about the person than it does about the text. Words are revealed as personal friends, as a source of power, of inspiration, of personal revolution and as stimulants for change of life. Dr. Alon Tal, one of the Israeli environmental activists, read Yizhar Smilanski’s speech to the Knesset – ‘A Land Without Wild Flowers Will be a Hotel not a Homeland’ – as he fought for maintaining the wildernesses and by which he convinced Ben Gurion to establish the law of protection of nature. The poet Eliaz Cohen read his sensational poem, ‘Hear O G-d’. Other intellectuals presented wonderful texts that changed their lives and determined their life choices.
Hundreds of volunteers worked for a year to plan and materialise this giant project. Thus I met an eleven year old boy who volunteered to manage the conference registration. For months he recorded and edited the registration forms, sent to him via the Internet.
When are we going to import all this to us? Well, at present there is Limmud-Galil – small and excellent conferences that are held once a year in the upper Galilee. Still, Limmud started small in England and grew into thousands of participants. Let’s hope that this little sister will also turn into a multitude.
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