Friday 1:30 PM–2:45 PM
Lunch—Bring your lunch ticket!
Friday 12:00 PM–2:00 PM
Dining Room
Friday lunch is available only to participants who arrived on Thursday and to those who paid extra for Friday lunch. Please bring your lunch ticket to the dining room.
Beyond the Chuppah
New Discourse on Intermarriage
Fern Chertok
Friday 1:30 PM–2:45 PM
Congressional Room 2
Identity & Responsibility
Jewish identity is in flux among American Jews, and accepted wisdom asserts that the root of the problem is intermarriage, and that marriages between Jews and non-Jews will have fundamentally different trajectories than those between two Jews. This session will present and use systematic data to reframe discourse about intermarriage—to move toward a more textured and life-course understanding of the full array of factors that impact Jewish engagement.
Blacks and Jews
Where Did It Go Wrong, and How Can We Make It Right?
Larry Lowenthal
Canceled, sorry
Additional schedule
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Friday 4:35 PM–5:50 PM
Congressional Room 1
Global History & Culture
The relationship between Blacks and Jews in America reflects as much about America as it does about Black and Jews. The interaction between Blacks and Jews long predates the civil rights movement. Jews and Blacks came to America hundreds of years ago, but under totally different circumstances—Blacks as slaves and Jews as needed entrepreneurs and international merchants. Herein lies much of the problem between the two groups.
The workshop will explore the Black–Jewish relationship in Harlem, when Blacks and Jews often lived side by side, but again, under very different social and class circumstances. Little known today is the interaction between Jewish Communists in the 1930s and the Black intellectuals and workers they tried to recruit.
We will explore the watershed years of the civil rights movement and the rise of Black power, and the climactic tragedy of the Ocean
Hill/Brownsville eruption and the Crown Heights race riot. Finally, an outline will be offered for a new and creative relationship between Blacks and Jews in the 21st Century.
Bringing Limmud to Your Community
Part 1: Getting Started
Steve Kay Kupietzky,
Karen Radkowsky,
Ruthie Warshenbrot
Friday 1:30 PM–2:45 PM
Embassy Room 1
How-To
This discussion is part one of a two-part series designed specifically for those exploring the feasibility of creating a Limmud conference in another community. Participants should plan to attend both sessions.
Deathbed Prayers
The Dangers of the Beit Midrash
Elie Kaunfer
Friday 1:30 PM–2:45 PM
Cousin Brucie
Advanced,
Ritual & Prayer,
Torah & Text
Join us as we examine a curious section of the Talmud in which two leading rabbis offer deathbed prayers in front of their students. How do the allusions in the story open up a wider lens of interpretation? How are these prayers related, and what is the larger meaning for modern Jews today?
Ethnicity and Citizenship in the Jewish World
Notes From a Minority Perspective
Dmitri Daniel Glinski
Canceled, sorry
Additional schedule
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Saturday 4:30 PM–5:45 PM
Empire Corner
Global History & Culture,
Identity & Responsibility
There are fewer than 15 million Jews worldwide, and the fraction of those willing to engage in Jewish organizational life is rather small. And yet our numerical power is further diminished by internal ethnic barriers that restrict access to opportunities and the flow of human capital on both sides of the divide. This session is conceived as a dialogue on the majority-minority relations in the Jewish organizational world and their implications for the well-being of the Jewish people as a whole.
Evaded Issues in Jewish Education
Removing Taboos
Naomi Less
Friday 1:30 PM–2:45 PM
Embassy Room 2
How-To,
Identity & Responsibility
Master facilitator Naomi Less takes educators and allies for teen girls and all teens through the challenges of addressing issues that are often evaded in Jewish educational settings. These include self-esteem, bullying, eating problems, sexual identity, gender identity, and abuse. In this interactive workshop, participants will explore (1) social and emotional issues, (2) how we as educators and allies can better make our educational settings safer, and (3) how we can teach to the whole student. This session is geared towards those who work with or are interested in pre-teens and teens. This project is funded by grants from Jewish Women’s Foundation of NY, Hadassah Foundation, and the Dobkin Family Foundation. For more information, go to www.jtsa.edu/evadedissues.
How to Welcome Shabbat at Home
Challah, Kiddush, Children’s Blessings, and More
Larry Kluger
Friday 1:30 PM–2:45 PM
Embassy Room 2
How-To,
Ritual & Prayer
This hands-on session introduces and provides practice in the traditional Friday evening home ceremonies. Add depth to your Friday evening meal by learning how to lead the traditional ceremonies. Beginners are welcome.
Israel's Natural Heritage Treasures
Studying the Past as a Key to the Future
Tamar Dayan
Friday 1:30 PM–2:45 PM
Sports Bar
Tel Aviv University holds the treasures of Israel's past natural heritage and the country's biodiversity. From the first modern humans out of Africa, to the last Nile crocodile of our region, these artifacts are a scientific treasure that provides insight and knowledge into our living environment. What is their future? And why do we care?
Israeli Film with a Russian Accent
Does ????? mean Shalom?
Olga Gershenson
Friday 1:30 PM–2:45 PM
Festival Room
Film,
Global History & Culture,
Israel
There are today a million Israelis hailing from the former Soviet Union, including filmmakers and actors. In this session we will survey several Russian-Israeli films, and learn what is distinct about their vantage point, and their use of language and accent. We will explore how these films reflect and shape Israeli identity, and their place in contemporary Israeli culture.
It Sounds Better in Amharic
Yossi Vassa
Friday 1:30 PM–2:45 PM
Stardust
Arts & Performance,
Global History & Culture,
Israel
Yossi Vassa's moving and humorous personal account of his 450 mile journey by foot from Ethiopia to the refugee camps in Sudan until finally arriving in Israel. Nostalgic memories of the village where he was born is mixed with hilarious perspectives of the modern culture he found in the Holyland. "Determined to tell the story of his people and the enormous sacrifice they made in coming to Israel, "It Sounds Better in Amharic" is a cathartic experience" (The Jerusalem Post).
Jewish Journeys
The Multigenerational Impact of the Holocaust
Sonia Beker,
Marianna Gersch,
Natalie Krasnostein,
Shana Y. Schacter
Friday 1:30 PM–2:45 PM
Congressional Room 1
For this year’s Jewish Journeys panel, three Limmud participants will speak about the impact that the Holocaust has had on their families. Join us for this powerful conversation, which will explore the themes of trauma, loss, and memory.
L’Chaim, Comrade Stalin!
The History of Birobidzhan
Yale Strom
Friday 1:30 PM–2:45 PM
Sports Bar
Film,
Global History & Culture
Jews were given the opportunity to create a secular independent region for themselves in the former Soviet Union in the Amur district, 11 times zones east of Moscow, past Siberia. In 1928, 20y years before the State of Israel was established, this little known region had been a haven for Yiddish speaking secular Jews. What was Stalin’s real reason for helping to create Birobidzhan and what Jewish life exists there today?
Open Art Studio
Creative Space for Limmudnyks Young and Old
Laurie Bellet
Friday 1:30 PM–3:30 PM
Coffee Shop
Additional schedule
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Sunday 10:00 AM–12:00 PM
Coffee Shop
Arts & Performance
Treat yourself to sacred space and time in the Limmud NY Art Studio. Facilitated by artist-in-residence Laurie Bellet, the Art Studio offers a wide range of art mediums and heirloom quality crafts of all sorts, perfect for artists of every age and ability. Not an artist?...Don't worry...Laurie will help you discover your unique creative spark! (note - children under 8 must bring an adult). You will also have an opportunity to participate in the Jewish Communities of Nigeria Art Tzedakah Project to create art for members of the emerging Jewish Communities of Nigeria.
Re-Imagining Jewish Marriage
Kiddushin and Beyond
Guy Izhak Austrian,
Jill Jacobs
Canceled, sorry
Additional schedule
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Sunday 1:00 PM–2:15 PM
Empire Corner
How-To,
Ritual & Prayer
Central to the Jewish marriage ceremony is kiddushin—the moment when the man (traditionally) gives the woman an object of value in order to establish his exclusive rights to her. Many contemporary Jews have been redefining kiddushin, making the process more egalitarian and less hetero-normative, and even exploring alternatives that avoid kiddushin altogether. We will explore these options and consider what Jewish marriage should look like in the 21st century. No marriage experience is necessary!
Recovered Memories
Musical Treasures from Russia
Natasha Hirschhorn
Friday 1:30 PM–2:45 PM
Festival Room
Arts & Performance,
Global History & Culture
An outstanding Soviet Jewish folklorist, Moshe Beregovsky (1892–1961) devoted his entire life to collecting Yiddish songs, niggunim (melodies), and klezmer tunes, most of which remained unpublished for almost 70 years. Now you can learn and sing some gems from this unique collection that has survived against all odds and was recently—finally—published in Moscow.
Songleading Masterclass
Josh Nelson
Friday 1:30 PM–2:45 PM
Empire Room 3 North
Arts & Performance
Join multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Josh Nelson for an overview of the techniques and methods used to successfully lead groups of people in song. We will discover songleading tools and techniques that will energize and engage any community, and we will learn to diminish the gap between the bimah and the congregation by encouraging and empowering the congregational voice. Bring along guitars, etc, and come ready to sing!
The Story of Israel, Through Dance
Part I
Rachel Arcus
Friday 1:30 PM–2:45 PM
Main Lobby
Movement
As Jews came to Israel over the last 100 years, they brought with them music and dance steps, and thus, Israeli Dance has evolved as a cultural art form. Together we will dance our way through the story of Israel, from the early years to modern times, learning dances from each of the groups of Jews who emigrated to Israel.
What Sephardim can Teach all Jews
Thoughts on Sephardic Civilization
Marc Angel
Friday 1:30 PM–2:45 PM
Congressional Room 1
Global History & Culture
Many Jews have little idea of the richness and diversity within the Sephardic historical experience. This talk will focus on key aspects of Sephardic civilization, that should be relevant and meaningful to all Jews.
Camp Limmud NY--Alim
Matt Bar
Friday 2:00 PM–3:00 PM
Tennis Center Corner
Additional schedule
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Sunday 2:00 PM–3:00 PM
Tennis Center Corner
Camp Limmud session. Please see the Camp Limmud program for details.
