Limmud NY 2016: Full Schedule

1:00pm EST

The Six Themes of Jewish Peoplehood

What does Jewish Peoplehood mean anyway? This concept often gets thrown around in Jewish conversations without a clear definition. This session will not promise to offer one definition but will start a conversation about six important facets of Jewish Peoplehood. With the help of engaging videos from the Center for Jewish Peoplehood Education we will explore: Collective Belonging, Mutual Responsibility, Pluralism and Diversity, Israel, Universalism vs. Particularism, and Judaism as Civilization.

Presenters

Daniel Olson

Director of Strategic Initiatives and Research, National Ramah Commission

Dr. Daniel Olson is the director of Strategic Initiatives and Research at the National Ramah Commission. His work has focused on a wide range of topics including Mental Health support, disability inclusion, Israel education, and day camps. He completed his PhD in Education and Jewish... Read More →

Friday February 12, 2016 1:00pm - 2:15pm EST
Springdale

Global Jewry, Diversity & Identity

Learning Modality Lecture

8:45pm EST

Tinker, Tourist, Soldier, Spy

What happened when the Soviet Jewry movement sent thousands of American tourists into the USSR to contact refuseniks in the 1970s and 80s? The movement became an unintentional leader in the burgeoning field of Eastern European Jewish tourism, playing quasi-travel agent and writing some of the first guidebooks for Jewish heritage tours of Russia. It also spawned a new genre of Jewish travel writing, in which ordinary citizens wrote themselves as characters into stories of Cold War espionage.

Presenters

Shaul Kelner

Associate Professor of Sociology and Jewish Studies, WGF/DS 8

Shaul Kelner is Associate Professor of Sociology and Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt University, and past chair of Vanderbilt's Jewish Studies department. He specializes in the sociology of American Jews. His latest book, A Cold War Exodus: How American Activists Mobilized to Free Soviet... Read More →

Friday February 12, 2016 8:45pm - 10:00pm EST
Westover

Global Jewry, History

Learning Modality Lecture

8:15pm EST

One Man’s Report from Across the Jewish World

Peter's vast experience traveling over the past two decades to Jewish communities large and small, alive and seemingly (but often, not actually) dead, will provide the source for this fascinating report on the Jewish world today. From the small mountain town of Belmonte, Portugal, to the teeming city of Ahmedabad, India, this session will explore the fascinating reality of Jewish life being lived around the world. Be prepared to have wanderlust when this session is over.

Made possible by funds from The Covenant Foundation.

Presenters

Peter Geffen

Founder and Executive Director, KIVUNIM

Peter Geffen is a founder of The Abraham Joshua Heschel School in NYC, former Director of the Israel Experience Program for the CRB Foundation and an Israel education specialist. His career as a social activist started as a civil rights worker for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. He has... Read More →

Saturday February 13, 2016 8:15pm - 9:30pm EST
Belltown

Global Jewry

Learning Modality Lecture

8:30am EST

Iranian Antisemitism: Why We Should Care

Some people in North America and Europe say that the antisemitism of Middle Eastern regimes like Iran need not be taken seriously. In this view, Iran's diatribes are just rhetoric; when it comes to concrete actions like dismantling its nuclear program, Iran will behave rationally. But this view is naive. Iran's antisemitism and its generally miserable human rights record give the clearest possible warning that the regime will behave in ways that pose a clear and present danger to the West.

Presenters

Charles Small

Charles Asher Small is the Director of ISGAP and a Visiting Professor at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University. He received his doctorate from Oxford University and was the Founding Director of the Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary... Read More →

Sunday February 14, 2016 8:30am - 9:45am EST
Aspen

Global Jewry

Learning Modality Lecture

11:00am EST

Jews in Calcutta? Is That Near Kalamazoo?

For many Jewish communities around the world, celebrating Judaism does not mean latkes and hamentaschen. This engaging and interactive slide, song, and story presentation initiates a conversation with children about identity, diversity, and continuity - in addition to being just plain fun! Optional hands-on activity (creating besamim sachets with Indian spices).

Presenters

Rahel Musleah

Through the vivid prism of her family’s story, Rahel Musleah introduces audiences to the distinctive heritage of the Jews of India and Iraq. The seventh generation of a Calcutta family, she traces her roots to seventeenth century Baghdad. Her multi-media slide, song, and story presentations... Read More →

Sunday February 14, 2016 11:00am - 12:15pm EST
Glen

Camp Global Jewry

1:45pm EST

A Taste of India's Jewish Masala

Food is a way of creating and recreating home. Learn about the culinary traditions of the Jews of India though personal recollections, stories, and recipes. The workshop will include preparing cheese samboosaks (pastries) and koolichas (coconut cookies). Limited to 25 participants (more can watch).

Presenters

Rahel Musleah

Sunday February 14, 2016 1:45pm - 3:00pm EST
Ballroom III

Cuisine & Food Global Jewry

1:45pm EST

Many Cultures, One Tradition

Jewish communities have existed all over the world yet we often hear only about the European Jewish experience. The Jewish Multiracial Network invites you to learn about communities in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean and the context under which they thrived or struggled.
We will explore concepts of Jewish identity through themes like practice, halakha, tradition, assimilation, and persecution.

Finally, we will turn the tables and discuss our home communities and modern meanings of diversity.

Presenters

Deborah Vishnevsky

Growing up Latina, Eastern European and Jewish in Brooklyn, Debbie Vishnevsky always knew she was different from her peers, but it turns out hers was far from a singular experience. Her Jewish identity formation was marked with cultural NY experience as well as racism, love, vegetarianism... Read More →

Sunday February 14, 2016 1:45pm - 3:00pm EST
Waterside

Global Jewry

Learning Modality Lecture

5:15pm EST

Why Don't We Fast on Yom HaShoah? Towards a Religious Experience of a Civil Holiday

Yom HaShoah is usually marked outside of the synagogue sanctuary, with protocols more familiar from a secular memorial (a guest speaker, moment of silence, TV programming) than from Jewish modes of commemoration and mourning. Join us in a run through and discussion of סדר הלוויה ליום השואה (Yom HaShoah Funeral Service), one attempt to move beyond the civic towards an experience that is traditional, authentic, and rooted in Jewish feeling.

Presenters

Ben Greenfield

Yeshivat Chovevei Torah

Ben Greenfield is organizing and leading the Jewish community of waterfront North Brooklyn. As Rabbi of the Greenpoint Shul, an inclusive Orthodox shul in historic/hipster/Hasidic-adjacent Greenpoint, Ben creates Jewish spaces that are inviting, warm, and rooted in exceptional Torah... Read More →

Sunday February 14, 2016 5:15pm - 6:30pm EST
Waterside

Global Jewry, Textual Perspectives

Learning Modality Lecture

8:30am EST

Jewish Calcutta through Music and Memory

Through the vivid prism of her family's story, Rahel Musleah introduces the distinctive heritage of the Jews of India. Her intriguing personal journey, told with humor, poignancy, song, and slides, mirrors the story of India's Jewish communities.

Presenters

Rahel Musleah

Monday February 15, 2016 8:30am - 9:45am EST
High Ridge

Global Jewry

Learning Modality Lecture