Image via Wikipedia/The logoLimmud (learning, in Hebrew) is a British-Jewish educational charity, without affiliation to any strand of Judaism, which produces a large annual winter conference and several other events around the year on the theme of Jewish learning.
The movement was created in 1980, by a group of British Jews and expanded exponentially since then. During the 1990s, Limmud reinvented itself as a community gathering, giving rise to a significant increase in the number of attendees and leading it to be described as "a youth camp for all ages", "a JCC without walls", "British Jewry's greatest export", open to "anyone interested in Jewish learning" . One thing that sets Limmud apart from other similar organisations is that the events are organised by volunteers who participate as equals in the conference.
Despite is open character, the event has been seen as controversial by parts of the right wing of Centrist Orthodoxy, with some rabbis being advised to not attend, while others chose to be a permanent present even considered this manifestation as a great success for the Jewish education and identity.
Since 1998, the Limmud model has spread to many other countries and there are now locally-run Limmud events: in the United States and Canada, Israel, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Belarus, Brazil, Argentina or South Africa.
Core values
According to the organization, its core values are:
Learning: we believe that every Jew should be a student and any Jew can be a teacher
Expanding Jewish horizons: we strive to create experiences which will allow all to strengthen their Jewish identity
Community and mutual responsibility: we strive to create community - together we can achieve more than as individuals
Commitment to respect: we expect our participants to act respectfully to each other, including to all volunteers. We believe it is important to make presenters’ biographies clear enough to aid informed choice. We are committed to treating all of our participants, and all sessions presented, with equal respect. No-one is more important than anyone else.
‘For the Sake of Heaven’: we do not seek to place greater or lesser value on one way of Jewish life, thinking or belief over any other
Religious observance: we recognise that in private areas people will behave as they choose, but we believe in the importance of enabling Shabbat and kashrut to be kept in all public areas as far as possible, so that Jews do not have to separate themselves one from another
Empowerment: we believe in the importance of supporting individuals to enable them to maximise their contribution to the community
Participation and voluntarism: we believe that all have an important contribution to make, and that this is best done through voluntarism. Limmud is not for profit but for the benefit of the community. As far as possible, any excess resources should always be ploughed back into improving Jewish education
Valuing diversity: we value choice, diversity and accessibility in all our learning. We seek to have the greatest possible diversity of Jews participate in our activities.
Enabling connections to be made: we strive to create opportunities for connections across communities and individuals, by providing the space for these to happen.
