Limmud NY 2013: Eat, Pray, Learn
Some highlights:
- A wonderful Kabbalat Service with lots of singing. The baal tefillah/prayer leader invited those interested to come to the middle of the room with him and form an impromptu choir. I was there in a heartbeat! I love singing harmony. And the baalat tefillah who took over for Maariv added more singing than usual, as well. (There were plenty of other options for Erev Shabbat/Sabbath Eve services in addition to the Traditional Egalitarian one that I attended, ranging from "Musical" to Carlebach Orthodox to Contemplative to Renewal, and morning minyanim included Hashkamah/early-risers Orthodox; "Slow-Down;" Orthodox with male leaders; Orthodox with male and, when permissible, female leaders; trad-egal; and Reform, since Limmud makes it a point to be inclusive.)
- Daniel Gordis' presentation on The Promise of Israel and Its Underappreciated Message to Humankind, which drew a substantial crowd.
- Steven Bayme's presentation Reason & Faith: Contemporary Biblical Criticism and Its Impact Upon Traditional Belief, from which you could have made a minyan with just the people sitting on the floor in the too-small room.
- Daniel Gordis' presentation on Pledges of Jewish Allegiance: What Does Conversion to Judaism Really Represent?, which also drew a large crowd.
- Deborah Dash Moore's presentation American Jewish Identity Politics, wonderful in itself (sample: the American Jewish community loved the UN after World War II but became disillusioned after the passage of the "Zionism is racism" resolution), but also enhanced by the very-much-welcomed and relevant comments of Lilith founder and editor Susan Weidman Schneider and Deborah Lipstadt, presenter of Holocaust Denial: A Clear and Present Danger? from the second-to-last row. I told the two of them that we should always be blessed with such a "back of the beis (bet midrash/study house)."
- Shlomit and RebbeSoul's performance, The Seal of Solomon: The New Wave of Jewish World Music, a delightful combination of Yemenite singing paired with balalaika playing.
- An impromptu and informal "jam session" after the above concert, when a bunch of regular folks got together outside of the dining room with guitars, a banjo, a saxophone, a drum, a drum-set cymbal, a violin, and a lot of voices and sang, from what we later heard, into the wee hours of the night. (My husband and I turned into pumpkins and left just after midnight, following a rousing round of "Hey Jude!" in which yours truly sang harmony.)
- Ethan Tucker's presentation Can You Do a Quick Transgression For Me? , a discussion of where and why we draw the line regarding committing one sin to avoid having another person commit a greater one.
- Last but not least, having been re-scheduled for Monday after lunch, Brian Gelfand's performance, Sundays in June: A Cabaret by a Jewish Wedding Singer, provided a wonderful sample of his talent as a singer/songwriter and keyboard player and a fun ending to a fine weekend.
If you can attend a Limmud conference--Limmud started in the UK, but it's worldwide, these days--I would strongly recommend it.
Saturday, March 9, 2013, 9:41 PM update:
My apologies to Andrew Silow-Carroll, Editor-in-Chief of the New Jersey Jewish News, for having unknowingly borrowed the title of his own Limmud NY 2013 Conference article. I just saw the link a few minutes ago on the Limmud NY 2013 In the News page. I assure you, Mr. Silow-Carroll, that no copyright infringement was intended, and I hope that none is perceived.
Labels: Limmud
2 Comments:
It sounds great. Are audio recordings of the various lectures available?
Sorry, Larry, but I don't remember ever having seen recording equipment in any Limmud presentation. To the best of my knowledge, only the folks who are present at a specific presentation get to hear that presentation. So you can't even hear a presentation that you missed while you were attending another presentation, unless you send someone else in with a personal recording device.
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