Jewish learning festival draws over 400

TORONTO — The 440 people who attended Limmud, the Festival of Jewish Learning on Feb. 15 at the University of Toronto’s Bahen Centre, are part of a phenomenon that began in England 27 years ago and has expanded to 46 countries.

More than 32,000 people have participated in Limmud worldwide, according to organizers here.

The “joy of Limmud is that [because a first-choice session is full], we often end up in a session we might not have chosen, and it’s just as stimulating and exciting,” said Ruth Margles, co-chair of the event’s logistics team.

As a reporter, I unexpectedly ended up having the type of experience she was referring to.

The Toronto event – which first ran in 2004 when British-born Toronto accountant Peter Sevitt brought it here – was divided into five 70-minute segments, each with up to 10 sessions for participants to choose from.

A closing ceremony, featuring an “Instant Choir” that was one of the final offerings of the day, was followed later that evening by a Cool Jew Cabaret presented off-premises in conjunction with the Koffler Centre of the Arts.

The 49 daytime sessions spanned a wide range, from author Warren Bass on “The Obama Presidency,” to a belly dance workshop.

For me, the session on Kaddish and the Grieving Process was personally compelling and, I felt, of wider general interest too. I am saying Kaddish for my father, and, as a baby boomer, I am part of a large cohort mourning parental loss.

At the session, CBC television producer Harry Schachter – who produced a radio documentary on Kaddish and who was joined by retired grief counsellor Thelma Feldman – spoke of the significance of the prayer and of his experiences as a “not really very religious person” saying Kaddish for 11 months after his father died in late 2006.

For the other session I would attend, I decided to divide my time between “Reflections on Being a Jewish Mother of Mixed Race Children,”  because it speaks to the diversity of today’s Jewish population; and “Young Jews Talk about Judaism and the Jewish Future” – an ongoing concern in the Jewish community – where young adult panellists and their audience shared ideas on issues including intermarriage and how to reach out to non-day school graduates.

Instead, on a whim, I decided to start the day in communications consultant Lil Blume’s workshop on “Writing Your Jewish Family Story,” when I passed the door to her room. Blume’s enthusiasm and practical advice, along with the participants’ stories, almost tempted me to stay for the entire 70 minutes.

Also, in a fortuitous turn of events, one of the participants turned out to be my Scottish-born almost-cousin, Les Kelman, program co-ordinator of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Canada (Toronto). His late aunt was married to my grandfather’s cousin, a Russian immigrant to Glasgow who visited Toronto once, in the 1940s. Les and I had met in the 1970s, and corresponded by e-mail a few years ago. We agreed to meet over lunch and catch up.

Kelman and at least two other attendees were motivated to attend Limmud because of the reputation of the original event, a multi-day retreat. He and Dublin native Merriel Gordon both have sisters in England who urged them to attend the Toronto spin-off.

Although Winnipeg-born, Toronto-based novelist Sidura Ludwig, 32, never went to Limmud during the three years she lived in England – at the time she found it expensive – she also said it sounded like “a fabulous program,” and that she was excited to be invited to Limmud Toronto as a presenter on a panel about “Wandering Jews.”

Channa Sargon, who teaches adult Bible classes, said it was uplifting for her to learn about Jewish text at Limmud. As well, she said, she found the event “amazing” because of the mix of  different segments of the Jewish community – “young, old, Orthodox and hippies.”

Event chair Sharoni Sibony, 32, said she was pleased as well by the mix of “the heady, deep intellectual” sessions and the “interactive, participatory stuff.”

Organizers are planning a multi-day event for next year.