Get your vocal cords ready to welcome, Daniel Henkin!

April 30, 2018

Please get your vocal cords ready and help us welcome, Daniel Henkin, a pioneer of Jewish A Capella singing. We have a Musician-In-Residence at the Limmud Bay Area 2018 Festival thanks to The Covenant Foundation.

Daniel Henkin has been dubbed “our beloved Jewish rock star” by those who spend summers with him at Camp Ramah Nyack. There, Henkin produces the annual Ramah musical celebration, a highlight of the season that attracts thousands of parents, alumni and community leaders. At the Ramaz School in New York, Henkin directs the music program and teaches chamber choirs. At Queens College, he directs the Hillel’s Jewish a cappella group, which draws singers from colleges throughout the New York City area and has been a three-time national champion in Jewish collegiate a cappella competitions.

Join Zvi Hirschfield at Limmud Bay Area 2018!

April 25, 2018

Do you struggle to decode the fine line between refugees, asylum-seekers and infiltrators? What about making a distinction between public shaming and public service?

Thanks to our always incredible partner the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies we will have the opportunity to learn with the distinguished Rabbi Zvi Hirschfield about the competing Jewish values in a Jewish state and the ethical challenges of social media through a Jewish lens!

Zvi usually teaches Talmud, Halakha and Jewish Thought at Pardes and holds a B.A. in History from Columbia University and did graduate work at Harvard University in Medieval and Modern Jewish Thought. He studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion in Israel and has rabbinic ordination from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. He was the director of Judaica at the JCC of Cleveland and an instructor at the Cleveland College of Jewish Studies for many years. He also serves as a curriculum writer and is involved in staff training for the Nesiya Institute. His wife, Dina, is a faculty member of the Hebrew University School of Public Health, and they have four children.

Plan is in place for the Limmud Bay Area 2018 Festival!

April 22, 2018

“…and that’s a wrap!” said the volunteer programming team this afternoon. The plan is now in place for the Limmud Bay Area 2018 Festival. The schedule is now slotted into time slots and rooms.

Thank you to Hank Henig, Shelley Zak, Alexandra Hart, Liki Abrams, Dara D. Pincas, Larry Wichter, Janice Brenner, Estee Solomon Gray, Karen Ferriere and Mila Wichter for an excellent job done right!

Yasher Koach! 

 

Welcome Noga Brenner Samia to Limmud Bay Area!

April 20, 2018

Want to understand Israel like an Israeli? Our friend Noga Brenner Samia has a suggestion. Learn the Israeli Declaration of Independence. At Limmud Bay Area 2018 Festival she will walk us through the text and help us learn it as a secular text and contemplate what makes it sacred.

Noga was raised both in New York and Netanya, Israel. After serving as a sergeant in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), Noga attained a B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering and Management from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, an MBA at Washington University in St. Louis and an MA in Pluralistic Jewish Education from HUC/Hebrew University, Jerusalem. She worked in the military and the pharmaceutical industries in finance, sales and marketing. In 2005, Noga joined KolDor, a global network of young Jewish leaders promoting Jewish Peoplehood, as executive director. She is the founder of a Jewish renewal community in Tel-Mond, where she lives with her husband and three children. She is currently Deputy Director at BINA: The Jewish Movement for Social Change and a teacher at the Secular Yeshiva in Tel Aviv. She wrote in her BINA profile, “BINA means ‘Home for the Creation of a Nation’s Soul’…for me it just means ‘home’.”

Bring the kids to Camp Limmud!

February 27, 2018

Your kids will not want to miss the Limmud Bay Area 2018 Festival. Why? Because of Camp Limmud!

  • Gan Limmud: Your kids (18 months through 3rd Grade) will spend the weekend as “Shomrei Adamah”, the Guardians of the Earth with art, drama, yoga, scavenger hunt, drum workshop, and more!
  • Camp Gilboa: Your pre-teens (4th Grade through 9th Grade) will embark on a leadership journey to Har Gilboa to explore identity, call on perseverance, rely on teamwork and build on trust. Not to mention sing, climb and make new friends!
  • Limmud Teens: Your teens (10th Grade +) can look forward to learning about their own individualized and non-virtual game of “Call of Duty.” Fun activities include: leadership development with Shabbat & Havdallah, community service, acapella workshop, obstacle course & climbing wall & after-dark fun.

If you have questions about Camp Limmud, the Teen program, or financial subsidies for children and families, please be in touch with us. Read more, meet the Camp Limmud Madrechim and REGISTER! at limmudbayarea.org/camp.

If I am only for myself

February 22, 2018

In an article written by Editor in Chief of JTA News, Andrew Silow-Carroll on why we focus on specifically identifying the Jewish victims in a general community tragedy, Rabbi Yitz Greenberg was quoted as saying, “Repair of the whole world starts with my country, my city, my neighborhood first… Self-interest is legitimate. People work harder and produce more in an economy built on private property. Loved ones or family first is the natural, more human way to operate.”

As proud as we are of past Limmud Bay Area Festival presenter Rabbi Yitz Greenberg we are thrilled to announce today that  Andrew Silow-Carroll will be presenting at this years Limmud Bay Area 2018 Festival.

Rabbi Yitz Greenberg continues his quote later in Silow-Carroll’s article by quoting the great Rabbinical Sage Hillel, “If I am only for myself, what am I?” Read the full article here: goo.gl/zEY9Ld.

The dialog continues, and you can take part! Join us this summer at Limmud!

Expect the unexpected: Kevah

February 14, 2018

A brand new cohort of Kevah Teaching Fellows are set to attend the Limmud Bay Area 2018 Festival. Kevah is a Jewish community nonprofit organization that empowers individuals and organizations to build localized and intimate Jewish learning communities (“Kevah Groups”) that are matched with a trained and vetted Kevah Educator.

Youngish Jewish Educators from all over the country will present their Kevah graduation projects at our Festival this year. Expect the unexpected. Who will be selected for this years Kevah Fellowship? Which challenging topics will they take on? Stay tuned!

BTW Kevah means a “set practice” and is the word used in rabbinic literature (Pirkei Avot 1:15) to describe how Torah study should be integrated into the life of each and every Jew, regardless of age, Jewish background, or sexual orientation and become a part of their everyday rhythms.

Welcome back, Rabbi Darren Kleinberg to Limmud Bay Area!

February 13, 2018

Welcome back, Rabbi Darren Kleinberg, Ph.D to Limmud Bay Area!

The Head of the Kehillah Jewish High School in Palo Alto, Rabbi Kleinberg is also a writer, a member of the Board of Lehrhaus Judaica, and a faculty member of the Wexner Heritage Program, The Melton School, The Kitchen, and Gvanim. But here at the Limmud Bay Area 2018 Festival we know him as that one presenter you don’t want to miss!

Provocative Thinking with the Best and the Brightest

February 12, 2018

The Bay Area 2018 Limmud Festival is quickly approaching! Are you getting ready for a weekend of provocative thinking with some of the best and the brightest? We are!

One such presenter is Esther Kustanowitz, a writer, editor and consultant, a founding editor and contributor at the Actor Mayim Bialik’s blog – GrokNation.com, and a writer at the Los Angeles Jewish Journal. Endlessly fascinated with the on-going evolution of the media picture, and how we receive, consume and share content changes, Esther will discuss social media tools on the panel “In Whom We Trust“.

Want to learn more about Esther and other Limmud 2018 presenters? Scroll the bios and descriptions of our program in development at http://limmudbayarea.org/program/.

Limmud Bay Area returns this summer with revamped format

February 4, 2018

BY J. STAFF | JANUARY 28, 2018

Limmud Bay Area is returning this summer, with registration now open for the weekend-long Limmud Bay Area Festival 2018, to take place June 29-July 1 at Sonoma State University.

This event marks a change from last year’s Limmud, which was a one-day, three-city “sampler” instead of the usual weekend retreat. “We moved from a conference concept to a festival,” said Mila Wichter, founder and president of Limmud Bay Area. “The experience is going to shift somewhat.”

That means even more of the diverse, intriguing programs Limmud is known for, as well as partnerships with other organizations. Options will include a conversation with the press and media about trust, a look at the past and future of Israel, and a conversation on identity and memory.

Last year’s “Taste of Limmud” was a one-day session of Jewish learning workshops at three locations: Berkeley for breakfast, San Francisco for lunch and Palo Alto for dinner. Though it was short, it showed the signature breadth of topic that is typical of Limmud. This year, the program will run from Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon. Wichter expects around 500 attendees.

Limmud Bay Area Festival 2018 will be held June 29-July 1 at Sonoma State University, 1801 E. Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park, with a wide range of prices.

Welcoming our Limmud Bay Area 2018 Festival Ambassadors

January 28, 2018

We are all feeling incredibly inspired! Thanks to our new Limmud Bay Area 2018 Ambassadors for an exceptional meeting this morning at the Peninsula Jewish Community Center in Foster City (PJCC).

Pictured are: Janice Brenner, Lisa Finkelstein, Liki Abrams, Eden Allswang Bruner, Elena Gold, Nanette Rowe, Galina Rogozinsky, Linda Davis, Wendy Lewis Tanz, Alex Shwarzstein, Estee Solomon Gray, Mila Wichter, Elina Kaplan and Len Lehmann.   

Looking forward to a lot of great volunteer participation ahead!

Meet Dara & Oded Pincas

January 14, 2018

Meet Dara and Oded Pincas! Dara and Oded are the volunteer co-chairs of the 2018 Limmud Bay Area Festival.

It is T minus 6 months to the 2018 Limmud Bay Area Festival

December 22, 2017

It is T minus 6 months to the 2018 Limmud Bay Area Festival. This is a few of us volunteers working on the logistics. Sonoma State University (SSU) has been a fantastic partner. Planning is becoming more of a routine, and yet there are always new questions.

  • What are the best spots for the outdoor sessions?
  • Should the teens use the climbing wall or the obstacle course?
  • We’ve only done concerts at the Person Theater. Is it well suited for a theatrical performance? BTW, the answer to that one is “Yes! Superbly!”