Limmud Bay Area Festival 2018: Full Schedule

3:00pm PDT

Is Limmud Photogenic? Come to Learn from a Professional!

Will you be taking photos at the Festival? I will share best practices for covering events such as Limmud, using available light and camera settings. Together we will collaborate on how to make the images have a post-Limmud existence. All skill levels are welcome.

Presenters

Marina Eybelman

Marina Eybelman grew up in Moscow, Russia and moved to the States in 2002. In college, she studied Jewish Literature and the Eastern European Jewish oral tradition. For the last 6 years she has been working on Speak Memory Project (www.speakmemoryproject.org) and had multiple exhibits in New York City and San Francisco. Marina works in a documentary photography style. Her art has a strong emphasis on storytelling; each photo tells a story (and sometimes a multitude of stories) that play out in the imagination of the viewer.Marina lives... Read More →

Friday June 29, 2018 3:00pm - 4:00pm PDT
Knights Valley

Artistic Expression, Workshop

4:15pm PDT

Three Visions of Shabbat: Creativity, Labor, and Saturn

This class examines three distinct models for the sacredness of Shabbat and explores their various implications for contemporary celebrations of Shabbat.

Presenters

Yosef Rosen

Dr. Yosef Rosen is an historian and teacher of Jewish creativity. He has a PhD in Jewish Studies from UC Berkeley. His dissertation explored representations of spiritual community in the earliest sections of the Zohar. Beginning in the fall of 2018, he will be a Jewish Studies teacher... Read More →

Friday June 29, 2018 4:15pm - 5:25pm PDT
Knights Valley

Text

6:50pm PDT

Kabbalat Shabbat Chanting Sevice

This will be a contemplative alternative service, using Sacred Chant, movement and silence with little talking. Those who participate will have an opportunity to connect through chanted prayers, movement and eye contact, concluding with traditional Mourner's Kaddish.

Presenters

Jeanette Gross

Jeanette Gross is Chant Leader at Temple Isaiah in Lafayette, CA. Having studied with Rabbi Shefa Gold since July 1996, she is a graduate of Rabbi Gold's Kol Zimra Chant Leadership Training Program. Jeanette has been teaching monthly sessions of Sacred Chant in Lafayette since 1998... Read More →

Friday June 29, 2018 6:50pm - 7:50pm PDT
Knights Valley

Service

9:20pm PDT

Who Needs Shabbat?

After 400+ years of slavery, Shabbat re-taught us the textures of freedom. But just 40 years later, the Torah had to teach us the same lessons all over again. What is different about Shabbat for a generation born into freedom? This class will explore the relationship between Shabbat, class, power, and privilege through text-based discussion and group learning.

Presenters

Micah Weiss

Micah Weiss is a community organizer and Jewish educator in West Philadelphia, completing his last year of rabbinical school at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. Micah is the former director of Project Hayei Sarah and is currently spearheading the emerging West Philly Shtiebel... Read More →

Friday June 29, 2018 9:20pm - 10:30pm PDT
Knights Valley

Text

2:00pm PDT

Jewish Communal Singing: What’s At Stake?

Why does singing permeate so many aspects of Jewish communal life? In this session we will explore the presence of song in our textual tradition as a means for appreciating the complex role that communal singing plays in the contemporary Jewish experience.

Presenters

Sara Blumenthal

Sara Blumenthal is a second-year rabbinical student at Hebrew College in Newton Centre, MA and currently the rabbinic intern at The Boston Synagogue. She earned a BA in Psychology and Hebrew and Jewish Studies from the University of Michigan. Sara is also a Kevah Fellow.

Saturday June 30, 2018 2:00pm - 3:10pm PDT
Knights Valley

3:25pm PDT

My Father Was a Wandering Alcoholic: Drunken Ancestors and Their Rabbinic Discontents

In this session, we will examine drunkenness in our texts and the stories we tell about those who get drunk. Together, we will seek to understand how our tradition engages the issue of substance abuse, the harms of addiction and possible means of recovery.

Presenters

Zack Wiener

Zack Wiener is a fourth-year student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. He studies Torah in Hebrew, sends text messages in English and dreams about the Jewish future in Yiddish. Zack is also a Kevah Fellow.

Saturday June 30, 2018 3:25pm - 4:35pm PDT
Knights Valley

5:15pm PDT

The Space After Shiva

How do we care for each other in periods of grief and mourning? While shiva, the traditional Jewish period of mourning, lasts only seven days, grief does not disappear after shiva concludes. In this session we will explore Jewish texts on grief and mourning and the work that remains when shiva ends.

Presenters

Sarah Joselow

Rabbi Sarah Joselow is the Senior Jewish Educator at Columbia/Barnard Hillel. Originally from Ossining, NY, Sarah studied History and Arabic at Harvard before moving to New Orleans to teach middle school math with Teach for America. Sarah was ordained as a Reform rabbi by Hebrew... Read More →

Saturday June 30, 2018 5:15pm - 6:25pm PDT
Knights Valley

Text

7:50pm PDT

Oops! I Forgot Thee, O Jerusalem

The perennial challenge of “Why should I bother? It didn’t happen to me!” looms large over the summer days of mourning. I’m not sitting by the waters of Babylon, so why should I care about the tragedies of the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av? In this session, we’ll consider the power of holding space on the calendar - and in our lives - for sorrow, both communal and personal, as we explore the place of the individual in the larger chain of Jewish tradition.

Presenters

Anna Leah Berstein Simpson

Anna Leah Berstein Simpson is a proud alumna of Dartmouth College and Yeshivat Hadar. Anna Leah works for the Hadar Institute, where she produces digital content and manages its website. She loves French butter, beginner improv classes, and singing, especially in her apartmen... Read More →

Saturday June 30, 2018 7:50pm - 9:00pm PDT
Knights Valley

Text

10:00pm PDT

Picking and Choosing in Jewish Tradition

Are we totally free to choose what we want? What limits our choices? And are the answers to these questions different when it comes to our inherited traditions? By looking at Jewish texts that deal with the theme of choice (or lack thereof), we will explore questions of individual freedom - in life and in Jewish practice.

Presenters

Uriel Tehila Levy

Uriel Tehila Levy lives in Jerusalem, Israel, where they work as an operations manager for the Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance. They exude a deep enthusiasm and wonder for all that is queer in Torah and all that is holy in being queer. Uriel is also a Kevah Fello... Read More →

Saturday June 30, 2018 10:00pm - 11:10pm PDT
Knights Valley

Text

9:30am PDT

Standing Tall Under Siege: Perspectives on Pain and Perseverance

The destruction of the Temple didn’t happen overnight. It was a long, drawn out process where the Jews saw their world progressively caving in around them. This is the mood of the 17th of Tammuz: the emotional fatigue of being under siege. It’s not hard to relate to the exhaustion of trying to hold oneself together when everything feels like it’s breaking. What can Jewish sources offer us in these kind of moments?

Presenters

Gita Karasov

Gita Karasov, a Minnesota native, has worked in a variety of Jewish educational settings empowering students to engage more deeply with their Judaism. She is entering her fourth year of rabbinical school at Hebrew College in Newton, MA. Gita is also a Kevah Fellow.

Sunday July 1, 2018 9:30am - 10:40am PDT
Knights Valley

Text

1:20pm PDT

Holocaust Poetry

Extreme times can lead to great art. Ponder very short works about the Holocaust by Dan Pagis, Abraham Sutzkever, Primo Levi, and others to explore how survivors, observers, and future generations have used rhythm, rhyme, symbolism and imagery to respond to the Shoah. Read poems in English, Hebrew, Yiddish, German and Italian (plus translations).

Presenters

David Benkof

David Benkof teaches "Jewish Culture 101" twice a week online. His classes (tinyurl.com/BenkofClasses) help students find meaning in cultural products like literature, musicals, art, music, and TV/film. His Jewish culture videos are available at youtube.com/user/DavidBenkof. He lives... Read More →

Sunday July 1, 2018 1:20pm - 2:30pm PDT
Knights Valley

Holocaust, Poetry

2:50pm PDT

Sacred Chant Healing Circle

Through the practice of Sacred Hebrew Chant, together the participants will have the opportunity to create a powerful circle of support for those in need of healing, present and not present, including ourselves. We will build healing energy using ancient words from our tradition with simple melodies in chants that are taught in the moment.

Presenters

Jeanette Gross

Sunday July 1, 2018 2:50pm - 4:00pm PDT
Knights Valley

Well Being