LimmudBoston 2013: Full Schedule

ALL LimmudBoston programs are first-come, first-served! Click on a session title below for more information. You can also mouse over the word "Schedule" at the top of the calendar for other view options.

Registration opens at 8 am. Learning Sessions (detailed below) run from 9 am - 4:45 pm. Grand Finale Concert runs 5-6:30 pm.

10:15am PST

Covering Complex Jewish News: Going Beyond 'Is It Good for the Jews?'

How does a Jewish newspaper reflect and respond to the multiplicity of Jewish perspectives? How can it meet the challenge of getting behind statistics and facts to unearth the human stories? Sam Norich, publisher of The Forward, will address these questions, using The Pew Study as his primary example.

Speakers

Sam Norich

Samuel Norich is the president and publisher of The Forward and The Forverts. Born in Germany in 1947, he immigrated to the United States in 1957. He was the executive director of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research from 1980-1992 and is the author of What Will Bind Us Now: A Report... Read More →

Sunday December 8, 2013 10:15am - 11:15am PST
Classroom 6

Jewish Identity, Social Justice

10:15am PST

What's God Got To Do with It? Can an Ignostic Be Jewish?

How can one live a Jewish life without a belief in God? Maintain Jewish values and ethics if we understand the Tanakh as story and legend rather than history? Members of Kahal B'raira, a congregation for Humanistic Judaism, will lead a discussion of the ways we maintain Jewish identity, values and culture in the modern world and how we transmit Jewish values to our youth.

Speakers

Jon Levine

Jon Levine is a member of Congregation Kahal B'raira in Cambridge and Board designee of Society for Humanistic Judaism.

Gladys Maged

Gladys Maged is Administrator and a member of Congregation Kahal B'raira, Greater Boston's Congregation for Humanistic Judaism.

Sunny Schwartz

Sunny Schwartz is a Humanistic madrikha and a member of Kahal B'raira.

Sunday December 8, 2013 10:15am - 11:15am PST
Classroom 16

Jewish Identity, Text & Thought

1:15pm PST

Kosher: Sex?

A discussion, based on Biblical and Midrashic sources, of various Jewish views on the topic of physical relationships, with an aim of establishing a common theme throughout Jewish history. No text skills or knowledge background are required, but please do bring an open mind and an interest in being part of real, probing conversation!

Speakers

Yonah Berman

Yonah Berman serves as spiritual leader at Congregation Kadimas-Torah in Brighton. He studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion in Israel and earned his BA from Yeshiva University. He served in the Israeli Army's Tank Corps. He received rabbinic ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical... Read More →

Sunday December 8, 2013 1:15pm - 2:15pm PST
Classroom 6

Jewish Identity

1:15pm PST

The Myth of Hitler's Jewish Museum

There is a longstanding belief in the Jewish community that Hitler wanted to set up a "Jewish museum for a lost race." Testament to this belief are the thousands of Torah scrolls and Jewish artifacts collected in Prague throughout WWII. However, this belief is pure myth, and the truth is more heroic and noble than anyone believed until recently.

Speakers

Michael Shire

Michael Shire is the Dean and Professor of Jewish Education at the Shoolman Graduate School of Jewish Education at Hebrew College.

Sunday December 8, 2013 1:15pm - 2:15pm PST
Classroom 16

Jewish Identity, Arts & Culture, Education

2:30pm PST

A Source of Wonder: The Return to Life of a Child Survivor of Bergen-Belsen

When Brigadier Hughes liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, 25,000 of the 40,000 survivors needed immediate medical care. Among those was the presenter's mother, Rachel Genuth, a 15-year-old whose entire family, save one sister, had been killed. Learn about Rachel's rescue and why Hughes considered the revival of those at death's door to be a "source of wonder."

Speakers

Bernice Lerner

Dr. Bernice Lerner is director of adult learning at Hebrew College, where she oversees innovative programs for Greater Boston's Jewish community. She is the author of "The Triumph of Wounded Souls: Seven Holocaust Survivor's Lives" and co-author of "Happiness and Virtue: Beyond East... Read More →

Sunday December 8, 2013 2:30pm - 3:30pm PST
Classroom 11

Jewish Identity, Social Justice

2:30pm PST

Post-Pew Study Conversations: Identity and 'Culturally Jewish' Americans

This discussion-based session will focus on the challenges and experiences of culturally Jewish young people who don't have the religious knowledge to be "insiders" in the Jewish community. We'll watch and discuss clips from Curb Your Enthusiasm and learn what I have been told by Jewish college students who have been the subjects of my research.

Speakers

Anne Grant

Anne Grant graduated with a B.A. in Jewish Studies from the University of Virginia. She is currently a PhD student in sociology at Vanderbilt University, where she is focusing on American Jewish culture.

Sunday December 8, 2013 2:30pm - 3:30pm PST
Classroom 15

Jewish Identity

3:45pm PST

What Do the Data Really Say? Challenge Your Notions of the Jewish Community

Using the lens of research, we consider notions about the Jewish community and how the data support or debunk them. For example: How many Jews are there in the US and are they really "less Jewish" than before? Is Birthright Israel a 10-day party, or can it really change a participant's life? How healthy is the Jewish education system? Come and ask.

Speakers

Matthew Boxer

Matthew Boxer is a Senior Research Associate at the Center for Modern Jewish Studies and the Steinhardt Social Research Institute at Brandeis University and a lecturer in the Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program. His research varies widely and includes socio-demographic... Read More →

Amy L. Sales

Amy L. Sales is senior research scientist and associate director of the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University, and associate professor in the Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program. She is the founding director of JData, a database of Jewish education... Read More →

Leonard Saxe

Leonard Saxe is the Director of the Center for Modern Jewish Studies and the Steinhardt Social Research Institute, and Klutznick Professor of Contemporary Jewish Studies at Brandeis University, where he teaches in the Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program and the Heller... Read More →

Sunday December 8, 2013 3:45pm - 4:45pm PST
Schwartz Social Hall

Jewish Identity