Greetings from Limmud Conference 2008, where over 2,000 Jews have gathered from around the planet for this unique five-day educational seminar. I use the adjective educational in a very literal sense, because the sessions that run from eight o'clock in the morning to an hour after midnight educate their participants in a variety of topics; and not all of them relevant to Judaism, although there are plenty that are. Limmud, now in its twenty-sixth year, was named for this purpose. The name originates from the Hebrew word lom'ed, meaning learn, thus leading to the word that started it all, educational. With all this chit-chat I have quite forgotten the purpose of this paragraph.
Unfortunately, the game of Guess-My-Name of which I am oh so fond has become impossible at Limmud, as every human present at the conference is obligated to display a plastic card around one's neck at all times, stating the bearer's name and the name of the area from which they hail. However, I have discovered a good use for this candor, for at Limmud, there is a hunt...
There is a hunt involving spoons and sessions and talented tappers, that will finish at the stroke of midnight, mere hours before we are evacuated from our host university and sent home to our loving families, new years parties and bad alcohol. Each participant in the Game is given a victim, and must then obtain a weapon with a long handle and a dipping end- small and ladlelike... most often referred to as a Spoon. All assassins must then hunt trategically for their victim and when their nametages are spotted........... they ATTACK! This involves a jovial tap on the torso with the ladley end of the spoon. The victim then makes their death official by signing a paper, and surrenders the name of their victim. The hunt continues.
Ahem. Moving right along...
The sessions at Limmud were most interesting. I rose every morning at approximately 10:10 to eat a speedy breakfast and then proceed to my first session of the day, often a creative or practical workshop, and went to more sessions like this until approximately 13:13 in the afternoon, whence I would eat a twelve-minute lunch and then sprint to my next session, and so the day would continue until finally ending at Israeli dancing in the late evening and collapsing onto a surprisingly comfortable university campbed at around 12:30. As you can see, the days were busy, the nights were busy, and I learnt too much to cram into a single post.
On the first day I arrived, I went to a profoundly moving performance by Finchley Catholic High School, together with St. Michael's School for Girls, entitled "Remember". The play explored different memories from several Holocaust Survivors, and the students applied much of their own experiences visiting Auschwitz and other concentration camp sites to the roles they enacted. The play probed deep into my emotions until tears spilled ceaselessly down my cheeks and I found myself sobbing uncontrollably throughout the poignant performance. The students of these schools, although none of them had grandparents who suffered in the Holocaust, managed to act the parts of survivors so well that I truly believed, for the duration of the play, that they really were who they acted; that these insuperable memories were truly theirs.
Five days at Limmud is a life-changing experience, and in every year I spend there, surprises keep showing up for me and I emerge every year with fresh knowledge and a proud feeling of superior knowing.
Merry Christmas,
Katie J.
Unfortunately, the game of Guess-My-Name of which I am oh so fond has become impossible at Limmud, as every human present at the conference is obligated to display a plastic card around one's neck at all times, stating the bearer's name and the name of the area from which they hail. However, I have discovered a good use for this candor, for at Limmud, there is a hunt...
There is a hunt involving spoons and sessions and talented tappers, that will finish at the stroke of midnight, mere hours before we are evacuated from our host university and sent home to our loving families, new years parties and bad alcohol. Each participant in the Game is given a victim, and must then obtain a weapon with a long handle and a dipping end- small and ladlelike... most often referred to as a Spoon. All assassins must then hunt trategically for their victim and when their nametages are spotted........... they ATTACK! This involves a jovial tap on the torso with the ladley end of the spoon. The victim then makes their death official by signing a paper, and surrenders the name of their victim. The hunt continues.
Ahem. Moving right along...
The sessions at Limmud were most interesting. I rose every morning at approximately 10:10 to eat a speedy breakfast and then proceed to my first session of the day, often a creative or practical workshop, and went to more sessions like this until approximately 13:13 in the afternoon, whence I would eat a twelve-minute lunch and then sprint to my next session, and so the day would continue until finally ending at Israeli dancing in the late evening and collapsing onto a surprisingly comfortable university campbed at around 12:30. As you can see, the days were busy, the nights were busy, and I learnt too much to cram into a single post.
On the first day I arrived, I went to a profoundly moving performance by Finchley Catholic High School, together with St. Michael's School for Girls, entitled "Remember". The play explored different memories from several Holocaust Survivors, and the students applied much of their own experiences visiting Auschwitz and other concentration camp sites to the roles they enacted. The play probed deep into my emotions until tears spilled ceaselessly down my cheeks and I found myself sobbing uncontrollably throughout the poignant performance. The students of these schools, although none of them had grandparents who suffered in the Holocaust, managed to act the parts of survivors so well that I truly believed, for the duration of the play, that they really were who they acted; that these insuperable memories were truly theirs.
Five days at Limmud is a life-changing experience, and in every year I spend there, surprises keep showing up for me and I emerge every year with fresh knowledge and a proud feeling of superior knowing.
Merry Christmas,
Katie J.
