With sessions covering topics ranging as far and wide as the erotic poetry of medieval rabbis to the relationship between Vladimir Putin and the Jews, the bustling and energetic British Limmud Conference 2016 took place between December 25 and 29 in Birmingham.
The annual conference, now in its 36th year, brings together 2,800 participants across over 1,200 sessions covering a huge spectrum of Jewish life and beyond. At this year’s conference, one of the days was designated Refugee Day and included sessions focusing on the current and future role of the British Jewish community in aiding non-Jewish refugees.
The conference, which brings together Jews from all walks of life, attracted activists from over 45 Limmud communities this year, the highest number ever, including first-time attendees from communities such as Barcelona, Chile, Seattle, Venezuela and Vienna.
In a year that has seen a rise in hate speech, xenophobia and antisemitism across the UK, Limmud and those attending it, charmingly nicknamed ‘Limmudniks,’ maintain that the conference exists as the bastion of Jewish pluralism in the UK, which teaches values clearly intended to be passed onto future generations.
