Presenters' Introduction to Conference

“This conference is a unique social and intellectual enterprise” – Ha’aretz

  •  Limmud Conference - "Judaism's equivalent of the Edinburgh fringe", according to the Times -  is 27 this year. It has grown from its roots in the UK to be the largest and the leading cross-communal Jewish learning experience in the world. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency says that Limmud is "Europe's largest and perhaps the world's most influential Jewish event".

  • Limmud conference takes place every year around the end of the year, this year from 28 December to 1 January. There is also a ‘Conference Shabbat' as an extra Limmud treat; this year it will take place on 26 and 27 December.

  • Conference brings together around 2000 participants and some 350 presenters who, between them, bring alive over 750 separate sessions on an unparalleled range of subjects from culture to politics, from religion to music, from Torah to theatre. And not forgetting medicine, history and society. Oh - and there's ... You get the picture.

  • Presenters vary likewise, with historians and activists like Deborah Lipstadt rubbing shoulders with Torah scholars like Nathan Lopes Cardozo, and physicians like Robert Winston nodding in the corridors to Israeli musicians like Yasmin Levy.

  • Limmud Conference is run almost entirely by volunteers who together constitute much more than a volunteer force; they are all ages, come together from all sections of the Jewish community and all walks of life and together create a unique community of learning.

  • We are excited to announce that we have moved this year to the University of Warwick in Coventry. The site is compact and friendly, with excellent lecture and leisure facilities and a full range of programming spaces for lectures, workshops, discussions, performances and social events. It also offers a bigger variety of accommodation options on-site and more convenient dining facilities. The location will give us the opportunity to do more exciting things and our commitment to providing a remarkable learning experience remains unchanged.

  • Sessions at Conference take a wide variety of formats ranging from traditional lectures and panel debates, to performances, satellite link-ups and practical hands-on sessions. They cover all areas of life including politics, community, culture, education, family, history, Israel, music, philosophy, social issues, spirituality, and Torah.

  • Alongside the sessions for adults, Conference offers a full and varied programme for children and young people, including a crèche and a selection of early evening sessions for families to attend together.

  • Sessions run continuously from 8 am to 1 am and, at any given time, up to 30 sessions can be taking place simultaneously. We would very much like you to come and be a part of this extravaganza of Jewish culture and learning.

“Limmud conference is a great gift that you offer the Jewish people” – Deborah Lipstadt – we invite you to come and share this gift.

For more information, see the Presenters FAQ page and some recent press quotes. If you have applied, you can find the presenter and session forms here.

Please see also the Limmud Mission Statement (419 Kb)
(you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open this file - click here to download)

More information will be posted on this website about Limmud Conference 2007 during the year, or contact your programming team contact, or Asher Dresner and David Hoffman, the programming team co-chairs, with any queries on conf07-programming@limmud.org the Limmud office, by email to office@limmud.org or phone +44 (20) 8438 6455.