Limmud Seattle 2019

We find ourselves at a critical juncture in what Joanna Macy calls "The Great Turning," a time that could usher in a new era of creativity and blossoming or a drastic unfolding of destruction on a global scale.  What is our role as spiritual Jews at this time? We will explore how Jewish spiritual practice can help us find our part in the potential of healing for ourselves, our communities and our planet.

David Naggar’s parents came to this country via Europe from Egypt, living in residences that now house ambassadors. The world they lived in ended in 1956 when the Jews were expelled by Nasser, with no choice but to restart their lives elsewhere. In many ways a typical Jewish story, from his upbringing in New York City to a career in publishing to the past eight years at Amazon, where he now leads the global Kindle Books team, David will share his story, how it shaped him as a person and a Jew, and explore the common threads in many Jewish families.

Explore narratives of Biblical women through the prism of art, song and text study with Alicia Jo Rabins' Girls in Trouble Curriculum, a companion to her song-cycle about women in Torah. Learn how these mythic narratives of transformation can nourish you through the changes and challenges in your life, and gain insight into how artistic forms can help illuminate Jewish wisdom. (Appropriate for all teens and adults, from first-time learners curious about stories of women in Torah, to experienced educators looking to expand their toolbox.)

Before the Lower East Side of New York, before the Marais district in Paris, even before London's East End, there was Vlooeinberg -- the heart of Amsterdam's Jewish world. And in that quarter, three figures: Menasseh Ben Israel, Baruch Spinoza and Rembrandt Van Rijn. This is the story of how their lives, interwoven by chance, changed the tide of cultural and intellectual history.

The session engages in a close literary reading of a captivating Talmudic narrative (BT Gittin 45a). Particular attention will be given to the power dynamics within rabbinic culture: how authority is consolidated by drawing boundaries that delimit an inside and an outside, an "us and a them." We will consider how this story, which is set on the margins of rabbinic society, unsettles, even suspends the established societal order. Indeed, it problematizes much of what we know about how the Talmud conceives of gender and sexual identity, knowledge and elite authority. Listening to the voices and counter-voices within this Talmudic tale will enable a broader, philosophically-informed, and relevant conversation about structural power and the prospects of its disruption.

So, you're a Limmud volunteer (we all are!) - but the big question is, what's next? Would being a Team lead be for you? Would chairing a festival be exciting? And then what? Join Limmud Seattle Co-Chairs, Cara Abrams-Simonton and Robert Hovden in exploring being a Limmud planning team volunteer, a festival co-chair, and what could happen next on your Limmud journey.