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Exciting Learning
Limmud tradition comes to Michigan
with a full-day conference in March.
Barbara Lewis I Contributing Writer
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BRINGING IT HERE
Birnholz was introduced to Limmud
10 years ago. Her daughter, Melanie
Hildebrandt, was on the steering commit-
tee of LimmudNY, a four-day conference
in the New York area held on President's
Day weekend, and invited her to attend.
Birnholtz has gone back almost every year
since, even after her daughter moved away.
Goldfein learned about Limmud from
a friend and thought it would work in
Michigan. He called Birnholtz, whom
he knew from local Jewish education
programs, not realizing that she was a
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20
22 December 17 2015
A
n exciting educational program
is coming to Michigan in March.
Called Limmud, it started in
England in the early 1980s. Its ideas and
philosophy have spread around the world.
Limmud, meaning "learning" in
Hebrew, is an educational experience
aimed at people of all ages and at every
level of Jewish knowledge and observance.
Iry Goldfein, a producer of Jewish edu-
cational media from Southfield, and Sue
Birnholtz, a retired teacher from Sylvan
Lake, chair a team of volunteers planning
Michigan's first Limmud.
The full-day conference is scheduled for
Sunday, March 13, at the Michigan Union
in Ann Arbor.
Limmud got started because a group
of British Jews were bored between
Christmas and the secular New Year,
Birnholtz said. With schools on break and
regular activities suspended, they thought
it would be an ideal time for a Jewish edu-
cational conference. The presenters would
attend the other sessions, and everyone
would learn together. The presenters are
not paid; Limmud calls them "voluntici-
pante
The Limmud idea has been widely
copied around the world — there are now
programs in 85 countries on six continents
— because it's an ideal way to reflect the
diversity of the Jewish community and cre-
ate cross-generational experiences acces-
sible to all, she said.
"It's not like a 'day of learning;' it's an
exploration and celebration of Jewishness.
Everyone can get something from it, from
bagels-and-lox Jews to Talmudic scholars:'
Birnholtz said. "It's non-denominational
and non-political."
Some presenters will delve into Torah
and Talmud; others will explore social jus-
tice, literature, community and the arts.
Ji
Steering team: (standing) Davey Rosen and Karla Goldman, both of Ann Arbor;
Sue Birnholtz, Sylvan Lake; Dan Horwitz, Huntington Woods; and Iry Goldfein,
Southfield; (seated) Mira Sussman and Eitan Katz, both of Ann Arbor; Leslie Black
and Roger Black, both of Farmington Hills; and Steven Rubenstein, West Bloomfield.
Not pictured: Deirdre Hirschtritt and Emily Zussman, both of Ann Arbor, and Rene
Lichtman, West Bloomfield.
Limmud veteran.
Together they formed a planning com-
mittee of 14 — they call it the "steering
team" — that includes young adults from
the cities of Detroit and Ann Arbor as well
as from Oakland County. They also gained
formal nonprofit organization status.
To call their program a Limmud, the
planners had to present their plans to
Limmud International and agree to adhere
to that organization's core values. These
include learning, community and mutual
responsibility, diversity, empowerment,
participation, enabling connections to be
made and expanding Jewish horizons.
Several local Jewish educators have
agreed to present, including Howard
Lupovitch, director of the Cohn-Haddow
Center for Judaic Studies at Wayne State
University; Justin Sledge, professor of
philosophy at WSU; Mitch Parker of the
Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning;
Rabbi Aaron Bergman of Adat Shalom
Synagogue; Rabbi Tzvi Muller, director of
the Jewish Values Institute and rabbi at the
Birmingham Bloomfield Chai Center; and
Jay Kaplan from the ACLU.
"These are amazing people who on their
own would draw people for a whole day,"
Goldfein said.
The planners also hope to have pre-
sentations on challah baking, yoga and
meditation, he added, as well as musical
performances.
The team welcomes applications from
others who would like to present. No one is
paid for presenting; those who travel from
afar will be reimbursed for expenses.
Planners hope to have eight sessions in
each of five time slots, for a total of 40.
The March 13 program will run 10 a.m.-
6 p.m., with a kosher lunch included in the
registration fee. Babysitting and children's
activities will be offered. If there's enough
interest, they'll provide bus service from
the Detroit area to Ann Arbor.
The steering team hopes to keep the
registration cost low — ideally at $18
— to encourage students and young
adults to attend. To keep it that low,
they need to attract sponsors (including
in-kind donors) and foundation grants.
A $5,000 grant has been secured from
the Schusterman Foundation, with fur-
ther grants coming from the Covenant
Foundation and others, Goldfein said.
The co-chairs are confident LimmudMl
will be a success.
"Detroit has the highest enrollment
in Jewish educational programs, relative
to population, of any city in the United
States," Birnholtz said. "The hunger is
there; the thirst for knowledge is there *
For more information about LimmudMI or to find a
presentation proposal form for potential presenters,
visit www.limmudmichigan.org or email
askus@limmudmichigan.org.