LimmudBoston 2018: Full Schedule

A few notes:
Like Limmuds throughout the world, seating is not reserved.
Please remember to order your Kosher LUNCH before (the caterer’s deadline of) Nov. 25!

Limmuds are volunteer-driven events. Find Volunteer Spots when you click.

9:00am EST

Adoption and the Jewish Community

This session with Adoption Associates and the Adoption & Jewish Identity Project will foster dialogue about the experience of adoption and its impact on the lives of parents and children. Participants will learn how adoptees may struggle to answer questions about their own Jewish identities and how they fit into their Jewish communities, even as they explore their relationships with their birth cultures and families.

Presenters

Debra Olshever

Debra Olshever, M.ED, LCSW, is a post adoption therapist who works with parents, young adults, teens and children, in groups or individually. She also leads workshops that increase the public?s knowledge of adoption issues

Sandra Orenstein

Sandy Orenstein, MSW, LICSW, is a post adoption therapist helping clients who have experienced loss, trauma, substance abuse and/or other risky behaviors, especially older teens & young-adult adoptees. She also runs groups for Parents of young adults.

Jennifer Sartori

Jennifer Sartori is Co-Director of the Adoption & Jewish Identity Project, which supports Jewish adoptees and their families in creating personal, family, and communal identities and advocates for an inclusive Jewish community. She is co-authoring a book about adoption and identity... Read More →

Toby Zaitchik

Toby Zaitchik is a post adoption therapist. She supports all members of the adoptive family to foster understanding, communication and strengthen family connections. She works individually and offers support groups for parents and children.

Jayne Guberman

Jayne Guberman is Co-Director of the Adoption & Jewish Identity Project, an educational and advocacy initiative dedicated to supporting Jewish adoptees and their families and creating an inclusive Jewish community. She is co-authoring a book with Co-Director Jennifer Sartori... Read More →

Sunday December 2, 2018 9:00am - 10:00am EST
Room 106 Temple Reyim

Communities (Families, Social Justice/Action (Diversity/Inclusivity) | Parenting, Social Justice/Action (Diversity/Inclusivity) | etc.), Social Justice/Action (Diversity/Inclusivity)

Encores www.AdoptionAssociates.org and https://www.facebook.com/adoptionandjewishidentity

9:00am EST

Is There Life After Death (For a Synagogue)?

What do we do with sacred objects when synagogues close or merge? The Maavar program from the Synagogue Council of Massachusetts helps synagogues that are struggling or closing with everything from technical assistance to management support. Let's discuss synagogues within the context of ongoing demographic changes in Massachusetts.

Presenters

Carol Clingan

Carol Clingan is a genealogist and historian. She has traced her own family in Ukraine and Belarus back to 1800, and does both genealogical research and teaching for would-be genealogists. She has served for many years in leadership positions at Temple Beth Elohim, Action for Post... Read More →

Sunday December 2, 2018 9:00am - 10:00am EST
Room 102 Temple Reyim

Communities (Families Parenting etc.)

Encores Synagogue Council of Massachusetts

2:50pm EST

Embracing Conflict: Tools for a Healthier Synagogue (or Relationship, or Job)

Using tools and lessons learned from teaching at the Harvard Program on Negotiation and Conflict Management Group, this session will look at the difference between Impact and Intent and how using better methods of communication and listening we can achieve understanding.

Presenters

Mitch Gordon

Founder/Director, Gesher: Building Bridges

At Gesher: Building Bridges we help Synagogues, Jewish organizations, associations, and Federations engage in areas of conflict resolution, leadership transition, and resource development. Perhaps the head of school or the head of the personnel committee or a teacher would like to... Read More →

Sunday December 2, 2018 2:50pm - 3:50pm EST
5 Main Street Temple Reyim

Communities (Families, Mind, Body & Soul | Parenting, Mind, Body & Soul | etc.), Mind, Body & Soul

4:00pm EST

So You May Live Long: Caring for Our Aging Parents, Caring for Ourselves

What does Jewish tradition teach us about our obligations to our aging parents? How is this connected to our own aging? This workshop will explore Jewish texts and stories and compare it to our own lived experience, offering both a practical and spiritual understanding of the challenges facing our parents as they age. How does this inform our own growing older in the community?

Presenters

Malka Young

Malka is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a Certified Care Manager. For the past 32 years, Malka has worked with older adults and their families in the community and health care settings.

Sunday December 2, 2018 4:00pm - 5:00pm EST
Room 104 Temple Reyim

Communities (Families, Mind, Body & Soul | Parenting, Mind, Body & Soul | etc.), Mind, Body & Soul

Encores Being Mortal by Atul Gawande Jewish Visions for Aging by Rabbi Dayle Friedman

9:00am EST

Everything Has Changed. Why Haven't We?

Made from the clay and animated by divine power, the Golem obeys its creator, but often at a terrible price. From Rabbinic legends to Kabbalah, from Frankenstein to The X-Files, we will explore the enduring power and influence of this dynamic figure in Jewish (and Western) speculative fiction.

Presenters

Bill Hamilton

Amy Sales

Mark Sokoll

Sunday November 17, 2019 9:00am - 10:00am EST
The KI Campus

Communities (Families Parenting etc.)

Encores M-08b

9:00am EST

Keeping Traditions after a Community Disperses

Shake Your Soul. Have you been to a joyous wedding and danced with great abandon? Does the beat of a drum awaken something deep inside of you? Do you think that spontaneous dance connects with your deepest spiritual self? If you love to dance, and feel the deep feelings that dance elicits, then give Shake Your Soul a try. Come prepared to dance and experience the power it has to unlock joy and emotions!

Presenters

Velda Shaby

Velda Shaby is a Babylonian Jew born in Bagdad, she left in 1950. She grew up in Iran, part of an Iraqi Jewish Community. Her adult life has been raising three kids, learning how to be flexible enough in interpreting traditions to pass them along to her kids.

Sunday November 17, 2019 9:00am - 10:00am EST
The KI Campus

Communities (Families, Communities (Families, Parenting, etc.) | Parenting, Communities (Families, Parenting, etc.) | etc.), Communities (Families, Parenting, etc.)

Encores G-27

9:00am EST

Massive Conversions of Christians to Judaism in Latin America

2020 is the centennial of the passage of the 19th amendment which finally gave women the right to vote. But the fight for that right began in 1848. This session will look ar the intervening 72 plus years between 1848 and the passage of the amendment and will include an exploration of the efforts of Jewish women in this fight and the relevance of those efforts to today.

Presenters

Diana Abadi

Sunday November 17, 2019 9:00am - 10:00am EST
The KI Campus

Communities (Families Parenting etc.)

Encores G-19
Audience https://forward.com/opinion/429804/on-labor-day-jews-need-to-recommit-themselves-to-supporting-the-fight-for

9:00am EST

Thoreau's Secret and the Language of the Jews

Why it is important for all of us to have some advance planning for our deaths, and why must we share the appropriate directives with our loved ones and, sometimes, others?

Presenters

Natasha Shabat

Natasha Shabat is an independent scholar, writer, and photographer, based in Concord, MA, who teaches Biblical & Modern Hebrew to adults. She is currently writing a book on Hebrew education at Harvard in the 19th century. She has a B.A. from Harvard in Near Eastern Languages & Ci... Read More →

Sunday November 17, 2019 9:00am - 10:00am EST
The KI Campus

Communities (Families, Torah & Philosophy | Parenting, Torah & Philosophy | etc.), Torah & Philosophy

Encores G-25

10:10am EST

Enough with Small Talk, Let's Get to Big

It's tough to be a Jewish Grandparent. Our kids are either too Jewish, or not Jewish enough. How do Grandparents navigate the tension between wanting to pass on the traditions they love and the theology they hold dear, and at the same time, respect their children's' choices for their grandchildren? This session will be interactive.

Presenters

Jennifer Kohanim Pittleman

Leah Solokokin

Sunday November 17, 2019 10:10am - 11:10am EST
The KI Campus

Communities (Families Parenting etc.)

Encores G-16

2:00pm EST

Grandparenting in the Age of Diversity

In the last year, the Kavod Community Safety Team has developed systems and practices to keep our Jewish communities safe. Through interactive activities and group discussions, we will guide these difficult and timely conversations about our safety, and we will share how our work is rooted in social justice principles.

Presenters

Ruth Nemzoff

Sunday November 17, 2019 2:00pm - 3:00pm EST
The KI Campus

Communities (Families Parenting etc.)

Encores G-27

3:10pm EST

Flip the Script: The Truth About Intermarriage

What is Elijah doing at our Seders? Who was he in the Bible and who did he become in Jewish folklore? Why do we invite him to our homes? What does he represent? We will take a historical look at the development of Elijah's role in Jewish life, learn some songs about him and share a story or two.

Presenters

Denise Handlarski

Gladys Maged

Sunday November 17, 2019 3:10pm - 4:10pm EST
The KI Campus

Communities (Families, Social Justice/Action (Diversity/Inclusivity) | Parenting, Social Justice/Action (Diversity/Inclusivity) | etc.), Social Justice/Action (Diversity/Inclusivity)

Encores G-28
Audience www.nealgold.net

4:20pm EST

The Other in the Contemporary Russian Jewish-Immigrant Narrative

In this session, we will discuss midrashim written by contemporary Israeli women who offer varying strategies to deal with the horrifying question, is God involved or even in charge of patriarchy? We will read from texts in English.

Presenters

Marina Aptekman

Sunday November 17, 2019 4:20pm - 5:20pm EST
The KI Campus

Communities (Families, Arts & Culture | Parenting, Arts & Culture | etc.), Arts & Culture

Encores G- KI Chapel