Limmud, said Krengel, “has already become a well-rooted and eagerly anticipated part of our Jewish communal life. Clearly, there was a deep seated need for an institution like this, one providing a vehicle for the broadest range of perspectives touching on every facet of the greater Jewish heritage.”

Krengel said that members of the SAJBD, whether staff members or lay leaders, “are participating, whether as speakers or in the audience.”

He was particularly impressed that “so many members of our community, including many not otherwise involved in mainstream Jewish activities, attend,” and said that this “testifies to the ongoing strength and vibrancy of South African Jewry.”

Jewish South Africans are responding by intensifying their Jewish involvement, said Krengel, “eagerly seizing on fresh opportunities to learn about and strengthen their connection to their history and heritage.”

Lauding the organisers, the Board’s chairman said that putting together a programme “so multifaceted and diverse, involving top international speakers in addition to the considerable local intellectual talent available, is a mammoth task. Limmud’s leadership and many volunteers, through their enthusiasm, vision and dedication, have been more than equal to that challenge and South African Jewry is much the richer for it.”

Krengel ended off by offering “a hearty Mazel Tov to all concerned.”

WITH 35 presenters and over 50 sessions from local, national and 13 international presenters, Limmud SA Durban 2010 certainly offered enough to choose from.

This year’s conference also spearheaded a dynamic new concept for Durban in the form of “Young Limmud”, a programme aimed specifically at the Jewish youth of the community. Divided into three age-groups, the programme catered for children up to 18 years of age and included exciting aspects such as an Israel quiz, puppet show, theatre play, Israeli dancing and a recycled fashion show.

This segment of the programme was ably run by Terri Pillemer, Pamela Tancsik and Durban community youth shlicha Shachar Liran. Visiting presenters were treated to a taste of Durban - the walking tour of Grey Street went down very well. As during the Fifa World Cup, Durban is still undoubtedly “the warmest place to be!”

This amazing atmosphere of warmth permeated the Durban Jewish Centre as Jews from across all ages, areas of interest and religious and political persuasions, mingled. None of this would have been possible without the dedicated and hardworking team of 10 women, championed by Cookie Isaacs, who have been working tirelessly for months to bring the conference into reality.

“The road to success is paved with a cohesive team, all of whom share a passion for achieving a common goal,” said Isaacs.

Anyone who would like to become involved in Durban Limmud’s dynamic 2011 programme, can contact Cookie Isaacs at heleni@mweb.co.za or 082-779-3271.

University of Cape Town Vice-Chancellor Max Price expressed concern that his children would not identify with the Jewish community, having grown up without a sense of victimhood and having no direct experience of anti-Semitism.

Price was part of a panel discussion titled “What’s Next for the Jewish People”, that formed part of an extensive and varied programme at Limmud Cape Town LAST weekend.

Around 540 individuals, including international scholars, participated in this, the fourth annual such conference, held at the Protea Hotel, Stellenbosch.

“I inherited a sense of victimhood,” Price added. “I feel it’s necessary to identify with the Jewish community. My children have grown up without a sense of victimhood, post-Six Day War, post-Yom Kippur War” and were more likely to see Israel as “the villains of the piece”, he said. “They have a much more distant experience of anti-Semitism. I was called ‘Jew-boy’ - they’ve never experienced this.”

The next generation was “not nearly as rooted” and one should take the factors that influenced their choices “much more seriously”, he said. “They’ve grown up in South Africa with liberal values and concern for the underdog, so if they’re confronting a mainstream Jewish organisation intolerant of dissent, that’s alienating for them.

“They’re more likely to give up the Jewish, Zionist things than their liberal values and that’s a challenge,” he stressed. Price proposed commissioning a study on young people and what was alienating them “if we want that heritage to continue”.

Price described Habonim as “a beacon of light” that provided a space for the more secular.

Referring to social activism on the part of its members, Price said: “Those are the Jews that I’m proud of.”

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