LIMMUD BAY AREA

LIMMUD IS AN INTERNATIONAL JEWISH PHENOMENON THAT, SINCE 1980, HAS SWEPT 24 NATIONS AND 54 JEWISH COMMUNITIES ON 6 CONTINENTS, INCLUDING ISRAEL, EUROPE/UK, RUSSIA, AUSTRALIA AND THE US. OVER 35,000 PEOPLE PARTICIPATED IN A LIMMUD EVENT SOMEWHERE IN THE WORLD IN 2010. LIMMUD IS NOW A WORLD-LEADER IN CROSS-COMMUNAL, MULTI-GENERATIONAL, VOLUNTEER-LED JEWISH LEARNING EXPERIENCES, AND HAS BECOME REGARDED AS ONE OF THE MOST VIBRANT, DYNAMIC AND SUCCESSFUL EXAMPLES OF ALTERNATIVE EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS IN THE JEWISH WORLD. IT IS UNDOUBTEDLY BRITISH AND EUROPEAN JEWRY'S PREMIER ADULT EDUCATION INITIATIVE, WITH OVER 7,000 PEOPLE INVOLVED IN AT LEAST ONE LIMMUD ACTIVITY EACH YEAR IN THE UK. LIMMUD BAY AREA WAS ESTABLISHED IN JANUARY 2012 FOR THE PURPOSE OF OFFERING EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING BASED ON THE LIMMUD METHOD TO THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA. THE PRIMARY PROGRAM WILL BE A SERIES OF ANNUAL CONFERENCES, TAKING PLACE OVER SEVERAL DAYS EACH YEAR, WITH PARTICIPATION BY 350 TO 750 PEOPLE OF DIVERSE AGES AND BACKGROUNDS AT EACH CONFERENCE. THE PROGRAM IS A LEARNING CONFERENCE, A FESTIVAL, A GATHERING OF JEWS FROM ALL PARTS OF THE BAY AREA, FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE, ALL JEWISH BACKGROUNDS, ALL LIFESTYLES, AND ALL AGES. THOSE SEVERAL DAYS OF LECTURES, WORKSHOPS, TEXT-STUDY SESSIONS, DISCUSSIONS, EXHIBITS, MEDITATIONS, CULTURAL EVENTS, PERFORMANCES AND MORE, WILL BE PLANNED AND PRODUCED BY A NETWORK OF VOLUNTEERS ORGANIZED BY LIMMUD BAY AREA. THE FIRST SUCH CONFERENCE WAS HELD OVER TWO DAYS IN FEBRUARY 2012 AT THE ASILOMAR CONFERENCE GROUNDS IN PEBBLE BEACH, CA WITH ABOUT 360 PARTICIPANTS. IN SUBSEQUENT YEARS CONFERENCES WERE HELD IN FEBRUARY 2013,WITH ABOUT 525 PARTICIPANTS, AND IN JULY 2014, AT SONOMA STATE UNIVERSITY, WITH ABOUT 430 PARTICIPANTS. CONFERENCES WERE HELD AT SONOMA STATE UNIVERSITY IN JUNE 2015 AND 2016. FOLLOWING A YEAR OF NON-RESIDENTIAL TASTE OF LIMMUD ONE-DAY CONFERENCES IN JUNE 2017, THE THREE-DAY CONFERENCE AT SONOMA STATE UNIVERSITY RESUMED IN 2018 WITH ABOUT 260 PARTICIPANTS AND WAS HELD THERE AGAIN IN 2019 WITH ABOUT 210 PARTICIPANTS. AMONG LIMMUD BAY AREA'S GOALS ARE: 1) PROVIDING NUMEROUS POINTS OF CONNECTION TO JEWISH LIFE, INCLUDING INTELLECTUAL, SPIRITUAL, EMOTIONAL, FAMILIAR, AND COMMUNAL, INSURING THAT ALL WHO WISH TO PARTICIPATE HAVE THE ABILITY TO JOIN AND EXPLORE; 2) PROVIDING EXPERIENTIAL AND FORMAL LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES THAT SUPPORT PEOPLE IN THEIR JEWISH DISCOVERY; 3) FOSTERING A STRONG VOLUNTEER CORPS WHO, THROUGH PLANNING, IMPLEMENTING, AND ATTENDING THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE, EXPERIENCE THE POWER OF VOLUNTEERISM IN BUILDING THEIR JEWISH IDENTITY, COMMUNITY AND LEADERSHIP SKILLS. JEWISH EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING IS THE SOLE ACTIVITY OF LIMMUD BAY AREA. IN 2019, THE BUDGET OF LIMMUD BAY AREA WAS FUNDED APPROXIMATELY 55% BY DONATIONS AND 45% BY FEES PAID BY CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS. THE ORGANIZATION'S WEBSITE IS WWW.LIMMUDBAYAREA.ORG.