Aiming at the rapids

I was in my happy place last weekend. Together with hundreds of fellow participants, I attended the annual Limmud event in Johannesburg, following on from the Cape Town gathering a week earlier. We are blessed with a heterogeneous community, one that holds a wide diversity of political, religious, cultural, and social views, and nowhere is this better celebrated than at Limmud. Over the years it has become a cornerstone of our communal calendar. It is a rare space in which we explore the full breadth of Jewish thought, taking on issues with a depth and openness that few other forums allow. 

Every year I am reminded of something conference chairperson Rabbi Warren Sher often says, that Limmud may well be one of the few places where people who differ greatly can enter into robust debate while holding onto the respect, inclusivity, and openness that define the gathering. It matters enormously that our community has a dedicated space in which to grapple with the cultural, religious, social, and political dimensions of Judaism in all their complexity. 

This year, I was fortunate to present twice. Firstly, together with SA Jewish Board of Deputies national director Wendy Kahn on whether South Africa belongs to all who live in it, debating the place and belonging of our Jewish community within South African society and highlighting areas in which there is a need for us to claim our identity. Then on Sunday, I presented with King David High School principal Lorraine Srage on the Roedean affair, shedding light on some of the first-hand perspectives of the incident as well as its significance in the context of the greater antisemitism trends. 

The Board was represented more widely too. President Zev Krengel asked whether we are living in a golden age of South African Jewry, and deputy national director Charisse Zeifert moderated the central debate on Israeli politics, “Bibi or Not Bibi”. In Cape Town, the Board was also active, with Cape chair Simone Sulcas, director Daniel Bloch, and professional Mandy Allen sharing strategies and case studies with the community in what was an oversubscribed session. 

Part of what makes Limmud so special is the range of speakers it draws together, many of whom are telling their stories in this kind of setting for the first time. A highlight of the weekend was Nik Rabinowitz, who shared the stage with fellow comedian Gili Apter and discussed their experiences of being “cancelled”. Nik made a powerful point. He recalled a river-rafting instructor once explaining that when you find yourself in trouble on the water, you should turn towards the current rather than away from it. This, he said, was exactly the advice Krengel had given him at the height of the media storm that had engulfed him, urging him to meet the bullies head on. It is also why he named his latest show “Mountain Jew”, placing his Jewishness front and centre and aiming himself directly at the rapids. 

In many ways, to host and to attend a Limmud is itself to aim at the rapids. We don’t grow by staying comfortable. We grow by leaning into what unsettles us, and it is so often the ideas that make us uneasy that stretch us the most. 

I am deeply grateful to Limmud, and to the countless volunteers who make it happen year after year, for creating and holding this space for us.