To Teach and To Learn: The First-Ever JDC Baltics Limmud Conference

Just a few years ago, the only contact Josif – a 41-year-old civil engineer from Kaunus, Lithuania – had with Jewish life was shuttling his daughter to and from the children's club at the local Jewish community center. But a chance encounter with an old school friend during one of those visits at last set him on the path to his own Jewish self-discovery.

Today, that seems like ancient history, as Josif and his family are now active in what has become – once again – a thriving center of Jewish activity. Still, giving his own lecture on Judaism at the JDC-initiated Baltics Limmud Conference, which took place February 27-March 1, 2004 in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, was the opportunity of a lifetime.

Known in Yiddish as Vilna and dubbed "Jerusalem of the East" by Napoleon himself, Vilnius had long been a hub of secular Jewish culture and religious learning. During the Holocaust, the city's Jews – along with the other Baltic Jewish communities in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – were decimated. The remnant populations survived the next fifty years only by assimilating under Soviet occupation. At last, with the collapse of the Communist regime, Jewish life slowly began to reemerge with assistance from JDC.

"Look around. It is really incredible to see how far we have come as a community," effused Josif.

With support from the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, JDC organized Limmud – which means learning – in partnership with local Jewish leaders to capitalize on growing interest among Baltic Jews in their heritage. The conference, a highlight of JDC's extensive effort to revitalize Jewish life in the region, offered a grassroots experience devoted to popular, yet high-level Jewish education.

"We wanted to help quench that thirst for Jewish knowledge in an engaging and open way," said Masha, a Vilnius community leader. "We also hoped to reach out to the many Jews who have yet to come to the community."

To achieve that goal, JDC invited Baltic Jewish educators and activists to lead the conference's more than 100 diverse lectures and sessions – all on a voluntary basis. Because many of the speakers, like Josif, had themselves just recently reconnected with their Jewish roots, they were uniquely able to create a warm, culturally sensitive atmosphere. Esteemed guest speakers from the United States, Russia, and Ukraine – joined by the director of Sweden's European Institute for Jewish Studies (Paideia) – participated as well.

The four-day Limmud– the first such event held anywhere in Eastern and Central Europe or the former Soviet Union – drew a 400-strong crowd of young families, adults, and students. Most significant, though, were the number of new faces, especially from among the emerging middle class that is the key to the future of these communities. Participants paid a symbolic attendance fee that also represented a significant cultural change.

As families arrived, children went off to join in the special programming organized by madrichim, while their parents experienced lectures and hands-on seminars on a diverse array of Jewish subjects. But everyone came together for meals, singing along to Jewish songs as the words flashed on a wide screen in the dining room. Coffee breaks were accompanied by lively Israeli folk dancing.

Because Limmud was well-timed to coincide with both Shabbat and Purim, it succeeded in bringing unaffiliated or newly connected Jews closer to the community through pluralistic approaches to conventional celebrations. For many participants, the candle lighting, traditional dinner, and singing of modern and ancient melodies on Friday evening represented their first Shabbat experience or their first possibility to celebrate as a family.

"JDC continues to bring us back to Judaism," remarked Junona, a family club leader from Tallinn, Estonia. "But it also brings Judaism back to us."

Throughout the conference, JDC helped create new traditions for the youngest generation, too. Children donned their costumes for havdalah, and then launched straight into the Purim festivities with their own performance of the megillah story. A seven-year old "Queen Esther" from Siaulai, Lithuania and a 38-year-old "Mordechai" from Riga, Latvia took home prizes for best costume. Everyone then danced and sang late into the evening.

As the conference came to a close, participants all agreed that they had been a part of history. Hoping to leverage Limmud's success, JDC and its local partners are now ready for the challenge of spreading more of the joy of Jewish learning throughout the region.

"Before Limmud, we had only our parents' Jewish memories," concluded Simon from Klaipeda, Lithuania. "Now we have our own."