Limmud OZ + NZ Online 2020: Full Schedule

In order to have access to this event in its entirety, BOOK TICKETS HERE!
You will receive more information on accessing sessions in the days leading up to the event.

Please be aware that all times are scheduled according to Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST). Should you wish to visualise the schedule in your local time zone, see the "Timezone" button on the right hand side.

For a selection of published works by Limmud presenters, click here.

7:15pm AEST

Havdallah

CLICK HERE TO ENTER ZOOM ROOM 1
Join us for a communal havdallah to mark the end of Shabbat and welcome a new week, and open the
Limmud Oz & NZ online with a shower of light and song

Saturday June 6, 2020 7:15pm - 8:00pm AEST
ROOM 1

Mind body and soul, Cool for Teens!

8:00pm AEST

Off the map: a Jewish basketball coach’s journey from the Holy Land to the Land of the Long White Cloud

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Dan Shamir has been coaching professional basketball at elite levels in Israel and Europe, winning the Israeli Cup and Coach of the year honours. In 2019 he answered the call from the New Zealand Breakers basketball team to come and revive the flagging fortunes of this championship club. The appointment of an Israeli coach was a bolt out of the blue for Breaker fans. This session will explore the personal and cultural challenges faced by coach Shamir and his family. Oh yes, and we might talk a little basketball too.

Speakers

Dan Shamir

Dan Shamir, a top Israeli basketball coach, is the new head coach of the New Zealand Breakers. Shamir has extensive experience having won back to back Euroleague titles as an assistant coach and been named Coach of the Year in 2018 after guiding Hapoel Holon to victory in the Israeli... Read More →

David Bigio

David was born and raised in Montreal, Canada. He attended the Faculty of Law at McGill University graduating in 1988. David emigrated to New Zealand in 1989. He has worked in law since that time and was made a QC in 2016. He is a lifelong basketball fan.

Saturday June 6, 2020 8:00pm - 9:00pm AEST
ROOM 8

Mind body and soul, Cool for Teens!

10:00am AEST

Immunity, miracles and the prospect of a coronavirus vaccination

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The human immune system is complex, intriguing and full of mystery and wonder. Join Dr Ricky Arenson as he reveals that medical science can be stranger than fiction. After that, he will attempt to untangle himself from this web of intrigue and will make his lecture relevant to Judaism. And most importantly, reveal what this means to our chances of surviving coronavirus and finding a vaccination?

Speakers

Ricky Arenson

Ricky Arenson is a consultant endocrinologist and geriatrician at the Royal Perth Hospital and the head of the Murdoch Endocrinology and Diabetes centre. WA clinical educator of the year and the winner of an outstanding service award at the RPH, Ricky is the director of consultant... Read More →

Sunday June 7, 2020 10:00am - 11:00am AEST
ROOM 9

Mind body and soul

11:00am AEST

Jews and tattoos: our bodies ourselves

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Tattoos have a long relationship to Jews. That and everything else we decorate our bodies with. Come and talk about your tattoo or lack of one!

Speakers

Viva Hammer

Viva has been legislation counsel at the US Congress, a Rebbetzin, newspaper columnist, and homeschooling mother.

Sunday June 7, 2020 11:00am - 12:00pm AEST
ROOM 8

Mind body and soul, Cool for Teens!

7:30pm AEST

In the Rabbi's Kitchen

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Having been cooking for over 20 years professionally and as a hobby, Alon knows his way around the kitchen. This session will be part cooking demo, part cultural exploration, part history lesson, and part Jewish texts lesson. If only there was smell-o-vision!

Speakers

Alon Meltzer

Alon is the Director of Programs at Shalom and Rabbi of Or Chadash Synagogue. He is studying a PhD in Law and has several degrees focusing on different passions. He loves to cook, paint, and learn. Father of 3 girls, he is a staunch Orthodox Feminist.

Sunday June 7, 2020 7:30pm - 8:30pm AEST
ROOM 8

Mind body and soul, Cool for Teens!

8:30pm AEST

Forgiving difficult people

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What should our attitude be towards people who hurt us? Should they be easily forgiven? What if it is emotionally difficult for us to do so? How do we know when others have sincerely regretted their wrongdoing? Does Judaism believe in second chances? This talk will address how one begins the work of forgiveness and how learning how to apologise and how to forgive are some of the central activities of life.

Speakers

Elliott Malamet

Dr Elliott Malamet lectures in literature at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and teaches Jewish thought in many institutions in Jerusalem and abroad. He is the co-director of Living Jewishly, an organisation that hosts conversations and events meant to explore the core existential... Read More →

Elliott Malamet, Forgiving difficult people pdf

Sunday June 7, 2020 8:30pm - 9:30pm AEST
ROOM 5

Mind body and soul

8:30pm AEST

The psychologist and the rabbi are In

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Is it ever OK to lie in a relationship? Can you ever speak about another person behind their back? Should you always admit wrongdoing and seek forgiveness, even when doing so would hurt the person you wronged? Should you tell someone a difficult medical diagnosis? And much more!

Speakers

Jacqueline Ninio

Jacqueline Ninio was ordained as a rabbi in 1998 and has been at Emanuel Synagogue since then. She was the synagogue’s first female rabbi and the third Australian-born woman to receive rabbinic ordination. She has an interest in midrash and liturgy and has a passion for storyte... Read More →

Amanda Gordon

Clinical Psychologist, Armchair Psychology

Amanda has been confronted with every question imaginable over decades of psychology practice and talkback radio. A past president of the Australian Psychological Society, an advocate for her profession for asylum seekers, a founder of the Bendi Lango Indigenous bursary for psychologists... Read More →

Sunday June 7, 2020 8:30pm - 9:30pm AEST
ROOM 3

Mind body and soul

10:00am AEST

Discovering opportunity in a time of crisis

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Eleven years ago Alison was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer of the bone marrow. For the year following diagnosis every evening the women of her community made meals to feed her family of seven. “The Jones Family Food Roster” is a memoir about the power of community, parenting during a time of crisis, choosing empowerment during adversity, developing a growth mindset and hope, seen through the prism of her cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Speakers

Alison Jones

Alison Jones has worked in a range of settings—health, business and education—but her most important role is mother to her five children. She teaches maths and science and is a part time non-fiction writer. Her first book, “The Jones Family Food Roster”, was published in... Read More →

The Goose Story docx

Monday June 8, 2020 10:00am - 11:00am AEST
ROOM 1

Mind body and soul

11:00am AEST

Finding stability in the midst of instability: on what can we depend?

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This is an experiential session. In this time of vulnerability, unmoored from the so-called 'normal', how do we live in connection to something deeper than our shifting fears and hopes? Through chant, silent meditation, and Torah, we practise intimacy with what sustains our ability to respond to ever-changing conditions with compassionate action.

Speakers

Sheila Katz

Sheila H. Katz is co-founding teacher of Nishmat Hayyim Jewish Meditation Collective, Professor of Contemplative Studies at the Berklee College of Music, and of Middle East History, with a doctorate from Harvard University, author of “Connecting with the Enemy: a Century of Palestinian-Israeli... Read More →

Monday June 8, 2020 11:00am - 12:00pm AEST
ROOM 8

Mind body and soul

7:15pm AEST

Havdallah

CLICK HERE TO ENTER ZOOM ROOM 1
Join us for a communal havdallah to mark the end of Shabbat and welcome a new week, and celebrate the final weekend of Limmud Oz & NZ online with a shower of light and song

Saturday June 13, 2020 7:15pm - 8:00pm AEST
ROOM 1

Mind body and soul

9:00pm AEST

Love in the time of corona

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Gabriel Garcia Marquez gave me the title, but the world today is very different from anything that even he could have imagined. Managing relationships—established and longterm, just beginning, hooking up, or developing something that was in the pipeline and "getting somewhere" before the virus hit. Each stage of relationship has its own challenges in the new world. What can we learn from the past and how can we apply it to our lives now?

Speakers

Amanda Gordon

Clinical Psychologist, Armchair Psychology

Saturday June 13, 2020 9:00pm - 10:00pm AEST
ROOM 3

Mind body and soul

11:00am AEST

Vegan for beginners (It's Kosher!)

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“I would love to go vegan, but what do I eat?" Once considered niche, veganism is now mainstream. This interactive workshop will keep you up-to-date, covering the basics of vegan cooking and answering all your questions. What is tofu and how do I make it taste good? Can I really bake without eggs? We'll also discuss why a plant-based diet is better for our health, animal welfare and the environment, and how perfectly it aligns with Jewish values

Speakers

Renee Dvir

Renee is from Israel and moved to Sydney after some time in New York. Originally vegan for the animals, Renee now teaches cooking classes to spread information about the benefits of veganism to health, the environment and animals. Besides her IT job, Renee is a vegan activist, photographer... Read More →

Sunday June 14, 2020 11:00am - 12:00pm AEST
ROOM 8

Mind body and soul, Cool for Teens!

6:30pm AEST

Walking with your inner spirit: cultivating an "understanding heart"

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For many, the term "understanding heart"—lev mayveen—conveys an impossible reality, a contradiction and even nonsense. How can a heart understand? Isn't the domain of understanding and reason found in the mind? Actually, what may be a surprise to many, the Jewish tradition introduced this phenomenon within our Biblical and Talmudic texts. We shall explore a teaching of the Pieseczner Rebbe, Rabbi Kalonymos Kalmish, the Aish Kodesh from his book Bnei Machshava Tova on the spiritual practice of cultivating an understanding heart.

Speakers

Yiscah Smith

Yiscah is a spiritual activist, educator and meditation guide, addressing the spiritual practice of encountering the Divine spark within, the foundation of authentic living. With Jewish spiritual teachings as her compass, she gently guides others to their inner selves. Yiscah teaches... Read More →

Yiscah Smith, Walking With Your Inner Spirit pdf

Sunday June 14, 2020 6:30pm - 7:30pm AEST
ROOM 9

Mind body and soul