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15 – 17 June | Roundhouse UNSW

8:35pm PDT

Rabbis behaving badly: the R-rated Talmud

We often think of the rabbis as paradigms of virtue, but narratives throughout the Talmud suggest that they were not always so well behaved. We will explore stories of prostitutes, mistaken identities, murder, and magic to see a more human side of the ancient rabbis and to try to understand why they would record their worst selves for posterity.

Speakers

Rachel Rosenthal

Talmud scholar & teacher, Jewish Theological Seminary

Rachel lectures in Talmud and Rabbinic Literature at the Jewish Theological Seminary, where she was voted Professor of the Year in 2018. A graduate of the Drisha Scholars Circle, she teaches at the Drisha Institute and in Nishma: A Summer of Torah Study at JTS. She is currently a... Read More →

Saturday June 15, 2019 8:35pm - 9:30pm PDT
Room 5

Text and tradition, Presentation

9:30am PDT

Acute emotional stress and heart attack: biblical and medical insights interwoven

Dramatic Torah scenes will be explored that provide insight into the link between acute emotional stress and heart attack. These include Sarah’s death after the near sacrifice of Isaac and the fainting then revival of Jacob when he learned that Joseph was alive. Geoff will weave Biblical commentary with current knowledge of the link between acute stress and heart attack, as well as findings from his own medical research, and suggest a guide to prevention.

Speakers

Geoffrey Tofler

Geoff is a Professor of Cardiology at Royal North Shore Hospital and the University of Sydney. He is fascinated by the insights that the Torah can provide into the association between stress and the heart and how it may link with his ongoing research interest into the relationship... Read More →

Sunday June 16, 2019 9:30am - 10:30am PDT
Room 7

Text and tradition, Presentation

10:45am PDT

The secret of Jewish survival

More than any other nation, the Jewish people has faced challenges to its very survival from its earliest days until the present. How has this remarkable nation survived? What are the secrets of its success, and how can it use its past successes to deal with today's continuity challenge? Can we unlock the secrets of our past in order to ensure the Jewish future?

Speakers

Danny Eisenberg

Danny is an Orthodox rabbi who has studied in Israel for a decade. He has worked at JLC and Or Chadash and headed the Sydney Torah MiTzion Kollel. For the past three years he has worked as a software developer at the Climate Change Research Centre at UNSW and is interested in the... Read More →

Sunday June 16, 2019 10:45am - 11:45am PDT
Club Bar

Text and tradition, Presentation

10:45am PDT

Warrior heroines in the Bible

Our collective memory is replete with the Tanakh's violent stories of war and conquest executed by men. In these stories, the role of women is often marginal and they are mostly presented as victims. So it might come as a surprise to learn that several heroines—deadly female protagonists—kill the enemy’s hero. In this session we will engage in a gender and feminist reading of the stories of these Biblical heroines.

Speakers

Yona Gilead

Dr Gilead is the Malka Einhorn Modern Hebrew Senior Lecturer and Program Coordinator at the department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies at the University of Sydney. Yona teaches Modern Hebrew as an additional language (L2), including at beginners, intermediate, and advanced... Read More →

Sunday June 16, 2019 10:45am - 11:45am PDT
Collaboration Space 1

Text and tradition, Presentation

Company Teens steam

12:00pm PDT

Sex and the City: Jerusalem, the ungrateful lover

Do you want to meet God’s wife, Jerusalem? Join me in this interactive discussion as we uncover the relationship between Jerusalem’s body, her many lovers, and the Temple in Ezekiel 16—a sexually graphic text that describes the city as God’s unfaithful wife. Discover the strong link between space and emotion that informs our feelings towards the city and its spaces as we read this text. N.B. This talk contains discussions of graphic violence, sex, and adult themes.

Speakers

Natalie Mylonas

Natalie is a PhD candidate in the Department of Ancient History, Macquarie University, whose research focuses on the intersection of emotion and space in Ezekiel 16. In 2016–18 she was co-chair of the Australasian Women in Ancient World Studies, an organisation working towards gender... Read More →

Sunday June 16, 2019 12:00pm - 1:00pm PDT
Room 2

Text and tradition, Presentation

1:15pm PDT

Could Harry Potter be Jewish? Rabbis, magic, and the struggle for power

The Bible is very clear that magic is forbidden but the Talmud is full of stories about rabbis engaging with the supernatural. How should we understand these two realities as standing together? From people who turn into donkeys to seven-headed demons, and from witches to miracle makers, we will study a selection of these stories to see who gets to do magic and how, and what rabbis can do that others cannot.

Speakers

Rachel Rosenthal

Talmud scholar & teacher, Jewish Theological Seminary

Rachel lectures in Talmud and Rabbinic Literature at the Jewish Theological Seminary, where she was voted Professor of the Year in 2018. A graduate of the Drisha Scholars Circle, she teaches at the Drisha Institute and in Nishma: A Summer of Torah Study at JTS. She is currently a... Read More →

Sunday June 16, 2019 1:15pm - 2:15pm PDT
Room 4

Text and tradition, Presentation

Company Teens steam

1:30pm PDT

Trial by ordeal: how the Torah protects women

The Sotah ritual requires a woman suspected of adultery to undergo trial by ordeal, the only such example in the Torah. Traditionally seen as demeaning for women, we will show that, on the contrary, this ritual offers a protection for women that they often don’t have in the modern world. And it’s good for men, too.

Speakers

Mark Ellison

Originally from Manchester, UK, Mark has lived and worked there and in New York, London, Monaco, Paris, Almaty, Hong Kong, and now Australia. He is currently Treasurer of the Kehilat Nitzan Masorti community in Melbourne.

Sunday June 16, 2019 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
Room 1

Text and tradition, Presentation

2:45pm PDT

Mikvah: shedding light on an intimate Jewish ritual

Used for conversions and to ‘purify’ a married woman after her period, the mikvah is a mysterious and politically contested place. Who gets to use the mikvah and when? Are ritual purity practices outdated and misogynistic, resulting from a male fear of women's bodies? Or can the mikvah be a sacred place for renewal, even in the 21st century? Join us to hear voices from across the community as they unveil this hidden world, exploring the origins of mikvah practices and examining their relevance in our modern lives.

Moderators

Rachel Kleiner

Rachel was born and lives in Sydney. She has studied Judaism both in Israel, and at the University of Sydney. She has always had a keen interest in orthodox feminism, and enjoys listening to different perspectives about Jewish issues. She currently works in the library at Moriah... Read More →

Speakers

Rivka Ray

Rivka was born in the Ukraine, with the name Regina Tyunev. Upon emigrating to Australia in 1979 she embarked on a search for identity and a sense of belonging. Through studying science, philosophies, and religions, Rivka began to delve into and reclaim her lost Jewish heritage. She... Read More →

Jacqueline Ninio

Rabbi Ninio was ordained in 1998 and has been at Emanuel Synagogue, Woollahra, 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, liturgy, and ethics and is an active leader in... Read More →

Viva Hammer

Viva escaped to New York after law school in Sydney and couch-surfed till she became a Rebbetzin and had children. Then she escaped to Washington, where she advised Treasury on taxation, wrote a Jerusalem Post column and homeschooled her kids. She was a law firm partner when she was... Read More →

Sunday June 16, 2019 2:45pm - 3:45pm PDT
Room 1

Text and tradition, Panel

2:45pm PDT

On economy and sustenance: Judaism, society, and economics

Economics is one of the strongest forces at play in human society, structuring our behaviours and quality of life. This session aims to explore the contribution of Jewish wisdom to economic thought, knowing that a viewpoint rooted in Judaism will allow us to provide new answers for the most basic questions that shape economic activity: What is property? What is efficiency? What is trade? Based on Lavi’s book About Economy and Sustenance.

Speakers

Aharon Ariel Lavi

Community-builder, Hakhel

Aharon is a serial social entrepreneur, professional community organiser, and thinker who believes Judaism can inspire and inform all walks of life. He is co-founder of MAKOM, the Israeli umbrella organisation of intentional communities, and Hakhel, the first global incubator for... Read More →

Sunday June 16, 2019 2:45pm - 3:45pm PDT
Room 6

Text and tradition, Presentation

4:00pm PDT

Can we really have it all? Talmudic reflections on work–life balance

We often think of the work/life struggle as a modern issue, but a series of Talmudic stories shows that people have struggled with this for hundreds of years. From rabbis who forget the way home from the House of Study through to disappearing pillars of fire, the rabbis tell stories about themselves that highlight their ambivalence about both how to learn Torah and be good husbands and fathers. What can these stories tell us about how to balance our priorities in the modern world?

Speakers

Rachel Rosenthal

Talmud scholar & teacher, Jewish Theological Seminary

Rachel lectures in Talmud and Rabbinic Literature at the Jewish Theological Seminary, where she was voted Professor of the Year in 2018. A graduate of the Drisha Scholars Circle, she teaches at the Drisha Institute and in Nishma: A Summer of Torah Study at JTS. She is currently a... Read More →

Sunday June 16, 2019 4:00pm - 5:00pm PDT
Room 3

Text and tradition, Presentation

4:00pm PDT

Conversion to Judaism—in one hour

In this session, David will explore geirut, conversion, as a topic with relevance to both the past and present. As well as shedding light on some fascinating accounts of conversion from Jewish history, he will discuss the current landscape of conversion to Judaism in Australia. What is the experience like for converts? And what reforms are being undertaken?

Speakers

David Solomon

David is an internationally acclaimed, globally-roaming scholar, teacher, writer, and translator. David teaches Jewish history and philosophy, Tanach, Hebrew, and Kabbalah, but is perhaps best known for his dynamic lecture, The Whole of Jewish History in One Hour.

Sunday June 16, 2019 4:00pm - 5:00pm PDT
Room 1

Text and tradition, Presentation

5:15pm PDT

The Rorschach Rasha: Jewish perceptions of wickedness

Of the four children portrayed in the Haggadah, it is only the rasha—the wicked child—who is defined in ethical rather than intellectual terms. Emblematic of ‘other’, the rasha acts as a mirror of our notions of wickedness—which differ across temporal, spatial, and ideological communities. In this session we will examine various depictions of and responses to the rasha, with a view to better understanding our own perspective on wickedness.

Speakers

Avi Bart

After receiving semicha in Israel, Avi returned home in 2018 to begin his rabbinical career and continue studying medicine at the University of Melbourne. Avi studied at the Rabbinical College of Australia and NZ (Yeshivah Gedolah) and Yeshivat Machanayim. He has held leadership roles... Read More →

Sunday June 16, 2019 5:15pm - 6:15pm PDT
Club Bar

Text and tradition, Presentation

6:45pm PDT

Naming and shaming: narratives around names in the Torah

Judaism makes a pretty big deal about names. Many people refer to God as ‘the Name’ (‘Hashem’). The Bible includes many lists of names and many stories suggesting the origin or aptness of a particular name: the babble of Babylon, Adam from the earth, and the laughter heralding Isaac. What are these stories all about? This question will carry us on a journey among text, taboo, cultural conflict, word play, and the ultimate quest for meaning.

Speakers

Joel Nothman

Joel’s fascination with language has cut across interests in linguistics, computing, Judaism, education, and song. He consults as a data scientist within the University of Sydney, where he did his PhD in natural language processing and subsequently lectured. He enjoys sharing his... Read More →

Sunday June 16, 2019 6:45pm - 7:45pm PDT
Room 7

Text and tradition, Presentation

11:00am PDT

Karaite Judaism: same, same but different

Karaite Jews reject the authority of the Talmud and other rabbinic literature. Therefore, their calendar and kashrut (dietary laws) practices are different, their liturgy is almost all taken from the Bible, and they observe holidays differently. For example, this year they were already celebrating Passover when we were celebrating Purim and their seder ritual does not include telling stories about rabbis. Join me to learn about the 50,000 people who still practise Karaite Judaism today.

Speakers

Norman Green

Norman is a tax and estate planning lawyer from Los Angeles, California, with two sons (one of them a Masorti/Conservative rabbi) and two grandsons. He has participated in Limmuds in Los Angeles (six times), New York, and the UK. He has spoken on Karaite Judaism in all three of those... Read More →

Monday June 17, 2019 11:00am - 12:00pm PDT
Room 2

Text and tradition, Presentation

12:15pm PDT

Not as it seems: peeling back the layers of the biblical story

Chazal (the rabbis), followed by the medieval biblical commentators, claimed that ‘there is no chronological order in the Torah’ and dealt thus with mismatches in the linear sequence of the biblical stories. What happens, though, when one goes a bit further with the rabbis’ claim and reads the biblical stories detached from their current linear order? In this session we will extract Torah stories from their final literary framework and reveal their hidden messages.

Speakers

Gili Kugler

Bible scholar, University of Sydney

Dr Kugler is a lecturer in the Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies at the University of Sydney. Her main area of teaching and researching is the Hebrew Bible, especially the historical and literary development of beliefs and traditions in the Bible. Gili is originally... Read More →

Monday June 17, 2019 12:15pm - 1:15pm PDT
Room 2

Text and tradition, Presentation

1:45pm PDT

Visionaries, reformers, and agitators: the prophets of Israel

David explores the wider historical and political background to the unique institution of prophecy and its profound influence upon the development of Judaism. He reviews the personalities, contributions, and controversies of the astonishing prophets of the Hebrew Bible.

Speakers

David Solomon

David is an internationally acclaimed, globally-roaming scholar, teacher, writer, and translator. David teaches Jewish history and philosophy, Tanach, Hebrew, and Kabbalah, but is perhaps best known for his dynamic lecture, The Whole of Jewish History in One Hour.

Monday June 17, 2019 1:45pm - 2:45pm PDT
Room 4

Text and tradition, Presentation

1:45pm PDT

Would the rabbis have tweeted? Rabbinic thoughts for a social media age

In a time of increasingly uncivil discourse, anonymous internet name calling, and anxiety about our polarised society, it is easy to look at the internet as a uniquely modern source of destruction. However, the rabbis of the Talmud were well aware of the way that anonymous speech could destroy, far and wide. We will consider a few classical rabbinic texts about the power of language and try to develop a framework for applying these ethics to the social media age.

Speakers

Rachel Rosenthal

Talmud scholar & teacher, Jewish Theological Seminary

Rachel lectures in Talmud and Rabbinic Literature at the Jewish Theological Seminary, where she was voted Professor of the Year in 2018. A graduate of the Drisha Scholars Circle, she teaches at the Drisha Institute and in Nishma: A Summer of Torah Study at JTS. She is currently a... Read More →

Monday June 17, 2019 1:45pm - 2:45pm PDT
Room 6

Text and tradition, Presentation

3:00pm PDT

Sex, lies, and Talmudic rabbis

The Talmud was written close to 2,000 years ago but its profound treatment of the human condition is as relevant today as it was then. We will explore some of the nuanced ways the Talmud treats sexual desire, the quest for truth, and the need for communitas.

Speakers

Tommy Sterling

Tommy is a lawyer and long-time Limmudnik who currently sits on the Limmud Sydney Advisory Board. He loves to ask questions and explore the origin of all things Jewish. Tommy’s Jewish passions span the traditional to the academic, presented with his uniquely humorous and irreverent... Read More →

Monday June 17, 2019 3:00pm - 4:00pm PDT
Room 4

Text and tradition, Presentation

4:15pm PDT

Why do the Jews get blamed for everything? A Christian Zionist's response

The Sinai covenant is the key to understanding Israel as a nation, the Jews as God's chosen people, and the nations of the world, with special reference to the importance of the Sabbath. Is there a link between the Sabbath of Genesis and the Six Day War of June 1967?

Speakers

John Hall

After 10 years of farming John trained for the Methodist ministry and served in Gloucester and Liverpool. In 2001 John and his wife, Margaret, took leading roles in the Jerusalem conference ‘Changing the Future by Confronting the Past’, which concluded with a service of repentance... Read More →

Monday June 17, 2019 4:15pm - 5:15pm PDT
Club Bar

Text and tradition, Presentation

5:30pm PDT

CANCELLED - ‘Alone in the crowd’: a short history of the Talmudic herem

Regrettably, this session has been cancelled.

One of the most ubiquitous (but least understood) of the Talmud's weapons is the herem, or ban. From the sage known only as Acher (‘somebody else’) to the philosopher Baruch Spinoza, many who transgressed Rabbinic consensus have felt the lash of social exclusion. In this session, we will consider the Talmudic passages that speak of this phenomenon, determine precisely what the herem looked like, and what one need do to incur the wrath of the Rabbinate.

Speakers

Simon Holloway

Simon is an Education Officer at the Sydney Jewish Museum, where he researches and runs seminars on the Holocaust. He has a PhD from the University of Sydney, for which he wrote a thesis on the use of metaphor in the Hebrew Bible. He also has two beautiful children, aged 1 and 3... Read More →

Monday June 17, 2019 5:30pm - 6:30pm PDT
Room 7

Text and tradition, Presentation

5:30pm PDT

Modern Judaism and materialism

We all know that our community has an affordability problem and that people are being priced out of Jewish engagement. Continuing to worsen, it exacts significant moral and economic costs on us and the future of our community. In this session we will use text to explore drivers and downstream effects of the socioeconomic realities of modern Jewish life—and speak to the fundamental question ‘Is this really our ideal of a Jewish community?’

Speakers

Avi Bart

After receiving semicha in Israel, Avi returned home in 2018 to begin his rabbinical career and continue studying medicine at the University of Melbourne. Avi studied at the Rabbinical College of Australia and NZ (Yeshivah Gedolah) and Yeshivat Machanayim. He has held leadership roles... Read More →

Monday June 17, 2019 5:30pm - 6:30pm PDT
Club Bar

Text and tradition, Presentation

7:00pm PDT

Jewish texts we love to hate

What do we do with Jewish texts that are morally questionable? Can we push aside boring or uninspiring work just because it doesn't suit our current climate? Can we redeem a problematic historical narrative in today's post-truth and #MeToo world? Join our panelists as they pick apart, critique, and perhaps redeem a piece of tricky or troubling Jewish text.

Moderators

Alon Meltzer

Alon is Director of Programs at Shalom and Rabbi of Or Chadash Synagogue. He trained at Yeshiva University and the University of Auckland. Alon is passionate about sociology, medieval history, and how our past, present, and future shape or could shape the Jewish world. He loves camping... Read More →

Speakers

Rachel Rosenthal

Talmud scholar & teacher, Jewish Theological Seminary

Rachel lectures in Talmud and Rabbinic Literature at the Jewish Theological Seminary, where she was voted Professor of the Year in 2018. A graduate of the Drisha Scholars Circle, she teaches at the Drisha Institute and in Nishma: A Summer of Torah Study at JTS. She is currently a... Read More →

MaNishtana

Anti-racism activist & rabbi

New York–based African-American Orthodox Jew MaNishtana—born from two African-American Orthodox Jewish parents—is a writer, playwright, speaker, novelist, and rabbi. His work tackles prejudice and bias head on and shatters misconceptions about Orthodox Judaism, American Jewish... Read More →

Gili Kugler

Bible scholar, University of Sydney

Dr Kugler is a lecturer in the Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies at the University of Sydney. Her main area of teaching and researching is the Hebrew Bible, especially the historical and literary development of beliefs and traditions in the Bible. Gili is originally... Read More →

Monday June 17, 2019 7:00pm - 8:00pm PDT
Room 8

Text and tradition, Panel

Company Teens steam

7:00pm PDT

When Jewish law and Australian law clash – Contempt? Fines? Lack of fairness? What’s up with the Rabbis and why do they keep getting smashed by the courts?

The past decade has seen significant clashes between Jewish law and Australian law played out in Supreme Courts in Australia. Some of these clashes reflect different approaches to law and conflict resolution, while others reflect the difficulties of traditional Jewish society accommodating to the norms and expectations of the rule of law in a liberal democratic and secular environment. The presentation will explore these issues as well as the tensions they create for freedom of religion.

Speakers

Marcus Solomon

Rabbi Marcus Solomon SC grew up in Perth and Melbourne and studied in Yeshivot in Melbourne, Israel, and New York. He graduated in law from the University of WA and practised in law firms until moving to the Bar in 2006. He was appointed Senior Counsel in 2013. Rabbi Solomon also... Read More →

Monday June 17, 2019 7:00pm - 8:00pm PDT
Room 4

Text and tradition, Presentation