Limmud Bay Area 2016: Full Schedule

PLEASE NOTE: All sessions, no matter the size of the box they are in, are 70 minutes long. Last minute schedule changes may be needed.

3:00pm PDT

New Manifestations of the Oldest Hate: Anti-Semitism Today

The fundamental condition for Jews in the U.S. has significantly changed for the better over the last century. While we have made great progress combating anti-Semitism, we continue to see it re-emerge with modern twists and, through the internet, to reach wider audiences. This session will focus on anti-Semitism in America today, as well as the disturbing trends in the global rise of this age-old hate.

Presenter

Deborah Lauter

Deborah Lauter has been with the Anti-Defamation League for 16 years and currently serves as Senior Vice President for Policy and Programs overseeing ADL’s domestic portfolio, including Civil Rights, Education, Government Relations, and the Center on Extremism. A native Californian... Read More →

Friday June 24, 2016 3:00pm - 4:10pm PDT
Student Center Ballroom B

Society & Community, Social Activism and Justice

3:00pm PDT

Who Needs a Jewish Newspaper Anyway?

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A century ago, Jewish newspapers gave a beleaguered immigrant population a sense of community solidarity and helped them become Americans. How has the role of the Jewish media changed since then? Is it keeping pace with the evolving needs of America's Jews? Join J. Editor Sue Fishkoff in a freewheeling conversation about the Bay Area's Jewish community publication; this is your chance to tell her what you'd like to see in its pages and online.

Presenter

Sue Fishkoff

Sue Fishkoff is the editor of J., the Jewish news weekly of Northern California. She lives in Oakland with her three cats and really loves her job.

Friday June 24, 2016 3:00pm - 4:10pm PDT
SC2082 Russian River Valley

Society & Community, Jewish Identity

4:30pm PDT

Race to Identity: How One Informs the Other and the Way We Live Our Lives

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Through telling of story, grappling with rich questions, and exploring tools to deepen understanding and enhance skills, together we will discuss notions of Jewish identity, issues of race and racism, and fortify our personal and community capacities to advance racial justice.

Presenter

Ilana Kaufman

Executive Director, Jews of Color Field Building Initiative

Ilana Kaufman is Public Affairs and Civic Engagement Director, East Bay, for the San Francisco, CA-based Jewish Community Relations Council. She has twenty years of leadership, community building and organizational development experience. As a strategic designer, planner and problem... Read More →

Friday June 24, 2016 4:30pm - 5:40pm PDT
Under the Oak (outside between the Student Center and Salazar)

Society & Community, Jewish Identity, Social Activism and Justice

6:45pm PDT

Thoughts of a Jewish Futurist

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Thanks to its illustrious prophets (Jonah, Isaiah, etc.), seers (Weizmann, Ben Gurion, etc.), and future-makers (Rambam, Herzl, etc.) Judaism has a long relationship with the art of futuristics (a creative exploration of alternative futures; their strengths and weaknesses; and pragmatic ways to secure, improve, or avoid these alternatives). Attention in this workshop will go to four major future scenarios (Probable/Possible/Preferable/ Preventable) and some prime "rules" for forecasting, as everyone can gain from familiarity with these basic forecasting "tools." With this as backdrop a discussion will be invited of alternative futures for American Jewry and also Israeli Jewry, guided in large part by the energizing tenet - "If you would 'know' the future, help shape it!"

Presenter

Arthur Benett Shostak

Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Drexel University

Arthur Shostak retired from the faculty of Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA. He earned degrees at Cornell University (1958) and Princeton University, and between 1961 and 2003 brought 33 books to press, and earned various honors. Since retirement he has become a Holocaust Scholar... Read More →

Friday June 24, 2016 6:45pm - 7:30pm PDT
SC2083 Sonoma Valley

Society & Community

9:20pm PDT

From Artificial Senses to Electronic Soul: Progress in Neural Interfaces

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The electrical nature of neural signaling allows efficient bi-directional electrical communication with the neural system. Such interfaces are utilized for restoration of sensory inputs, such as hearing for the deaf, and sight for the blind. Interfaces with the peripheral neuro-muscular system and with the motor cortex of the brain can actuate prosthetic limbs. Deep brain stimulation helps to control depression and tremor in patients with Alzheimer disease. With technological advances and progress in understanding neural systems, these interfaces may allow not only restoration of lost function, but also augmentation and expansion of our capabilities, such as external memory and data processing, artificial senses and new states of mind. What is the future of our electronic soul?

Presenter

Daniel Palanker

Daniel Palanker is a Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and in the Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory at Stanford University. He is working on optical and electronic technologies for diagnostic, therapeutic, surgical and prosthetic applications, primarily in ophthalmology... Read More →

Friday June 24, 2016 9:20pm - 10:40pm PDT
SC2081 Knight's Valley

Society & Community, Science & Technology

5:00pm PDT

Crossing Borders from Exceptional to Criminal: African Asylum Seekers in Israel

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The summer of 2015 was dramatically shaped by the "Refugee Crisis," migrations from the global south to the global north. Dealing with irregular migration has become the lot of many Western, developed, democratic states. For such states, negotiating between democratic, universal claims to human rights and state rights to self-sovereignty and border control has become a central challenge. Israel, and its dealings with African asylum seekers, provides a compelling case study for this dynamic. I will explore how African asylum seekers and their rights are constructed in Israeli legal and legislative discourse in order to better our understanding of minority rights in Israel and Israel's commitment to rights protections.

Presenter

Maayan Ravid

Maayan is an Israeli American hybrid, who has spent the last decade working on social justice issues in Israel, particularly focused on migration and minority rights. She recently completed a Master's degree which examined conceptions of African Asylum Seekers in Israeli legislative... Read More →

Saturday June 25, 2016 5:00pm - 6:10pm PDT
SC2081 Knight's Valley

Society & Community, Israel-Middle East

5:00pm PDT

Social Justice vs. Tikkun Olam: Evolving Ideas or Just Changing Terminology?

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In 21st century Jewish life, the term Tikkun Olam can seem omnipresent. But what are the origins of the term? How has it been used and understood at different time periods? When did it become so widespread within Jewish discourse, and why do some Jews shy away from it? Come discuss this fascinating topic and find out!

Presenter

Andrew Nusbaum

Andrew Nusbaum is a full-time Middle School teacher and has an unwieldy number of Judaica books in his home library. Andrew has taught classes on Jewish history and culture to adults and teens in numerous venues in San Francisco. He has enjoyed many Limmud classes through iTunes... Read More →

Saturday June 25, 2016 5:00pm - 6:10pm PDT
Student Center Ballroom B

Society & Community, Social Activism and Justice

5:00pm PDT

The 11th Commandment - Innovate!

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The Jewish people have always been innovators. At pivotal moments in our history, visionary leaders have not just adapted (or adopted), they innovated. Innovation envisions a leap forward and takes our work, our product, or our community to the next level. Innovative thinking can be learned and practiced. When infused with Jewish values and narrative, we can bring Silicon Valley-caliber innovation to our programs and communities. Entrepreneurship tools (business model canvas and systematic inventive thinking) will provide our springboard. We will discuss case studies of innovation, both biblical and contemporary, to inspire our work. We will become a cohort of social entrepreneurs, looking to challenge assumptions, tradition, and cultural norms in order to transform our communities into living laboratories of Jewish life.

Presenter

Andrew Keene

Andrew Keene is an entrepreneurship student at Drexel University and formerly served as the North American President of NFTY, The Reform Jewish Youth Movement. He currently serves as an Executive Board member for the World Union for Progressive Judaism which supports two million progressive... Read More →

Saturday June 25, 2016 5:00pm - 6:10pm PDT
SC2082 Russian River Valley

Society & Community

7:50pm PDT

Civil Rights: Not A History Lesson — A Current Event

We have come a long way as a nation since the heyday of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, but the hard-earned victories of that struggle are far from secure. This session will focus on the top civil rights challenges we face today to secure just and fair treatment for racial minorities, immigrants, women, and the LGBT community.

Presenter

Deborah Lauter

Saturday June 25, 2016 7:50pm - 9:00pm PDT
SC2084 Alexander Valley

Society & Community, Social Activism and Justice

7:50pm PDT

Genetics: A Lens into Jewish History

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Genetics have a strong relationship with human health, and we know that many Jewish populations have particular genetic backgrounds that are unusual. How do scientists learn about those backgrounds, and what relationship do they have with Jewish history? In this presentation, we will discuss basics of human genetics in relation to Jewish populations. We'll focus on the new insights about genetics in the Jewish population in the last decade. First, we'll introduce the concept of a genome, human variation, and trait dominance and recessiveness. After summarizing inheritance, we'll ask how Jewish genetics reflect the history of different Jewish populations as they've formed over time. The presentation will touch on (a) origin, (b) diversity, and (c) relationships to populations they live with for Ashkenazim, Sfardim, and other populations of Jews. We'll conclude with notes on how geneticists interpret the relationship between our genetic history and our modern health.

Presenter

Natalie Telis

Natalie Telis is a PhD student at Stanford studying the relationship between recent human history, genetics, and modern disease. Originally from the Bay Area, she graduated from Kehillah Jewish High School in 2009, did undergraduate work at UC Davis and is doing doctoral research... Read More →

Saturday June 25, 2016 7:50pm - 9:00pm PDT
SC2083 Sonoma Valley

Society & Community, Science & Technology

7:50pm PDT

Memory and Narration: The Persistence of Jewish Identity in Conversion

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In my recent interviews with 25 family members, direct descendants of my parents, German Jewish refugees who converted to Roman Catholicism in the 1930s, I seek to ascertain the impact of a contested Jewish identity on the deconstruction and reconstruction of the Jewish self. I begin with a few family documents: poems by a paternal grandfather written just before his conversion to German Protestantism; a brief autobiographical sketch by my aging mother recounting her terrifying escape from Nazi Europe some sixty years earlier; an email from a brother's trip to Theresienstadt in homage to our maternal great-grandmother's death there. I follow with excerpts from recent interviews with 25 family members, all attesting in one way or another to the remarkable impact of my mother's role in preserving the family mythos of flight, escape,and survival. Taken together, these texts present an overwhelmingly Jewish story -- however tenuously held or understood.

Presenter

Angela Botelho

I am the Jewish daughter of German Jewish refugees who converted to Roman Catholicism in the 1930s. Following a career as an attorney in the California State Attorney General's Office, I began a course of studies at the Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies at the Graduate Theological... Read More →

Saturday June 25, 2016 7:50pm - 9:00pm PDT
SC2082 Russian River Valley

Society & Community, Jewish Identity

9:30am PDT

The Jewish Language Debates: Which Languages 'Should' Jews Speak?

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A discussion of Jewish languages can engender a spirited exchange, evoking strong opinions and emotions. This presentation will ask participants to discuss their languages of choice or necessity. Then we'll take a stroll through the history of Jewish language development that will include source material. Then we'll look toward the future of Jewish languages. What language would you like to learn?

Presenter

Karen Bergen

Karen Bergen loves to share the music and dance of Ashkenazi culture with children, teen and adults. She served as song-leader for various religious schools for 20 years. She leads Yiddish/klezmer dance; and she serves as a presenter for the "Tam: Tastes of Yiddish Culture for Kids... Read More →

Sunday June 26, 2016 9:30am - 10:40am PDT
SC2084 Alexander Valley

Society & Community

1:20pm PDT

Horace Kallen, Forgotten Founding Father of Multiculturalism: Lessons for Jewish Community Builders of Today

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In 1900, Horace Kallen broke from his Orthodox Judaism to embrace secularism as a freshman at Harvard. The roots of his youth forged the foundation for what today seems normative, but was radical at the time: making an individual choice for Jewish education and community outside the synagogue. Credited with being an influential leader in the formation of Harvard's first Hillel, helping turn fellow-Bostonian Louis Brandeis to support Zionism, and forging the theory of Cultural Pluralism in a series of articles in The Nation opposing anti-immigrant movements of his day, Horace Kallen deserves our attention.

Presenter

Dean Goldfein

Dean Goldfein has served as the Head of the Contra Costa Jewish Day School in Lafayette since 2000. His Masters thesis in American History from The University of Virginia focused on Horace Kallen. He received a Frommer Fund Award from the East Bay Jewish Federation to study Kallen's... Read More →

Sunday June 26, 2016 1:20pm - 2:30pm PDT
SC2082 Russian River Valley

Society & Community, Social Activism and Justice

2:50pm PDT

A Jewish Shield in Online Security

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Do you use online banking? Think about security? So do many Israeli technology complanies. Julia will share the insights from her work with online money fraud and identity theft, and how Israeli technology and Jewish brains help protect American banking users from hackers.

Presenter

Julia Minkowski

Julia Minkowski is a community leader in Russia, Israel and Silicon Valley. Together with Lilia Shwarts, she founded a Russian-Speaking Women in Tech Silicon Valley network that grew to 1,500 members within a year and a half. In her technology job, Julia currently manages Fraud... Read More →

Sunday June 26, 2016 2:50pm - 4:00pm PDT
SC2084 Alexander Valley

Society & Community, Science & Technology