Limmud Oz 2021

WORKSHOP | A quickfire interactive introduction to Theatresports – and all that shtick! Geoff explains, trains and wrangles participants into a fun session of improvised theatre games – with a Yiddishe tvist... This introductory workshop will get everyone involved and performing for each other… poems, scenes, stories, songs… maybe a kosher comic opera! No experience needed. Chutzpah more important than talent!

Join us to explore the role of Jconnect, and the greatest challenges involved in playing matchmaker. We will meet a modern day matchmaker and learn what it means to take on that role in the Australian Jewish Community. We will also hear from Gemma, Claudia and Mel about how they found  love. Their stories explore the role of modern day matchmaking.

With far right parties gaining power and influence across Europe, what should Jews know? This session will cover just a few facets of right-wing extremism across Europe. We'll focus especially on Germany’s new political party, the AfD (“Alternative für Deutschland”), a repository for anything to the right of the ultra-conservative Christian Democrat Party (CDU). Giving itself the veneer of a respectable popular party, it nevertheless incorporates much of the ideology of neo-Nazi and racist viewpoints, including the rejection of many basic international human rights. Inherent contradictions in Germany's Constitution have partially enabled this worrying trend, along with contradictions in how the state authorities deal with freedom of expression: neo-Nazi provocation – even when clearly non-compliant with the Constitution – is protected from protestors.

PERFORMANCE | This performance piece is an intertwining combination of original poetry by Bettina Bock from her latest book And I Shall Live published by the Sydney Jewish Museum and original folk songs sung and accompanied on her guitar by Nogah Strum. This mother-daughter duo retells the story of Bettina’s family struggling to survive the Holocaust and start a new life in Australia. One poem Still Soft is about the grief of Bettina’s mother recently passing away then followed by Nogah singing her song “How do we say Goodbye?” Another poem My Musical Father says “Playing the guitar saved your life” surviving Auschwitz and is followed by Nogah’s song Survival. Together they will perform And I Shall Live, sharing their gifts of creativity and life experiences with the audience.