Over 1,000 Jews from across Russia will gather in Moscow next week for the Limmud FSU conference, which is considered the largest Jewish gathering in the former Soviet Union.
Limud is a nonprofit organization founded eight years ago to serve young Russian-speaking Jews around the world.
Limmud FSU conferences are considered to be among the leading Jewish cultural events in the FSU, and provide a festival of Jewish learning featuring lectures, workshops, round-table discussions, music and a wide-range of cultural events in Russian, English and Hebrew.
This year will be the ninth Limmud FSU Moscow conference, organized entirely by a local team of volunteers in what is the biggest Jewish community in the FSU.
The conference from 24-27 April will feature more than 180 sessions covering topics such as Judaism, Jewish culture in all its forms, tradition, innovation, communication, yoga and arts and much more.
Another special feature of this year’s Limmud conference will be an exhibition about the history of the JDC (Joint) in Russia - dedicated to the 100th anniversary of JDC, one of Limmud FSU’s major partners.
Founder of Limmud FSU, Chaim Chesler, says that the event in Moscow is the flagship of the program, which takes placey in seven countries – Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, USA, Canada and Israel.
“Our dream was to present to the new generation of young Russian-speaking Jews throughout the world, topics which are close to their hearts and excite their imagination, such as Jewish history and culture, Jewish roots and issues of identity, the Holocaust, and subjects relating to achieving success in life both in economic and cultural terms. Evidently the dream has become a reality and promises that the coming event will be yet another memorable occasion,’’ Chesler said.