‘Cross-communalism is vital. Other organisations could learn a lot from Limmud’

By her own admission, Carolyn’s first impression of the festival was as “a bit happy-clappy”, but it was around that time that she started dating her now husband, Gideon Smith. He had just started volunteering for Limmud and talked her into joining him at the next festival.

“The minute I walked in, they said they needed help in the office, so my first involvement was as a volunteer. I didn’t really go to sessions. Being in a space you could contribute something to was what hooked me in.”

Over the years, she has taken on almost every Limmud voluntary role possible, except programming. “I love logistics,” says Carolyn, who is an organisational psychologist.

Working with businesses, her day job involves team-building, leadership development and helping people reach their potential.

“This is why I have stayed involved with Limmud for so long. It is really a leadership development organisation, with a festival at the end of it.”

While people often associate Limmud with the huge annual gathering, throughout the rest of the year it runs smaller learning events and leadership programmes.

Growing up in Hampstead Garden Suburb United Synagogue, where she is still a member, and attending the now defunct Jewish Youth Study Group, Carolyn says that she “didn’t have a perception” of what it meant to be a Progressive Jew until she met Gideon and his family, who were proudly and actively engaged in their congregation.

The Jewish values of the couple from their different denominations and the way they have raised their three sons – one aged 25 and twins of 23 – has been “framed” by Limmud’s ethos of cross-communalism, says Carolyn.

“Our Jewish life is very Limmudy. Our kids have been brought up in an environment where all views are valid. Limmud is about being open, curious and respectful, and this has seeped through to the way we live our Jewish life.”

Three generations, including both sets of grandparents, come annually to the festival, and this year all her sons volunteered, including one on the main festival team.

“We are such Limmud geeks that in 2020 and 2021, when Limmud festival went online during Covid, we had five different people round the house on five different laptops, joining sessions.”

It was in 2020 that Carolyn was asked to become chair, having already taken on the role between 2009 and 2012.

“Pre-Covid, the organisation was already going through a challenging time. I was only meant to take on the role of chair for six months, but then Covid hit, and I have stayed for six years.”

Covid restrictions over the winter of 2020 had a huge knock-on effect on the organisation. Not only did the entire Limmud festival programme have to be transferred online within a month, but the leadership volunteer pipeline was “decimated”, says Carolyn.

“The festival is totally dependent on volunteers. We have three permanent staff, but their job isn’t to run the festival. It’s to support and provide guidance.”

All the key roles from chairing festival, which was done jointly this year by Jake Berger and Sarah Rose, to running the youth activities, are done by a core volunteer team. On top of that, 250 people signed up for “Yad” places, which meant volunteering four hours a day for jobs such as running the bar or putting hand sanitiser on people as they entered the dining room (my son), in exchange for 50 per cent off their festival ticket.

“We couldn’t function without our volunteers. They are a key part of the festival – both their contribution and as a way for them to make friends,” says Carolyn.

Carolyn Bogush speaking at this year's Limmud gala[Missing Credit]

Aside from the merits of volunteering, another of Carolyn’s passions is engaging people in their 20s and 30s Jewishly. One of her other hats is co-chair of the Jewish Leadership Council’s taskforce on young people, as part of its Forge the Future strategy.

As for Limmud festival, post-Covid, her “main shift” was to bringing young people back, so the Young Leadership Programme was set up, which enables around 75 people to come to the festival for £100 and attend bespoke sessions, as well as volunteer.

Around 30 per cent of them then go on to join Limmud’s core team of volunteers and some also take their skills to other organisations. “It’s our gift to the Jewish community,” says Carolyn.

Speaking to festival-goers, it is clear that Limmud achieves what some term “the impossible” – Jewish cross-communalism in every sense of the word: religiously, politically, generationally, and also in terms of sexuality and gender.

But bashing out issues, such as Israel-Gaza, to find a consensus is not, says Carolyn, the aim of the festival. Rather, it is a place for a plethora of opinions. “We are seeing people’s views on the left and right becoming more entrenched, and some of their views are becoming harder for others to listen to. I worry that they may become excluded from the wider community, so our strategy at Limmud is to enable people to talk and connect to each other, even if they have different views.”

Other Jewish communal spaces, where people can be “so disrespectful” could learn a lot from Limmud, says Carolyn, adding that their long-term plan encompasses a programme called “Dialogue for difference”, where people are encouraged to “listen and learn” – the Limmud ethos in a nutshell.

That said, she is still concerned that sometimes at the festival, “people just go to sessions which support their views, whereas I would encourage them to go and listen to something different. Then it’s up to them what they do with that information.”

Carolyn is also keen to point out that, contrary to some people’s perception of the festival as a place which is predominantly “Progressive”, a large proportion of participants identify as United Synagogue. “We have Orthodox services three times a day. If people don’t use lifts on Shabbat, we ensure that their room is on a lower floor.”

A highlight for many over Shabbat is the tisch (a Jewish singalong) after Friday night dinner. “One is without instruments, one is with instruments. Our big thing is being transparent. We never want to put people in an uncomfortable situation.”

Due to misconceptions of Limmud, Carolyn says, that even after 45 years, it “is seen outside of the mainstream. On the one hand, this can be a good thing, but it also means it isn’t always recognised as a core part of the Jewish community. I would like the wider Jewish community to recognise that what Limmud does – focusing on leadership, connection and community, is significant and has an incredible impact.”

Carolyn Bogush and Bill Benjamin, co-chairs of the JLC's taskforce on young Jews[Missing Credit]

After several years at the helm, Carolyn is ready to step aside. “Six years is long enough to have one person in place. I wish [other communal] leaders knew when to make way for other people.”

But now what? She will still be busy as the interim chair of the Union of Jewish Students and continue her work with the JLC, which, she says, has huge potential. She may also take on more professional work.

This might sound like enough for your average Joe, but Carolyn is far from this and says she is “available” to help other areas of the Jewish community focus on her three passions – “cross communalism, volunteer development and engagement of young adults”.

And she is quick to point out that she is not leaving Limmud. “It’s in my heart and soul. I can’t imagine life without it.”

As Limmud starts its recruitment process for a new chair and new trustees, Carolyn’s parting words for anyone interested in getting involved in Jewish leadership are: “Surround yourself with amazing staff and volunteers, be driven by your organisation’s values, and do something you love, and which has an impact. I love Limmud. It has given me inspiration and given me joy.”​