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Limmud refreshes the parts other events don't reach
The island of Mallorca is one of the newest venues for Limmud activity
December 24, 2019 10:07
The island of Mallorca is one of the newest venues for Limmud activity
December 24, 2019 10:07The Limmud Festival is a truly cosmopolitan affair with hundreds of visitors from across the Jewish world joining the gathering of Anglo-Jewish clans in Birmingham.
One guest this year was Dani Rotstein from Mallorca, who is playing an instrumental role in revitalising Jewish life on the popular holiday island.
A TV producer from New Jersey originally, he settled there five years ago and has since launched a local Limmud.
The idea for that came when he ran into Limmud chief executive Eli Ovits at an international educational conference and was invited to a Limmud training event in Budapest.
“I saw there was a European Jewish community and I wanted to bring that to Mallorca,” he said.
When they held their first Limmud in 2018, “we expected 15 people - 85 came. All of these Jews came out of nowhere.”
This year, they attracted around 150 – and planning is under way for a third in spring.
“We want to give an alternative to the standard synagogue fare,” Mr Rotstein said.
He has been reaching out to the cuetas, descendants of conversos (forcible converts from Judaism to Christianity during the Inquisition).
And he and his wife have also started a Jewish heritage company to interest both residents and visitors in the island’s Jewish past.
Mallorca is just one of 48 venues for Limmud events scheduled worldwide for 2020 from Arava in the Negev to Vancouver in Canada.