V Since its first event in Moscow in 2006, Limmud FSU has become an increasingly significant network for Russian-speaking Jews around the world.
The Moscow conference has become one of Limmud’s largest, with more than 2,000 participants.
The three-day gathering at Windsor was the first for emigres in Europe, attracting people from 18 countries including more than 200 from Britain, 150 from Germany and even four from Albania. Beyond Europe, two visitors pitched up from Kazakhstan.
A group of around 70 came from Russia, including Anna Frolova, 26, who was one of the event’s numerous volunteers. “You have an amazing opportunity to meet old friends you haven’t seen in months,” she said.
Tel Aviv-based Tatiana Pashaeva, project manager for Limmud FSU, said: “When we first started talking about Limmud FSU Europe a year and a half ago, we thought we might get 350.”
The mood of celebration was such, she said, there were “people singing and dancing until six in the morning”.
Before they left the country, Limmud FSU leaders travelled to London to open the organisation’s exhibition on Elie Wiesel at the JW3 centre.
Wiesel’s report in 1965, The Jews of Silence, was instrumental in drawing attention to the plight of Soviet Jewry behind the Iron Curtain.
Simon Rocker