Limmud Arava

 PARTNERSHIP 2000 - CENTRAL ARAVA - AUSTRALIA

The Limmud project deals with the deepening of Jewish identity and in-depth study of Jewish sources and texts and Jewish thought all over the world, while also promoting a process of community bonding through volunteer activities. Since the Australian community also holds Limmud activities in the local Jewish community, there are reciprocal activities between the two communities, to which end a representative was sent from the Arava to Limmud Oz in Australia. We would like to be a part of the International Limmud organization, which is based in London. We are interested in holding various conferences and activities, aimed at both local and external residents, particularly residents of the southern Arava - Hevel Eilot and the northern Arava - Hevel Tamar, with whom we are trying to form close ties. The project was initiated and funded by the Jewish Agency through the Partnership 2000 program, with the assistance of the Arava Community Center.
The Central Arava is the most remote area of the country, the furthest from urban areas (130 km from both Beersheva and from Eilat), and also the furthest from other regional councils (100 km from the Hevel Eilot Regional Council and 120 km from the Tamar Regional Council). Our isolation and distance from all other areas of the country heighten the need to create vibrant community life and to provide responses to intellectual needs, and also for encounters on the subject that has become current and relevant - our Jewish identity.

:Actions which took place during the past six months

In order to learn about and become acquainted with the worldwide Limmud organization, we sent representatives to the Limmud conference in the Galilee and the annual conference of Limmud UK during Hanukkah.
Conclusions were drawn from the attendance at both conferences. Connections were formed with the Limmud Galilee personnel, and an interview was held with the Limmud Galilee director, Mr. Herzl Habusha and Merry Azaria .
We gained significant insights which helped us begin running activities in the Arava. Additional connections were formed with Limmud Australia and Limmud Galilee personnel during the conference in the UK. We learned a lot from the impressive production of the conference in Warwick, England, and the meetings in the framework of International Limmud provided us with vital training.
From the beginning of 2009 the leaders of Limmud Arava began constructing a vision for Limmud Arava, setting aims and goals for the group’s activities during the year. Starting in January we held six meetings to familiarize Arava residents with Limmud and to create interest and understanding in the project. The meetings were facilitated by representatives of the Bamidbar College in Yeruham. Our first task was to establish groups committed to volunteerism. Since the Limmud project is based upon volunteers, it was important to us to connect the Limmud meetings, at which we held dialogues in the Hevruta format, to various subjects. Six “at home” meetings were held, each one at a different Arava settlement. Together we studied texts from Jewish sources, the Bible, Talmud, Mishnah and legends, as well as literary and philosophical texts from around the world. In total some 90 people participated in these meetings, some of whom actually attended most of the meetings.
The participants exhibited great interest in the proceedings. In conclusion, four achievements were made in these initial meetings:

1. A growing number of participants from meeting to meeting, despite the distance between the settlements, which makes attendance more difficult (the distance from Sapir, the central settlement, is over 32 km to the furthest settlement in each direction).
2. Creation of interest in the project and registration of people interested in taking part in the activities of the group, beginning in September.
3. Enjoyment derived from the meetings and Limmud activities
4. Some 60 people signed up for active participation in activities and volunteering.

A representative from the Arava traveled to Australia this past June to participate in Limmud Oz in Sydney. The goal was to create connections and channels of direct communication with Limmud Oz personnel( Peta , Michael ) and to set up the bass for a network of ties in the future. After the conclusion of the conference the Australian members filled our representative in on the activities of Limmud Oz, connections were formed with people from the Australian community, and a system for communication and transfer of information in the future was decided upon. After our representative returned we reaped the benefit of her insights into the activities of Limmud Australia.

The following goals, which were set at the outset of the project, were achieved due to the activities which took place during these six months:

1. Activities were held to familiarize Arava residents with Limmud prior to the activities of the coming year
2. Interest has been created among the public.
3. A group of people has been formed, who will take part in volunteer activities in the future and will help to create the national Limmud Arava conference

During this past month we planned 18 meetings for the coming year, beginning on August 30, and once every two weeks Limmud Hevruta meetings will be held on subjects in three different categories. During the first part of the year we will look into New Beginnings, for example: the High Holidays (beginning with Rosh Hashana), Slichot - gateway to the world of liturgy, the Great Flood – the creator whose creation broke down, first women in the Bible, and more.
During the middle part of the year we will learn about First Families, such as Cain and Abel - the story of the first murder, first Hebrew family, mothers and daughters in the Book of Genesis.
During the third part of the year we will look into Continuing and Evolving Traditions, such as: personal understanding of the Hagaddah - creation of ethos and tradition, relations between women and their families –Hagar and Sarah, comparison between the Scroll of Independence and Jewish texts regarding the ingathering of the exiles, whether Jerusalem is truly a light unto the world, selection of sacred places, father – sons – the people of Israel – the blessing of Jacob to his sons, and more.

In addition, dates have been set for the two conferences. The first will be a one-day conference immediately after Sukkot, on October 15. In addition to residents of the Central Arava we would also like to invite the people of the Negev to this conference, particularly our neighbors in Tamar, Arad, Eilat, Eilot, Yeruham, Dimona and Har Hanegev.
On 18-19 February a two-day conference will be held to which the people of the region, Australian immigrants, Australians visiting Israel and the general Israeli public will be invited. The lecturers invited to give lectures at conferences are slated to volunteer their services, in the spirit of International Limmud. The Arava residents who run the project will also do so on a voluntary basis, in the spirit of contributing to the community.
We are currently considering how to best advertise the conferences in the Arava in order to create media awareness which will attract participants from among Australian Jews and Australian immigrants in Israel, as well as among the residents of the Negev and the general Israeli public.
Since the Limmud project will consist of community events in the Arava, our hope is that it will bring about welcome changes in the community, and will make contributions to the community, both in the Limmud learning experience itself and by broadening horizons, as well as in deepening our Jewish-Zionist identities and our community dialogues.