Limmud Oz Melbourne 2025: Full Schedule

Welcome to the program for Limmud Oz Melbourne 2025!

Join us for an immersive weekend festival of Jewish ideas and culture, with >100 presenters and sessions to choose from.
From Ben-Gurion to bagels, Yentl to yoga, we always have something for everyone. Limmud is an opportunity for you to cultivate a personal Jewish experience and learn from presenters you might never come across otherwise.

Tickets are available here

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10:45am AEST

Engaging with Israel in the era of Smotrich and Ben-Gvir: a guide for the perplexed, the despairing, and the petrified

Monday June 9, 2025 10:45am - 11:45am AEST

RG1.17 (ensemble room) - Room 9

"Loving the real Israel" means grappling with Israel's wonders and warts, its appeals and abominations. Politicians like Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir belong, for many Diaspora Jews, to the second half of those dichotomies: their fundamentalist, messianic worldviews, if they come to fruition, will make it hard to like, let alone love, the Israel of the future. What could be the role of Diaspora Jews in this struggle for the soul of the Jewish people?

Speakers

Alex Sinclair

Alex Sinclair is an educational consultant and adjunct lecturer at Hebrew University. His first book, Loving the Real Israel, was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award, and his debut novel, Perfect Enemy, was published in 2023. Undergraduate and graduate degrees from Balliol... Read More →

Monday June 9, 2025 10:45am - 11:45am AEST
RG1.17 (ensemble room) - Room 9

Everything Israel

12:00pm AEST

Challenges and triumphs: boundaries, chesed and the practicalities of working with elders, students, and women on parole, in very remote Aboriginal communities

Monday June 9, 2025 12:00pm - 1:00pm AEST

RG1.17 (ensemble room) - Room 9

Esther's 'Challenges & Triumphs' (with some humour too) comes from recently returning to Melbourne for a break from seven years of working in Aboriginal communities. Partly inspired by Spiritgrow.

Speakers

Esther Oliver

Esther, a teacher and published writer of poetry, songs for community choirs, and a children's book, is currently back in Melbourne taking a break from being 'out bush', to upgrade her studies in special needs.

Monday June 9, 2025 12:00pm - 1:00pm AEST
RG1.17 (ensemble room) - Room 9

Arts and culture

1:15pm AEST

The Jewish married life of a straight, religious homosexual

Monday June 9, 2025 1:15pm - 2:15pm AEST

RG1.17 (ensemble room) - Room 9

This is a session on Jewish continuity. But it’s not old-school. It’s a musical(ish) performance about how God made me gay, but Torah (sort of) made me straight (sort of). Not in a homophobic way. It’s about love, intimacy, and how I went from the Closet to the Chuppah. Not in a hippie way. Really, it’s a Kabbalistic journey through the divine masculine and feminine, and finding wholeness in contradiction. Or something like that.

Speakers

Ari Jacob

Ari Jacob is a writer and musician. He made Aliyah at the age of 22 and moved back to Melbourne 8 years later, where he now lives with his wife and step-son. Ari has released 6 albums and an original Kabbalah inspired musical, "Son Called Moon".

Monday June 9, 2025 1:15pm - 2:15pm AEST
RG1.17 (ensemble room) - Room 9

Arts and culture

2:45pm AEST

Shira b'tsibur

Monday June 9, 2025 2:45pm - 3:45pm AEST

RG1.17 (ensemble room) - Room 9

Enjoy the uplifting experience of singing beautiful songs together.

Speakers

Simon Starr

Simon Starr is a Melbourne musician who is passionate about Jewish music.

Adam Starr

The MKS was created in 2024 to expand the knowledge and enjoyment of Klezmer music in the Melbourne community and Australia, and to make a global contribution to the Klezmer world.

Monday June 9, 2025 2:45pm - 3:45pm AEST
RG1.17 (ensemble room) - Room 9

Arts and culture