Parsipanny — Over 800 young Russian-American Jews from across the country will come together in Parsippany, NJ, March 28-30, for Limmud FSU (former Soviet Union), the biggest gathering of Russian Jews in North America. Limmud FSU is a festival of Jewish learning featuring a packed program of lectures, workshops, round-table discussions, music, and a wide-range of cultural events in three different languages—Russian, English, and Hebrew.
This Limmud FSU event comes on the heels of Facebook’s recent multi-billion-dollar acquisition of WhatsApp, only the latest example of high-tech innovation involving Russian Jews. With WhatsApp’s Jan Koum, Google’s Sergey Brin, PayPal’s Max Levchin and many other Russian Jews helping to shape the technological frontier, Limmud FSU will explore the dynamics behind this new wave of high-tech leaders and their impact on the world of technology.
There are an estimated 750,000 to 1 million Russian-American Jews in the U.S., with about half living in New York and New Jersey. The entire conference and its content are organized by the young participants from the Russian-Jewish community.
“Limmud FSU has been successfully bringing together nearly a thousand Russian-speaking Jews, who are often described as marginally engaged in Jewish life, for a weekend of Jewish learning and culture for the last five years, “ said Alina Bitel, Chair, Limmud FSU USA. “Russian-speaking Jewish activists debunk the persistent myth of lack of interest in Jewish education and work tirelessly to create a conference for their peers with the understanding of this group’s unique cultural interests and intellectual approach.”
Among the presenters at the conference are leading academics, politicians, writers, and artists hailing from the U.S., Israel, Russia, and elsewhere. Some of the presenters include: Israeli author Lihi Lapid; Knesset Members Ronen Hoffman and Omar Bar Lev; IFCJ President Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein; Rabbi Shmuley Boteach; philanthropist Feliks Frenkel; Eli Itin of Amdocs; Prof. Adam Shwartz, director of Technion-Cornell Innovation Institute; President Peres advisor Yoram Dori, and many other luminaries.
“Limmud FSU has revolutionized pluralistic Jewish engagement of Russian-speaking Jews and is making a great impact in strengthening Jewish identity through a unique educational experience of Jewish history and culture,” said Matthew Bronfman, chairman of the International Steering Committee of Limmud FSU, who will also deliver a session at Limmud. “This initiative also helps to strengthen Jewish communal life among Russian-American Jews by inspiring our participants to be more active in their communities through volunteering.”
Limmud FSU Innovation in New Jersey is sponsored by: International Fellowship of Christians and Jews; Matthew Bronfman; Aaron Frenkel; Conference for Jewish Material Claims Against Germany; American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee; Diane Wohl Family Foundation; Dr. Nona International; Jewish National Fund (KKL); UJA-Federation of New York; the Jewish Agency for Israel, and more.
