Daughter of Sir Nicholas Winton to attend Limmud festival
Revellers at the annual Jewish event can hear Barbara Winton's father's story of saving children from the Nazis
Nicholas Winton’s daughter is to talk to British Jews about the impact and effect of her father’s heroic work at the 2017 Limmud festival later this month.
Barbara Winton, who was the biographer for her famous father, who rescued almost 700 Jewish children from Czechoslovakia before the war in 1939, will speak about the Kindertransport and its resonance today.
Her appearance was announced this week as part of the full line-up for the four-day event of Jewish learning and culture, set to take place in Birmingham from 24-28 December, with participants from 38 countries.
Among them will be Israeli Academy Award winning director Yariv Mozer, whose documentary of David Ben-Gurion used newly-found original footage of one of Israel’s founding fathers, plus Jewish superhero maven Daniel Fingeroth.
“We are delighted by the incredible variety of choices,” said Festival co-chair Anna Lawton, whose father Clive co-founded Limmud in 1980.
“For the first time, we’re emphasising three key topics impacting our Jewish identities: brit milah, miscarriage and infertility, questioning key assumptions and sharing personal stories in a safe space. Disability inclusion is also a key theme.”
Programming co-chair Daniel Heller said talks would be topical, alluding to this year’s wave of sexual harassment allegations tweeted under the hashtag #MeToo, in solidarity with victims of disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein.
“Not only will we look at #Metoo in the Tanach, we’ll spotlight gender bias and attempts to exclude women from the public sphere. We will also hear what happens to survivors of modern day slavery in the UK.”
Among the talks, debates and presentations planned are those titled “Christmas for Jews”, “The Donald and the Jews” and “50 Shades of Great: Exploring Jewish sexuality”. Others will look at Jewish social action in countries such as Ghana, India, Uganda and Myanmar.
Other sessions include ones on Hebrew calligraphy tattoos, hummus, Jews and Chinese food, Jewish superheroes, the role of Jews in films and comics, Israeli advances in treating dementia and secular songs from Babylonian Iraqi Jews.
“We are proud of Limmud’s unique ability to convene Jews of every persuasion and age to engage in respectful dialogue and debate in a welcoming, non-judgmental environment,” said Limmud chair David Hoffman.
“We are gratified that 89 Limmud communities in 40+ countries are celebrating diversity and engaging Jews in Jewish learning and culture, as they, too, partake in respectful discussion and debate.”
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