Limmud announces chairs for Festival 2019

Hannah Brady, Dan Heller and Ben Lewis have been named as co-chairs of Limmud Festival 2019.

All three have strong links with Limmud and the community, with Hannah a past UJS president, Dan having spent a year in France where he ran Limoud’s Volunteers and YADs scheme and Ben a Communications Consultant for Reform Judaism.

“With Limmud Festival 2018 just weeks away, Hannah, Dan and Ben are already building for the coming year,” said Limmud Chair David Hoffman.

Hannah Brady, 25 – who works for Public Health England – is a second-generation Limmud leader. She first participated as a child growing up in Newcastle, where her father chaired the Day Limmud. She volunteered for four years for Young and Teen Limmud (YTL).She is the current ROI Igniter in the UK and volunteers for food justice charity FEAST.

“I’ve wanted to chair Limmud Festival since my very first Limmud Conference when I was eight,” she said. “Having grown up in a small Jewish community, the magnitude was extraordinary. I’m excited to help create valued opportunities for Jewish people from big and small communities to engage with one another and our global peoplehood.”

Dan, 29, became hooked on Limmud through the summer Fest in 2008, where he served as a madrich, then ran YTL, followed by Participant Care. At Limmud Festival, previously known as Conference, he ran YTL, held numerous YAD roles, co-chaired Participant Care and, in 2017, served with Ms Brady as Programming Co-Chair.

“At Limmud Festival, I meet people who inspire me to do more, learn more and think more – and it’s fun,” said Dan, who, in his day job, is a programme manager for the Urgent and Emergency Care programme for Healthy London Partnership, which is a city-wide body leading transformation across London.

Ben, 26, is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Chemical Biology at Imperial College London. He first came to Conference in 2012 and quickly involved himself in a number of roles – from YTL madrich to resource room manager and, this year, Yad Programme Coordinator.

A former movement worker for RSY-Netzer, he sits on the Board of Deputies, is on the Rene Cassin Modern Slavery Campaign Team, and helped organise the 2018 Jewish Labour Movement Conference.

“I don’t think there has been any other time when Limmud’s values have been more relevant to our community or our society,” Ben said. “There are very few other places where such a diverse mix of people can come together and share their perspectives, experiences and expertise freely and with respect for one another.”