Who would you like to have at your 5th birthday party? For Limmud Chicago, the guest list is growing every day, with Josh Nelson, Amichai Lau Lavie, Neshama Carlebach, and Joel Grishaver topping the list.

For this 5th annual festival of Jewish learning, Limmud Chicago will be in Skokie for the first time, at the Skokie Doubletree Hilton. The combination festival and conference will take place Nov. 15 and 16, beginning after sundown on Saturday night through 10 pm, and continuing on from 8 am to 6 pm on Sunday. Josh Nelson and Neshama Carlebach will be leading havdalah, the ceremony that ends Shabbat, to kick off Saturday night’s activities.

Limmud Chicago is one of more than 60 cities around the world that have been celebrating Jewish learning, spanning the spectrum of Jewish life. Along with the international standards set by the first and largest Limmud in the UK, which began over 30 years ago, and attracts over 2,500 people each December, Limmud Chicago is an all-volunteer organization.

There are core principles at work for each Limmud, including diversity, empowerment, mutual respect, volunteerism, and participation. Limmud Chicago has attracted up to 400 participants each year, offering 80 different learning sessions on topics as diverse as Israel, text study, music, history, and modern life. Anyone who wants to submit a proposal for a session can, because Limmud believes that everyone is a teacher and everyone is a learner. Presenters stay for the entire day, so they can learn from others, who may be professional educator, but often, are not.

Passion is the word of the day. People who attend Limmud Chicago are passionate about what they have to share, and want to learn. As it says on the website, “Wherever you are on your Jewish journey, Limmud can take you one step further.”

For more information, visit www.limmudchicago.org or contact Shoshana Waskow at

[email protected].