Limmud FSU Collaborates with The Fellowship; Expands to Canada, Australia and Western U.S.

On the heels of an extraordinarily successful fifth Limmud FSU program in the New York area, the organization announced a new global multi-year collaboration designed to enhance and develop the activities of Limmud FSU and expand their worldwide footprint.

As part of the collaboration, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (The Fellowship) has become a key partner to Limmud FSU and will provide funding that will allow Limmud FSU to engage more participants globally, most of whom are young Russian-speaking Jewish adults. The Fellowship’s president, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, will join Limmud FSU’s leadership team as dean and member of the executive committee, alongside Matthew Bronfman, chairman of the International Steering Committee, and Aaron Frenkel, Limmud FSU’s president.

As an immediate result of this partnership, Limmud FSU has begun to build an infrastructure for activities among Russian-speaking communities in Australia and on the West Coast of the United States. The first Limmud FSU conferences will take place in those locations during 2015.

Additionally, the first Canadian conference, in planning for the past year, will be held this October outside of Toronto.

About: Limmud FSU was established to offer young Russian-speaking Jews a pluralistic educational and cultural framework that helps strengthen Jewish identity and connection to Israel, deepen involvement in Jewish communal life and empower activists to build the next generation of Russian-speaking Jewish leadership in the Diaspora and in Israel. During the past eight years, some 250,000 participants have taken part in its various conferences, projects and festivals.

Limmud FSU was founded by Chaim Chesler, former treasurer of The Jewish Agency; Sandra Cahn, a New York philanthropist; and Professor Michael Chlenov of Moscow. Key partners include the Claims Conference, JDC, philanthropists Matthew Bronfman, Aaron Frankel and Diane Wohl; UJA-Federation of New York, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs, Ministry of Education, The Jewish Agency and others. For additional information please visit: www.limmudfsu.org.