Month of Ellul marked with study day at LSJS
More than 600 people tuned into virtual conference run by London’s School of Jewish Studies, with a keynote speech from Rabbi Lord Sacks and a message from Chief Rabbi Mirvis
Jenni Frazer is a freelance journalist
London’s School of Jewish Studies — LSJS — celebrated the month of Ellul with a state-of-the-art study day on Sunday, called, appropriately, Big Ellul Day.
More than 600 people from around the world attended the virtual conference, which offered three different international speakers across five slots throughout the day, as well as a keynote speech from Rabbi Lord Sacks and a message from Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis.
The dean of LSJS, Rabbi Dr Raphael Zarum, explained: “Big Ellul Day was an opportunity for the LSJS community that has flourished online, to extend further, and enjoy inspirational classes from a wide range of internationally acclaimed teachers. We were able to explore a range of topics and give our participants a huge amount of resources and tools, to engage more deeply in what will be a very unusual High Holy Days experience for everyone.”
Rabbi Zarum discussed the value of silence and turning off technology over the High Holy Days with Lord Sacks, and Dr Hadassah Fromson hosted a moving women’s selichot service.
Almost 200 participants joined Dr Eric Brown, scholar-in-residence at the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, to hear “The Big Sorry; what can and cannot be forgiven”.
Recordings for all 17 sessions were made to allow participants to access all the classes. For those who didn’t sign up in time, recordings are available for purchase at lsjs.ac.uk
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