Before I attempt to begin, I should be clear that this is not the Wikipedia entry on the Talmud, it is more an explanation of my experience of studying Mishna and Gemorrah as taught by Rabbi Joel Levy. Rabbi Joel likened understanding Mishna to a score of music. It is an invitation to play that must be brought to life, not the performance itself; it is an esoteric code that few understand, where the text is secondary to the performance itself. You could play the piece without ever reading the score, as many people do with Judaism, but not to the highest possible level. Judaism is by its very nature a performative canon.

The Mishna, the first layer of the Talmud, is the Rabbis working out how to do Judaism without a Temple, the former centre point of the religion. It even addresses fundamental issues such as what timeframe to use – ritual or astronomical? However, the Mishna appears to me to be interested in laying out arguments, and not always coming to conclusions. It seems individualistic, even Reform at first as it is often unclear how to deduct specific codes and rules to live by from the debate presented. Perhaps it seems individualistic to me because I don’t understand it properly, and it is just an extremely elitist text for the knowledgeable. I certainly found that the text required a teacher to get much out of it.

The Mishna is a series of philosophical conversations, but framed in pragmatic terms– which is indeed a bizarre way of doing literature when you think about it. It is a coherent conversation, but framed in terms that sometimes seem dry at first. For example, the long debate about high a sukkah can be is actually a theological debate about how close God is to the world.

Rain Won't Stop Festival Kedem 

Heavy rain in Essex did not stop Marom from hosting its first annual Festival Kedem Weekend on July 6 & 7. Originally conceived as a camping weekend, the bad weather forced organisers to relocate to Finchley, postponing the residential component. Nonetheless, participants gathered for Kabbalat Shabbat & dinner on Friday night, followed by a full day of learning, discussion, and laughs throughout Saturday.

Marom is the young adult branch of Masorti Judaism and focuses on developing leadership and building connections with Noam Alumni. “After Noam leaders take Tour or camp, they meet different challenges as Jewish young adults at university or after graduating,” says Marom Director Naomi Magnus. “Marom events like Festival Kedem provide a space for these young adults to engage in meaningful conversations about their Jewish life and community when they have outgrown a youth movement which can no longer meet their needs.”

Grounded in the principles of community organising, Ms. Magnus recruited six volunteers for the organising committee, which hosted three preparatory Friday night dinners aimed at community development, held at the studentsbeans.com headquarters in Golders Green. Studentbeans.com founder James Eder, who grew up in Noam, was happy to contribute the space and joined in as one of the participants over the weekend.

Festival Kedem was inspired by connections to Marom Europe, specifically Marom Budapest which runs the summer festival, Bankito, annually drawing in 3,000 attendees. Marom’s student trip to Budapest in March 2012 met leaders of Bankito when visiting Siraly, the Marom Budapest Community Centre, which was recently closed by the Hungarian government.

Leonie Fleischmann, Head of Noam in 20008-2009, commented, “It was wonderful to reconnect with old friends at Festival Kedem. We shared lots of laughs over memories from our younger days, but also discussed how we can create a community for ourselves now. Even though it had been years since some of us had seen each other, it was striking how quickly we were comfortable with each other.”

Throughout the weekend, volunteer participants ran sessions covering Israel, Judaism, and community. A major emphasis was placed on volunteer contributions to the programme, so participants were asked to bring their skill and present it at the Festival. Student Rabbi Oliver Joseph, Noam alumnus, was flown from Israel and ran text study learning, focused on connecting community and scripture.

Organisers are building on the enthusiasm of participants, rescheduling the camping aspect of Festival Kedem for September. Furthermore, Ms. Magnus is working on putting together the next organising committee to develop Festival Kedem 2, scheduled for summer 2013.