Liberal Judaism is delighted to announce the full programme of incredible speakers and sessions for Biennial 2021: Breaking Down Walls.

Our flagship event takes place online from Friday 30 April to Sunday 2 May. It is open and accessible to all – and promises to be welcoming, interesting and ultimately great fun.

People can attend as few or as many sessions as they wish by watching live on Liberal Judaism’s Facebook, Twitter and YouTube channels, with some interactive sessions also running on Zoom.

To read the full Biennial 2021 schedule and register, please click here.

EVERYONE is welcome to attend, whether they are members of Liberal Judaism or not and whatever faith or background they come from.

The Biennial boasts 52 speakers and four categories – a main track, keynotes, services and LJY-Netzer sessions for young Liberal Jews.

Rabbi Benay Lappe, the Founder and Rosh Yeshiva of SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva, will kick off Biennial 2021 with a keynote address, which is now famous in American Jewish circles: a reframing of the communal Jewish project as a radical, subversive story of meaning, which can be deeply personal for each of us and also a challenge to us collectively for how we vision Jewish life in the 21st century.

The event’s other keynote will see Leo Baeck College Principal Rabbi Dr Deborah Kahn-Harris and Rabbi Deborah Waxman, President of America’s Reconstructing Judaism, discussing the future of the Progressive seminary.

Other notable outside speakers include Tuly Flint and Osama Iliwat of Combatants for Peace, a volunteer organisation of ex-combatant Israelis and Palestinians who now reject all means of violence and seek a just peace. Citizens UK’s Charlotte Fischer and Seyi Akiwowo, CEO of the charity Glitch which seeks to end online abuse, will showcase their new groundbreaking anti-racism training that is being specifically developed for Jewish communities.

There is also a chance to hear Liberal Judaism’s own voices including our movement’s Chief Executive Officer Rabbi Charley Baginsky, Chair Ruth Seager, Biennial Co-Chair Rabbi Leah Jordan and Rabbis Alexandra Wright, Elli Tikvah Sarah, Judith Rosen-Berry, Margaret Jacobi, Aaron Goldstein, Richard Jacobi, Lea Mühlstein, Rene Pfertzel and more.

We are also looking out to the wider Jewish world with a cross-communal panel as Reform Judaism’s Rabbi Robyn Ashworth-Steen and Orthodox woman rabbi Rabbi Eryn London join the Conference of Liberal Rabbis and Cantors Co-Chair Rabbi Rebecca Birk to discuss the future of 21st century Judaism.

An interfaith panel will feature Nisa-Nashim Co-Founder Julie Siddiqi, St James’s Piccadilly’s Rector Lucy Winkett, City Sikhs Jasvir Singh, Rabbi Charley Baginsky and Woolf Institute Director Dr Ed Kessler MBE examining religion in a post-COVID world.

The LJY-Netzer track has been put together by our wonderful Movement Workers and includes everything from youth-led challah making and Havdallah to which all ages are invited to classic LJY Kef (fun) including a Kef from Israel session run with Leo Baeck Haifa.

Services have been put together by Rabbi Igor Zinkov, our Biennial Service Coordinator, and will include a Kabbalat Shabbat and Shacharit led by multiple rabbis from across our Liberal communities – showing off the very best of Liberal Judaism at prayer and maybe introducing us to some new tunes and ideas along the way.

The Biennial will also see our Inclusion in Action project reach its final stage, with the shortlisted communities invited to pitch to our panel of Biennial Co-Chair Owen Power, creative director and illustrator Kate Moross and Sea Inclusion & Safeguarding Founder Sara Alston in an attempt to be awarded £3,000 funding.

The event will then close with the Breaking Down Walls: Take Home, as Rabbis Charley Baginsky and Leah Jordan reflect on the Biennial Weekend and where we go from here.

To check out the full schedule and sign up, please click here.