Update: Limmud defends pluralism after Shalom and Adamama withdraw

Adamama and Shalom have withdrawn from Limmud Oz Sydney 2026 following a disagreement over the participation of one of the speakers, but the festival will still proceed next weekend as planned.

Limmud Oz Sydney will go ahead on 7-8 June, although Adamama’s contributions have been removed from the program. The “Sustainable Lifestyle” and “Families” streams have been cancelled.

In an announcement to the community, organisers said they were “very sorry” to share that they were “no longer collaborating with Shalom Collective and Adamama this year” because the groups “could not agree on the final program”.

One of the speakers, Jacob Sacher, is involved with the anti-Zionist Jewish Council and has participated in and spoken at anti-Israel protests. However, the topics he will be speaking on at Limmud are unrelated to their views on Israel. The two sessions are titled Schlemiel, schlimazel: the Jewish loser in the 21st century and Beyond bagels and lox: Yiddish as a living Jewish language.

“While the joint event has been cancelled, Limmud Oz Sydney is still going ahead with the festival next weekend 7-8 June, and we hope you will join us to celebrate Jewish ideas and culture,” the announcement said.

Organisers said ticket holders would be refunded and able to buy new tickets “at the new, extremely reduced price”.

Sarah Charak, from the Limmud organising committee, told JWire a presenter appearing at Limmud did not mean the organisation supported or endorsed that person’s views.

“A presenter presenting at Limmud doesn’t mean that Limmud as an organisation supports or endorses their views,” she said.

She said personal politics should not be a barrier to participation where presenters were engaging in good faith.

“Jewish ideas and Jewish text and Jewish tradition is the province and inheritance of every single Jew,” she said.

“We’re not in the business of excluding that experience if they’re going to engage in good faith.”

Charak said some committee members strongly disagreed with the politics of some presenters, but that was not how programming decisions were made.

“We don’t make programming decisions on the basis of our personal views or personal comfort or discomfort,” she said.

“We’re trying to bring together diverse Jews of different backgrounds and politics and denominations and ages to show that the Jewish community is stronger when we come together.”

Charak said concerns about anti-Zionism had been misplaced in relation to this year’s program.

“If you look at the program, the only content that we’ve got about politics or about anti-Zionism is in fact someone who has spearheaded the movement against antizionism in Australia, Josh Dabelstein, and he’s presenting two sessions,” she said.

“There is no one putting an antizionist position to the community in this program.”

Charak said Limmud had sought extra confirmation that presenters would stick to the sessions as described in the program and would not use them to promote personal politics.

“They’re there to share their passion for Jewish ideas and Jewish culture, and they’re not there to put a polemic to anyone,” she said.

“That would be against the presenter guidelines and the Limmud values, and we can assure people that’s not what’s going to happen at Limmud.”

She said if questions arose in sessions that were not relevant to the topic, they would be treated as irrelevant, and Limmud volunteers would be present in sessions to deal with those issues.

Charak said attendees were able to make informed choices about which sessions to attend and were expected to behave respectfully.

“Everyone is an adult and people who are coming to Limmud are able to make informed choices about the sessions that they go to,” she said.

She said the organising committee was now focused on last-minute logistics after Shalom’s withdrawal.

“We are confident that for the people who do choose to engage, we think it’s a good program,” she said.

“It’s a smaller program because the Adamama content has been pulled, but we think it’s a strong one.”

Charak said the intended focus of this year’s event was always “more joy, less oi”, with an emphasis on celebrating Jewish culture rather than concentrating heavily on antisemitism and other issues that had placed a strain on the community in recent years.

“We think it’s a shame that this conversation has kind of dominated,” she said.

“If people actually look at the program, they’ll see that there’s a lot of stuff that is just purely celebrating and engaging with positive Jewish stuff.”

The announcement has prompted much discussion and a divided response on the Jews of Sydney Facebook page.

Supporters of Limmud praised the volunteer team for upholding the organisation’s pluralistic values and argued that speakers with different political views should still be able to participate in Jewish learning. Some said they were disappointed by what they saw as an attempt at censorship and said community members should be trusted to choose which sessions to attend.

Critics said the issue was not diversity of opinion but transparency. Several commenters argued that if a speaker had publicly expressed anti-Zionist views or had links to an anti-Zionist organisation, that information should be clear in the speaker’s biography so attendees could make informed choices.

A number of commenters said the participation of an anti-Zionist speaker crossed a red line, particularly given the impact of antisemitism and anti-Zionist activism on Australian Jews since October 7. Some praised Shalom and Adamama for withdrawing, saying they had taken a principled stand.

Others pushed back, saying the controversy had been misrepresented and that the program itself did not include a session promoting anti-Zionism. They argued that objections were based on the personal politics of one presenter rather than the content of the session.

JNF Schlicha, Sarah Vanunu, who withdrew as a speaker from Limmud 2026, said she supported debate and diversity of thought but believed communal institutions needed to set boundaries.

“For years, Limmud has championed the idea of the ‘big tent’ – a space for diverse Jewish voices and perspectives,” she said.

“But every tent has boundaries.”

Vanunu said she withdrew because she was concerned about “individuals who have actively campaigned against my country’s legitimacy and participated in movements that seek its dismantling” being given a platform within Jewish communal institutions.

“I believe in transparency. I believe in debate. I believe in diversity of thought,” she said.

“But I also believe that our community has a responsibility to distinguish between legitimate disagreement and the normalisation of platforming activists and extremists who oppose the very existence of the Jewish state.”

Limmud Oz Sydney said it remained committed to broad Jewish participation and inclusion.

“We want to say very clearly to our community that we are committed to our values of diversity, respect and participation,” the announcement said.

“The Limmud tent is wide and inclusive. We do not exclude Jews from Jewish learning and teaching. We believe that bringing together Jews of different denominations, ages, backgrounds and politics makes us stronger.”

The organisers apologised for the inconvenience and urged community members to attend the revised festival.

“We are so sorry for the inconvenience, and again, we really hope you join us to show the strength of Jewish community when we come together,” the announcement said.

For more information and bookings, see: https://www.limmudoz.org.au/

This article was previously published as “Limmud Oz Sydney to continue without Shalom or Adamama involvement”