Since 2004, The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, in partnership with the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), has held its annual Limmud Adult Jewish Learning Conference in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. Limmud – which means learning – was developed in collaboration with local Jewish leaders to capitalize on growing interest among Baltic Jews in their heritage. The conference, a highlight of extensive effort to revitalize Jewish life in the region, offers a grassroots experience devoted to popular, yet high-level Jewish education.

In just a few short years, participation in the Limmud conference has grown to more than 1,100 people; for an event in the U.S. to have a proportional attendance, it would need to gather 300,000 people. And Limmud conference participants have gone on to become pillars of the community in their home cities.

The impact of Limmud transcends the Baltic Region. Participants from Belarus, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Moldova, Sweden, Switzerland, France, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Russia and Israel now attend the event. Lithuania, that historical center of Jewish culture and knowledge, is becoming, once again, a place where people can seek inspiration and learning.