‘Lo Bashamayim’ to get under way at Kfar Blum

Annual three-day study, music and tourism festival will throw spotlight on ‘Steinsaltz Talmud.’

By JONAH MANDEL
The Lo Bashamayim (Not in Heaven) Festival opens today at Kibbutz Kfar Blum in the Upper Galilee for three days of experiential Jewish and Israeli study accompanied by musical performances and excursions.
At the heart of this year’s event, the 12th so far, is the imminent completion of Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz’s monumental translation and commentary on the Babylonian Talmud after 45 years of work.
Steinsaltz will give the summarizing lesson on the second chapter of the Ta’anit tractate on Wednesday afternoon.
Some of the other topics to be addressed by the 70 participating rabbis, educators and artists are the Hassidic movement, the great Yemenite poet Rabbi Shalom Shabazi, and the Jewish sources for songwriter Naomi Shemer’s work. Author A.B. Yehoshua will explain the infrastructure of anti-Semitism, Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar will conduct a dialogue with Prof.
Moshe Kaveh on Jewish identity, and many others will grapple with questions pertaining to being an Israeli and a Jew.
Music lovers will have the opportunity to hear Dudu Fisher with the Ra’anana Symphonet Orchestra in nearby Kiryat Shmona, and Rona Keinan will be hosting Eran Zur for a joint performance.
Information and tickets are available at the festival’s Web site: www.lo-bashamayim.org.il.