By Caylee Talpert, recipient of an ROI Micro Grant. Caylee is Tevel B'tzedek's International Representative and she currently lives in London. Through the help of this grant, she attended Limmud in 2011.

Most ROIers would probably agree that attending the ROI Summit produces a certain “high” among participants. There is a undeniable ‘rush’ that is associated with being around young motivated, and engaged people who all share a real sense of purpose, albeit sometimes very different purposes. The excitement of being around such people is hard to replicate elsewhere, yet there is one gathering that I feel does a good job at evoking similar emotions; that brings together a somewhat more diverse and eclectic group of people but who similarly have a strong Jewish connection and desire to engage and contribute in some way. This gathering is Limmud.

Perhaps its because so many ROIers tend to participate in Limmud but I think it also has something to do with the type of people Limmud attracts in general. Although these are not necessarily all young Jewish innovators, the eagerness to learn that epitomizes Limmud makes even the oldest grandmother at Limmud seem young at heart. Limmud brings together such a broad and diverse spectrum of people that its hard not to learn! Just by meeting people during meals, coffee breaks or at the bar I feel I was exposed to a sample of so many different ways that people relate to their Jewish identity.

This was my first Limmud UK, and having heard lots about it, I came in with very high expectations. I have attended two past “Limmuds” in South Africa and both had a significant impact on my life. The first year I was inspired by a talk on the Holocaust and the Genocide in Rwanda to organize a multi-cultural student trip to Rwanda (with the help of a generous ROI grant). This trip certainly left a profound mark on my life and is perhaps one of the reasons why I am so interested in international development today. The following year a speaker from the organization “Breaking the Silence” left me fairly disturbed when he shared his experiences in the IDF, which diverged somewhat from my conception of what the Jewish State was about. Although I still have many problems with what he said I often attribute this talk to being one of the reasons why I went off to study an MA in Israeli Politics the following year. This is what to me Limmud is all about - being disturbed, thinking, questioning and hopefully taking action or getting involved in issues that are important to you, to the Jewish people or to the world as a whole.

This year for the first time I had an opportunity to at least attempt to give back and share some of my own knowledge to the Limmud Community. I spoke on a newfound interest of mine, the world of social enterprise and the potential role business and the private sector in general can have on poverty alleviation. I felt this was an important topic as although ideas of Tikkum Olam have become mainstream in the Jewish community, and there where various sessions related to the subject, there was nothing on this topical subject. I believe it is particularly important that social enterprise is part of the Jewish dialogue as it relates very much to the concept of empowering the poor to help themselves, which I think is a very Jewish idea. Being the last session of a jam-packed conference I was surprised to find I received a sizable audience who where very engaged and interested in learning more about the topic. At the end a number of people approached me about getting more information including a businessman looking to move into to “Bottom of the Pyramid” market, a women interested in running a course on Jewish Social enterprise and a student involved in an organization that does development assistance. In my own small way I hope that my talk contributed something to the ‘Great Limmud Dialogue’ and that I can continue to be involved in such wonderful learning, sharing and engaging experiences in the future. I thank ROI for affording me that opportunity.