(JTA) – More than 300 Russian Armenians attended a conference in Moscow inspired by the Limmud format for Jewish learning events.

Titled “Lsaran” – the Armenian-language translation for Limmud, or learning, the event last week was the first time that non-Jews held a conference based on the format outside the United Kingdom, where the first Limmud took place for the first time more than 30 years ago, a spokesperson for Limmud International told JTA.

In preparing for the event, the Lsaran organizing team attended several conferences organized in Moscow by Limmud FSU, a nonprofit organization that was founded in 2006 and which puts on Limmud conferences across the former Soviet Union and beyond as a means to connect Russian-speaking Jewish communities and strengthen their ties to Israel.

“Young Armenians living in Moscow had few cultural frameworks to connect them and create a community,” said Evgenia Teryan, one of the organizers of Lsaran. “We looked to the Jewish community, which has so much similarities to ours, for a model to change that and we found it in Limmud FSU.”

In March, Teryan expected approximately 200 participants “but rumor got out on Facebook and a lot of people signed up at the last minute,” said Tatiana Pashaeva, Limmud FSU’s project manager in Russia, who attended Lsaran along with several other organizers of Limmud FSU and who helped the Lsaran founding committee design the event.

Like Limmud conferences, Lsaran featured lectures, activities and concerts. Two of the lectures were about the Armenian genocide, which occurred 100 years ago.

Unlike Limmud FSU, which has staff and some core funding for activities, Lsaran is entirely volunteer-based. Organizers paid approximately $4,600 out of their own pockets and are now looking for donors and sponsors from the Armenian community in Russia to cover that expense and help make Lsaran an annual event.