In snow-covered Coventry, Shabbat at Limmud served as a warm-up for what's to come: An additional 1,900 people are to arrive here at the campus of the University of Warwick starting Sunday, making for a total of about 2,500 at the 30th annual Limmud conference. The event will feature more than 1,000 sessions to choose, on a huge variety of topics with a Jewish twist, over about five days. According to organizers, the team of volunteers is utterly exhausted. But it did not show: from Friday afternoon on, registration, meals and workshops all got going without any noticeable hitches.
Limmud is a concept that's gone 'round the world. It started with some 70 people in Nottingham, and today tens of thousands of people around the world have picked up the Limmud concept and run with it. Here, during Shabbat, I met "Limmudniks" in Holland, the USA, Israel, Hungary and even South Africa (whose representative literally traveled from the longest day of the year to the shortest day of the year, arriving here on 21 December!). We've also brought Limmud to my adopted home country of Germany, where we'll hold our fourth multi-day festival in June 2011.
This week, snow and ice slowed down arrivals of some participants, but according to a source who will remain unnamed, bad weather often has been good for Limmud attendance overall, at least among UK citizens. Whether it's a tsunami in Asia or snowstorms in Europe, people tend to want to stay closer to home... and end up having more fun at Limmud than on an island with palm trees, I've been told.
No palm trees or sandy beaches here - just snow and frigid air. This evening was punctuated by an outdoor havdala service; and as the candles and sparklers were doused, shivering Limmudniks headed indoors for dinner, then out came out the musical instruments, and the bar was opened.
More details to come!