1 min read
It's day two, and Limmudniks are loving life.
They're meeting and greeting new people from across the globe.
They're learning new things and laughing along to midrashic jokes.
They're making their way from session to session accompanied by the conference's colour-coded Limmud Guidebook; which is especially useful when downloaded on the app.
But Jewish people have to eat - and today wars threatened to break out over lunch queues in between sessions.
As an alternative to the hot-food mezzanine, Limmud volunteers had turned the Hilton hotel reception into a 'grab a salad or sandwich and go' area.
One vest-wearing volunteer took the liberty of ushering people down one end of the table stalls to queue, in a bid to bring order to the area.
An American woman did not take kindly to this.
"WHYYYYYYYYY? I JUST WANT TO TAKE A SANDWICH AND GO TO MY SESSION" she squealed, going onto a high-pitched shrill, only dogs could hear her from then on.
Another woman kicked the bin, having discovered that her cream cheese and cucumber sandwich was lacking the cheese.
A communal leader turned red, having discovered that he had waited in the queue to find that by 1 30pm, no sandwiches were left.
So he made his way down to the mezzanine to be met by a pasta, kidney bean sauce and rice-salad lunch.
In a lift, one Limmud volunteer promised me she would sort it out.
"These people were taking two sandwiches and a salad for themselves. You're only meant to take one thing!" she explained. "I told them that, but no one listened to me.
"I am going to sort it out, you watch."
With that she stepped out.
What can I say, despite all good intentions, we Jews need our food.
