Limmud in the UK 2007 - From Todd Shotz

Hello all from jolly ole London town! Well, from the Unversity of Warwick anyway...which is actually no where near it. I am sitting here in the bar listening to the great Israeli band Reva L'Sheva after a very full day and thought to write to you all about my experience so far here at the 2007 Limmud Conference. While the weather is as dreary as ever here, the warmth and the energy in this enormous gathering of Jews from all over the world more than makes up for it. Last night, I had the quintessential Limmud experience - the speaker for the session about Heschel I was supposed to attend never showed up and so after 20 minutes waiting, I simply went into the session next door which was entitled "Donkeys!!!" I know what you're thinking - yes, "Donkeys!" It was led by Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg who is a Conservative rabbi for a congregation called the New North London Synagogue. He had simply the most beautiful English accent I have ever heard - no joke - I want him to record books on tape. The session traced the treatment of donkeys through Torah, Talmud etc. and looked at the issues from the donkey's perspective. We were given insights about the overall sensitivity to animals that our liturgy implies. It was such a good session that I have asked Rabbi Jonathan to record a podcast for us that could be aired during Parashat Balak (think talking donkey).Today, I attended a Torah study session called "Taking the Yuck out of Vayikra," a Talmud study session on what if a husband cancels a get while it is being delivered to his wife, a reading by legendary poet/playwright Bernard Kops, and an Italian Jewish cooking lesson in which we learned about the history of Italian Jews while watching the instructor cook us pumpkin risotto. Can you imagine I did this all in one day? That's Limmud.But wait that's not all - as a delegate from LA, I then attended with my cohorts the International Limmud board meeting in which we learned about what the 38 other Limmud organizations are accomplishing around the globe. The speaker at the session, Steven Cohen from NY, pointed out that Limmud will help the Jewish people adapt to the 21st century with all of its technology which can either connect us or separate us. I cannot put perfectly into words how important this organization is and how energized I am to come back and continue recruiting for our conference in February.