I arrived at Limmud NY an hour and rushed to my room to drop my bags before coming back to the lobby to tweet and scour the program for awesomeness. This is my third Limmud, and I’m excited to be back after taking a break last year.
Limmud is a conference for people who want to learn Jewish things, whether it’s Israeli dance, Holocaust films, Talmud, or the history of gefilte fish. The way it works at Limmud, you get this big book full of descriptions of various sessions organized by time, and you pick the sessions you like the best. I have only skimmed the first few days of programs, but it looks awesome. The superstar presenter this year is Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, and he is a serious bigshot. I’m really excited to get to learn with him. My only beef is this: How come the session about the evolution of Jewish law, that features awesome people like Rabbi Ethan Tucker, and Maharaâ€t Sara Hurwitz, is up against Learn Talmud with Adin Steinsaltz?? I have no idea how to decide which one to go to, but luckily most people (Steinsaltz, Tucker and Hurwitz included) are presenting several sessions, so there are multiple opportunities to hear them speak.
Other exciting features of the program: Finally getting to meet Jewminicana Aliza Hausman, and a survey session on Hollywood and the Holocaust. Plus, there’s a tisch tonight (guess what I brought?) and my chavruta is here, so basically—I will be busy.
Shabbat Shalom!
Talmud
Pronounced: TALL-mud, Origin: Hebrew, the set of teachings and commentaries on the Torah that form the basis for Jewish law. Comprised of the Mishnah and the Gemara, it contains the opinions of thousands of rabbis from different periods in Jewish history.
