Earlier this month, I attended a local Limmud event in Hong Kong - not in any way associated with the UK organisation and events of the same name, but very much in the same spirit. The Hong Kong event had one distinguished international speaker, Dr. Daniel Polisar, "president of the Shalem Center and publisher of Azure", a quarterly journal which "offers essays and criticism on Israeli and Jewish public policy, Jewish philosophy, cultural trends, religion in public life, Zionist history and much more".

Dr. Polisar spoke 3 times over the weekend, on the past (Biblical archeology), present (ideas given to the world by the Jewish people) and future (what can and hopefully will unite the Jewish people), the Rabbi of Ohel Leah synagogue spoke on his experiences of aliyah, a pair of Israeli educators lead a discussion on the Israeli Declaration of Independence, I heard the Rabbi of the Chabad shul in Hong Kong speak on The Case Against the Bible, and there was also a session on Jewish music and one of textual study.

The event was much smaller than most (though not all) Limmud events I've attended in the UK, but it was well organised, had appropriate and high-quality content, and the best food of any Limmud event I've ever eaten. I enjoyed it, and it was an excellent warm-up for Conference in Nottingham.