It is almost impossible to overstate the successof Limmud. In terms of sheer practicalities, it is an enormous undertaking: over 1000 events across 5 days in front of 2,500 people eating 30,000 meals.

But the size of the operation is almost the least important aspect. Rather, it is what it represents. Now that we no longer need to have the annual debate over the Chief Rabbi’s absence we can relegate the arguments over its doctrinal safety to the minor place they merit. The problem for those who object is theirs, not Limmud’s. They are the ones who are missing out.

Limmud is so valuable, so unique and so wonderful precisely because it does not make religious judgments and does not claim to be anything other than a giant meeting — or series of meetings. It awards no status and denies no labels.

Instead, Limmud allows each of its participants to find their own level of participation — to put in and take out whatever they wish. It is a welcome comment on Anglo-Jewry that Limmud is now our most successful and most valued export to the rest of the Jewish world. And with every passing year its place in the community firmament grows ever stronger.