At a glance, it could have been any other jam-packed bar. But looking closer, you would have seen Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis clinking glasses in the corner, the head of the Masorti movement letting rip on the dance floor, and a rebbetzin rounding up revellers for a late-night rave.
Such were the eye-opening moments that made Limmud 2013 unforgettable.
The Chief Rabbi’s two talks were well attended and well received, but it was in the more informal instances — as he lined up for the breakfast buffet or sat around a bar table with drink in hand — that he firmly connected with Limmudniks.
Natan Sharansky was another heavyweight attendee. His sessions detailed his life as a political prisoner in the former Soviet Union, and as a political figure in Israel.
