It's a Small World (and a Big Kibbutz)

This past Shabbat, our dinner theme was 7/11, a Shabbat of Convenience. (Alternately, we planned to focus the meal on the Seven Species, but that didn't really turn out.) It was a fun evening with many guests--both expected and unexpected--and a delicious dinner. Fortunately, none of our LFs chose to grace us with their presence.

On Shabbat morning, Robin, Gwen, and I went to Mayanot, a Conservative egalitarian minyan in our neighborhood. Just as two weeks ago we walked into a bar mitzvah at shul, so this week did we walk into an aufruf. It seems that simchas are all around in Jerusalem. Afterward, I walked to the home of Dina's inlaws. If you are not part of my immediate family, you might not know that my cousin Dina lives in Israel with her husband and two sons, and her inlaws live in Jerusalem...only two blocks up my street. I suppose, to be honest, that I live two blocks down their street, as their house has been in Ruchama's (her mother-in-law's) family since the time of the British Mandate.

The rest of Dina's extended family was there, too--brothers-in-law, a sister-in-law, and a couple adorable kids. We had a marvelous afternoon together, and aside from a brief walk, I ended up staying there until Shabbat was over. Their family is lovely, with many Yemenite traditions from Ruchama's family. Although the entire family is Israeli, everyone in my generation spent a significant part of their youth living in the United States, so the conversation around the table was a pretty generous mixture of English and Hebrew. I asked if the English was for my benefit--as I could follow a fair portion of the Hebrew--and they said no, that they always talk like this.

In other news, I finally used the compact first aid kit I've kept tucked into my backpack! Now I know it was there for a reason. (No worries...an inexplicably bloody finger--my own--got a spray of neosporin and a little bandaid.)

This morning, I had a special treat...I saw a friend who is staffing Pilgrimage, and then I popped into breakfast at the guest house to surprise three of my kids (two current, one former). It was great to see how much they are enjoying their Israel experiences.

Tonight, I learned that someone else (!) knows our landlord here. First, our Talmud teacher knows him and officiated at his wedding. Next, I used a bencher on Shabbat from the wedding of Debbie and James...quite familiar names, right, CJHS people? This is to say nothing of the CY and Mayanot people who certainly know him. Finally, a friend of mine called the apartment today and ended up in voicemail--turns out the landlord was one of his educators (?) on OTZMA. As one of my internship supervisors in grad school liked to say, it's a small Jewish world--and a big kibbutz.

We'll talk soon...
Caroline