Dinner
Since moving into my apartment in Nachlaot, I have felt like an outsider into the community. To bridge this gap between myself and the natives, I attended the shul down the street, rather below the street. The local synagogue, Kol Rina, is located below Beer Sheva St, one block away from my house. It is a very interesting concept.
They mechitza the minyan (used the word as a verb) with the men on the east side of the structure underneath the intersection of Geva and Beer Sheva, the women are on the west side of the complex.
I attended services with two main objectives: to get in the mood for Shabbat and to get invited to someone's house for Shabbat dinner. Check and check.
The place gets rocking during Kabbalat Shabbat with the dancing and the nigguns, pretty exciting.
During the announcements, the speaker says that anybody that would like to be a Shabbat guest should congregate at the mechitza. Throughout services, I surveryed the crowd to see who would the kind of person to invite a shabbat guest into their house. The truth is that I have limited experience with this shabbat guest thing so I was very off.
I end up being approached by Chaim and his son, Nachman. They are very nice people who live in an apartment on the Mahene Yehuda side of Aggripas. Chaim wore a streimel and kaftan while his son was clothed in a black coat and black hat. It turns out that Chaim has three children, Nachman (in Yeshiva), Hadassah (< 10-years old), and another daughter who is married. He is originally from Brooklyn and studies in Kollel six days a week.
When we arrrived, the table was set and the candles lit. We jumped right into Shalom Alechem, which I was pretty comfortable with. Then they did Eishet Chayil, something I have very little experience with. In my book, Eisthet Chayil was immediately after Shalom Alechem but they managed to turn a few more pages and pray a little more before Eishet Chayil (maybe there is some ritual of repeating the song that I am unfamiliar with).
We did kiddush and motzi. Then it was time to eat. We started with salad, which translated to English means multiple spread and dips (there was a green salad of lettuce and cucumber included). This part of the meal also included fish. After we finished salad, Chaim led us in a d'var torah from this weeks torah portion. Next up was the soup. Chaim's wife cooked a chicken soup with carrot and squash. There was some discussion over what squash really was, its Hebrew name, and its relationship with the pumpkin. In between soup and dinner, we engaged in some zmirot (songs). For dinner, his wife (I never learned her first name) she cooked chicken, sweet potatoes, roasted potatoes, and a cauliflower kugel. The food was pretty good (first homemade fleishigs since I got to Israel). For dessert, she laid out some fruits and rugelah (and a sugar-free option that I couldn't tell what it was). After benching, I went home and prepared for the Piston's game.
Funniest comment of the night: Instead of saying l'chaim, they say l'aba (father).
Basketball game
I got back from dinner completely exhausted. I decided to set my alarm for 1:40 (a.m.) so I could get to Jason, Ilana, and Adam's in time for the 2:00 tip-off of the Pistons-Cavs game. Next thing I remeber was rolling over and seeing that my clock read 3:38. Apparently, I slept through my alarm (At least this was a middle-of-the-night basketball game and not a final exam). I hurriedly got ready and sprinted (by the time I got there, it was more of a light jog) to my their place.
The game is not of TV. Instead, Jason uses a Jim Rome-pimped product called Slingbox that allows you to control and watch TV through your cable box on your computer.
I got to his place at the beginning of the third quarter of a back and forth game. So I guess I didn't miss too much. As the teams exchange runs through the third and into the fourth quarter, the suspence and drama was palpable (win or go home for the summer for the 'stons vs. win or have to face a game 7 at the Palace for the Cavs). With about seven minutes left, the score is tied at 69. Suddenly, the lights in the apartment go out and a few seconds later, the TV feed goes out.
THE POWER WENT OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FOURTH QUARTER OF THE BIGGEST GAME OF THE YEAR
Trying to be resourceful, we thought of other solutions to the problem (possibly going onto Ben Yehuda St to use the free wireless). We concluded that would be too risky. Instead, I called home and got live updates from my family that was watching the game. We were on pins in needles in Rehavia with every change of possession that we heard. Let's just say that hearing that your team misses three free throws in the final minute of a closs basketball game and not being able to watch it is not good for your blood pressure. Luckily, the Pistons got on the offensive glass and eeked out a close one. This means game 7 at the Palace at 10:00 IDT Sunday night.
I got back to my apartment and slept until 10:45.
Oh, hello
I spent the latter part of my morning and early part of the afternoon reading yesterday's Jerusalem Post and reading about the Pistons game online.
I enjoyed a delicious Shabbat lunch of half a crate of apricots, four carrots, one bag of pita, and some hummus. I had some rugelah for dessert.
At 2:30ish, I headed over to the Knesset Tower Hotel to visit some friends (and fellow Shmoozeniks) on the University of Michigan Birthright Trip.
From my vantage point, they are having a great time on the trip. I will see them again in a few days when they return to Jerusalem.
After we shmoozed and kibbutzed for a few minutes, we went down to take a Shabbat walk around some of the government buildings in the area, namely the Knesset and Supreme Court. We went down to the lobby to gather before the trip and ran into numberous shmoozeniks who happen to be on the Michigan bus. The only regret is that I never saw the man who ofts the "Michigan Rabbi" shirt. Hopefully on Tuesday.
In my two previous trips to Israel, we never toured the area with all the government buildings. It was very interesting, but I plan on going on a more in-depth tour, where I will actually go inside the building, in the future.
That is my first Shabbat in Jerusalem and a great day all around.
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