Shabbat Shalom

So I am going to jump out of my chronological retelling of events to share an experience I had about 40 minutes ago. And, to keep up with my one mass e-mail per shower pace, I need to send one right now.

Rabino is a great word

In Spanish, the word for rabbi is rabino. Ari and I decided that is a great word. One of the things that we wanted to do before leaving Ecuador was see the country{s Jewish community (sorry about the apostrophe. The button on the keyboard that normally has the apostrophe has the left bracket. I would take time to investigate this further but I must hurry up. You should expect some inconsistency with apostrophe usage and replacement in this post).

Ari{s cousin, who visited Ecuador last year, gave us the number of a member of the Jewish community. He put us in contact with the rabbi. Once I got ahold of the rabbi, he said that it would be difficult to spend the day with a family because of the short notice and that most of the community members live far from the shul. There is, however, two rooms at the synagogue where people who spend shabbat normally stay. For security purposes, we had to fax a copy of our passports.

Security, South American JCC Style

I arrived at the entrance to the JCC at 4:10. From the outside, you would not suspect the building to be the hub of thew Jewish community. The outside walls are non-descript. Having faxed my passport to the offices the day before, I assumed that I would have avoided all the hassle of getting into the synagogue. All I have to say is: I wonder what kind of hassle it would have been if I couldn{t find a fax machine to send the copy.

When we arrived, the guard asked to see our passport. I handed him the passport, and he went back inside. A few minutes later, a guard came outside to smoke and stand outside the gates. He was very serious looking, and my general rule with security officials is to not break the ice unless he does something to assist it. For 15 minutes, Ari and I wait. We talk about how this security is as intense as any security we had ever seen and that through numerous trips to Israel, we havent seen this level of security. We wonder if they are doing a background search, calling the American embassy, picking their noses, laughing at us through the two-way mirror glass, bouncing a tennis ball (we actually heard them doing this).

Each time a car or pedestrian would pass by the entrance, the security guard would give them a big time staredown (not so much Larry David style as Jack Bauer style). Eventually, the guard breaks a smile and I consider it acceptable to crack a few jokes and ask him about the level of security (he says that the Israeli embassy is stricter).

Twenty-five minutes later, a car pulls up to the entrance and the chief of security gets out. He is Israel and tells us to empty our backpacks so the guards can do a thorough search. I take everything out of my bag and explain to the guard what is in it. I go through my alarm clock, pocket knife, Clif Bars, underwear bag, dirty laundry, and everything else in my backpack. The guard suggests that I go laundry and allows us to enter.

I visited the JCC in Buenos Aires, which experience a terrorist bombing in the 1990s, and didn{t experience this level of security. I have never had to empty my entire backpack for someone. This just makes me wonder what they do at the Israeli embassy in Quito.

A room with a blech

We are staying in the synagogue{ guest room on the second floor of the synagogue. There are shabbat candle holders, a sink, a great bathroom and a blech (because Jews cant cook on shabbat, Jews use a metal plate to conduct heat from a low flame to keep dishes warm).