A true Shabbat Shalom שבת שלום

On Friday evenings, I typically enjoy a walk to church with Lauren, Caroline, and Jack, and beautiful fellowship once we get there. Last Friday, the school arranged for us to join a local family for Shabbat dinner.

I think I have mentioned this before but, all public transportation except for taxis (which are fairly expensive haha) shut off around 4:00-4:30 on Friday afternoons if not sooner. To get to our host family, me and three of my classmates embarked on a 35 minute walk. Dinner didn’t begin until 8:30pm so it was the perfect weather for walking. All we knew going into the dinner was the location and the names of our hosts, Jeff and Miriam. It was truly a wonderful evening. We sang their traditional songs (or I should say tried to sing lol) to start the evening. Then we each performed the ceremonial hand washing.

After this, no one is allowed to talk until everyone returns to the table and eats their challah bread. Then the meal begin. They served a delicious three course meal with salads and hummus (of course!!), chicken, potatoes, and other vegetables, and finally brownies, fruit, and dairy free ice cream. Mmmmm such good food. We ended with traditional chanting and singing once again. Jeff and Miriam are what is considered religious Jews here. Miriam’s father, who promptly informed us that he is the non-religious one of the group, was a very engaging host and story teller. He really reminded me of my dad. I miss his stories and laugh. It is also very common for young people to travel home for Shabbat dinner. Their son joined from Tel Aviv where he is going to school. We were also joined by two young adults who are converting to Judaism and another young man who recently made Aliyah. Making Aliyah is the term for the immigration of Jews to Israel where they become citizens and enjoy various other benefits as well. I enjoyed talking to Dominque who is currently serving her required time in the air force and converting to Judaism. The process of conversion is quite intense and honestly, it’s very intriguing to me. Since it was my first-time meeting Dominique, I didn’t have the chance to ask her many direct questions about conversion, and there was a little bit of a language barrier, but I would love to learn more about what brought her to the decision.

Jeff and Miriam were very kind and said we are welcome to reach out anytime! Which I truly hope to do! Jeff told us that since we are in Israel now, we can even just show up sometime and knock on the door. But he added, since they are Israeli, they also can also simply open the door and say, ‘go away!’. This prompted laughter all around haha (: It is funny because his statements are almost the perfect representation of the Israeli mentality. It was well after 11:30pm when the meal and conversation concluded and we began our walk back. Jeff was very kind to walk with us almost half of the way back. I got to ask him questions about his faith and journey to Israel. He told me he has become more of a Zionist since making Aliyah thirty years ago. It was beautiful to hear his heart and story while learning more about what the Jewish faith looks like in Israel. We got home after midnight and went almost immediately to bed. I’m so thankful for the wonderful company and opportunity to share a Shabbat meal (:

Something I wanted to add is that Miriam writes a really wonderful blog about what it is like to love and care for her Mom who has Alzheimer’s. Her blog is called the Lost Kitchen. I am not ashamed to admit I spent at least an hour the next day reading her blog and looking at the recipes she includes with each post. If you want to check it out, here is the link (:

https://www.thelostkitchen.org

I didn't take my phone out the entire evening and thus I have no photos (: but I added some stock photos from the internet for your viewing pleasure ;)