Humility in the form of a Septagenarian

I am humbled. Last night I went to Shabbat dinner at the neighbours’ again who have the most fascinating friends. There was a woman there whose life story makes my adventure here look like a causal picnic. An expert in Slavic languages (and English and Spanish and Portuguese and Hebrew), she has lived in the US, Argentina, Poland, Portugal the Ukraine and Israel. Her time in Poland and the Ukraine was behind the Iron Curtain and she had a US passport which was simply crazy at the time. She has lived under three dictatorships. “Bungy jumping”, she says, “my life was like bungy jumping”. At over seventy years old, she has made Israel her home and she has decided after all the places she has lived, this is the best place to be. Instead of risking life and limb, she now serenades her neighbours with her oboe playing and is looking for a husband. “It will happen at the right time and the right place” she says.

There was also another couple from Delaware and New Jersey who had recently gotten married. Marlene went to McGill and knows, quite well in fact, friends of the Chicken and mine. So we had a very-small-world moment there in the living room. Jakob, tells me that he hopes that the rest of their life will be in Jerusalem. I can’t remember his exact words but being in this most holy city is deeply important to him.

I asked the table what it was like to come from America and the UK where you are a minority to a place where you are in the majority. They say they are minorities here too, but just in different ways: they are English speakers, recent immigrants, orthodox in a predominantly secular country etc. Fair enough, I thought.

A fascinating night all around.

Today I wandered around for a couple of hours and finally broke down and bought a head covering. It is probably not what you are thinking. The Monastery of the Cross is Greek Orthodox and I went in to see what it was all about. I wore a head covering not because I had to, but because it was the most respectful thing to do.

It is a pretty amazing place. The monastery is early Byzantine and was founded either by Constantine’s mom, Helena, or by the Emperor Justinian. Either way, there were mosaics there that were from as early as the 4th century. The chapel had all sorts of mosaics and paintings of saints from the crusader era and lots of hanging lamps. Outside there were all these little rooms where the monks lived over the centuries. Of course the public wasn’t allowed to go where the current resident monks are.

I have just refilled the rocket boosters with a hearty meal of tuna pasta salad à la Janet. Good things to know: fish and eggs are not “meat” instead, they are “parve” which means neutral so I can use any plates I want.