A long post for a busy day

Today I fell in love.
I made it to the Shuk which is the key big market in the city famous for its abundance of yummy fresh veggies and fruits at bargoon prices. There were fruit I had never even seen before. Being the vegi-phile that I am, I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. Sadly, I had gone to the grocery in the morning and stocked up on veggies so I refrained. Don't worry, I'll be back. Weekly.

It was Friday (which is the new Saturday) so the place was PACKED before the Sabbath started at dusk. People were shopping and haggling, empty cardboard boxes were flying through the air, guys with trays of bread on their heads were heading through the crowd and men were yelling out their wares. The only phrase I understood was “banana, banana, banana!” I overheard two American women and one said “I can’t buy under this pressure! Too crowded!” I took this as a a challenge. I got cashews and some tasty chocolate filled croissants (7 sheck for eight!) and even a pillow. You can buy anything at the shuk.

This evening, I just went to my first serious Sabbath dinner at the neighbours'. Don’t ask me how I ended up there but it was an education. First of all, I realized as I arrived at the door with some other guests, that I was inappropriately dressed so I ran back to my room to change into dress pants and a suit jacket and heels. Even then, I wish I had a dark skirt. Amongst the religious, women wear dark skirts, white shirts with dark cardigans or a dark shirt. But they didn’t seem to mind my pants; Captain Kirk had warned them that I know nothing of Jewish tradition.

The neighbours and their friends were mostly ex-pats from England, Wales, Persia and even one from Toronto and were all very friendly and nice. Between eating, talking and running after the army of toddlers about, they answered all of my naïve questions. I quickly realized that these folks were intellectuals and knew their Judaism inside and out. Several were studying at what I gather is basically theological college, and one lady taught Jewish studies. One of the guys had studied as a cantor for two years. There was a lot of singing and he demonstrated the difference in music between two traditions of Judaism. One is influenced from the west (clearly in the minor key) and the other from the east (with all the warbles you would expect form middle eastern music) .

The angels were welcomed to the table (by song), we washed our hands, wine was drunk, hallah bread was eaten, the kids were blessed (more singing) and then soup and chicken and potatoes and rice and ice cream and apple crumble (my tummy was singing). Blessing came at the end of the meal (more singing), then we washed our hands again. The dinner discussion was varied but there were theological questions discussed. I asked lots of questions but wisely stayed out of character and kept any of my opinions to myself. Not that I really had time to digest what was going on and being said to have opinions. I now know about a medieval French commentator on the Torah. And why God put “h”s, or rather the letter ה, in Abraham and Sarah’s names. And what succa huts are all about. And why some men wear bug, fuzzy, hockey-puck shaped hats on the Sabbath. Don’t get me wrong, the conversations did not all centre around religion. One girl really wanted to know about electrons jumping around. She had loved chemistry in high school and was fascinated by my research.

Get this. The light was off in the kitchen and I finally figured out why. They forgot to turn it on before the Sabbath started this afternoon and so it has to stay off until tomorrow at dusk. No flicking switches on the Sabbath.

Anyway time to crawl into bed. Nothing will be open tomorrow so I will sleep in and then work on my Hebrew. Good night. Lyla tov.