Tuesday, February 14, 2017

First Shabbat

Horowitz Travel-Israel-Still Jerusalem-January 13, 2017

It's erev Shabbat in Israel. That's the day before the Sabbath. Jewish holy days begin at sundown so preparation for Shabbat is at full throttle. Most all men can be seen carrying flowers home, beggars hit the streets so people can do a mitzvah (good deed) before Shabbat, & carry out stores (some only open Thurs. & Fri.) flourish for those too busy to cook Shabbat dinner. Everything closes early (around 3:30pm) since sunset is around 5pm. They'll re-open Sat. evening. Buses will stop running. Movies & non-Jewish museums will be open half a day. That may be our activity for Sat., but we may have to pack a lunch.

Speaking of lunch, we have to start sharing meals. We had way too much food today. The tables in the cafe were suitable for a coffee shop, which it was (Ben Ami again), but ours was filled to overflowing. We had to consolidate breads & condiments to make room. My spinach omelet came with small sides of olive tapenade, feta, eggplant, & sour cream. I opened the omelet & used most of it as auxiliary filling.

Two women at a neighboring table were speaking "American." I asked a question about getting tap water & chatted a bit. Wouldn't you know, they were hopeful about Trump. David got a Jerusalem Post in English this morning, & it said that 79% of Israelis say he'll be pro-Israel. Maybe, but at what price? And They could care less about what he'll do to the U.S.

It would probably be easy being Vegan here. I'm thinking that lots of baked goods are parve. That means they contain no dairy. Eggs are possible. Because most people here keep meat and milk separate, non-dairy pastry/breads make sense. Also good for lactose intolerance.

We meet Stuart & Ellyn (they were at seminary with us) at the synagogue at 5pm. So, this is it for today. Dinner is at the Terri’s afterwards. We're all talkers so I assume it will be a late night.

Toby

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