Yam Ha Melach (The Salt Sea) aka The Dead Sea
Friday, August 24, 2007
Shabbat comes in at about 6:57 p.m. (The time is posted in the newspapers.) But the people started coming in to this hotel right on the Sea all day Friday. Young and old. Very healthy and the infirm. Most in families. The health benefits of the Sea and its environs draws them. Even in this hot (110 F) weather.
I looked forward to my first Shabbat meal. Every day the Mediterranean food buffet is wonderfully varied in its tastes. (I actually feel sorry for those who won’t try the tasty and healthy cuisine. If you are joining me here on our Rosh Hashanah Tour, decide now not to miss the food.) But on Shabbat there are certain foods one can count on to be there. Gifelta fish, for instance, with horse radish and beet sauce. This is a food from the Ashkenazi (European) Jewish community. It’s right there midst all the food favorites of the Jews who came from the Mediterranean and Arabian Diaspora.
Shelli and I walked into the (heder ochel) the dining room when it opened at 6:30. White tablecloths covered the tables. A small bottle of wine labeled “Sweet Kiddush Wine” sat atop each one. The Israelis around us simply poured the wine and began to eat. Was there no one who would make the Kiddush (pray over the wine and the bread as in our Communion)? Then I remembered. It is summer. The days are long. Shabbat begins in the evening at 6:57. The religious Jews would be in the Synagogue at prayer until later. (Every hotel provides a synagogue for its guests.)
We finished the delicious meal and sat in the lobby. About 8:15 a long line of those who had been at prayer came through to the dining room. Men wearing kippahs (yarmulkes). Women wearing festive dress. A large group of Yemenite Jews sat in chairs drawn up in a circle while they waited for a table to sit together. Joyously, they began to sing the Yemenite songs. The Jews from Yemen left the Land it is said in the days of Solomon. They went to the far South.
Oh yes, I noticed something new on the Shabbat buffet. Black caviar. The Russian Jews have come back in large numbers since 1991. Their ancestors went to the North.
Here I sit again. Touching shoulders with prophecy fulfilled. He has brought them back from the North, the South, the East, and the West.
After dinner, most gathered in the lobby for live music and dancing. No hard drinks. Young and old. Children. Families. The music is enjoyable. Fun.
Never mind the headlines speak of Syria and Missiles and IDF buildup in the North. It is Shabbat. One is not even to think of business, let alone those troublesome things.
Next Shabbat I am going to eat with the 8:30 crowd.
Shabbat Shalom
Billye Brim
