December 2006 8th Day: Shabbat

---

Shabbat as it should be: a day of rest!

All of us still at the hotel happened to meet up at breakfast -- around 8:30-9:00 am. Great buffet breakfast, just wished I wasn't still stuffed from pasta at Steve's apartment last night.

After breakfast met up with Tami's brother who lives near Ashdod. He drove into Tel Aviv with his wife and little boy -- who is just over a year old. So cute! We met in my room for about an hour talking Hebrew about family, his work, where he's lived, etc. What a nice guy. He's helping Tami (and us) with a mitzvah project of buying baby formula for the children in Sderot. I gave him the money and now he will arrange the purchase and delivery through someone in Sderot itself -- good for the economy of the town, and for the mothers who receive the formula.

Then took my first walk -- about 1/2 hour heading north on the promenade along the beach, and a 1/2 hour back. Took a little break in the room (tried out the jacuzzi in the health club, too) and then did another walk -- just another hour around Neve Tzedek and the area close to the hotel. Found the Kimmel restaurant that Ben had recommended (he knows a lot about food, being a chef and foody himself) but didn't stop to eat. On the walk back a voice behind me asked the time -- when I turned (a bit nervous) it was a 70 year old Jewish man named Moshe. We walked together and spoke Hebrew for a half hour. His mother was from Romania and came here around 1936 - entering through Haifa; she was told to marry someone born here or she would be deported. His father (I think) was born here. His mother lived awhile in Old Jerusalem, then came to Tel Aviv. Moshe worked in something like iron works or industry of some kind. Now retired, no family accept a couple of cousins. He was just out for a walk like many today; Tel Aviv people love to walk on Shabbat. Nowhere in particular... I don't know if he was just lonely, friendly, or hoping I'd find a cafe and buy him some coffee. It was a nice interlude. Spoke about the neighborhood. He explained that the little mosque near the hotel was part of a larger Arab neighborhood that's all gone now -- but people still come to pray there. He showed me the street that divided that Arab neighborhood from the Jewish neighborhood before it became all Jewish. We said goodbye at the hotel. A real Israel moment...

It's now dark out; Shabbat is over. I'm headed out to find the Kimmel restaurant again and hopefully a table for one. Our two temple families had late lunches, so I'm on my own for dinner unless I wait until 8 pm or so. Stomach is rumbling, so Laila Tov.

---