Shabbat 7 June 2003

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After dinner Friday evening, Lisa and I hung out and played Scrabble and cards. In the morning, I went to a shul in Baka called Yedidya. Although it is an Orthodox shul, it is quite liberal (the mechitza is nearly transparent, the Torah is processed through both the men's and women's sides, etc.) Most of the congregation is American or British olim. The davenning was energetic and I enjoyed it a lot.

After services, I got an invitation to have lunch with a family from the congregation. It was an interesting mix of people. Ed is a Conservative rabbi who now works in the Education Department of the Jewish Agency. His wife Minda and two of their children were there, as well as the daughter of a family friend who is in college with the sister of someone else from the Hornstein program. Ed and Minda's daughter had two of her friends over as well, and the parents of one of her friends were there (Debbie Cooper, a well known photographer of Israel and her husband David, a journalist). I really enjoyed the meal and the company. It was interesting to watch the children (they are about 11 or 12), who are fully bilingual and speak both English and Hebrew without an accent. Among themselves, they generally spoke Hebrew, but to the adults they generally spoke English.

After lunch, I returned to Ramat Rachel for a swim, and then spent some time reading by the pool. After making havdalah, most of us went to a concert by Rami Kleinstein near Tel Aviv. While the concert was excellent, I must confess that I slept through parts of it (not having had my Shabbat nap).

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