NY 2005, Day 3

Friday morning: 7:00
I know I'm on vacation but I still woke up early on Friday and went to work with Nani. She teaches up in the S. Bronx. I sat in on her first two periods. The kids are "cool" but wouldn't shut up. It's very hard, as a teacher, to sit in someone else's room and not tell kids to be quiet. Finally, after some kids were very loud, I said, "Look, you're teacher may be deaf, but I'm not! Have some respect". It was actually quite funny ( don't worry, Nani was not offended, we cracked up over it later and it made for a good Shabbos story).

I left Nani at her school and took the train down to the Lower East Side where I simply wanted to walk and wander about. First I had to figure out which direction I was headed. I walked around a bit and realized, I was getting nowhere fast. I knew I wanted to head over to what had become my point of reference in the LES, "The Lower East Side Tenement Museum". Finally I figured out where I was and proceeded up Essex to "The Pickle Guys". I picked up a few jars of different horseradish (two for people back home, one for me). And of course I got tub of half sours :) MMMMM. I also found this building which amazed me. To see stars of David in an apartment building's architecture is different.

Next I stopped at the Judaica store where I spent too much money on 3 mezzuah holders. I needed them, and wanted nice ones that I loved. Trust me, I could have spent SO much more on beautiful mezzuzot. The woman at the store and I were chit chatting. She discovered I am single. She wished me my beshert soon :) And asked that when I'm getting married, I call her and tell her, and order my wedding things there. :) Let's just say I'd love to be making that call!

I began walking back towards the subway but first stopped in the Tenement Museum store; which had changed. When I walked in there were two Chasidic teens in there. Immediately they asked me if I had Shabbos candles. My reply you wonder? "You must be from Chabad?". I said it with a smile, they laughed, we talked for a few minutes, assuring them I have my Chabad hook up in L.A. and discovered they know the rabbi near me back home. Off I went to the subway and back up to Harlem. On the train I was standing next to (oddly enough, but not so much in NY) another orthodox man. He was reading a book and I asked him about it. We chatted a few stops worth of time and he shared how he is a Baal Teshuvah (not modern, not chassidic). When I mentioned I was taking the train to shul, he cringed. My reply? "Hey, we all do things at our own pace and with baby steps". To this statement he agreed and arrived at his stop and departed.

Shabbos services began at 6:45. Nani and I headed to BJ for services. First (for my observant readers, no raised brows please :). BJ is, from what I could make of it, conservative but leaning towards reform. The first problem for me is that the shul shares a space with a church. Before I came to NY I contacted the shul to make sure there were no Christian symbols in the sanctuary, had there been, I would have gone elsewhere. The building was beautiful, the people friendly, the music (yes music, as in 3 or 4 piece Israeli style band) was lovely....but, I'm discovering so much in me and one thing I've learned is that more traditional is for me. I was raised reform, our cantor played acoustic guitar; but even so, I know that a more 'modest' service I like. For example, I love singing in shul, but the rabbi and cantor singing together on microphones on Shabbos felt so much like a concert. During L'cha Dodi the congregants danced circles around the shul. Needless to say, it was lively and energetic. One day I'll find a shul that's the right fit for me; in the meantime, I think I'll keep going to Chabad because the warmness and sense of community is definitely, to me, one of the core essentials of community.

We went over to Nani's friend's place afterwards for a very nice Shabbos dinner. There were about 11 of us in our 20's and 30's. Nani has a great circle of friends! My cousin Danny joined us which was great. Afterwards we went for drinks at a little bar called Banshee and played a GOOFY drinking game of which Nani was SO IRRITATED with me. To make it short, drinking game, each person makes gestures to be done on their turn ( more or less) and I made a not so "pure" gesture and Nani kept having to do it. In the goal of keeping this blog clean...that's all I'll say, don't let your minds wander too much.:)

So, Friday was FULL. Today (yes I'm blogging on Shabbos) will be much more relaxed. We're going to have brunch and then not do much until the evening. More to come later. (including a few pics)