Ruminations upon Saturday August 10, 2024 in London, England
Shabbat morning, Emily had chocolate chip challah treats waiting for the kids. We slowly got ourselves moving – it was hard to motivate Amichai and Eitan to get ready for shul (synagogue) with so many books to read. Eventually, we walked to the shul right around the corner. Chaim and I went to daven (pray) while the boys found a reading nook and enjoyed more books. This was the first time we made it to davening (prayers) since we’d left on our adventure. It was only our second Shabbat away and it felt like it had been ages. So much had happened already.
The sounds and words of the prayers were both familiar and strange. It was all the same, even the tunes. The British Hebrew accents were different, serving as a reminder that we were far from home. I was caught off guard when the leader recited the prayer for the government. In America, we recite a prayer asking God to protect the president, the government, and all armed forces. No one specific is named. I had assumed it would be the same in England and was not prepared to hear King Charles III’s or any other royal family member named. It was a great educational moment that reminded me while Jewish communities have so many similarities, the small differences highlight the varied lived experiences we have based on where we call home.
After davening ended, we were introduced to a lovely family who happened to have lived in Potomac, MD and sent their children to one of the day schools in the area. As it happened, they knew my sister and brother-in-law, and their daughter had been in the same class as one of my nieces. That feeling of small Jewish world surged as we connected over shared friends and family. I was so enjoying my chat that the rest of the Kirby clan left without me. Eventually, my new friends and I made our way out of the shul toward home.
As we said farewell, the strangest event occurred. The road we were walking on is a pretty busy street, with cars going in both directions. A stray dog, imagine Lady from “Lady and the Tramp”, ran at full speed across the road, zigzagging the whole way. Chaos ensued. All of the cars braked hard to avoid hitting it. Then the dog did it again in reverse direction. Several random strangers from nearby restaurants, cars, and pedestrians coming from shul stopped what they were doing to try and catch the dog. Eventually, a woman across the street was able to calm the dog and start petting it while another woman halfway down the road determinedly walked toward them with a leash and collar. Someone called out to her, asking if she was the dog’s owner. She said, “No, but I have a collar and a leash, and I know what to do.” With that, she took over the situation and everyone returned to their regularly scheduled programs. Thankfully, no animal or human was hurt during this episode.
I made my way back to Emily’s house where we were soon joined by Carine, Simo, and Leah, another friend from my gap year who I had not seen or connected with in ages. It was such a treat for me to be with friends and reminisce about our days of yore and catching up on how and what friends were doing after so much time apart. Emily bent over backwards to make meat for the boys who had been complaining about not having meat options while we travelled due to the scarcity of kosher meat available in the places we had visited, thus far. They barely ate, leaving their bellies empty for the ice cream and ices they knew were for dessert. Although we should have monitored how much ice cream and ice pops the boys had, Chaim and I were spent, and honestly grateful for the chance to sit back and relax. We let the boys eat to their hearts content, which in retrospect may (okay, definitely) have contributed to Shai’s later stomach woes. I, on the other hand, ate my heart out.
After Shabbat ended, Emily demanded that I show her where our next Airbnb was located. It was in Wembley and from what I could tell we were within a 30-minute walk of a shul and near bus stops. Emily was determined to make sure we were in a comfortable location with good public transportation to kosher food and central London, and within a very short walking distance of a shul for the following Shabbat. Within minutes, Emily announced that we could not stay at the Airbnb we had scheduled because it didn’t fit any of the above criteria. Chaim and I jumped on Airbnb to see what other options there were. It was a little more money, but we lucked out and found a kosher Airbnb a few yards from a shul and multiple bus stops, not to mention a third bedroom. We canceled the other property, which we still had time to do for a full refund and grabbed this new Airbnb. Simultaneously, Emily jumped on her community WhatsApp group to ask if anyone would be able to host us for Friday night dinner and Shabbat lunch for the upcoming weekend. Within an hour, someone had already said yes to hosting us for dinner and someone else gave a tentative yes for lunch. We felt so welcomed, loved, and taken care of.
Pleased with ourselves for being flexible, and eternally grateful to Emily for taking charge and making it all happen, we went to sleep.
