Recap: Daniel is going to the Friday night dinner at Yisroel Meir’s house. He’s hoping they can be friends, since he and his father will be living at the university for a whole year. He’s curious what the Friday night meal will be like.
Friday night, I strolled down the street. The sun was sinking in a fiery orange ball. Streaks of pink and yellow splashed the sky. I studied the map that showed a straight line with just two right turns. I passed houses with neat lawns and assorted yellow, red, and lavender mums and late blooming pink roses.
The Diamonds’ house was a small brown house with a line of sunflowers and deep purple pansies in front. A group of college students stood outside chatting.
I strode up to the door and rang the bell.
A college student ran over to me. “You’re not supposed to do that. It’s Shabbos.”
“Uh, sorry,” I mumbled. I was thinking that maybe I should just go home.
Yisroel Meir opened the door. “Hey, Daniel.”
“I’d already messed up by ringing the doorbell.
Yisroel Meir and his father and some of the college students started out to synagogue. “Want to come?” he asked me.
I wasn’t sure, but I decided to go with him.
In the synagogue, people were praying and then there was singing and even some dancing, and Yisroel Meir pointed out the place in the prayer book. I liked the singing, and I felt a different feeling inside the synagogue. I’d never been in a synagogue before. I couldn’t describe the feeling, but it was a warm, comfortable feeling like I belonged here.
We walked back together. “You never had Shabbos before?” he asked.
I shook my head.
I sat next to Yisroel Meir at the long dining room table. The college students were all clustered near his father, Rabbi Diamond. His mother and little sisters sat at the other end and Yisroel Meir and I were closer to the college students.
His father explained everything before he did it. I watched him give a blessing to each of his six children. Yisroel Meir was the oldest. He even offered a blessing to all the guests.
There was a warm feeling in the room, with the candles flickering and the crystal wine glasses and fine china on the table.
Rabbi Diamond went around and introduced everyone. Then he shared a d’var Torah about the Torah portion.
I helped Yisroel Meir serve the meal. Everything was delicious and I sat watching the faces of each of Yisroel Meir’s siblings and I felt a pang. I wished I could have a family like this with brothers and sisters sitting together at such a special meal all focused on each other. No one had a phone. There were no annoying distractions.
If only Dad would come see this.
After the meal, I helped Yisroel Meir clear the table.
He offered to walk me back.
We strolled together under a starry sky.
“That was really special. Thank you so much for inviting me.”
“I’m glad that you could come. You really never had a Shabbos dinner before?”
“Never.”
“What about your grandparents? Didn’t they have Shabbos?”
I didn’t know anything about my grandparents. Every time I asked my father about his parents, he would change the subject. One time, it seemed like he was getting mad at me for asking.
“My mom died when I was a baby, and I never met her parents. They died earlier.”
“We have people over every week, and I’m sure you’re invited to come next week again.”
I wished the invitation was more personal, but still it was nice of him to invite me.
“I’d like that. Maybe my dad will come then.”
As we neared the campus I asked him, “What school do you go to?”
“I go to Magen Yeshiva.”
“Is that a public school?”
“No, it’s a Jewish school. My parents wouldn’t send me to a public school.”
“Oh, I was hoping you’d be at the school I’m going to.”
We’d reached the library where I first met him, and there was loud chanting and a large group of people standing in front. Some were holding Palestinian flags, and some held signs. The signs said bad things about Jews.
My heart pounded.
One man, wearing a red keffiyeh, only a few feet away, was planting Palestinian flags all over on the ground. He also had a big sign that said, “Death to the Jews.”
Yisroel Meir clenched his fists. His face turned red. He bent over and started pulling out the flags. I bent to help him.
Another protestor saw what we were doing and screamed to the man who had planted the flags. “Ahmed, look!”
The angry man wearing the red keffiyeh shrieked, “Stop!” He lunged towards Yisroel Meir and me.
“Run!” Yisroel Meir screamed.
To be continued…
Susie Garber is the author of an historical fiction novel, Flight of the Doves (Menucha Publishing, 2023), Please Be Polite (Menucha Publishers, 2022), A Bridge in Time (Menucha Publishing, 2021), Secrets in Disguise (Menucha Publishers, 2020), Denver Dreams (a novel, Jerusalem Publications, 2009), Memorable Characters…Magnificent Stories (Scholastic, 2002), Befriend (Menucha Publishers, 2013), The Road Less Traveled (Feldheim, 2015), fiction serials and features in Binah Magazine and Binyan Magazine, “Moon Song” in Binyan (2021-2022), and Alaskan Gold ( 2023-2024).
