Well here it is Sunday evening. I was up in time to get over to the temple for this week's Judaism 101 (not to be confused with the all-important Intro To Judaism) class where this week's subject was, for the most part, Shabbat.
We all got a neat handout of a few pages with prayers and things, under the title "Welcoming Shabbat". One of the fundamental admonishments in there is to "Share our bread with the hungry, clothe the naked, and never to hide ourselves from our kin".
The last, "never to..." thing really hit home with me because the standard American way of doing things is, if you do better than your family members, you indeed "hide yourself" from them; you ostracize them and most emphatically do not share your wealth with them, however they might need it and however much it might change their lives.
This is why I just about fell off of my chair when, in high school, I was writing a book review and had chosen a book about Einstein of course. In it I read that it was the custom of rich Jews to invite a poor Jew to their Friday night dinner, the grandest dinner of the week. It astounded me. I, like any properly raised American, knew that it was standard for rich people to keep poor people far away from them, and especially if the poor person was a student, hence smart and having a tiny chance of being competition for the rich people.
This was the first hint I had that there is a different way for a society to work. If I am able some day, hopefully not too long from now, step off of a plane in Israel, there to stay, I will be able to say, "Einstein brought me here".
It was downright cold outside, grey with a cold wind, and after class I went over to the Peet's on The Alameda and got a good study session in. Then I went over to Walmart and got stuff, picked up a few bubble mailers on the way back, and stopped at Nijiya for a bento which I ate back here.
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