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18 Sivan 5759, June 2, 1999 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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Home and Family
Laugh some, cry some, `shep some Yiddishe nachas' from our Baal Tshuva neophyte yeshiva bochur as he fields some difficult situations


DEAR DIARY - Part III
by R' Pinchos Kantrowitz

DEAREST DIARY,

I just learned from Irwin that today is called `Erev Shabbos', the day preceding the Sabbath. I was getting ready for any old Friday, so it came as a bit of a surprise to me. Irwin kept popping into our room saying, "Shabbos! Shabbos! Shabbos! One who prepares on Erev Shabbos, eats on Shabbos! C'mon folks, let's get movin'!"

He has made extensive arrangements for all of us to eat at different families for the entire Shabbos. "Fasten your seatbelts, folks," he warned us. "This is going to be a Real Ex-tra-va-gan-za of a Shabbos," quoting some rabbi at his yeshiva. Well, I can hardly wait, after everything we've been through so far, and he hasn't yet warned us to `fasten our seatbelts.' I can hardly wait.

I sort of have an image what it will be like, which I would like to compare `before the fact', and we'll see how it stacks up to the actual event `after the fact'. Really, I can't even begin to imagine what the whole Shabbos will be like with this `extravaganza' at all of these different families, but Irwin mentioned that we will be visiting an older European rabbi and rebbetzin, that's his wife, by the way, for one meal, and it is about this meal that I would like to conjecture. I could just picture us in some tiny, quaint but rapidly dilapidating apartment in old Jerusalem, filled with Jewish artifacts like candelabra, Kiddush cup, Menora, snuff box from a bygone era in old Europe. The rebbetzin will be tottering around, making sure all her grandparents' china is just right. She'll be muttering, "Ess, mein kindt, ess! You must be very hunkery with all this traveling, no?" as she plies us with gefilte fish and chicken soup. What else? The rabbi will be beaming. "Irving iz lerrnin' in yeshiva. Dos iz gut! Dos iz gut! He should lerrn a little sumpin' there, become a shtikel talmid chuchum, maybe. Better than university, no? At least he can really learn a little sumpin', no?" See - I still remember ah shtickel from my Bubbie's house. Mark my words, dearest, you'll see that I won't be far off.

Anyway, things were more peaceful between Melvin and Irwin today. But both remain wary of one another. Oh, here comes Irwin, again, cheering us along with his "Shabbos! Shabbos! Shabbos!' I had really better start getting ready if I want to `eat on Shabbos'! Maybe they won't let me into the house if I don't look presentable. I don't know. Oh, one more thing. Irwin tells me that I won't be able to write to you on Shabbos (or write anything, for that matter). So, a guttin Shabbos to you. I'll write to you on motzei Shabbos (the night following Shabbos) if I can, bli nedder - without oath, as Irwin often says.

All my love,

Gertrude

Since our Shabbos entry is very long, and so as not to keep you in suspense a full week, we will begin Part IV)

DEAREST DIARY,

I'm still crying, dearest. I just can't seem to stop. Irwin implored me numerous times to please stop crying. Melvin, in his typical tactful and gentle style, told me to shut up before he shuts me up. I simply cried more. By the end of Shabbos, I was so moved by the entire experience that I just couldn't seem to stop. Irwin's `extravaganza Shabbos' was really quite the thing.

Where to begin? Where to begin? I guess at the beginning, that's always a nice place to begin, isn't it? With Irwin's encouragement, or, rather, nudging, we managed to prepare for `Shabbos, Shabbos, Shabbos'. This is no small achievement for people like us, real shleppers, if I must admit so myself. But we were prepared on Erev Shabbos so Irwin said we merited to `eat on Shabbos'. Sweet and generous of him, wasn't it?

So here we were, showered, spiffed up in our Shabbos best, lights adjusted so as not to be altered for the entire Shabos, and to top it all off, all `mooktza' put away. O.K. O.K. I laughed when I heard the word, also, and that's enough already. `Mooktza' basically means `hands off', `off limits', literally `pushed away' or not to be used for the duration of the Shabbos. Some examples that I remember are money - I couldn't touch it for the entire day. At first I thought I would plotz. As it turned out, it was actually quite a relief to be free from its consuming influence for a whole day. Rocks, pens - Oy, vey! So many times I felt like picking up my pen and writing to you, but I held tough and kept `hands off'. Television - didn't bother me a bit. It drove Melvin crazy not to watch the news, but it was a relief for me not to hear all those depressing things. The list included hammers etc. etc. etc. which we could live with - rather, without, for a day.

Anyway, we were prepared, amazing as it sounds, and a good thing, because I was hungry!

 

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