Shabbat September 23-24

Shalom chaverim! Rafi and I experienced a very restful Shabbat and hope you did as well :) Friday morning we woke up and had a long morning. We dawdled at the house with Rafi on the machshev (computer) and me cleaning house to get it Shabbat-ready), had breakfast and ended up getting out later than we had originally hoped to do our pre-Shabbat shopping. We walked to our nearby grocery and realized that there would be loooonngg lines when we checked out. We grabbed a cart and began our shopping; we needed to pick up wine, challah, matzah ball mix, onions, cucumbers, peaches, a mango, juice, and pita. We had decided in advance to skip the challah at the supermarket because the one we tried last week was not our favorite. The lines at the end were super long - with every one out at that same time gathering reserves for the Shabbat shutdown of all of the stores in the area. Israelis are really aggressive when they are in line at the grocery store (and just about all other times in their day), and one is able to witness some pushing done by adults and an overall disgruntled behavior. It is a good thing that Shabbat is a part of the Jewish people. Without it, I think that some of us around here especially would become so disgruntled that they would burst. I think that Shabbat gives them a chance to breathe and refocus themselves for the coming week.

After successfully navigating our way through the craze of shopping carts and people, we finally paid for our food and packed it into my tote bag. We decided to drop it off at home before beginning our search for a delicious challah. We found a bakery soon enough, and noticed that they had two challahs left! We quickly bought ours and took our doughy manna home where I began to cook for Shabbat. That morning, I had already straightened and tidied the rooms in our apartment so Rafi swept the house nice and clean while I cooked (we had been tracking a bunch of sand in the house from our visits to the beach). Again, since we are trying our best to keep all the aspects of Shabbat that we can, I prepared all of the meals for the entire 25 hours. I started by making lunch for the next day.

I made a variation on a dish that we love to eat during Shabbat celebrations at Chabad UW: soy sauce noodles. Chaya makes this dish and it is always a favorite. Since I didn't have the recipe for it, I created one that seemed plausible. I used whole wheat noodles that we already had and boiled them. After draining out the water, I eye-balled vegetable oil and soy sauce onto the noodles and stirred it all together. You should definitely have more soy sauce than oil (you shoudn't use much oil, but depending on how many noodles you make you could use a couple of tablespoons - you want a light coating over the noodles). The noodles should look a tad darker from the soy sauce. I also chopped some onions, sauteed them for a bit (not too long - I still wanted them to have a slight crunch) and added them to the soy sauce noodles. I cut a chicken breast into small pieces and cooked them in teriyaki sauce. After this was all complete, I wrapped up the chicken and the noodles in separate containers and popped them in the fridge, not to be seen until the next day. After that, I began to work my magic on the matzah ball soup. Yum! In the soup I put, a sliced-up chicken breast, potatoes, one carrot, egg noodles, green onion, white onions, and of course, matzah balls. I also sliced cucumbers, mango, and other things of the sort to have available throughout Shabbat.

When Shabbat arrived, I lit the candles and we enjoyed their glow while Rafi and I went through a bit of Kabbalat Shabbat (a prayer service welcoming the Sabbath). It was nice because neither of us had done this for a while. At one point, we even stood up and began dancing around in circles, arm in arm. We then moved on to Kiddush (blessing the wine) and then the washing of our hands followed by Hamotzi (blessing the challah). We began the Shabbat candle-lit meal excitedly - we were hungry! The soup was oh, so yummy! Just what we needed after so many days upon days of eating schug (the spicy chili sauce we had been eating with almost every meal). The challah was indeed MUCH better than the supermarket one. Wow! Fresh and delicious with a great challah flavor :) Just what I needed! I had hummus to dip the challah in which is quite a delicacy. We also shared fresh, crisp slices of cucumber. I will mention that the matzah balls were unlike any matzah ball I have had in the States. They were made without oil - the directions said to just beat the matzah mix with two eggs. They seemed drier than the ones I am used to.

After two bowls of soup, we were quite full so we returned the leftovers to their respective places and began lounging. We literally relaxed for hours just talking and sharing stories about anything and everything from when we were young, all the way up until now. We read our books for a little and went to bed.

The next morning, we woke up late. The entire day on Shabbat we only ate, read, relaxed, and ate some more. We did Havdalah (the ceremony indicating the end of Shabbat and the start of the new week). The end of Shabbat is very interesting to me here. I think it is definitely because we are basically Shomer Shabbat. I can actually feel the end of Shabbat creep up slowly as the sun sets on Saturday night. This is because we often do not have any lights on in the apartment aside from our bathroom light. During daylight hours, we keep our blinds open to let the light in, but during sunset, it begins to get quite dark and an odd feeling settles. It seems like an in-between period because we cannot yet turn lights on and begin to do regular things, yet, it is still Shabbat and a time to relax. During this time, Rafi and I played card games near the bathroom light. When we turn on the first light after doing Havdalah, it seems strange and out of place - something that does not belong in the Shabbat realm. We still feel like we are a part of this Shabbat world. This is how we know that Shabbat is still with us and will continue with us throughout the beginning of the week while we get used to the weekdays. This is a way that Shabbat helps to rejuvenate us - I think that just as we prepare for Shabbat, Shabbat prepares us for the coming week.