Blog/December 2010/Dec 17th

Dec 17th (See this week's devar torah)
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Hi again!

Rain, rain, come again! Go away some other day!!

Sunday was Sarah's birthday, and we had arranged with her to go out to eat at a nice place in Tel Aviv. Sunday arrived and I was just getting better from a cold, and the weather was turning stormy. From our house we couldn't see across the wadi because of the dust in the air. Still, there was no rain, and we didn't want to give Sarah another story for her scroll-of-woe (to explain: something "bad" has happened on every one of her birthdays, since forever. You can get all the details from her).

So your intrepid correspondent and his lovely wife set out from their desert abode, in a moderately small and light car, towards the coastal plain. As we were descending towards Modi'in, we encountered the miracle of mud raining upon us. The car wipers were barely adequate to keep the windshield clear enough to see, but forge on we did. The 100 kmh winds buffeted our modest conveyance, causing it to jump about in a most alarming manner.

As we approached Tel Aviv, the mud became rain (it's a miracle!) and we thought we had seen the worst. We were wrong. The rain became stronger and stronger, until by the time we reached Sarah's apartment it was a full-blown deluge. We picked her up, and commenced to float towards the restaurant (sadly, our vehicle is not amphibious, nor are we). In an unexpected burst of good luck, we found a parking spot just one block from our destination. We had arrived! Well, almost...

When we opened the car doors, the rain intensified so that, though we ran for cover, we were all completely soaked by the time we had gone ten paces. Waiting for the rain to subside a bit, we comforted ourselves with the idea that a warm restaurant was only one short block away.

You probably don't know this, but it's a good fact to stash away: the office buildings' downspouts all point onto the sidewalk. Not only was the runoff from the rain itself flowing down the sidewalk, but so too was the runoff from the roofs of all the office buildings lining this one short block. The water level was at mid-calf; and only Sarah had boots. No matter, just a short block away was a dry sanctuary! We held onto that thought as we dodged floating debris and tried to avoid being swept away by the burgeoning stream.

We made it to the restaurant, but found the door difficult to open. That was because inside the restaurant was several inches of standing water on the floor, and most of the staff was involved in pushing the great flood down an inadequate 4in drainpipe. "Never mind", they said, "have a seat in the dry area". So that's what we did, and I suppose it was a fine meal, but since I was still congested I have no idea what the food tasted like.

When we left the restaurant, the rain had subsided and we figured that now that we were almost dry, a little drizzle wouldn't matter (after all, we had lived in the Seattle area for twenty years!). And just as we got in view of our car, the "heavens opened up" with a lightning bolt and big thunderclap, and we were drenched through and through by the time we got to the car. [Sarah's addition: In the last thirty seconds before we reached the car, the skies opened up and unleashed Icy Stones of Death unto our unsuspecting heads.] At least we had a nice light-show on our way back to our arid haunts!

We did pray for rain, but that was just a bit over-the-top.

Sarah has a shabbaton at her (former) high-school, so she will be mostly not with us. However, we've got guests for dinner, and five seminary girls for lunch. I mean to say, they'll be here for lunch. Hopefully they will be ok with: roasted-eggplant with tehina, roasted vegetables, roasted beets, roast brisket (see a trend here?), chicken with olives, mushroom barley soup, chicken and vegetables in a pot, potato kugel, various homemade salatim and brownies.

Until next week,
shabbat shalom!

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