Friday Afternoon.
Things are starting to open up here a little bit. I dropped Val off today to get a pedicure, which she hasn’t had in several months, since the shops just reopened up, much less busy than usual, etc, fewer people allowed in the shop, masks, alcohol sanitiser, etc, and while she was there I went to the grocery store, the Rami Levy, to pick up a few things for shabbat. It was late for a friday afternoon, just before 2:30PM. The morning rush was over, the parking lot was starting to empty out. As I walked back to the car with my groceries, it was a beautiful day out, sunny, a few white puffy cumulus overhead, and a nice cool breeze blowing. The parking lot was starting to empty out since it was getting to the late afternoon before Shabbat. The Israeli flags on the parking lot street lights were fluttering in the breeze. The city had a quietness to it, as it prepared to welcome the shabbat. As I drove to pick up Val at the salon, I had the windows down, the air blowing over me, and the radio tuned to the talk radio station i’ve been listening to in an attempt to improve my Hebrew. Even the talk radio station had music on, some easy listening israeli music, some American mixed in. Then the DJ came on, I guess his show was ending, and said shabbat shalom to everyone. Then he played a saxophone solo version of Hatikvah. (probably because it’s only a couple days after Israeli Independence Day) It took me a while to even figure out what it was, it was so jazzed up. I found a random jazz hatikvah solo on youtube which i’ve linked to below, but i don’t think its the same one. Right after that song, they played another jazz sort of version of Shalom Aleichem, the song which is usually sung Friday night as a call for everyone to come to table for shabbat dinner to begin. As jazz is, and honestly I’m not a big jazz fan, it was slow, smooth, and flowing. And complimented perfectly by the warm breeze pouring in through the open car windows. When you think about what an authentically Jewish culture looks like in its native soil, this is it. Sure, you can listen to those songs on youtube or on iTunes anytime you want, in whatever country you’re in. But you just don’t get Shalom Aleichem on live radio in the US or Canada. This wasn’t a religious thing, it’s just what the feeling is here.
שבת שלום