A Murder in Baltimore, a Murder in Rechovot
Crystal and Debbie have been cleaning my father’s home every week for the past 25 years. When the cleaning company they worked for announced it was closing around 5 years ago, Debbie (she later told me) said to Crystal, “Listen, we have so many old people depending on us to clean their homes. Like Mr. […]
Read MoreLag Sameach!
I’m flying in a few hours to visit my father in Baltimore. A plane is a strange place to be spending Lag BaOmer night, so high up in the sky that I won’t even be able to smell the smoke that will be filling much Israel. But I’ve got some downloaded Lag BaOmer classes, and […]
Read MoreOur 41 Chinese Guests
This Friday we hosted our first big Chinese group since COVID, 41 university professors and other staff members from southern China. This was an especially exciting group for us because the last time we hosted a large Chinese group was in January 2020. I remember how I thought at the time that they were overreacting […]
Read MoreA Surprising Reunion at the Travel Agency
Today Josh and I made a presentation about our home-hospitality business at a large travel agency near Tel Aviv. There were maybe 25 tour operators at the meeting, and afterwards everyone left the meeting room except for one petite woman with shoulder-length brown hair wearing jeans and a t-shirt. “Chana, you look familiar to me, […]
Read MoreMy Dream Shabbat?
This Friday night was my perfect Friday night. We hosted a group of lovely tourists from Atlanta, non-Jews as well as Jews who’d never experienced a traditional Shabbat before. They came early enough for me to light Shabbat candles with them, and after we lit and said the blessing all together I told them “Shabbat […]
Read MoreMy Magical Megillah
On a recent trip to visit my father, he gave me a very special gift. An antique silver Megillat Esther which he inherited from his mother, my grandmother, who had a sizable and wonderful judaica collection. I don’t know if my grandmother ever used this megillah. But I know my parents never did. In fact, […]
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