A Very Special Shabbat

I’m famous for being very persistent (a real “nudnik”), so after calling many people in the International Office I found Frau Simone who not only spoke English better, but was also very nice.  I explained her about my situation and she found out that everything was set for me!  She sent me an e-mail with my appointments for next week including a phone number that I should call to get the appointment for the heart echography.  The only problem was that the secretary didn’t speak English, so with my best German (which I don’t speak at all) I made the appointment for next Monday at 16pm.  I called back my now dear friend Simone and she verified that I got the correct information :o)  I also have an appointment at 10am on Tuesday with PD Dr. Kai Neben (George I don’t know why I thought it would be Dr. Raab), who I guess will be the attending physician.  I also have to collect urine from the previous 24 hours.  So finally things are working out…

We went out from the apartment really late and after being in Bismarckplatz (downtown) some time we set out a 20 minute walk (Nachita pulling the wheelchair) and there it was: the Heidelberg Synagogue!!! 

People there were so kind to us and Rab Friberg (the University Rab) was such  a wonderful person.  They had arranged a kind of “mechitza” so we could sit on the first floor next to men and not on the second one with the women. 

There were 15 men and Rab Janusz Pawelczyk-Kissin (mom, he is not Hungarian.  He is Polish)  was both the Chazan and the officiant Rab. I new some melodies, but basically it was the same as we do in Chile and I was really moved… I’ve seen that Synagogue in the Internet, but being there was a blessing.

After the service, an old man who had been curiously watching us, approached and introduced himself and said he was a Holocaust survivor who was born on the Kristallnacht.  I wanted to talk to him, but we had to leave for Rab Friberg’s house to celebrate the shabbat.  We walked for 20 minutes and Natascha, his wife, was waiting for us with three of his five kids.  Four students also came with us from the Synagogue.  One was from Greece and the others were Germans from other cities.  We had a beautiful shabbat we sang zmirot and stayed there until 23.30!  The food was delicious and the kids behaved so well.  They spoke German, English, Spanish and Hebrew! The ten year old boy made the Kiddush…

All of these happened while Bassam was at the hospital, got the PICC line inserted and was ready to start the mobilization.  I thought about him all day long and prayed for him at the Synagogue…