Finally some silence as the Itzie caravan drove on through the first night. When the bus reached Albuquerque, the weary pilgrims stopped for a break at a small synagogue & community center where they were greeted by the center's spiritual leader, Rabbi Moish Neuberger, an old classmate of Itzie. In anticipation of the pilgrim bus, Rabbi Moish set up a rest station with cots where they could nap and offered them full use of the center's facilities where they could eat, wash up and of course, pray.
"Would it be possible to make a short phone call, Rabbi Moish?" Harry asked."I left L.A. in a hurry with some unfinished business."
"With pleasure my friend, providing the person you're calling doesn't mind being woken up three o'clock in the morning."
"He might..."
Rabbi Moish led Harry into his cramped office. It was lined with charity jars jammed with change, stacks of holy books and strewn-about pamphlets. The rabbi opened the bottom drawer of his desk, pulled out a box of cookies, blew off the dusty cover and offered Harry a piece.
"Kichel?"
Harry passed on the dry, sugary cookie. "No kichel, thanks."
"A good piece of kichel can fortify the soul. And now for a tasty late night indulgence." Rabbi Moish chuckled before biting into the flaky twisted cookie, oblivious to the avalanche of crumbs and sugar chunks cascading down into his thick black beard. "Yummm, let the others eat their pizza pies into the wee hours of the morning, but for me, the humble kichel does the trick!" Rabbi Moish finished the piece of kichel took another one out of the box. "Make yourself at home...Mr.--"
"Harry, Harry Starr."
"And what may I ask is your Hebrew name?"
"My Hebrew name? Uhhh... Chaim."
"Then Chaim it shall be, my new chaver. And your father's Hebrew name?"
"Uhhh...Shlomo..."
"So we have a Chaim ben Shlomo here. Chaim ben Shlomo, a mellifluous sounding name...Now Chaim ben Shlomo, please allow me to give you a blessing for a successful call," he said while unwittingly sprinkling kichel crumbs around the office during his bookshelf search for the leftover bottle of Coke from breakfast.
"There you are my friend the Coca Cola bottle? Hiding mischievously behind a box of shabbos candles? What a little scamp, that bottle of pop!" He took a swig of the flat Coke. More kichel crumbs fluttered like snowflakes from his beard onto the unswept floor.
"Ah, Coca Cola, a sweet elixir indeed, but now I have a strong craving for some pickled herring on a soda cracker." The rabbi opened the mini-fridge in the office and pulled out a sticky jar of pickled herring.
"My secret pantry," he confided while digging into the bottom drawer of his desk and fishing out a half-eaten pack of soda crackers. With a sly grin he said,"Care to partake in some late night munchies, Chaim ben Shlomo?"
"No thanks." Harry held back from gagging just as a mouse darted over his feet and across the floor. It disappeared into a pile of old Purim props stacked up behind the door.
The rabbi chuckled, "No need for alarm, my friend. That gentle creature lives here and bothers no one. Just another of God's wonders."
No comments:
Post a Comment