Shabbat Shalom ~ Chayei Sarah 2024

Shalom WJC Family,

“Excuse me, do you have a turkey baster?” It was apparently the most difficult question you could pose to someone in Jerusalem in 1997, even the guys who ran the stalls with kitchen gadgets in Mahane Yehudah. Back then, the Mahane Yehudah Market was still more Middle Eastern shuk than American food court; more butcher, fish, and vegetable stalls than bars, cafes, and prepared food shops. And there were kitchen gadget stalls. So, when November came around and Tami and I decided to prepare Thanksgiving dinner, we found ourselves going from stall to stall, and shop to shop, asking, ““Excuse me, do you have a turkey baster?”

The second most difficult question to answer apparently was, “Do you know how to say ‘turkey baster’ in Hebrew?” Followed by many mangled Hebrew questions, always including one English phrase, like, “K’mo ‘eye dropper’ aval gadol,” or “Zeh gadget la’asot turkey wet.” You can imagine how far that got us. Eventually one clever shopkeeper understood what we were saying, or at least the desired results of the process. “Turkey baster?” He asked in thickly accented Hebrew,

“Yes, yes!” We answered excitedly.

  “l’tarnagol hodu?” (for a turkey?) He asked.

“ken, ken!” (yes, yes!) We answered even more excitedly.

“Ein ba’ayah” (no problem).

He reached behind into a bin and pulled out a large spoon and said triumphantly, “turkey baster!” And, after an hour and a half of hunting for a turkey baster, we gladly purchased it for a shekel or two, and we were so grateful for the spoon we weren’t looking for. Now that’s Thanksgiving.

And that’s the thing about real gratitude. It isn’t so much the art of receiving everything you want and saying thanks; it is more the art of recognizing the value in what you have by saying thanks. It is part of the reason why even in a country we call home but is culturally foreign, even in that sacred, turkey baster-less city, even in that land that didn’t know from that Thanksgiving holiday, we managed to have one of the most meaningful holidays ever – and the turkey wasn’t dry at all!

May you have that kind of Thanksgiving this year. And may we all succeed in using gratitude to recognize all the good things we have, even when the world seems so chaotic and dangerous.

One thing I am very grateful for is my experience on The Ride for the Living last summer. I hope you can join us as Jonathan Ornstein, CEO of the JCC Krakow and Founder of The Ride for the Living, comes as our Friday night guest speaker at 8pm after Rhythm & Ruach at 7pm. Following an inspirational Friday night, I am also excited to share an evening of laughter with many of you on Saturday night with Israeli comedian Joel Chasnoff at “Laughter is the Best Medicine.” There is also an opportunity to learn with Joel in the morning at brunch starting at 10am. Last, but not least, I want to say that I am  grateful for this wonderful community I have the privilege to serve.

See you in shul and wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday,