THANKSGIVING IN EFRAT

We quickly discovered that most American ex-pats living in Israel celebrate Thanksgiving on Friday night. So, we set off for Efrat and had a most wonderful Thanksgiving Shabbat dinner at the home of Amy and Nat. Amy used to be a very successful caterer back in the States, and her kitchen is renowned for the goodness that flows from it. Huge crowds there are the norm. We once enjoyed a Friday night dinner there with over 30 people. This time it was a small crowd- only 15!

We began, of course with shalom aleichem, eishet chayil for the wives, birkat banim for the kids and all the rest of the usual Friday night ritual. Nat spoke about Thanksgiving and how we as Jews give thanks every single day of our lives. He said that we live Thanksgiving, but that it was good to recall the American holiday. We got into a large discussion of wheter or not Thanksgiving was truly an American, secular holiday or, in its roots, a Protestant holiday. We concluded that either way, we were going to enjoy a most wonderfu dinner- and we did. The meal was memorable.

After kiddush and motzi, the first course was a magnificent pumpkin soup served with your choice of mini mandel or croutons. The soup was so good, it actually got quiet at the table as we all shlurped our soup.

Dinner was turkey that defined the terms moist and tender. There was corn pudding (to die for, by the way), which was a first for us. It was really, really good. There were mashed sweet potatoes, home made cranberry sauce, baked onions in gravy, home-made (and served warm) challah, and Brussel sprouts. Yes, Brussel sprouts. Apparently, unlike in the USA where Brussel sprouts are considered a contagion of bugs, in Israel the bugs have been removed! There was salad (of course there was salad- it’s Israel). There was home made pumpkin pie and pareve whipped cream. The pumpkin pie was just right- slightly tangy and sweet at the same time.

Amy is an amazing cook and nothing puts a bigger smile on her face than to see people eating her food! Nat gave a dvar torah and then there were a few more divrei torah by various guests. It was a perfect shabbat night. We sang zmirot. We sang Amy’s and Nat’s praises. We told Nat that when we return in January, please God, we will show up for a few meals, for sure!

Thank you Nat and Amy for giving us a wonderful Thanksgiving away from America.
(RJR)