Yesterday, was the first "real" rain of the season. It's hard to describe the sense of excitement here at the first rain.
Having been caught out with no jacket or umbrella, as the water poured down, I took refuge in Cafe Aroma, the Israeli equivalent to Starbucks. It seemed at least fifty of my soon-to-be closest Israeli friends had the same idea, and as I settled in with a coffee and waited for the skies to clear, the woman I was sharing a table with struck up a conversation.
We exchanged the pleasantries of where one-another is from - in broken hebrew, I learned that her name is Iti, she was born and raised in Jerusalem, she has a daughter, three sons, and several grandchildren. Sitting where we were, just outside the old city of Jerusalem, the conversation quickly turned to religion. What I have often heard, is that Israelis describe themselves as staunchly either "religious" or "secular" with little in between. Iti told me that she is not religious. But, she made a point of emphasizing, "I fast on Yom Kippur. And although I am not Shomer Shabbat, tonight is Friday night, and my children are coming over - we will make Kiddush together".
She asked me how old I was, and offered me some dating advice. "There are lots of shidduchim these days, and you don't have to be so religious. Tell your Rabbi, that 'this is what I am like', and he will find someone for you. The Rabbi, he knows everyone". I decided not to offer up that the rabbi I would be asking to set me up, and who in fact has once offered to set me up, is actually a "she".
As we ended up on the topic of the role of women in Judaism, "I don't understand what it is with these women, who wear tzitzit, and who want to be rabbis! It's not possible here in Israel! There is a role for men, and a space for women". We had had a spirited back and forth up until now, and I smiled a little, and told her how in couple of weeks, I would be going to witness and celebrate an amazing Israeli woman, Chen, become a rabbi at Hebrew Union College. She stopped. "Really? Here?" "Yes, here in Jerusalem".
She paused for a minute. Her expression softened, and somewhat hopefully, she asked me, "And you? When are you going to become a rabbi?". As the rain started to clear, I got up to leave. With wonderful warmth and sincerity, she wished me well. "All of my best to you", she said "good luck, may all good things and blessings come to you".
It was a sweet conversation, one that wouldn't have happened were it not for being caught out in the rain.
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