The strange, funny and meaningful things that happen out in the trenches as Chabad representatives go about their business . . .
Mendy Kesselman, Frisco, TX
Shabbos afternoons can get very long at home, especially for the kids. Playdates aren’t an option as there are no young families within walking distance, and most of our usual weekday activities are not appropriate for Shabbos. So it’s always a challenge to find creative ways to entertain the kids. This particular Shabbos, I took the kids on a walk and improvised a game of I Spy: See if you can find homes with mezuzahs on the door, I told them. Sure enough, they spotted a home with a mezuzah, and our outing was becoming fun. We walked up to the door with the mezuzah, and I knocked. The door opened up a tiny crack. “Sorry, not interested,” said the gentleman on the other side. I discerned my native South African accent in those few words, and in the split second that I had before the door was shut in my face, I replied with the only words that I remembered in Afrikaans: “Hoe gaan dit?” That’s Afrikaans for “how are you?” The guy, clearly excited to meet a fellow South African, smiled broadly, opened the door wide and invited us in. Soon enough we discovered connections that we share back in South Africa.
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