A Weekend in Syracuse, Or In Which We Brave A Visit to Chabad

[debka_notion]

jakal88 and I spent this weekend at my place.  We had a quiet and relaxing Friday night on our own.  I think the only item of note was that by the time we finished the soup I made, we were full enough to skip the potatoes and go straight to dessert (even though my muffins ended up with flat tops for a second time- I don't know quite what went wrong with them.  Still, they're tasty anyways, so I suppose that's all that matters).  

Saturday, however, I decided that I wanted to go to shul, and didn't feel like walking the several miles to either of the vaguely local Conservative shuls.  So we braved the local Chabad house, which was quite an experience.  The women's side of the mechitza contained one other woman and a variety of small and very cute children, barely supervised.  It was also the latest davening I've ever attended- they started at 10:30, officially, and while we were late (not helped by my getting a bit turned around in getting us there, such that we went past the location and had to find our way back), they'd clearly also started late.  So we caught most of davening, including a brief dvar Torah which basically amounted to "why the pesakh sheini is so cool, and why it's here and not with the other Pesakh stuff".  I also got a very cute "Hi, what's your name?" from a 3ish year old named Mendel.  We were predictably invited to stay for lunch.  Lunch started out quiet, and then this guy across the table tried to show me why so many Orthodox folks don't like the idea of women rabbis by advocating that really we shouldn't let discomfort prevent us from doing things that halakha doesn't prohibit by arguing that really liberal Judaism hasn't gone far enough- we should have b'nei noach rabbis.  He also refused to really let me get a word in edgewise, and didn't really listen to my arguments as to why the analogy was a bad one- at least not until I told him that I just didn't think that making an analogy between the difference between men and women and Jews and Non-Jews was a good idea...  It was, at least, humorous, and was easier to take casually since I saw how much whiskey the guy was drinking as we went.  Still, it makes quite a story. 

In other news, this weekend also contained trial 2 of our quest to explore jakal88 's interest in salad.  This made a second salad that was a success.  I think I may be one of the world's luckier girlfriends- my boyfriend is willing to try salad and admit appreciating it, cooks and enjoys it, and will even take me to run errands even when they involve possible clothing/shoe shopping (I also got shoes this weekend).  And besides all of that, he has a sense for my taste of books and will loan me his.  *grins*