So the semester flew by, and here it was, the finals week Shabbat. It was a final farewell (as students) to those graduating this semester, both undergrad or with a Masters, and a short-term farewell as students leave this week for winter break. See why we put a brick on each of the tables on Friday Night. At Shabbat Lunch Mendel shared about Rebbe-Dollars, and Raizy shared about keeping positive and a family story.
Thursday and Friday leading up to Shabbat was quite hectic as Raizy not only prepared for a full Shabbos at Shabbos House, but also catered a Friday Night meal for CBAJ (local modern-Orthodox synagogue) which was a big undertaking but quite helpful in covering the cost for Shabbos with our students.
Friday Night was quite cold, but the snow didn’t begin to fall until about the end of the morning services on Saturday. Students coming for Lunch already had snowflakes on their clothes, but it didn’t begin in earnest until late afternoon or early evening. Professor Herman P. Salomon read the Haftorah, this Haftorah of Vayechi was the first he had ever read, at age 6, in Montreal, just after his family’s pre-war escape from Europe. On Shabbat afternoon some lingered (it’s the shortest Shabbat day of the year) to learn some songs, to discuss personal things, being finals week we also did some ad-hoc reviews of certain subjects (like survey of Jewish history) and before you know it Shabbos was over.
On Sat Night the Maimonides Pizza Nite was on despite the snow. Maybe less attended than usual, but still good pizza and good times. Several students came out and we hung out together. Those who had never been before got a tour of the Maimonides School. And then it began snowing for real and by morning there was more than a foot of snow on the ground, and the kids had a blast. Bluma and Bassie especially. They went in and out on their own, climbed up the big snowbanks, shoveled for fun, and made snowbeds and snowangles in the fresh, sparkling white, first real snow storm of the season.
The Sunday Minyan Brunch was originally planned as an attempt, but later cancelled as it was hard for student to get out, especially on Finals Week. We had a great run of the Minyan this semester thanks to freshmen dedication, and look forward to resuming it in the Spring semester.