Last Shabbat on the Plaza

I've written many times about the lovely tradition of Shabbat on the Plaza, which was started a few years ago by our synagogue, Congregation Beth Israel. Six times a summer they hold services outside, with Rabbi Cahana playing guitar, his wife the cantor singing and others joining in on bass and electric piano. It sounds out there but is really very traditional, and we go every chance we get. You bring a blanket and a picnic dinner and eat/socialize afterward.

This year the synagogue is providing cookies, lemonade, water and popsicles (and fudgsicles!) for dessert. Tonight I was more organized than I've ever been; I made Rachel a jelly sandwich, grabbed a salad and gazpacho from Trader Joe's for me (as well as some leftovers from last week's barbecue at Professor Warren Binford's house in Salem) and packed things in a cooler with cold packs and stashed it in the trunk while I was at work. THEN I made it up to PDX early, picked up Rachel from preschool and we headed to synagogue. We were there right at the beginning which almost never happens, so we got to enjoy all of the service.

Rachel at one point wandered over to the dessert table and somehow persuaded Greg, the newly hired facilities manager for the synagogue, to play with her. Man, they were whooping it up -- he twirled her, let her climb on his back, hoisted her on his shoulders; they looked like they were having a blast. Poor guy had just returned from a river trip and he was exhausted, but he gamely entertained Rachel and I thanked him profusely.

After the service, a congregant walked around with a bowl of strawberries and a bowl of melted chocolate and invited folks to dip in. Rachel made a face at the combo but I LOVE chocolate dipped strawberries so I tried them. Gotta love an outdoor Shabbat service where someone passes around strawberries and chocolate, right???

Then I got into a long conversation about DC with an assistant US Attorney here, Ron Silver, who is a member of the congregation and gave a great lecture at the law school a few months back on the Dreyfus case. He loved DC, absolutely loved it, but has been in PDX for 20 years and is from the West Coast originally, so he likely won't be going back East. It's so relieving to hear that people really like DC, even if they don't end up staying. It makes me feel even better about the move.

Meanwhile Rachel snuggled up next to Bill Baer, whose wife, Sidney, is the synagogue's executive director. Bill has always taken a shine to Rachel since she was a baby and constantly refers to her as "a little sweetie." He showed her videos on his smartphone featuring his niece and grandson and Rachel leaned against him to watch. At one point he played some snatches of opera. "She's so poised!" he said to me afterward. "If you want, you can leave her behind and take my cat."

I will really miss CBI. This is the synagogue I had expected Rachel to be bat mitzvahed and confirmed in. But change is life and life is change and hopefully we will find another synagogue in the DC area that will move us as much as this one has. I truly hope so.