No I do not have a little brother, but as you read this post, hopefully you will understand this title.
My cousin Caleb came to spend last Shabbat with me. His ridiculously unorganized program told him when he would arrive in Jerusalem about ten minutes before he got on the bus to come here. Nevertheless, I had about an hour to figure out where exactly to meet him and how to get there. Earlier in the day, I had a meeting with my Ed Professor. At the end of our meeting, I asked her which bus to take to the central bus station, as this was where I assumed Caleb would be getting dropped off. I was told to take the 74 or the 75. I found a Jerusalem bus app for my phone, but it's all in Hebrew. I managed to pick out a few words and find the stop that I needed to get off at, but it was probably not the most useful tool. Anyway, I got on the bus, which was supposed to take about 30 minutes. A half hour into my ride, I was still not at the central bus station. Did I miss it? Did I make a mistake? No. There was just construction and Israeli drivers not wanting to let a bus in front of them that slowed us down for fifteen minutes. Anyway, I passed the shuk and knew that there were only like two or three more stops until the main bus station. I finally made it (all by myself without getting lost, two major accomplishments)! But then I had to find Caleb. He told me he was standing on the platform where the bus stops are. Well duh. There's really no where else to stand. And there are a lot of bus stops. I eventually found him and we got back on the 74 going in the opposite direction to head back to my apartment. Naturally we missed the stop near my place, but we only went like a block or two out of our way. It could have been worse.
Our first order of business was making the guacamole I had purchased the ingredients for in the shuk the day before to bring to my friend Ashley's apartment for Mexibat (Mexican style Shabbat dinner). We (read Caleb) made the guac while I finished my laundry and skyped Elliot. I asked Caleb if he needed help and after I chopped the onion and garlic, I was relieved of my kitchen duties. We got changed and went to services at Shira Hadasha, a modern Orthodox minion about ten minutes from my apartment. A lot of HUCers were going to services there, and since they have a mechitza, I wanted Caleb to have people I knew to sit with. It was a nice service. They have a woman lead their Kabbalat Shabbat service which was an interesting twist before a man took over for maariv (evening service). After services, we made our way with a few friends to Ashley's place. Once we got there, I introduced Caleb and almost everyone who met him asked if he was my younger brother. We thought it might just have been because we were both coincidentally wearing orange, but apparently everyone thought we were brother and sister. Caleb and I were a little surprised by this, seeing as we have never gotten that reaction before. Maybe we've just always been surrounded by family who knew that we were cousins, but apparently we look like siblings. Dinner was really nice Friday night. We walked home with a few other people and went to bed around midnight.
Saturday we woke up to go to services at HUC and afterwards we went to my friend Lily's apartment for lunch and cards against humanity. Again, at schaharit services, we got several people who came up to us and asked if we were brother and sister. This time it definitely wasn't the clothing as we made sure not to wear similar colors. I don't know. I guess I could have a little brother if I wanted. The Dean of the Jerusalem campus came up to Caleb after services and asked what he was doing in Israel. After they chatted for a little, they discovered that Rabbi Kalman also knows Rabbi Balin, a rabbi at the New York campus who also happens to be Caleb's aunt. So that was fun. We walked with a few friends to Lily's apartment for lunch with HUC and JTS (Jewish Theological Seminary, the conservative version of HUC) students. After a delicious lunch and some awkward conversations, we played cards against humanity, a game similar to apple to apples but with a much darker twist. I have learned that it is a very interesting game to play with rabbinical and cantorial students. I was a little worried that Caleb might be too innocent for a game like this. But after he won the first round, my fears who smashed and we commenced into an awfully fun game of CAH.
After lunch and cards, we walked home to relax and eat dinner for a few hours before taking Caleb to the central bus station to get on the bus back to Beer Sheva. We called parents and siblings on the way and walked for about an hour and a half to the central bus station (about three miles from my apartment). We only got slightly turned around once. If Caleb hadn't been there, it would have taken me twice as long and I would have seen much more of Jerusalem by taking the wrong paths. But we made it, and he found his friend to ride on the bus with, and it was a wonderful weekend. I think he'll be back in Jerusalem again before he leaves, so we'll try to meet up one last time for the year. After I dropped him off, the busses had just started running again (the busses don't run during Shabbat, which is why we walked the three miles in the first place) and the bus I needed was not in sight, so I walked home and ran into a friend who lives near me on the way. All in all, I walked about 10 miles that day. It was a really nice Shabbat. More about this week to come later; now time to shower and sleep. Tel Aviv in the AM.
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