101. Sunday

(Continuing the story.)

We had dinner, made havdalah outside under the moonlight, and then there was a dance. I tried to mingle, meet people, look at guys, but was too distracted by thoughts of my strange and wonderful moment to do little more than smile and stare.

I woke up an hour early for services the next morning. The anticipation was unbearable; I wanted more. I hadn't been to a Sunday morning service since I was 12, but it didn't seem foreign. I listened once again for all the thanks and praise. And then we reached the Shema, which included these lines:

"If you will earnestly heed the mitzvot I give you this day...then I will favor your land with rain in the proper season--rain in autumn and rain in spring--and you will have an ample harvest of grain and wine and oil. I will assure abundance in your fields for your cattle. You will eat to contentment. Take care lest you be tempted to forsake God... He will close the heavens and hold back the rain. You will soon disappear from the good land which the Lord is giving you."