Chabad of Nazareth

Before Shabbos we inquired as to where the rabbi lived. He was not in Charlotte Amalie, as we originally thought, but on the east end of the island, near the harbor where we ended up docking. The actual name of the area in which he lived was named Nazareth, which we thought was ironic for a variety of reasons.

Friday night we walked over to the Chabad rabbi's house. It was a long walk; about 25 minutes from where we were docked. The road was twisty and uphill and there were no sidewalks. And it was getting dark.

A neighbor of the rabbi saw us walking and circled back in his car and stopped us. He told us we were going to die from getting hit by a car, pulled over on the side of the road, opened the doors, and had us get in. It was still a halachically acceptable time for him to do this, so we got in and got to the rabbi's a lot quicker - and alive.

At the house there was the rabbi, his wife, their 5 young children, a Jewish woman from St. Thomas and her young daughter, and two Chabad girls close to our age who were running a small camp for the rabbi's kids (and any other Jewish kids that needed camp on the island). The only person looking forward to meeting cute Jewish island girls more than Ben, Yoni, Sammy, and I was CG, who beelined over to chat with the two of them. (And for the curious, all the words the rest of us said to them the entire Shabbos were "Good Shabbos" and "Thank You").

We davened to ourselves, as there was no minyan, and then we sat down to eat. The food was absolutely delicious and over the meal we had many discussions, heard some Torah, told some Torah, and sang. The rabbi also told us about "mushrooms", which apparently is a term for Chabad houses that pop up in different areas that are not officially sanctioned by the Chabad headquarters, and are often started by meshichists.

The walk back was treacherous and very dark, but we all survived. The next morning we walked back in the heat to Chabad and got there around 9:15. Since davening was not until 10, we cooled down, read,  and played Anagrams. Ben played with the kids.

We started davening a few minutes after 10 and there was no minyan yet. After shacharis the rabbi gave a talk on the week's parsha, speaking on accidental killing, the role of the ir miklat (city of refuge) and the psychological harm that the killer can suffer. He finished when the minyan was finally completed and we had Torah reading, followed by musaf with a minyan. Musaf was a little rushed because it seemed as if an Israeli family that was there had to leave quickly, but they still stuck around through most of the kiddush/lunch that followed, so we were all a little confused about that.

After eating our fill and talking and singing a bit, we walked back to the boat. Oddly enough, it was a bit cooler (or maybe it was just that we walked back downhill). Amichai and CG took a shabbos walk by themselves. This meant that they missed out on the huge iguana that Sammy, Yoni, Ben, and I saw, waddling on the front lawn of the local high school.

We relaxed on the boat the rest of the afternoon. Towards nightfall we sang shalosh seudos songs and then davened maariv. Then we sang havdalah together. It was a nice Shabbos and it was very nice to be around fellow Jews again.

For a motzai Shabbos activity, CG, Amichai, Yoni, and Sammy decided to go see Captain America.  On the cab ride there the driver asked if he could go get gas. No, they said, he could not. They had to hurry. But he went to the gas station anyway. As the driver was about to get out, Sammy asked him if he was getting gas. Yes, he was. Sammy told him they were in a rush. As the driver said "just a little gas", Sammy then began to open the door, threatening to get another cab. The driver hurriedly agreed to continue driving.

He also drove on the right side of the road for awhile (even though in the Virgin Islands you drive on the left) and at one point the street went straight down, so steep, that on the way up he had to bend over the steering wheel to see the road.

They all agreed that it was a terrible movie. Amichai fell asleep in it. The rest of the theater talked the whole time during quiet moments and laughed over the top during the "funny" (not funny) moments. The movie is not recommended.

Belated Shavua Tov!