Guno צְבִי
We fight, We win
While we’ve hosted many Members of Congress, Kamala Harris was our first Senator. This was in 2017, and it was a private trip, we were told, so that Doug Emhoff, her Jewish husband, could finally see the Jewish state and also experience a special Shabbat. No one had to tell us the significance; there were already whispers of a Presidential campaign.
On the one hand, there is nothing remarkable about our Shabbat meals: candle lighting, angel cards, kiddush, blessing the kids, motzei. But Kamala wanted something special.
She lit the candles with my wife, Rabbi Susan Silverman. They waved in the flickering lights and whispered the blessing together. These were the candlesticks Susan’s grandmother brought out of the pogroms of Poland to America, and she shared their story, and how remarkable it is to light them in a sovereign Jewish state.
We sat around the table: Kamala sat across from Susan, Doug across from me, and everyone else was spread out. One thing you noticed about them right away: Doug loves Kamala — big time. It radiated, as they held hands or caught each other’s gaze.
Susan explained each of the rituals, and the two guests were most taken by her linking the creation story in Kiddush with the exodus from Egypt: “The purpose of creation, as I understand it, is redemption. For Jews and for all people.”
Kamala brought up solar energy and climate change. I was happy to tell her about our goal of going 100% solar daytime for Eilat and the Arava, which we achieved this year, and how we are bringing that model to African countries with U.S. government advocacy and financing.
https://forward.com/opinion/452489/when-kamala-came-for-shabbat-dinner/
On the one hand, there is nothing remarkable about our Shabbat meals: candle lighting, angel cards, kiddush, blessing the kids, motzei. But Kamala wanted something special.
She lit the candles with my wife, Rabbi Susan Silverman. They waved in the flickering lights and whispered the blessing together. These were the candlesticks Susan’s grandmother brought out of the pogroms of Poland to America, and she shared their story, and how remarkable it is to light them in a sovereign Jewish state.
We sat around the table: Kamala sat across from Susan, Doug across from me, and everyone else was spread out. One thing you noticed about them right away: Doug loves Kamala — big time. It radiated, as they held hands or caught each other’s gaze.
Susan explained each of the rituals, and the two guests were most taken by her linking the creation story in Kiddush with the exodus from Egypt: “The purpose of creation, as I understand it, is redemption. For Jews and for all people.”
Kamala brought up solar energy and climate change. I was happy to tell her about our goal of going 100% solar daytime for Eilat and the Arava, which we achieved this year, and how we are bringing that model to African countries with U.S. government advocacy and financing.
https://forward.com/opinion/452489/when-kamala-came-for-shabbat-dinner/