Picture this: two suburban girls from Cleveland coming back from the beach with an Israeli teen who’s house they’ve been staying at at, all with sand in their hair and LOTS OF SUNSCREEN on their faces. They walk into this teen’s house to see more food in one place than they have ever seen before.
This was Natalie, Matar and I on Friday night. We accompanied Matar’s family to her Grandmother’s house in Haifa. We were welcomed with an authentic Moroccan meal and a cluster of 20 smiling faces belonging to both immediate and distant family from Israel, America and even Norway!
The Shabbat dinner was nothing like I’d ever experienced. As stood around the large, food covered table for Kiddush, I realized that the men were the only ones standing, while the women were politely sitting in their seats. I . I immediately sat down, slightly embarrassed and hoping nobody realized my mistake. Taking a look around and noticed just how many things were different from Shabbat back home. The tunes were different, the order of the prayers were mixed up and it lasted no longer than 2 minutes, but what really caught my attention was the separate table where the women were seate. d. I learned this was because the women are considered the hosts of the meal and need to bring the food to the table easily without disturbing their guests, which seemed quite odd to me.
After Kiddush, I was passed at least 15 different dishes, all with incredibly exotic flavors, but I was yet to realize that they were only the appetizers, and that there were still many courses left. I stuffed myself with traditional dishes until I couldn’t eat any longer.
Picture this: two suburban girls from Cleveland and an Israeli girl, all suffering from food comas, fast asleep on the hour long car ride back home, having just had the meal of their lives! most amazing meal of their lives and a night of culture they will never forget.