Shabbat just ended here and this post will focus on our Friday night activities; we will make a seperate post that covers our Saturday activities.
After we returned from the majestic cliffs of San Andres de Teixido, we immediately went into the "palleira" - a large room separate from the rest of the house, typical of the rural construction here, made of stones and originally used as a stable. There to greet us were Carmen, Richie, and Xan, three Galician musicians and good friends of Jordan, who spent the next three hours with us. Each of the three musicians took turns talking about the importance of preserving galician music, and they introduced the instruments traditionally used for singing and dancing. Carmen showed us a type of local tambourine called a pandeireta, and Richie demonstrated an accordion. Richie asked for a brave volunteer to play the accordian and Caroline (who has experience with the piano) accepted the challenge of trying to play the accordian in under thirty seconds. But Caroline got tricked! Even with Eli's help who also stood up to help her, they couldn't even get the accordian to open because Richie had locked it. But Liora caught on to Richie's trick and rescued Caroline. After the accordian, Xan introduced us to Galician "gaitas" - bagpipes - which demonstrated the Scottish influence seen throughout Galicia. Xan offered to let Daniel play one of the pipes, and Daniel was left huffing and puffing without making a sound! This was also a trick, this time by Xan, as the pipe was missing an important piece. Caroline had the important piece and was able to play it, leaving Daniel behind in the dust (see picture below).
The real fun began after the charla when Richie and Xan played while Carmen showed us several traditional Galician songs to sing and dances to learn. One of our favorite moments was a type of "broom dance" in which an odd number of us were dancing together in pairs in a type of comic waltz, and when the music stopped, we all switched partners. The odd person out was left dancing with a broom. It was hilarious, especially when Noa had the broom and danced with it for thirty seconds before realizing she was supposed to drop it. After about 45 minutes of laughing, singing, and dancing, Carmen started asking us if we were tired or if we wanted to learn "one more" dance. All the students kept shouting "uno mas!" and I think we went through her entire repertoire and got to dinner a few minutes late.
The musicians joined us for Shabbat dinner, and what an experience it was to share Shabbat with these three Galicians, who have never met anyone Jewish besides Jordan! In the three Spanish immersion programs we have had at Weber, this was the most powerful moment we have experienced as a Jewish community: an unplanned, spontaneous lesson in Spanish about what Shabbat is and what it means to us. May started with the most beautiful explanation of how G-d created the world in six days and the seventh day was intended for rest. Carloline provided specifics that Shabbat started at sundown on Friday and lasted until after sundown on Saturday. Liora jumped in and added that Shabbat was a time for reflection and introspection, and that while she usually attended synagogue on Shabbat, different Jews observed Shabbat in different ways. Rosa topped the cake with a beautiful quote she attributed to Rabbi Joshua Heschel: "If you preserve Shabbat, Shabbat will preserve you..." Jonah talked about the significance of the wine (water in our case!) and bread, and led the blessings. Lindsey volunteered to lead the Hebrew prayer over the candles, and Jordan led us in a few songs including Bim Bam - Shabbat Shalom and Shalom Aleichem.
We believe this was an incredible moment for our group, who was reminded that much of the world does not know about Judaism and it's a gift to be able to educate and share our passion with those who are willing to listen. Something Gallegos (people from Galicia) and Jews have in common is that they were both people heavily persecuted by the Catholic Church during centuries of the Inquisition era, and last night was a moment where these two minority groups were able to eat together at the same table and celebrate how our traditions are still alive and thriving.
Dinner started with the challah, of course, expertly and lovingly made and braided by Rachel and Liora, who taught Ana (the owner of the bed and breakfast) how to make it. Dinner, like every meal we have had here, was delicious, and featured pumpkin soup, salad, roast veal and potatoes (with additional vegetarian options for those that don't eat meat) and "requeson con fresas" (a kind of yogurt / cottage cheese with strawberries) made from milk taken from the cows on the farm next door. We were all pretty tired, but happy and full, when we turned in for the night a little after 11:00 p.m.
No comments:
Post a Comment