An alarm was raised about a possible Hurricane approaching Cuba, so I decided to leave for Miami.
There I was sitting at the noisy International Departure terminal of Jose Marti airport for the short flight but an immense gulf of memories and experiences of these two countries which have maintained an animated distance from each other for 62 years.
I always feel sad leaving Cuba
But the flight was so rapid, before I knew what was happening we were over the Everglades and soon down at the Miami International Airport.
Jewish New Year 5783 begins at sunset on 25 September this year . I was having a very quiet and enjoyable day at home, all alone as the owners of the house where I stay had gone to their beach house for the day.
I was psychologically preparing myself for the new year and also for the ten days following of reflection and repentance, when the owner of the house called and said : don't go out to dinner, but someone has prepared dinner for us !
I was happy about this but was not prepared for the coincidental nature of this meal.
I prepared to light the candle as the sun was going down and was going to listen to some of the services live on the net, I like the synagogues in New York City today also checked out a synagogue in Washington and another one in Ohio. I settled on the Conservative congregation in New York with a lovely voiced Chazan.
This is modern day Judaism, I have just arrived from Havana, sitting here in the comfort of home, sipping wine listening to Avenu Malkenu..
Let us go back to 2008 when I met my best friend in Asia at the airport in Siem Reap. she was curious when the driver taking us both to the same hotel was holding a sign Welcome Dr Aung Khant (that is my Burmese name). She was curious about my Burmese connection etc and we soon became very good friends and I became friends with her Portuguese husband as well.
KL became our eating playground and oh my god with our good friend Ho and Kit as well as Abid, we ate very well across Kuala Lumpur (KL)
Those were delightful days before the Pandemic changed our world of travel .My last visit to KL was in 2019
My best friend in Asia, MYC is from a suburb of KL called Seri Kembangan and I met another Chinese Malaysian lady married to a Jamaica on one of my visits. Her name is Lisa who happened to be from that Chinese suburb of Kuala Lumpur .
Who was the lady who prepared the food for us tonight? (it had not connection with Jewish New Year, I am the only one who is Jewish in this group). None other than Lisa, the Chinese Malaysian lady from Seri Kembangan where my best friend in Asia lives, who was visiting Miami and thought of preparing a good meal.
She had gone to the supermarket and gotten fresh ingredients and had procured Shrimp as well as what is called Blue Crabs. She wanted fresh ginger, garlic, onions, chili paste as well as sweet and sour sauce. ( I can imagine she spent a good many hours in the kitchen!)
I said Bore pri hagefen.. the words of gratefulness for the fruits of the earth while drinking wine
and the food had been spread out on the table.
It was one of the nicest and tastiest meals in Miami that I remember (I have had multiple excellent tasty meals with my close friends Dr M and Mrs G, they live 100 miles away)
I FELT SO INCREDIBLY HAPPY IN MY HEART..
At each Rosh Hashanah, of course we think of our people scattered all around the world, the State of Israel and its people and not to mention our families : Mordecai e Gretel, Eliyahu, Yitzhak and Shmuel, Shimon e Avital, Hadar, Roni, Shir, la petite poete de cote sauvage, Sam e Nava and many jewish friends across the world.
At each of the New Year's day in the past ten years or so, I have thought about Iran.
This year more so than ever
I wish the people of Iran better days ahead, especially for our sisters. This is my New Year Wish.
Thank you Mrs Lisa for the food and thank you J and J for inviting me to partake it .
Tonight I will book my ticket to return to KL .. thanks for reminding me that I should return to that land
and I will never forget what Thiago de Mello wrote :
Decreta-se que nada será obrigado nem proibido.
tudo será permitido,
inclusive brincar com os rinocerontes
e caminhar pelas tardes
com uma imensa begônia na lapela.
Parágrafo único:
Só uma coisa fica proibida:
amar sem amor.
