Shabbat, or commonly known as Sabbath in English, is the day of rest. The entire Jerusalem goes to rest on Saturdays. The breakfast today was a little bit different. First of all, the menu changed. And then, fresh orange juice is gone! That’s my favorite part of the buffet breakfast! This is all because of Shabbat, the one day in a week that you should rest as a covenant with God.
Since squeezing juice is considered “work”, it is prohibited. Fine, so at least let me heat up oat meal in the microwave?
But the staff said,
“No, the microwave in the kitchen cannot be used.”
I protested with him.
“Then let me go to the kitchen! I can use the microwave. Is it okay with you??”
But no…. I was wrong. It’s not about me. It’s about the microwave that shouldn’t work. If a Orthodox Jew knows that this microwave in the kitchen has been used on a Shabbat, he will be very upset because the microwave would have turned “unclean” after working.
“You can go back to your room and use the microwave there.”
So what’s this logic? The room I stay will never be used by another Orthodox Jew or what? But the staff shrugged and said he also found it ridiculous. I find inconsistencies in these rules. For example, there’s no Shabbat elevator in this building. So all orthodox Jews will use the stairs? Really? For me, climbing stairs can be considered as work!!! Much harder work than pushing a few buttons on a microwave. And how is that the microwave gets rest, and I have to travel with this bowl of oatmeal to my room? I don’t understand. But it looks like I finally have something in common with this staff.
“Are you not keeping Shabbat?” I asked.
“I don’t believe in God!” He said.
It’s not the first time I hear a Jew telling me that He doesn’t believe in God. It is sad, but I appreciate his honesty. And we started to talk about shabbat. He told me that he likes to work on Shabbat because it is quieter. And the guests who come to breakfast are mostly tourists, who are more polite and friendly than the Israelis.
“So you think you are not friendly?” I asked. I mean the locals. Not him, obviously.
“Israelis are argumentative. You are not like that. And they always put a lot of food on their plates. But I’m the same. I can’t help taking lots of food only to find out I cannot finish all of it. So that’s why I like serving foreigners like you.
I like his reasoning…. but wait, I found out one scary thing!!! It means all the food I had this morning was cooked since yesterday afternoon? Is it fresh?!
