Hot as heck, fun as hell...

Hey.
It's taken me a while to get to it, but I'm bringing you all up to speed now. Last week was an interesting week. I found out that I have a great aunt who lives in Be'er Sheva, and her second husband died the previous week. So, my brother, my sister and I piled into her car, and we took a trip south to be menachem avel. As I'd never met her, I realized that I probably also have cousins whom I'd never met, so despite the somber occasion, I looked forward to going.
Monday morning, I took a cab over to my sister's, and we set out. It's a nice sized drive from Jerusalem, and I was all the way in the back of my sisters tiny mitsubishi. On our way down, we swung over to a nerby neighborhood to pick up a cousin of mine. One that I never met. She climbs into the car, and I introduce myself. She seems cool, and she has a really cute kid. She doesn't speak a word of english, but I seized the opportunity to practice my own hebrew.
We arrive in Be'er Sheva. As we enter the apartment, I realize that the smell in her house is the familiar scent of all the other houses in my extended family from my mother's side of the family: vegetable soup, and something else I can never place. It felt surreal, walking into a complete stranger's house, and being greeted by something so familiar. And yet, any jitters I had about meeting these relativesdispersed as I subconciously entered a comfort zone.
My older brother and sister have met my great aunt, but I haven't, so naturally, my brother shleps me from behind him and introduces me. My great aunt starts fawning over me, telling me I look like my grandfather when he was younger. This is all in hebrew. I smile and again attempt to communicate. It wasn't easy, but we were able to communicate.
We sat there for a long time. Throughout the whole time, different cousins that I had never met came and went, and I really enjoyed meeting them. Finally it was time to go. I think it was the first time that I actually wanted to stay in a shiva house.
That night, Lag Beomer began. I would have liked to have gone to Meron, but since I had missed the whole morning, I didn't want to miss tuesday as well. I thought I was going to be very bored, but in the late afternoon I got a call with the guy who I learn Tanya with. He told me he was making a bonfire in the middle of the forest near his home, and asked that I come.
It was really amazing.
A small, intimate affair, there weren't more than ten men there at any given point, although there was a lot of rotation with the attendees. Along with the wives and kids of whoever was married, ther were maybe fifteen people, tops. The bonfire wasn't huge, but it was strong; we barely had to add kindling. And the atmosphere? It was amazing. We danced like madmen, kicking our feet into the fire as we sang Iz duch alles hevel havolim - ain Oid Mevaldo ( Everything is futile - there is none but Him)! We twirled around and jumped in place as we sang about Rabban Shimon Bar Yochai, who writes in the Zohar Hakadosh about how the 33rd day of the Omer is a time that every person can make a personal tikkun, a personal fixing, and contribute to Tikkun Olam. He also writes that it's a time to begin anew, in every endeavor, but especially in learning torah. We also sat around just singing and relaxing, telling stories from old times, and sharing torahs. It was a very special night, and when we finally finished well past the wee hours of the morning, I was physically spent, yet felt so turned on spiritually. In the end, I didn't feel so bad that I couldn't make it to Meron.
I really enjoyed myself.
It was also the first Lag Beomer in over five years that I didn't smoke up, and it was by choice....
Originally posted Friday, 26 May 2006