Think Again - Home Sweet Home

It’s been a whirlwind past fortnight during our Mendel’s wedding celebrations with his bride Sheva Lipsker. Who would have ever thought that we would celebrate a destination wedding at that God forsaken destination place of Mexico. Mexico was never on my bucket list and it needn’t be on yours. It seems to be the end of the earth the place where the world simply ends. It’s a 24 hour arduous plane flight transferring through the US and then you must catch a ferry to the island of Cozumel in the Caribbean. Mexico is a third world country, the toilets block and the electricity cuts off at times, and the streets are still fixed in the last century with the electricity wires hanging as in Thailand. But it is a fun and vibrant destination with its own energy and picture-perfect post card beach locations.

We celebrated family time pre wedding on the east coast of Mexico on the Gulf of Mexico at the beach townships of Playa de Carmen, close to the more popular Cancún and Tulum. For the wedding day itself and for the second Shabbat we moved to Cozumel. Truth be told, Mexico is not God forsaken and I am on a high having spent the two weeks at what is an exotic destination with family and friends and I am simply floating in heaven especially as I am able to venture to these exceptional tropical places that boast a Chabad House or two. I simply love the dynamics of a shule, kosher food, spiritual environment bottled with the mix of family, purposeful and good times with palpable love and joy.

It was a privilege to meet with the Chabad rabbis of Playa Rabbis Brod, Golberg, Krausz and Kadosh. There was a big minyan each day and a choice of both dairy and meat Kosher eateries. Playa is a mecca for Israeli backpackers after the army and there is a real Kibbutz feel at the Playa Chabad House. The first language is Hebrew. At Cozumel I met with Rabbi Dudi Kaplin which happens to be Rivky Koncepolski’s brother. Cozumel is the cruise capital of the world and we were able to view the giant cruise ships as they sailed by two by two along the horizon.

There are several opinions in the Talmud describing the era when the Mashiach will come. One opinion is that Hashem will gather our dispersed from all the four corners of the earth. The other opinion is that God will expand the land of Israel to cover the entire land mass of the world globe. My experience with the many dispersed Chabad centers punctuated around the world is that the Mashiach will be more like the second opinion. Mashiach will spread from Israel and encompass the entire globe.

If you don’t believe me, ask Shirley Snoyman who graced us with her presence at our wedding as an honoured guest. She will tell you about the amazing snorkeling just off the back of our villa, and she will tell you about the exotic tropical panoramas and the crystal clear Cenote’s waters that are formed in caves in which we all went snorkeling. I sensed only the hand of God could create all of this.

Spanish is the national language, and I took a step back looking from the outside in and it shocked me how entrenched the Spanish colonialism has pervaded the Mexican culture. I was shocked that the indigenous language is lost and the Spanish language so proudly borne. I could not think of anything more slave-bound and servitude-tied. I could only contrast this with our Jewish culture, we have maintained our culture, language and customs.

My 29 readers know, the custom of our synagogue is for a traveler returning from Israel to address our synagogue to share their Israel experience. Since I am suggesting that Mexico, at least according to the second opinion in the Talmud, has a taste of the Land of Israel, it will be my duty to share some of my Mexican experiences over these last two weeks, this coming Shabbat. I guess that will make me the guest speaker at shule this week. Home sweet Home.

My turn to be the sponsor a Tequila for Friday night L’chaim Club.

As always L’chaim

Praying for a victory in the Middle East and for real peace in Israel

See you in shule

Shabbat Shalom

THEY ARE ALL HOME

Elozer Gestetner

rabbi@coogeesynagogue.org