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Winston Churchill famously said in November 1942: “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
The experts are saying: Tourism? 2-3 years until it STARTS recovering.
I say: “Today we are closer to the end than we were yesterday.” (I like to make meaningless, optimistic, grand statements that are irrefutable).
Whatever view you take of the current situation, we all wonder how life will look the day after? Ver veyst – who knows? But different. It’s already changing.
We’re all inundated with emails and Whatsapp messages (B”H for Whatsapp: the Refuah to our isolated-ness coming as always before the Makkah).
We hear shiurim, podcasts, TED talks, jokes, Rabbis, Imams, priests – you name it. However, sometimes silence is more productive.
It takes me back to davening in the Sahara desert.Davening with a Minyan was fantastically spiritual.
(Hallel on Yom Ha’Atzmaut was ….. beyond!!)
But before joining the Minyan, I wanted to spend a few minutes alone on a deserted dune.
The overnight wind had returned the sand to its pristine state.
At “netz” there’s sky, clouds, red sand in ever-changing hues: shhh… alone, silent … WOW!!
Just me and the Designer. NEVER alone.
Der Mensch Tracht Und Gott Lacht
Loosely translated: if you want to make G-d laugh, tell him your plans!!
CROATIA
Anyone reading these lines has created plans. Probably a million times.
A dinner party. An evening out. A simcha. A trip.But simple stuff too – tomorrow’s diary.
Logistics.
Naomi Boutique Kosher Tours is all about logistics.
We work, on average, 3 times as long preparing a tour as the length of the actual tour.
In fact, people always ask us whether we have time to enjoy the tours, with so much responsibility...
Wherever you are reading this, one thing is almost certain. Be”H, at some point this virus will be behind us and life will restart.
Will life be the same as it was until very recently? Will there be a new reality, a new order of priorities?
Will we be softer, gentler, more giving, less taking? One can always hope….
So I’d like to encourage everyone to dream of what they would like to do… afterwards. Many of you love to travel.
If the airlines can get their planes flying and there are still people around who can afford to fly, maybe this story will inspire you.
This has been a crazy week.
Each day’s additional restrictions have made it “easier” to relate, in some way, to the challenges of our people in terrible times. I am NOT saying that our suffering compares AT ALL, but there are moments…..
For example, take the Inquisition.
On the Naomi Boutique Kosher Tours to Spain and Portugal, before Kiddush on Friday evening, it has become our minhag to recite a passage from a book called “The Last Jew” by Noah Gordon. If you can get a copy, it’s a must.
Why do we fall in love?
With people, with places, with smells, with dishes, a dress.
The way we use the word Love” is so complex.
Ask someone who’s just returned from an adventure or an incredible concert. “How was it?” you ask.
“I loved it” comes the response.
That’s an adrenalin rush, a GREAT experience… but it fades and passes.
What is real love? What isn’t? How does it happen? How do we recognize it?
real Love, IMHO, is a slow evolving deep connection. It ignites slowly… but burns forever, day after day, week after week, year after year, getting brighter and stronger. Souls become one.
Places have souls too….
What better time to start the Naomi Boutique Kosher Tours blog.
Remembering and celebrating 40 years of uncompromising Kosher touring.
40 years developing and indulging an insatiable passion to see the world as a kosher Jew, without feeling we were missing out!
This is how it all started…
But first, let me introduce the actors in this story: Ourselves!