Douglas:
'Let me see
what this is all about'
Back at the party, Sandi's guests were persuading Douglas to start attending
shabbaton.
Kid
brother: 'Me too'
Douglas, who is 2.5 years younger than his
sister, began tagging along when she went to a shabbaton. All the next year,
he went to shabbaton, and by the following summer, his mind was made up.
Douglas had just graduated from junior high school, and that summer he saved all his
earnings so he could attend a Hebrew day school in the fall.
Through the kitchen
There he met up with a rabbi, who spent summers
teaching at "a large, fairly prestigious summer camp," Douglas said. The
rabbi knew Douglas was set on making a career in the culinary arts, so he got him a job working in the camp's kitchen.
Hasidic encounter
At this camp, Douglas was introduced to
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Campers await their turns to take a spin
down a short trail in one of
the camp's two golf carts.
Vein Hasidism, and
found he liked that brand of tradition. Shlomo, the oldest of his four sons, attended the
camp the summer of 1999 and took the photos of a rosy sunset [below] and
campers waiting to use the golf carts. While Douglas and his family follow Vein Hasidism,
Sandi stayed with a more generic Orthodoxy.
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Blessed with moments
"For me," said Sandi, "my
spiritual life began with the way
Uncle Max made Judaism come alive, and how gently he led me into Jewish life. I
remember reading that there are moments when we catch our breath and glimpse G_d's
presence. I am blessed that I have such moments from time to time."
Kansas? Yes, Kansas
Sandi went on to
earn a doctorate in psychology, and she is now a forensic psychologist in private practice
in Overland Park, Kansas. This suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, is where most of the
Jewish population -- about 20,000 -- resides. Sandi chose to settle there because
of its "active Orthodox community." She also likes its Jewish
Community Center.
Kansan kosher Chinese
There are plenty of synagogues in
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Overland Park. Sandi estimates "about ten," and one of those is in the
basement of a single-family house. There are also many businesses serving
the Jewish community, including a kosher grocery and butcher, a major
supermarket with a kosher baked goods section, and a Chinese restaurant.
Rabbi in the kitchen
The Chinese restaurant serves strictly kosher
meals for the Jewish community every other week. "A rabbi seals the kitchen after it
has been made kosher, and he is present for all cooking done during that
week," Sandi said. Then she offered this joke:
Question:
What do you need to start a Jewish community?
Answer: A kosher Chinese restaurant, a dry cleaner, and a shul
would help.
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