Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Beautiful Piece From Mosaic Magazine: "Kiddush With Grace"

When an Orthodox Jewish scholar got invited to Houston, Texas attorney Mark Lanier's mansion for Shabbos and a bible conference. 

"Yet quite beyond the academic papers, the weekend conference in the heart of the Bible belt offered me an opportunity as an orthodox Jew to appreciate the variety and profundity of religious experience."

"Fifty guests attended the dinner at the Lanier mansion Friday night. Mark’s staff had written me in advance, asking if I would recite the blessing on the wine and bread. The guests gathered in a circle in the massive rotunda at the center of the house, and on a little table I set out the challah rolls, Kiddush cup and wine I had brought from Israel."

"My sense was that this was a first for many present, and I offered explanations of what we were doing based on biblical verses, with which they were all familiar."
 
"The academic paper over which I had labored for months had received appropriate applause earlier in the day. But my Kiddush and Hamotzi performance that night received an outpouring of tearful thanks."