Havdallah

Every week for over a year now, I call Nana (my grandma) to do Havdallah with her over the phone. [Havdallah: a Jewish ceremony involving a glass of wine/juice, sweet spices, and a braided candle that signifies the end of the Shabbat {The Day of Rest} and the new week]. This summer, I had the opportunity to do Havdallah with Nana from India, LA, Denver, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Israel, Switzerland, and this Saturday night I'll be phoning Nana from Washington D.C.

Havdallah is recited after the sun sets on Saturday evening. While I was in India and Europe, Nana and I would connect for Havdallah as the sun set on her end of the phone, and dawned in the morning sky on my end of the phone. On one Sunday morning in a phone booth outside of Nashik, India, I lit my candle and began speaking the first bracha [prayer] for Havdallah "Heneh El Yeshua Tee..." and towards the end of the prayer, a fight broke out right next to me. I didn't stop Havdallah because we were almost done with the ceremony, and I didn't want to get involved with the fight - ignoring a situation is unfortunetly the easiest way to deal with some of the experiences in "The Bharat" (India). I was pressed against the wall, candle burning, prayers chanting, fight brawling... "What's that noise?" Nana asks as I reach the end of the bracha. "Say amen!" I jeer back trying to distract her. "oh, amen."