Sunday, August 2nd
We arrived at the Langers, the local Shluchim in S. Francisco, pretty close to shabbos. We met the other guests with whom we’d be spending the weekend and settled down in the Chabad House. This was to be a little bit of an extended stay compared to the average time of twelve hours which we dare not exceed in one place.
The reason for the extended stay is the JCC Maccabi Games, in which many Jewish teens from all over the world compete for gold. This year it was in S. Francisco.
But first Shabbos. Friday night was beautiful, with great food and great camaraderie. We told over a couple of stories from the road, sang a few traditional Jewish songs, spoke about many different topics ranging anywhere from bathrooms to bobble-heads to Jerusalem; all in all a wonderful time.
Shabbat afternoon after cholent, we went for a stroll in Golden Gate Park. The air was brisk with a chilly wind blowing but that didn’t stop us – we were out looking for people.
We met with one man who ran over and told us of his first encounter with the Lubavitcher Rebbe. What impressed him most was that after all he’d heard of the Rebbe preaching a message of goodness , the very first thing he witnessed was the Rebbe giving a young child a coin to give to charity. He said that the scene is still ingrained in his mind 30 years later!