Yesterday was a busy day. And a good one. Let me explain:

My granddaughter goes to Hebrew School on Saturdays at 9 a.m., and the rest of her family usually comes over to our house, close to the synagogue, for an hour or so, and before going back to the synagogue for Shabbat services. That is what happened today. But I held back, did not go with the rest of them, and promised to meet them a bit later. I drove to the synagogue about 11 a.m., hoping to find a parking place within a few blocks, knowing there might not be any reasonable parking space available. But, as a I drove by the synagogue, I saw a space being vacated – a car pulling out at 11 in the morning. Unheard of. And so welcome. So I found a place to park right outside the door.

There was a double bar mitzvah today and I can’t say that I was unhappy to miss it, but I got to services in time to see the Torah returned to the ark and to hear Rabbi Krinsky’s sermon. I don’t think I have ever heard one of her sermons that I haven’t liked. This was celebrated today’s day of celebration (which I knew nothing about, or perhaps which I simply had forgotten about) called Shushan Purim Kattan. It is a minor variant of a minor holiday, as she described it. In seven out of every 19 years, the Jewish calendar has a leap-month, necessary to sync the lunar calendar of 354 days with the solar calendar of 365. In such years, as this one is, there are two months of Adar, I and II. Purim is celebrated in Adar II, but there is history showing that a minor or small (kattan) Purim should/could also be celebrated in Adar I. Purim is celebrated on the 14th of Adar. But yesterday was the 15th, and the 15th is the day that Purim is celebrated in walled cities, such as Shushan (the home of Esther, the hero of the story) where it took a day longer for the Jews to defeat the warriors of Haman. So yesterday Shusan Purim Kattan – a holiday that hardly anyone celebrates and one which most people know nothing about. But it made for an interesting sermon.

Then came kiddish and a chance to say hello (or more) to a number of old friends, and then an afternoon study session with Rabbi Alexander to discuss whether there is such a thing as Jewish dogma, such as the 13 attributes of Judaism as listed by Maimonides in the 12th century. We learned that other medieval rabbis had their own lists, with deviations from Maimonides list. And our discussion was around whether today Judaism has any set principles, things which all Jews must believe, any dogma whatsoever. You don’t see the words SPOILER ALERT here, because I am not going to give you any spoilers – perhaps there are not even any spoilers to be given. But the discussion was lively and the approximately 75 attendees I think came away with something that they didn’t bring into the room.

Edie and I decided to go on vacation for the rest of the day, so we drove to Union Market, about a half hour from our house. At one time, this was the home of Washington’s wholesale produce and meat markets, an area the busiest so early in the morning that most were still in bed. But now, it’s a thriving entertainment and high rise residential area – with many, many, many places to eat, drink and shop.

We started, at about 3 p.m. with a snack at Maman, a coffee shop on 4th Street NE, and then went into a number of places within a few blocks, including La Cosecha, the large Latin American food court, where two restaurants have recently closed, but where the remaining nine restaurants and six retail establishments seem to be thriving. Looking at the various food locations, as well as stores selling Latin American crafts, Spanish imported foods, leather goods and more.

After that, we went to the new branch of Politics and Prose, our neighborhood bookstore which now has expanded their two branches, one at Union Market and one at another upscale DC area, The Wharf. This branch has only been open about three weeks, and we were surprised at how large it is (not as large as the main store, but no longer a tiny outpost).

When there, we saw that there was to be a 5 p.m. book talk by Phillip B. Williams, discussing his new first novel, Ours, the somewhat surrealistic story of an all-Black community located just north of St. Louis, founded in the 1840s by a woman named Saint, who – with magical powers that even she does not understand – was able to free a number of enslaved peoples in Arkansas and bring them north. The author, whose previous work consisted of poetry, and who teaches in the MFA program at NYU, has an extremely lyrical way about him, and – although I don’t normally read fiction, and hardly ever read this sort of fiction – we bought the book, and I started it this evening. I will report on it later. It is getting very good reviews.

That was our day. We came home for supper (leftovers from last night’s Shabbat dinner for 8 where we probably had enough food for 16), kept our eyes on the Capitals game on TV (they lost to Florida, 3-2, in overtime) and the first Nats Spring Training game on a computer (the Astros beat them 7-4, but the youngest Nats performed well), and each tried to get some reading done.