Selamat Sabtu

A dozen or so of us, representing six countries, joined together for a Friday evening fest & feast, the first of this year (the century’s bar mitzva year, no less) to celebrate the end of the week, the sabbath, an empty moon – and community. Candles were lit, prayers recited, wine (ok, grape juice, but close enough), challah bread dotted with raisins & song echoed through a house in the rice fields. A vegetarian meal followed, with pumpkin soup, humus, baba ghanoush, jackfruit & cassava chips (Indonesian snacks) and a whole lot o’ salad. ‘Twas another first for Ubud; members of a tribe gathered together on this Hindu island in a Muslim archipelago in very close proximity to the equator.

We are blessed. Amen.