Cafe Moment

By Rabbi Zoe Klein

One of the bombings in Jerusalem

took place in Café Capit,

and one of the bombings

took place in Café Moment.

I have only lived in Israel for two years,

what do I know of the land?

I didn't pay taxes and have a full-time job.

I was a student.

What right do I have to think of it as home?

And yet, I remember Café Capit.

I always ordered te im nana,

tea with sweet sweet mint,

with brown sugar,

sometimes I would meet a friend

and we would share a giant salad

with fresh olives

and crumbled goat cheese,

and sit under the umbrellas on the terrace

with our bookbags at our sides

watching the passersby on the street.

I remember the ivy and the perfume of the rosemary garden

and the hurried waitress with her black apron

and the time we all went there after Shabbat had ended

and on the sidewalk a guitarist strummed out a sweet melody

and we all ate cheese toast with zhatar and

felt at peace.

And I know I wasn't born in Israel,

only spent a fraction of my life there

although the majority of my life I spend thinking about her,

what right do I have to think of it as home?

And yet, I remember Café Moment,

with its giant ice cream sundaes

and chocolat cham im ketzefet,

hot chocolate with whipped cream,

grilled vegetable platters,

sometimes I would meet friends there

and sit under the umbrellas on the terrace

or if it was chilly,

just inside behind the plate glass,

studying or gossiping.

I remember the amber light

and the woman with the brown shirt behind the cash register

and the cobblestones just outside,

and the souvenir shop across the street,

and I remember the evening I sat there with Jonathan

and he excused himself

and went to the corner

to call my father from a payphone

to ask him for permission

to ask my hand in marriage,

and how he came back to our little round table smiling,

but not revealing what little conspiracy he

had just planned.

I know I haven't made aliyah

and I've lived in Israel only two years

but I love her

Yerushalayim Shel Zahav,

Jerusalem of Gold,

and I pray for her healing,

and the healing of all her children

sipping their tea and tapping their spoons

in her cafés,

I pray for the healing of all her wounded,

just as we pray for

all those in our community who are in need

of healing...

(Rabbi Zoë Klein)