SHAVUOT- Time of Giving of the Torah

In the last posting I begin to describe the experience I had this morning in Church. This was followed by our Jewish Shavuot Service. For 4 months before getting onboard, I worked with NCL / Oceania Corporate offices in Miami to make the most of celebrating some special dates on the Jewish Calendar while onboard. The key holidays during this period are: Shabbat, Purim, Passover, Holocaust Remembrance Day, Israeli Independence Day and Shavuot. Celebrating Shavuot was going to require some planning since not only did I have to write a Service that I would lead, we needed to find the right date and time when passengers would be available and send invites and get RSVPs for a set number of people (we ultimately had 60 passengers attend). Then we had to meet with all the players onboard that were responsible for preparing special foods, setup, service and execution on all of the small details that made it so special.

Our Service and Brunch were held an hour after the Pentecost Service. It was quite the exhilarating experience. The Service was well received (lots of talk afterwards about things people learned and shared) not to mention a very high sound level in the room throughout the meal, a strong indicator that everyone was having a great time. Oh, lets not forget food, lots and lots of food. Chef Justin, Food & Beverage Manager Carlos and Restaurant Manager Ana were wonderful at organizing everything we asked for and preparing every dish we had "suggested". Not only did it look beautiful as they displayed and served these various hot and cold dairy dishes (as is the tradition) BUT they all tasted just like grandma made. The menu included:
- Apples & Honey (why not? I know it wasn't Rosh Hashana but it was a sweet holiday)
- FRESHLY Made Bagels (not the normal ones served, these are difficult to make in quantity)
- CHALLAH FRENCH TOAST- yes they baked Challah ... just for the French Toast
- NOODLE KUGEL- incredible kugel, just crunchy enough
- CHEESECAKES - Caramel and Strawberry and Cherry were delicious
- CHEESE BLINTZES - Cherry. All I can say was WOW were they good
- Homemade Hummus and Baba Ghanoush, along with Pita- Israelis told me it was authentic
- Cream Cheese, Butter, LOX, Falafel, Onions & Capers & Lemon- all the accoutrements
- Egg Salad & Couscous- great homemade taste
- QUICHE - Cheese & Leek, PASTRIES - YUMMMMY!

Karen &. I worked hard at putting this together but enjoyed every moment!

An article I wrote on Jewish Holiday's on ships was published in Jlife. https://www.flipsnack.com/E8FC6CDD75E/0126_jlif…

In addition, in preparation for the Purim holiday, the Union for Reform Judaism (our governing Religious body in the US) has published this article on sharing and inclusion on the ship. https://reformjudaism.org/blog/sharing-hamantas…Read more