Recently, we were lucky to attend a very nice Shabbat gathering on Friday evening, almost literally at the serene Baltic shore of Jurmala in Latvia, near its capital Riga. 

One can say that it has been one of many Shabbes gathering in summer destinations, we all have attended it at some point. But this one was not. 

There were over sixty people in the hall, from more than ten countries world-wide: local attendees from Riga and Jurmala, and many of us from all over the world, the US, Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, and Israel. 

We might not even know about it, but the way our host, the young Chabad Lubavitch schiach in the resort of Jurmala Rabbi Mendel Zilbershtrom led the evening, has made all of us to speak and greet the others briefly, so the picture of the presence of the people around the table came clear and visible. 

Around the long and pretty full table, there were men and women of all ages, children, teens and babies, young and senior ones. Among us were businessmen and bankers, teachers and academics, writers and artists, engineers and musicians. Visiting their son’s family, there was also a wonderful couple from Israel, highly respected Rabbi Dovid and Rabbanit Bella Zilbershtroms, the distinguished teacher from a notable family of a long and noble tradition. Rabbi Dovid’s input into the Shabbes evening was warm and memorable. 

As it happens at these kinds of gatherings, it was also a non-stop language carousel in a high tempo, with English, Russian and Hebrew jumping back and forth within the same phrase in an amusing flow that was perceived quite........

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