Of Hopes and Efforts

So, as everyone knows by now, the judge, a sour faced, middle aged woman, ruled against us. Yisroel was kicked out of the country, and we need to pay a fine. But he doesn't need to leave yet. She didn't even take out arguemnets of witnesses into account. So we are appealing, and praying really hard.

It's really strange - on one hand, we dont know if we will be here in a few more weeks. On the other hand, we are continuing to do what we came here to do. Which means that we are hosting lots of people, for meetings and chassidic gatherings and Shabbos meals and stuff. Catered by yours truly. And I am working hard on our next Women's Club, scheduled for February 2nd. English school is growing. The kids are learning tons ofEnglish, and about Judaism too, and I am thrilled to be teaching again. I forgot how much I loved teaching. Friday brought us a huge snowstorm, which Vladivostok was entirely unprepared for. So we had a small crowd in the synagogue on Shabbos. I was the only women, which was pretty lonely. But there were 6 men, and they really got into it. Lots of dancing and singing. Joy breaks through all boundries, as the chassidic saying goes. They want to organize a miyan for next week.

We are planning a big community gathering for next Sunday. We are going to ask people to take on mitzvos, in the merit of which, we hope, the court decision will be reversed.

It should be a busy week.