last night will and i went to the chabad house in mumbai for friday night shabbat dinner. it is located in coloba - the southern tip of mumbai. though not in the best area, the building was pretty nice and it was great to have a home-cooked meal.
chabad is run by a young israeli couple -- rabbi gavriel, his wife rivky and their little 1 1/2 year old son, moishe. rivky is a sweetheart. here were the cast of characters attending dinner:
1) a group of older men who are all diamond dealers (a few from israel, one from monsey, ny). apparently bombay is one of the best and cheapest places for them to go, so they end up coming about 4 times a year. none of them particularly enjoy it.
2) a group of young israeli boys (early 20s) who have just finished their stint in the army and are traveling through new zealand, india and nepal for several months (for those unaware, this is extremely common among israelis finishing the army to decompress before beginning their next chapter of life -- going to university or getting a job)
3) a group of young lubavitch, ultra orthodox boys (also early 20s) who are sent from chabad throughout the world to help lead passover seders in bombay and the goa beaches where loads of israelis go (see above). they are also sent around the world for the high holidays. honestly chabad goes EVERYWHERE. one dude said he just finished working as a mashgiach (the person who oversees the kitchen to make sure it is kosher) for a cruise around greece and malta.
as you can imagine, the conversation was interesting -- religiously inspiring, politically provocative and borderline insulting at times, but obviously i very much enjoyed the song session (and belted out the words) and we were both very grateful to have some good ole challah.
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