Inside, she was doing a happy dance. Number 7 on my list, here we come!

"Y

eah, Ma, Rosh Hashanah was nice.

I mean, Har Nof is not much different from Flatbush — only a lot prettier. And, like, holier. Ooh, selichah!”

ZeeZee pulled the phone away from her ear and turned to wave an apology at the lady whose foot she’d just trampled.

“No, Ma, not you. I’m by the Kosel right now. You wouldn’t believe how crowded it is. Selichah! Selichah!” she mouthed to the group of girls she’d just bumped into. Frustrated, she muttered, “How in the world are you supposed to do this whole walking backward thing without knocking people over?”

“Anyway,” she continued. “What? …Oh, of course, it was wonderful getting to spend Rosh Hashanah with Chana Malka. After a whole Shabbos together, too!” ZeeZee rolled her eyes. “Yes, Ma, I’m loving the opportunity to spend so much quality time with my niece. Just you wait, by the end of this year, we’re gonna be total besties.” She smirked and caught the eye of a tzedakah lady sitting by the mechitzah, who immediately sprang up.

She pointed at ZeeZee. “Dollars? From America?”

ZeeZee suddenly brightened, and motioned for the tzedakah lady to wait. “Listen, Ma, I gotta go now, ’kay? Someone needs me here. Talk to you later. Love you, bye!”

Zipping open her crossbody bag, she pulled out a generous handful of shekels. “You don’t want dollars, geveret, the exchange rate stinks right now.”

“Kein, kein.” The lady nodded eagerly, the wrinkles on her face deepening with her smile as she dropped the money into a plastic bag filled with coins.

ZeeZee contemplated her for a moment. Hesitantly, she asked, “Hey, at rotzah le’echol – um, to come eat something? With me?”

The lady’s eyebrows furrowed uncomprehendingly, and she started to turn back to her chair.

“No!” ZeeZee cried. “I mean, um, what’s your name? Mah hasheim?”

“Sarah,” the lady said over her shoulder.

ZeeZee pantomimed eating, and then motioned to the two of them. “Can I buy you food? Um, ani yecholah liknos ochel?”

Slowly, Sarah’s eyes lit up. Wordlessly, she picked up her large bag and walked over to ZeeZee, who proudly led her across the Kosel plaza and up toward the Rova.

Inside, she was doing a happy dance. Number 7 on my list, here we come!