Chapter 23 ( Shabbat Dinner And A South American Temple)

Back in Avalon:

Sherari and Allen were laying in bed when he sat straight up and yelled," Oh crap tonight is Shabbat!" She reached out and rubbed his back and said," It's ok, Lay back down." He turned to her with panic on his face and replied," Nooo, My parents are supposed to have Shabbat dinner with me because I am not allowed anywhere near the synagogues after I put the crown of King David on Valudus's head." She giggled slightly," I know how to cook Kosher. I mean I did know Yeshuah, he did live among us for many years before he went to Tibet and Napal." Calming down slightly he thought for a moment," Well mother is always on my butt about finding a nice Jewish Girl, she might be a little rude and call you a shikza." Sherari smiled a toothy grin and retorted," I will have you know I am just as much a Jew as you are. Probably even more. Go, Go get them and come back. By the time you get here, I will have made a beautiful Shabbat and your parents will love it." Looking at her skeptically, he put his shirt on and pulled up his pants and buttoned them and slipped his black suit jacket on and donned his Indianna Jones, black fedora. Leaning down to her sitting on the bed, he kissed her softly and touched her face. " You are perhaps the most beautiful creature I have ever seen my beautiful angel." He turned and left the room and she heard him leave the house. Muttering to herself," Well , you don't know how right you are there sir Rabbi."

Getting up quickly, she dressed and went to her mothers house and walked right in. Her father was sitting in the arm chair in the front room and she went to kiss his cheek. " I'm making Shabbat dinner tonight and I want to make Matzo ball soup and challah bread and a nice beautiful Rib roast with some creamed potatoes and gravy and some sautéed broccoli. I think that will impress the Levitz family. His parents are coming and It is important I make a good Shabbat."

Her mother came from the kitchen and smiled and pulled her by the hand into the kitchen and said," Oh you have to make your famous Carrot cake as well. His mother would love it I am sure." Nodding her head Sherari went to the pantry and gathered four dozen eggs and some herbs and matzo meal and some seltzer water. She always knew her mother had seltzer water because it helped her upset stomach.

Kissing her mother goodbye she went out the door and hurried back to her house. Luckily they shared a back yard and it wasn't far. She put the food down and and went to the hen house and killed two of her prized hens and plucked them and trimmed them to bring inside after discarding the guts in the fire pit and sending a prayer to God.

In her kitchen she took a few deep breaths and took out her five gallon pot and placed the two hens inside and poured about two gallons of water over them. She turned on the fire underneath and began cutting the vegetables that went into her soup. three pounds of carrots four large onions and five stalks of celery and some lovely smaltz she had made earlier in the month that she kept in her fridge. She added two tablespoons of Thyme, two tablespoons of sage, three tablespoons of salt, one tablespoon of pepper, two tablespoons of oregano, five bay leaves and three jalapenos just lightly nicked with the knife into the pot. 

Turning around she looked in her cabinet for a large bowl and began preparing the matzo balls. Her matzo balls were the best in the world she thought . She knew she needed 18 eggs and 18 tablespoons of seltzer  water and 1 cup of olive oil. She needed 4 and 1/2  full cups of matzo meal, 1and a half  heaping tablespoons of salt, and one whole large clove of garlic, minced finely and 1 teaspoon of fresh ground pepper. She mixed it all together and let it stand for an hour or so while she let the soup boil and turned to her rib roast and began to get it ready for the oven. 

It would take three hours but she wanted it room temperature before she put it in the oven. Sherari moved the roast to the counter and grabbed the largest bowl she could find for the challah bread. She would need 10 cups of flour, 4 tablespoons of active dry yeast,  3 cups of sugar, 4 large eggs,1 heaping tablespoon of salt 1 and a 1/2 cups of olive oil, 3 and 1/2 cups of warm water and 1 full cup of honey into the warm water with the yeast and let the yeast sit for a few moments to bloom before she added it to the dry ingredients. When the yeast had bloomed, she whisked the dry goods together and made a deep well in the middle and added the beaten eggs and the warm yeast mixture and began stirring with a wooden spoon until it had absorbed most of the water then she began working it with her hands and singing and praying to Yehovah and worked the dough until she got a large ball formed and then began kneading it in the bowl using the flour that didnt go into the dough ball in the first place and worked it that way for close to ten minutes folding and pushing the dough until it was a nice and tight ball. then she covered it and placed the huge bowl outside on her porch to get the heat of the sun with a large towel covering it to keep out the critters. 

The house was beginning to smell wonderful and she pulled out the hens and put them to cool as she began rolling the matzo balls she had close to 60 matzo balls when she was done rolling and went out to check the challah and saw it was ready to punch down and braid. She brought it inside and started cutting it into pieces that she rolled into long strands and she began to braid as she prayed the Bracha for bread. when she was done she had two loaves of bread and twelve garlic rolls  set to raise one more time before she baked them in the oven. " She looked up and said to the sky and said," Allen's mother better appreciate all this hard work I am doing. I swear if she kvetches even once, I am unfurling my wings." 

Evening dawned and the table was set just perfect and the candles were lit all but the Shabbat candle when she heard everyone coming to the door. Allen let himself in and gestured for his parents to come inside. She could hear his mother," Oh what a lovely home for a shikza."  That was it Sherari was going to put the old woman in her place. How dare she!"  As his parents were walking through the house all of a sudden they heard the most angelic voice come from the dining room. " Kadosh, Ka,adoosh, kadosh, Yehovah , Elohim, TZeviot." was all she got out of her mouth as she heard the gasps of all three when they saw her beautiful out stretched wings. Looking at them she smiled and said," What is wrong ? it looks as if you saw something you couldn't explain." Allen's mouth was wide open," Y-You're an Angel?" He stammered in shock but quickly gathered it together and smiled at how she had shut his mother up. "Why yes my love, I certainly am. Born on earth by angel parents one thousand five hundred and fifty five years ago. 

Everyone looked at Sherari and she smiled at Allen and folded her wings and said quietly to his parents," I will have you know, I am no shikza. I am a child of the most High and I love your son. As you can see I have made a beautiful Shabbat. Mrs. Levitz will you do me the honor of lighting the Candles this night so Hashem my join my home?" She gestured for Allen to sit at the head of her table and excused herself to go retrieve the roast from the kitchen. As she walked the roast in she placed it by her man, his mother looked at the Challah and noticed how beautifully it was baked and the smell of the Matzo balls were tantalizing.  Allen waited for his mother to say the candle blessing and sit down before he started carving the roast." I was wondering where my Torah was , I must have left it at my house earlier." 

Sherari got up and walked to a shelf in the nearby room and brought it to him. It was very heavy and covered with a beautiful blue cloth that seemed very ancient." My father knew a young Jewish boy who came to live among us before I was born and they wrote this together." She gestured for his father to come over and help him as she placed it upon a beautiful mahogany scroll stand that was nearby the table. He and his father poured over the scroll. It was written in Phoenician Hebrew , much older than anything they had surviving to this day to date it was one of the oldest copies of the Torah they had ever seen after the destruction of so may synagogues during the time of the rift in the 2020's. 

His father reached into his pockets and pulled out gloves to read the three thousand year old scroll. Rabbi Levitz looked up at the angel and said, This is more perfect than the Ellepo codex and I have only seen photos that they made in the 1900's! "He sucked in his breath. "I can see here, there were many changes. It does not read like the others. It flows as if an old man were sitting by a fire speaking to children. Even though it is a post Masoretic text, it is written in a more ancient script." 

Sherari beamed with pride and pleasure to have made her future father in law so happy. " Wait! You are and angel how can this be ok?" The angel nodded, " It works in reverse, when a female angel mates with a human the curse does not apply it just enables the child to live longer than normal humans. So, I have to say we are ok and it can be ordained by Hashem." The old man smiled a huge smile. " My son the mashuga is marrying an angel! God Be praised. I will finally have grand children." Sherari looked at the old man even though he was younger by standard of her age and said," Rabbi Levitz, Please, Take the Scroll, I have three more from different ages of the Earth. I have one far older than this in exquisite shape. So I can let you have this one." The Rabbi looked at her with more reverance and asked if he could see the scroll. She got up and went to fetch the scroll when Mrs. Levitz pipped up from her bowl of Matzo Balls." Oh dear these are quite tasty. I don't think I have ever had a matzo ball so tasty. What did you do dear? Is it a family secret?" Allen say beaming. In one fell swoop not only had Sherari shut their mouths from being embarassing but she had also added value to him in his parents eyes. Sherari returned to the room and said, "This was rumored to have come from Mars when they came here after their planet started dying. This predates Sumeria, This predates Veda, This predates anything you could ever find upon this Earth. We all came from the heavens, Me, humans,all of us you name it we all exist within the All and the All exists in all of us. Each solar system is an atom in his body. Each galaxy a cell. Every nuance you could ever fathom or even if you can not resides within the Microcosm.

Back in South America;

Richard and Hadassah found their way to the Temple of Supay and were scouting the perimeter to find if there was easy access somewhere or if they would have to barrel their way in with a barrage of magic and fire. He was god of the underworld, something somewhere was going to not go according to plan. What it was exactly, Richard couldn't quite put a finger on. However, he knew the nano bots would bring him back from death. Earlier in his life after he had grown despondent about the reaction he had to the vaccine and all it contained he threw himself off the highest building in the world. You know the one in Taiwan that literally swayed in the wind as you climbed higher and higher. He was dead long enough for them to put him in the morgue where he awoke with a gasp to find himself naked with a sheet over him and a tag dangling from his toe. The world was in chaos with Corona Virus and the lockdowns of many large cities among the world. Hadassah bumped into him bringing him back to reality, and making him think some more as he looked at her with new eyes. Beautiful, yet so sad. Cunning and brave and wow what a bitch she could be when she was mad. Yes people, after a thousand years he found his twin flame. Someone as dark as he. " Oh God look at me getting all mushy." He said to himself and then said aloud," I think we can get in down there by the stream." Hadassah smiled and nodded lost in her own thoughts.

They managed to pull some stones loose near the top of a stairwell they found and began to descend into the depths of insanity. The darkness closed in around them when both Richard and Hadassah pulled out lanterns from their bags, they lit them up and held them high to see. The stair well went down for about thirty yards then it leveled off flat for about a hundred yards opening up into a large floor. Then it looked as if there was another stairwell that went further down into the temple. Looking ahead she saw a huge spider with a nest full of spiderlings spreading across the floor  and she cringed saying out loud in disgust." Why did it have to be spiders?" She shivered and began to descend more as the old man went in front of her. He began to hum a jaunting tune and then broke out in song  singing the chorus about twenty yards away from her as he sent a fire ball to the spiders. They burst into flame and twitched their legs as they curled up on their backs.

 " Never gonna give you up. Never gonna let you down. Never gonna run around and desert you. Never gonna make you cry. Never gonna say a lie. Never gonna run around and desert you." He said as he started to dance  flicking magic here and there  killing a large rat and some more spiders as he dance walked. When he reached the floor, He turned and looked at her and sang," We've known each other, for so long. I'm just trying to make you understand." Hadassah looked at him like he had lost his mind and he continued on as she saw a large snake slithering his way. She sent a few bolts of shadow measure its way, knocking the beast back a few feet where it landed on the edge of a low wall. The measure hit the snake  with such force that it shriveled up into a long thin stick. Suddenly, from behind her to the right something akin to what a chupacabra is, came at her growling and flinging feces everywhere. Richard turned and cast a meteor from the ceiling down upon it. The beast was now sitting on its haunches dead, smoke curling its way upwards from the tips of its ears.

Hadassah sighed and pushed past Richard, "It has to be around here somewhere" She said in exasperation. Patience not being one of her virtues." Rasputin get your ass out here and go find where the amulet and the idol are." The old Russian, swirled out of the medallion and leaned his shade over her shoulder," What? you having trouble? You need Gregory to go and find something for you? " He said flippantly to her and left before she could retort.

Rasputin came back rather quickly and reported what he had seen. He lifted his shade as tall as his six foot 4 inch frame used to be but hunched over like Gargamel from the Smurfs wringing his hands like a dork and talking in a hissy tone," Ok, "He said as he pointed to the left," Ova here you have two pools of starving Piranha who have not really eaten for many, many years. So they want to feast upon the flesh of a lovely girl like you." Hadassah glared at him and he continued on in his flippant hissy tone. "Just past there you will find a doorway with a lot of coffins. A little farther through the coffin room down at the end, you are going to have to pull down on this sconce to open a hidden doorway." Then after that you should find what you seek pretty easy. I am not going to make it easy for you. This serving you shit was not in my contract." Hadassah narrowed her eyes at him and said," Actually the moment you did anything that signed any contract with Lucifer you gave up any rights in the after life. So my dear, you are shit out of luck and guess what? Even when we make him mortal and kill him, I still own you. I found you and bound you. So, now that contract with the angel is null and void. You live to serve me you Russian whelp." 

Rasputin hissed one more time and flew back into the medallion. He paced inside a few moments and sat down on a little ethereal couch he placed in there for comfort.  " Great! Now I'm a Genie in a bottle." was the voice that came out of the medallion. Richard pointed his forefinger up and said. " You didn't even rub him the right way." and the old man began to laugh so hard Hadassah though he would break a rib. Looking down at him she said." I really don't get it." He looked up at her through laughter's tears and said," When we get back to a big town, I will show you in the music archives what I am talking about." 

Satisfied that she was not the butt of yet another joke and realized that it truly was something funny to Richard she grabbed him by the hand and they walked towards the placed the shade had indicated. Stopping short at the water pool realizing that Rasputin purposely didn't tell her there was no way to go but around. He had given her the least amount of information that he could give. Looking down, she realized he was leaning over the ledge and Richard had grasped her invisible tail just to keep her from going head long into the starving cannabalistic fish. Hadassah gasped and panicked and said," Pull me back! Pull me back! I don't care if it hurts! Pull me back!" Richard winced as he tugged really hard on the base of her tail while stepping backward. She yelped loudly and hissed slightly and turned quickly to hug him close to her. He leaned down and smelled her hair deeply noting that is smelled of Dragon's Blood and currently, Fear.