[img]96|left|Shachar||no_popup[/img]Dateline Jerusalem — To quote the Disneyland ride of my youth, “It's a small world.” And, it is even smaller if you live in Israel. This tiny nation, only 62 years young, no larger than the state of New Jersey, 1/20th the size of California, with a population of approximately seven million, seems to be the nexus that connects the world, or at least my world.

On the train ride home the other night, a man asked me in Hebrew if he and his daughter could sit across from me. It was unusual because the train was relatively empty and religious men do not normally sit near nor carry on conversations with religious female strangers. When I told him in Hebrew that I do not understand nor speak Hebrew, he began speaking to me in English. He told me he lives north of Tel Aviv, but south of Haifa, in an area known as Israel's wine country.

He and his daughter rarely come to Jerusalem but just happened to be in Jerusalem that day. When I told him where I resided (south of Tel Aviv), he told me he has an old friend living in my town. It turns out that his close friend is also a friend of mine. But everyone in Israel seems to know everyone else in Israel, so I thought nothing of it. However when he told me his last name, we discovered that he was the nephew of an old friend of mine from the States! How amazing is that?

At my former employment, one of my colleagues had my unusual maiden name, but spelled with an extra letter at the end. I had never known about him nor met him until we began working together in Israel. He indicated his real name was the same as mine, but that his grandmother added the extra letter so that people would pronounce the name correctly. We discovered that our families came to the U.S. over 100 years ago from the same area in Europe, a town or two apart. It turns out that he also lived in Los Angeles, and his father had the same first name as my father. He asked if my father was a mathematician. When I replied in the affirmative, he informed me that his father used to receive mail addressed to my father! When I finally met his wife and children, he introduced me as, “This is your cousin Shachar.” We really believe we are not so distant cousins after all.

Isn’t It All Relative?

Speaking of relatives, I knew no one here in Israel other than my ex-husband's cousins. Many years ago I met a cousin of my father who had lived in Israel before it had even become a state. But he had passed away several years ago, and no one in the family had any contact with his family since. He had a son and two daughters I never met. When I moved to Israel I tried locating them. I had some old phone numbers, nothing else. None of the numbers worked. To their surprise and mine, I was able to locate one of the sisters. Believe it or not, all three of them live in my same town and are within walking distance from me! The sad part is that I am religious and they are not. ther than meeting with them one time, they never seem to have the time nor inclination to see me again.

I had been invited to friends from my synagogue for Shabbat dinner one night when their daughter from America was visiting them. They have several children, all living in Israel, except for this one daughter. She just happened to be in Israel that weekend because she was leading a group of young adults from California on a “Birthright Israel” tour.

The majority of those on her tour attended the same university as my youngest daughter who had graduated two years earlier. My friends' daughter spoke of knowing several people at the University. She mentioned the name of a girl on the tour whose name was familiar to me, although I had only met her once at a sorority function. My daughter's sorority “sister” had tried to convince my daughter to join her on the Birthright trip, but my daughter was not interested. In further conversation we discovered that not only did my friend's daughter know my daughter's sorority “sister,” she actually also knew my daughter!

A friend from California, but now living on the East Coast, often forwards my emails to his friends and family. As a result of his forwarding and that of many of my readers, several people I have never met have asked to be on my email list. One of these people is the wife of my friend's former rabbi. It seems that this woman has been living in Israel for many years and enjoyed my letters. What is amazing is that this woman lives about five blocks from where I am living right now! We decided to meet for lunch one day, describing only what we would be wearing so that we would recognize one another. As we stood outside a restaurant and introduced ourselves, a younger sibling of the Birthright tour leader happened to be walking by. Not only did she recognize me, but she also knew the rabbi's wife I was meeting for the first time. The three of us ended up having lunch together.

Everyone Knows Everyone?

Many years ago when I practiced law in California, one of my clients was a Druze Arab from Lebanon. He knew I was planning a visit to Israel and insisted that I go to one of the Druze villages in northern Israel to deliver his personal regards to his cousin who lived there. He had no address or phone number but indicated that all I had to do was mention his cousin's name and I would be given directions on how to find him. Sure enough, everyone in the Druze village knew him. We were given directions to my client's cousin's home. I knocked on the door to introduce myself and deliver my client's greetings. This man had no knowledge of my client! He did not know my client was his cousin nor was he familiar with my client's name!

(Since part of the Druze religion is to be loyal to their respective country, and Lebanon and Israel were enemies, there was not much communication between Israeli and Lebanese Druze because they would often have to fight against each other.) But, my client was now an American Druze, as he had not been in Lebanon for years, and America and Israel were not enemies.

Druze hospitality is well-known. So he insisted my family come into his home. He called my client in California (at 2 a.m. California time) and spoke to him in Arabic. Although they had never met due to political and geographical problems, they were actually first cousins. Since that time, the Israeli cousin has traveled to California and finally met my client. Had I not planned a visit to Israel at the time, these two cousins may have never connected.

The Israeli Druze introduced me to his son-in-law, who received an award for writing a children's book in Arabic. I was given a copy of the book with a personalized dedication to me. My client's cousin presented me with a handwoven Druze basket that had been in his family for years. Our families became great friends. Whenever I get a chance I go their village for a visit.

It is said that there is nothing coincidental, that people's paths cross for a reason, that they are at a particular place at a particular time for a particular purpose. I had not been in Jerusalem for three months, and I find myself on a train sitting across from someone who rarely travels to Jerusalem who happens to be the nephew of a friend of mine in the States who I have not seen in years. I live in the Los Angeles area my entire life and discover a distant cousin while on the job in Israel. Of all places I choose to live in Israel, I find relatives living within walking distance. I am invited to dinner at friends the one night their daughter from California should be visiting and this girl just happens to know my daughter. One of the greatest fans of my writing happens to live within a few blocks of my home in Israel. And, two cousins separated by world politics found each other because I decided to go on vacation to Israel 15 years ago.

Coincidence? Fate? Or, just a small world?

L'hitraot. Shachar