Angel's Camp: Shana Tova

We took a leisurely drive through 4 different highways to get to Angel's Camp on Tuesday. We had originally planned to go on Monday, but we decided to put it off one day due to the heat up there and some remaining things to do locally.

We finally made it up there -- after a lengthy traffic jam above Tracy -- at about dusk. We checked in at our Worldmark resort, and found that the two-bedroom place I had reserved was a virtual palace. It was a corner unit, and immediately offered us a beautiful view of the sunset from two sides of the unit.

The next day we had a casual breakfast at Perko's Cafe, picked up some groceries, and then went back to the WM unit to just relax until 6 pm. I sat out on the patio in the pleasant 70-degree air, and watched the squirrels scamper below, the golfers drive around in their golf carts while I listened to Disney updates on my iPod. It was a very pleasant afternoon.

At 6 pm we drove over to Murphys, which is another little town a few miles away on 49, and drove up the short driveway to the massive home. We met the family there, as well as their 3 dogs, and waited for the rest of the congregation to join us for erev Rosh Hashanah services. In the meantime, as I petted the dogs, I could hear the blast of the shofar. Each kid had to try it, apparently, and every adult male had to blow on it. It punctuated the conversation as we waited for everyone to arrive.

It was a very nice service -- about 25 of the local Jews attended -- and a nice little potluck at the end. Apples dipped in honey. Challah. Grapes. Wine and grape juice.

The next morning we got up early because we knew this journey would be a long one. Sonora was a good 26 miles from Angel's Camp. So we climbed into the car and drove until we got to Sonora, found a Starbucks, and relaxed for an hour, knowing we could find the house from there.

Just a note here: the Starbucks woman helping us commented on Val's hat. She said, gee, it almost looks like a yamulke. At the end of their conversation we discovered that she is a Jew, too, and Val wrote out information for her to find the congregation if she felt the desire later.

We drove on to the house. But it wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be. However, we made the correct turn and then went up and up on a small paved road, all the way to the top of the mountain, 11 miles. When we got to the top, we saw the house with the largest windows I've ever seen. And a small, energetic woman and her smaller dog came out to greet us.

Arlene is very proud of her house, and showed it off to us before anyone else arrived. And we took the time to meet the other seven dogs. I only learned the names of four of them, including the adorable Spaniels (Wanda and Olivia), the boxer (Patty), and the Newfoundland (a monstrous black lump named Sherman). I discovered that the dog hair (and drool) stuck to my clothing on a regular basis. Arlene loved the fact that everyone could meet and talk to her dogs. And she loved to entertain. What better entertainment than Rosh Hashanah services?

We had the services in the raised, oval part of the house. This was where the floor to tall ceiling windows were. It was a beautiful area, normally hot as hell, Arlene told us, in the summer. But today was nicely moderate, and it was a perfect temperature during the service, even for me. I was quite amazed that 16 people made it out to the house. Some of them had to drive one to two hours to get there. And most of them did not know each other! They do now.

This is my second Rosh Hashanah at a small community. It's always a different kind of experience. The Temple Sinai Paramount service is big and grand with glorious music. But the small congregation service is...well, it's always different, depending on the need of the congregation. This one was intimate, personal. I wouldn't trade it.