After a very short and uneventful 40 minute flight from Honolulu, we arrived in the Big Island (The Island of Hawaii). The first thing that hits you when you arrive is that the airport terminal in Kona is totally outside...there are walls to the terminal but no roof...and that sort of fits in with the whole termperment of the Big Island...laid back, outdoorsy and natural.
We found our way to our house that we rented high on the hill overlooking the ocean and it is a very nice house. It's in the middle of a residential neighbourhood about a mile walk from the Chabad house.
So far we have met a few Jews...always occurring when they recognize my kippah and come over to let us know that they are also Jewish. On the flight over from Oahu, a lady introduced herself and let us know that she was Jewish...tho' married to a goy
...she is from NY and has lived here for 20 years. She knew about Chabad having been there for Yom Kippur.
Today, we had stopped for coffee at one of the many coffee plantations on the island (Kona Coffee is supposedly the best in the world) and this fellow approached us and told us his name was Levine and that he knew that both of his parents, who died when he was a very young boy, were Jewish. He was then brought up by some Mormons and he still lives in Utah...totally not considering himself Jewish but in fact a Jew.
Today, we had stopped for coffee at one of the many coffee plantations on the island (Kona Coffee is supposedly the best in the world) and this fellow approached us and told us his name was Levine and that he knew that both of his parents, who died when he was a very young boy, were Jewish. He was then brought up by some Mormons and he still lives in Utah...totally not considering himself Jewish but in fact a Jew.
This morning we woke to the magnificent view of the ocean below us. We drove to the Chabad House and picked up the Empire chickens that they had bought for us. We also found Manischevitz wine and Chaf-K bread in the Safeway store (there were anumber of other kosher products there) and so we are set for Shabbat. The Chabad Shaliach who is Dov Parshan's (A"H) grandson, and his wife are in NY for SHabbat so they left the semichah student, who is doing his shlichus internship here, in charge. He seems like a very nice young man. He told us that there are a couple of thousand Jews on the Island tho not many of them identify with being Jewish. So it is a major chore to get a minyan. They have been in operation here for a couple of years and are making inroads slowly at strengthening Jewish identity here.
There is a strong chance that there will be a minyan this shabbat here (it only happens about once a month at this point). There is nothing happening on Friday night, so we are davening here and we have invited the young Chabad student to join us here...how is that for a switch...we are inviting the Chabad guy here rather than they inviting us there...
It rained all day today and the sun only peeked out a couple of times but we still managed to do the entire circle drive of the island, visit a few coffee places, the major Macadamia Nut processing plant where most of their products have an OU - D, see a couple of waterfalls and other sites along the way. The rain did hamper our touring but if you only have a few days, you have to make the best of it.
Tonight we did all our cooking for Shabbat and tomorrow it will hopefully clear up so that we can visit more of the sites here.
The major sight on the island, the burning lava flowing out of the volcano has not been active for the past few months....that has hampered alot of the tourism here...so we did not see the glowing lava...maybe next time!
That's all from here...hope you are all well...
All the best
Fran and David
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