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28 Nissan 5760 - May 3, 2000 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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Home and Family
The Breakfast Nook
by M. Steinberg

I used to live in a suburb of a middle-sized city in Middle America. The houses in this area were all large and beautiful with spacious lawns and many had a private lake. Of all the beautiful homes to choose as a favorite, there was one that I especially loved and we always referred to it as Ima's dream house. The most special part of it was the breakfast nook.

The house was built in a rambling split-level style on a hill with a huge back lawn sloping down a small but very exclusive little lake. The huge kitchen led into a sunny breakfast area with large windows overlooking this backyard. It was furnished in wicker with loads of plants indoors, giving the illusion of being joined to the shrubs outside the windows and glass doors. It was like sitting in the garden of Eden lehavdil, so sunny, warm, green and peaceful. On the other side of the room, two steps led down to a formal dining room which picked up the greenery in the tones of the carpet and the stripes of green and gold on the chairs. Further to the left was the formal living room continuing the gracious flow of beautiful objects to the impressive front door and more green lawns ahead.

The breakfast room stuck in my mind and heart as the "dream room" all through the years of suburban living, aliya- immigration, absorption and many years of living in Jerusalem. Such jealousy. A real green-eyed monster. What a yetzer hora!

What I forgot to make clear was that the dream house was not ours. Actually, the people who lived in the house were bitter and unhappy with all their wealth and comfort. And they never sat together in their breakfast room, smiling and speaking kindly to each other. The house distinctly radiated vibes of tension and repressed anger. The people are no longer living, since this is an old story, but I remember thinking then that the Gan Eden was wasted on them.

But the little voice of envy, my personal yetzer hora of jealousy, persisted throughout these thirty years.

This morning, I was sitting at my chipped old kitchen table, received from the Ministry of Absorption, in my modest home in Yerusholayim. My husband and I were having our once-a-week huge breakfast in the middle of a busy Friday morning. From my window, we could see the hills of the Holy City. Our home is, boruch Hashem, full of warmth and kind words and we look forward to our weekly breakfast together at our little old table.

It suddenly struck me that I am actually living the "dream house" in all the ways that are truly important. And so, at long last, I was able to finally lay my foolish jealousy to rest.

 

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