Story 2: Who cut the cheese?

        

      Several years ago,  I spent a semester of college at Tel Aviv University. One day, I decided that I needed to do some food shopping so I went to the local Super Sol market. After getting my usual items, I went to the back of the store to get some appetizing.

I looked at their selection and then said in my best attempt at Hebrew, “Tayn le kilo of gvenah.” (Give me a pound of cheese.) 

        What I didn’t realize at the time was that a kilo was two pounds instead of one. The man starts cutting and cutting, and the pile of cheese is rising faster than the Trump tower, but I didn’t know how to say “Stop” or even “Enough.”

I thought for a moment and then bravely shouted out “Mastik” (Gum) but this only confused the man and he kept on cutting. Finally, the answer dawned on me. I blurted out, “Maspeek.” (Enough) and the slicer slowed, and then ultimately stopped.  

      The man slicing the cheese replied, “Dai?” (enough?) 
I replied “Dayenu.” (Enough for me) as I blew a sigh of relief.

 My brother would later remark that, “It’s a good thing he wasn’t a moyl doing a circumcision.”, and I would have to agree that would have been a lot worse.

Life Lesson 2: What can we learn from this experience? I often share with my students the quote that, “Minds are like parachutes they work best when they are open.”, and that’s why I encourage everyone to be open minded when visiting different countries, to learn about the culture and a few survival words. Personally, I know how to say thank you in twenty languages.  One word doesn’t seem like such a big deal to learn, but a few words in a local language goes a far way, and often brings a smile that can makes someone’s day, and personally that’s “Enough” for me.