Number 67: Wherever we are in the world – Erev Shabbat meal is a distinctive time. There is always a special meal and table laid, the berachot (Shabbat blessings) and wearing smarter clothes than during the week. Sometimes – like currently during COVID-19 lockdown, there are just two of us together. Often over the years it has been a lively family affair with regaling of the weeks events, some robust discussion and debate, and a sense of “family” and togetherness.

Erev Shabbat in the Edelstein household, of which there were very many over the years! in my experience at 224 Ocean View Drive; 42 Avenue Disandt; and 101 Bowenvale, Mouille Point  was a boisterous experience. Fanny’s food (and Minnie’s – the domestic worker and cook) was distinctive, always incredibly tasty and plentiful. The discussion was lively, often heated, with people struggling to “get a word in edgeways”. Wonderful celebrations of life and precious memories!

When Sheryl and I got engaged on the 6^th November 1982, we phoned my parents in Port Elizabeth and my father z”l, delighted at the news, said he wasn’t feeling well. Turns out he was experiencing a heart attack while speaking to us telephonically – his first and he didn’t recognise the symptoms. Sheryl met my father for the first time – in hospital. That Friday evening my mother, Sheryl and I said the Berachot with my father in hospital, a tremendously moving experience.  These photographs reflect my mother’s Friday night table at 51 Hula Hula in Humewood. In 1997 together also with Ilana, my brother David’s ex-wife.

When I was growing up in Port Elizabeth, we went to shul most Friday nights.   Often to Summerstrand Shul, which we lived close to. All the men wore smart hats – which does not occur at all today. And sometimes to the main Glendenningvale Shul on the hill. Driving home we would always sing some of the shul tunes: Yigdal to Yerushalayim Shel Zahav standing out most prominently in my mind.