Today I regretfully left the guest room of my cousins' home and took up residence at a hotel on Margaret Island in the middle of the Danube.
Last night was my last evening with my cousins, and I joined them for one last sabbath ceremony and dinner at their old, lovely temple, the Obuda synagogue. The rabbi gave another rousing welcome to the Sabbath evening and then, later, at dinner, he told several entertaining stories and one long discourse. By the time we got home, it was close to midnight.
Zsolt and Nori are a much-admired couple in the synagogue. They know everyone, and everyone knows them. The rabbi's two children spent considerable time talking to Nori in very serious tones, and I could tell that Nori enjoyed talking with them. She will be a wonderful mother.
Nori and Zsolt have treated me like royalty every day, making sure that I was comfortable, fed, and a part of the family. I know that I will see them again before I leave Hungary, but I can understand how my father felt when he left Budapest for the last time in 1984, wistfully looking at the receding Budapest landscape from the train back to Vienna and then home to the U.S., not knowing if or when he would ever return.
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