Day 5: Phiadelphia Freedom

Friday, October 9

Let the adventure begin!

The hotel breakfast looked lousy, so we headed over toward the Princeton campus, and ate at a place called Jammin' Crepes, which is a play on "jammin'" as in "really cool" and "jam 'n' crepes," as they make and sell jam. Most of the dishes were a veritable pork-fest; however, we were able to find some very tasty veggie crepes (both sweet and savory). 

At this juncture, I feel compelled to explain our dietary habits, as they are no-doubt confusing to those readers who don't quite understand kosher and wonder what we are up to, and those who completely understand kosher and wonder what we are up to. It is also important to explain this as it is an important theme for the Israel leg of the trip. In short, we make it our practice to not eat foods forbidden to Jews, such as pork and shellfish. We also do not eat meat and milk together, which is another important port of the kosher dietary laws. Someone adhering strictly to the laws of keeping kosher would therefore never eat at Jammin' Crepes or any restaurant that wasn't certified kosher by a rabbinic authority as not serving milk and meat in the same establishment and if meat is served, that it be only kosher-slaughtered animals permitted by the Torah. As such restaurants are relatively rare, and as we have a life-long habit of eating out at non-kosher restaurants and are reluctant to give it up, we compromise by eating only vegetarian and fish dishes (not considered meat) when dining at non-kosher restaurants. This is in fact cheating, as no Orthodox rabbinic authority would accept such a practice as acceptable observance of the laws of kosher, but it is what we do. That said, we do take particular pleasure when we have the opportunity to choose a certified kosher restaurant over one that is not, but more on that when we get to Israel.

A lovely day in Princeton

After breakfast, we headed out to Philadelphia for the day. We parked at the Independence Visitor Center and then walked around to see the various sites. The Presidents' House, where Washington and Adams lived while they served, was focused on the fact that Washington had slaves in that house. There was very little about this exhibit that was not focused on the slaves. At first we were a bit put off by the apparent agenda of the exhibit designers, but it could be excused by the fact that the only archaeological remains of the house were the slave quarters, so really, there wasn't much else to look at and therefore talk about.

The Liberty Bell museum gave lots of history about the bell, culminating with the bell itself at the far end of the hall. However it was not at all clear from the exhibit why the Liberty Bell is the icon that it is. From the exhibit, it would seem that it was nothing more than one bell among many, and that it was poorly made, having cracked when first put to use. 

Financial analyst contemplating the price of liberty

That thing's cracked!

The Philosophical Society, founded by Ben Franklin, housed an exhibit of Thomas Jefferson's scientific artifacts. In a neighboring building, we saw a copy of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution, the last being the final official government copy. We had a tour of the Pennsylvania state court house, which served as the site for the House and Senate for 10 years before the government was moved to DC. We saw the Supreme Court House and Carpenter's Hall, which was where the Continental Congress met in 1774. We got a tour of Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation and the Constitution were all debated and eventually signed (as seen in the famous paintings).

Happy historically-minded homeschoolers with Independence Hall in the background

A close up of the Independence Hall tower

Inside Independence Hall, where it all happened

The Pennsylvania State Court House, home of the U.S. House & Senate for 10 years

The Representative from Westlake Village, California

As the day was nearing its end, we headed out to the Loren's to spend Shabbat. Sandra wanted to stop at a Trader Joe's to pick up some flowers and a bottle of wine so we would not show up empty handed. When we were still about 20 minutes from their house, it began to rain so hard that the wipers could not clear the windshield. It was like driving under water. I missed the turn off to the Trader Joe's and with the crazy rain and heavy Friday afternoon traffic, there was no chance of going back. We never saw another place to stop to pick up gifts. We finally made it to their house, and barely in time for Shabbat candle lighting. Besides Gary, Marlene and Jessica, there was Becky and Philip and a friend of Matt's (Jessica's betrothed) named Elliot, who was there because he keeps Shabbat and wanted to be able to walk to shul in the morning for the aufruf (to be explained shortly). David made kiddush for all of us and there was a ton of great food, which Marlene had brought in from a local purveyor of kosher food. We stayed up very late talking and talking. It was at this time that we learned that Marlene cannot keep cut flowers in the house because the cat will eat them, half digest them, and then return them, nicely spread out on the carpeting. She was pleased that we had not brought any. We also learned that Gary and Marlene do not drink wine (other than the sacramental stuff over which we said kiddush). It's funny how learning these facts turned the downpour in the final minutes of our drive from an unfortunate event that prevented us from doing what we thought was the right thing into an act of providence! It was quite late before we finally went to bed.