who's in the kitchen: judy joszef

Yeshiva break: Ship to shore, proof’s in pudding

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Judy is off on a cruise, so we’re rerunning a “best of” column from a few years back when she didn’t get away.

It’s the last week in January and I’m here in New York. For as long as I can remember, during the yeshiva winter break, I’ve been away. Wait, I take that back, there was a time back in the ’90s when we stayed home and took day trips with the kids; it almost seemed like an experiment, to see if the children, years down the line, would have any long-standing psychological effects from having to actually remain at home.

So far, we all seem to have no symptoms, but we do have funny memories of vacations past.

One such memory was when Jerry and I, along with my daughter Jordana and her friend, were joining our friends on a cruise from Miami to the Caribbean. We were through customs and handed our room keys when Jerry said to me, “Isn’t it nice that we’re able to take along a friend for Jordana.” The second the words left his mouth and I saw a look of surprise on the agent’s face I knew we were in trouble. The agent explained that since she wasn’t my daughter and a minor (15), I would have to show an original permission or consent to travel letter from a parent.

Easier said than done, being that her mom was in New York. This was not going to be easy. Panic set in. We couldn’t board the ship and leave her in Miami, and the thought of Jordana stuck on a nine-day cruise without a friend was a frightening thought in itself. I then began to beg, plead and, yes, cry to the agent, until she agreed to a faxed letter. In the hour it took for all the paperwork to be faxed and processed, we got to see some of the 3,500 passengers board. Not sure what was scarier for the girls, having gone through the terror of almost missing the cruise or watching men in their 70s in Bermuda shorts and knee socks, women with silver blue hair and lots of kids below the age of 10. Thankfully, they found dozens of “cool” teens to hang out with.

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