Being Jewish means having two birthdays

One of the things I have learned during my time here is that being Jewish means you have two birthdays. My Hebrew/Jewish birthday is the 4th Tevet, the same as my good friend here, Irina. On a Jewish birthday, we are meant to give extra tzedakah, eat a new seasonal fruit we haven’t eaten yet, give friends brachas, increase Torah study, and host a Fabrengen. Irina and I decided to take on the challenge.
This year, 4 Tevet was on December 21st.
Rivka Marga offered us her home for our fabrengen, which we excitedly accepted. For our fabrengen, Irina and I set off for the shuk early in the morning to buy the necessary things to have brownies, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate covered strawberries (my new fruit) and bananas, veggies and humus, and pomellos. We then came back to Mayanot for the afternoon class, and then straight back to Rivka Marga’s to get to cooking and preparing. With some local help, we set up quite an elegant little table with the fruit and baked goodies and even a few candles. Everyone had written cards to us throughout the day, and during the evening, as typical during a fabrengen, the girls took turns saying warm fuzzies about Irina and myself, making a very comfortable and sweet evening, where we didn’t leave Rivka Marga’s until after 1am.