This Tuesday was Tisha B’Av and naturally the Shabbos afterwards is Shabbos Nachamu. On this Shabbos we read the haftorah which consoles the nation on the loss of the Bais Hamikdosh.
Our upstairs neighbor had left for the mountains and we thought it best to invite some family over to spend time with us. Although we invited EVERYONE, only Esthers sister and her family we coming (2 adults and 4 children). So we cooked up a storm around 2-ish on friday afternoon. It’s amazing how quickly 2 people can complete several dishes when they work together. By 3:00, we already finished the fish, kugel, chulent, soup, and side dishes.
I had decided that with all the extra time, I could still run out to see 2-3 customers and be back in time to shower for Shabbos. So I go to my room and change from my cooking clothes to my work clothes. While I’m there, I hear the sound of a dish break. I figure it’s just Esther moving something around in the cabinets and no harm done. Then I hear a few more dishes break. Then a moment later, I hear a CRASH and the sound of a lot of glass breaking. I open up the bedroom door, and this is what I see (camera got fogged up from the heat of the kitchen):
In case you didn’t figure it out, our cabinets came peeling off the wall and crashed onto the floor and stove top. When I first saw this (and Esther), I was just shocked at how cheap the construction was that a cabinet should just come of the wall. Esther was just happy that she wasn’t hurt and had the good sense to tell me to get the camera (and toss her her slippers). We said “Baruch Hashem!!!”, snapped some photos, planned on how to continue to make plans for Shabbos, and cleaned up the mess. It took a long time to get all the glass off the floor and put up the rest of the dishes for Shabbos. On top of all this, it was blazing hot because we keep the A/C on in our room and usually let it vent into the house, but not when we’re cooking.
We cleaned it all up and here’s how it looked:
Friday night, the apartment was still hot and I was exhausted. We did our Shabbos magic and made it all go smoothly on plastic dishes. But Shabbos day, we discovered that something got busted with the crockpot during the crash. It kept the raw food warm, but didnt cook it. So we served PLENTY of food – just no chulent. In the end, it seemed better because no one was weighed down from the heaviness of the food and didn’t need the long shabbos naps that we usually do. Esther stayed up the WHOLE shabbos playing with the kids and entertaining them. Thats a super mama.
The rest of Shabbos was a breeze. Hopefully, this week will be blessed and be a breeze too.
Just to add:
1) I felt like I was in a movie, or the twilight zone when the cabinets just started falling down. I was like ‘Are you kidding me?!’ It was a surreal, scary moment and I was just glad nothing fell on me.
2) Isn’t it amazing that we accept a cabinet falling down and breaking around 24 pieces of china, better than if someone is carrying one plate and mistakenly drops it and breaks it?
3) This was the most amount of guests we’ve had so far (kids are people too!), so not such a great week for this to happen. But all’s well that ends well.
4) Why do these things always seem to happen to us Erev Shabbos?
5) It was quite interesting to see what broke and what didn’t. For instance, very few glasses broke but most of the china. And some things from higher up didn’t even though you’d think they would. And a whole group of small china plates stayed whole together, perhaps because they fell right on top fo the towel.
6) You had to see the cholent all over the floor.
7) Mamash chasdei Hashem that noone got hurt, and that this didn’t happen a few hours later. Imagine this happening on Shabbos or if ch’v a kid was around. A miracle that the damage was so little.
9) I was really nervous about not serving cholent, but I really don’t think any of us missed it!
unbelievable. wha t acrazy story. so many odd thigs have happned to the 2 of you this year, that you could qualify for a reality show or sitcom
. You really kept your cool and Im proud of you!
LOL! You’re so right Mindy, our lives are definitely entertaining and at least there’s a good story to tell the world!
OH my gosh!!!!!!!!!!! I hardly ever post a comment but when I read this i’m like oh boy doest this deserve a comment! I can not believe your kitchen just came crashing down on you! that is wild! whoa!!!!! and more amazing is that it sounds like you guys were so chilled about it, took pictures, cleaned up, and went on with shabbos cooking… whoa! unbelievable! (Esther, its so true everything is easier with a partner, if this happened alone it would be a NIGHTMARE!) wow.. shkoach to you both on handling it so well, cuz as esther says “this is living!”
OMG! I’m glad no one got hurt. Baruch Hashem.
(It reminds me of when the ceiling fell not three feet away from my kiddies… but enough of those bad memories…)
BTW, were you guys insured?
Unbelievable!! What a nightmare!! So happy that you are fine, all of you!!
Will the landlord’s insurance pay for repairs and replace damages??
I”m so proud of how you got it all cleaned up and organized in such a short time before Shabbes and worked together in Bais Shalom to get it all done, together!!! Good for you guys, that ’s the way!
Happy birthday to Adiel, ad meah esserim!!!!
Glad you had a good shabbos– you seemed to have dealt with the whole experience very smoothly.. I guess I called in the middle of the cleaning up stage…oops!
Happy Birthday to Adiel.
whoa, B”H you weren’t hurt!!! That looks like a real disaster scene, I’m amazed you were able to collect yourselves and deal with the mess, and still made shabbos! I’m def. not so flexible, something like that would mess me up for the week!
oh boy! was that my old apt?? just kidding – but actually I think once my cabinets started coming down, too! sorry about all those dishes… I hope it doesn’t end up being a big loss…I think I might ahve the same fleishig ones. zol zein a kapara!
but it sounds liek a nice shabbos!
omg
Leah – things are always better when you’re sharing it with someone, that’s for sure.
Nooch, Mom, I don’t think anyone was insured, but our landlord is paying for the cabinets to be replaced and whatever was broken (not even sure how much things were)
Tova- that’s why I might have sounded a little rushed or distracted, sorry you were caught in the middle of it.
Batya – it was ground zero down here, and b’h we both stayed calm which helped the other person stay calm.
Bracha – so it’s not just us these crazy things happen to!
Ethan…yeah…
That’s really unbelievable what happened!!
B”H that you guys are ok and noone was harmed.
Can’t get over how chilled you were about it and how u stayed so cool, calm and collected and were able to pull shabbos together despite the mess and all. You really are an example for all to follow!!
that happened to us too a few months ago… and… b’H we had mostly food in there… but a few dishes that we painted at our name is mud were in there…and they all got ruined. i was standing right there when it happened, and it literally fell less than 2 inches away from me.
Crazy – what was the reason for your disaster?