Sushi Surprise

There is a famous saying in Judaism that states: “The cure was created before the illness.” This story spanned four months, and then took another four months until I was able to write about it. So here I am. Writing about this story after falling asleep like 100 times at the computer while staring at this title and a blank page. I hope one of you out there likes it, because I’m really tired and about to fall asleep again.

Back when it was Chanukah, we invited a couple we are very close with over to our house for sushi. This wasn’t American-style sushi, where you actually order it over the phone. They do have that here, but it’s expensive! No – this was Israeli-style sushi, which means I had to make it myself.

I’ve made sushi in the past, and I’m actually pretty good at it. I can do inside-out rolls and rainbow rolls. It takes me an awfully long time because most of the work is in the preparation, as any culinary expert knows.

The day that we were supposed to have them over, I was beyond tired, and for some reason I let one of my kids have a friend over. I thought that it would distract him and keep him from bothering me, but that trick totally backfires every time. I don’t know why I can’t learn my lesson.

Anyhow, I had gone to the fish store in the morning, but the owner/delivery guy/fish-cleaner-man didn’t have a chance to bring the fish that I needed yet. I was told that he would only arrive around 4pm.

So I did what I could do until then, and as soon as I was able to, I dragged six kids out to the fish store. Not a very good idea. I was so distracted by kids running in and out of the store, plus the fact that I was so tired, that I bought waaaayyyy too much fish. I bought an entire fillet of fresh salmon and a huge chunk of fresh mercury-laden tuna, which were both super-expensive. You know what? I just decided that next time, I’m ordering sushi.

When I finally got home and started cutting up the fish, I realized that I had bought so much fish, that I wouldn’t even be able to use half of it! I could have had 20 people over and had more than enough food! Incidentally, I do this all the time. I always make too much food when I invite people over. Maybe there’s something wrong with me. Or maybe I’m just super-duper Jewish.

So I made as much as I had rice and vegetables for, and froze the rest of the fish. For nearly four months, every time I opened my freezer drawer and saw those bags of fish staring up at me, I kicked myself for my stupid decision to buy so much. What was I thinking? Yes. There’s definitely something wrong with me.

Fast forward to three Shabbats before Pesach. I wanted to turn over my kitchen early because I hate the long lines at the grocery store. People stuff their carts like the world is going to end. It’s like a Planet X/Armageddon scenario in the grocery stores before every holiday. And, you have to bag your own groceries. I also knew that my kids would be home the week before Pesach (yay!) and I really didn’t want to add to my suffering.

That being the case, I decided that I must use the rest of the fish and make sushi for Shabbat. My husband was down with that, especially since he didn’t have to actually do anything, besides eat the sushi. I made a bunch for Friday night, and decided I would make the rest of the sushi rolls on Shabbat morning.

So that morning, I had all of my ingredients on the counter, and was ready to go, when my husband suddenly burst through the door, panting and out of breath from walking the ½ a block home from our shul. I asked him what he was doing home in the middle of services. “My kiddush club didn’t bring any food today, so can you pack up the rest of the sushi?” Obviously, it was a life-threatening emergency here. Ten men sitting at a table without food – who knows what could happen?

“Sure,” I answered. I rolled my eyes at him and sighed, to give the effect that he was causing me to do so much more work – which really wasn’t true – but inside, I was relieved, knowing for sure that it was all going to get eaten.

In the two years that my husband has been part of this kiddush club, there has never been one Shabbat that absolutely no one brought any food. It was unheard of. So it’s pretty amazing that exactly on this same Shabbat, I had a ton of sushi ready to go!

In the end, half the shul enjoyed the sushi surprise, and everyone was clamoring for Shabbat invites.

Even now, I am still amazed at how it all worked out. You see, I didn’t buy too much fish because I wasn’t thinking. I bought too much fish because Hashem knew that it would be desperately needed four months in the future. So He put it in my head exactly how much fish I needed to ask for.

Don’t we all have moments like this, when we can’t believe or understand why we did what we did? In reality, those unexplainable decisions and actions were actually Hashem compelling us to act that way.

So, you can see that there is really no reason to get upset with yourself when you do something that you can’t understand. Don’t kick yourself over it, and don’t tell yourself that you shouldn’t have (fill in the blank.) It’s what Hashem wanted. Whether He lets you see the big picture or not is totally up to Him. But I promise you – there is a big picture, and your so-called stupid decision is exactly what you needed to do at that moment.

Speaking of pictures, what do you think of my award-winning sushi?