The Rookie & Tom Hanson: A "21 Jump Street" Story

Chapter 8: "An Unordered Table"

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the delay, but here is the new chapter! Since I didn't want to write all the details about Shabbat (Sabbath) celebrations that Jewish people do on Friday nights, I pasted the link above to show what Shabbat is like. I hope you like it, and if anyone of you has any questions about Shabbat or anything Jewish-related, please let me know.

After we welcomed the Shabbat and explained things to Tom along the way, I finally decided to ask my mom the question everyone wanted to know the answer for.

"So, Mom, what are we eating?" I asked as I sat next to Tom in the dining room.

"We are eating the food that generations of Jews have eaten in this country," my Mom said in her most enthusiastic voice.

"We're eating Matzo Ball Soup?" Solomon asked as he sat beside Tom to save him from my Mom and Josh.

"No," Mom said with a smile.

"Is it oysters?" Josh asked.

My Mom rolled her eyes and said in a deadpan voice, "Josh, oysters are unkosher, and we don't eat them. Come on, didn't I raise you better than that."

"Why not?" Tom asked.

"In the Torah, the Five Books of Moses, God gave Moses and the Israelites a list of what we can and cannot eat," I said.

"And we Rabbis saw that the rules weren't clear enough, especially regarding food preparation," Solomon said.

"More like complicated things. I'm really jealous of you gentiles because you get to eat anything you want without having to make sure that it has a Kosher certification or that passes the checklist of being suitable to eat," a disgruntled Josh said. "Like Jello."

"Meanwhile, I'm glad we have food restrictions because I have seen foods such as octopus and shrimp, which don't look appetizing. I can get away with not eating them due to being Jewish," my Dad said to the agreement of most family members.

"Ooh, I wish I had that excuse growing up," Tom said. "My mom would force me to eat this black gelatin that my Aunt Ida used to make, which was disgusting."

"Really?" Josh asked.

"Really," Tom said.

"Don't worry, Tom," Mom said. "We wouldn't let you eat anything gross or unkosher, especially since we want some grandkids soon!"

"Mom!" I said as Solomon and Dad gave me a sympathetic look while Josh snickered in the background.

Tom and I looked at each other and became beet red. Dad seemed to notice that both Tom and

"Miriam cut Becky some slack," Dad said. "Besides, she's the youngest. Shouldn't you be more worried about Solomon and Josh?"

"Dad!" Solomon and Josh shouted.

"Good point, Ben," Mom said.

"Thanks, Dad," I said thankfully, to which he winked at me.

"Is it just me, or is anyone else hungry?" Josh asked. "What are we going to eat?"

"We are going to have Chinese food!" Mom said.

"What?" Tom and I said.

"Honey, did you expect me to stand over a hot stove with my workload?" Mom asked.

I facepalmed so much for the Kosher speech that we gave to Tom.

"Mom, I did say that I could have handled the food if you didn't want to cook or keep things Kosher," Solomon said in his diplomatic voice. "After all, it is my house."