[Hotel, Jerusalem, Earth]

Judy entered the hotel suite, the clip-clop of her orthopedic shoes muffled by the carpet, in contrast to its distinctiveness in the Starfleet environment.

"Hello there, children," she greeted Saya and Kyo, before heading for the infant. "And hello there, little man. Who's a cute little gentleman, huh?"

"It's good to see you," Max greeted Saya and Kyo, before eyeing his daughter.

"Thank you for coming to my Bat Mitzvah. It means a lot to me," Anna said, putting on a passable effort because she knew that, even as the youngest, she would still not escape mom's wrath.

And indeed, Judy gave a little approving nod, and a look from the corner of her eye, as she tickled little Evekh.

"I'm really hungry," Tom complained, staying by his father's side.

"You gorged yourself on candy - that wasn't for you - whereas I've only eaten a bagel and two apples all day, and you don't see me complaining," Judy admonished the son, leaving Evekh. "But of course, I don't matter. I feed you, and clothe you, and proofread your essays, and tutor you in math. Mother dearest lives to serve."

Tom rolled his eyes, embarrassed and frustrated with his mom, as well as the misdeed she'd brought up.

[Earlier That Day - Western Wall, Jerusalem, Earth]

In the mixed-gender "Israel" plaza of the Western Wall, Anna finished reading her Torah portion, in accented Hebrew, and then the speech she had prepared.
Promptly, those assembled cheered, and then some of them (strategically selected and seeded near the back) threw various candies her way, as is tradition.
The young woman waited behind the lectern, where her notes were, until the throwing was done.
At that moment, her brother sprang up from the front row and began to collect the candy from the floor, stuffing it into his pockets, arms, and mouth.

[Earlier - Western Wall]

There was, in between the arrival and the candy portion, a whole set of events.

Guiding the whole process were Judy and her cousin, Rabbi Nathan Eastman. Max stood dutifully to their side.

"Friends, family, thank you all for coming. Toda raba," Nathan opened.
"We are gathered here to celebrate a ceremony both old and new. The Aliyah, the young Jew's first reading of the Torah, has been a significant event to Jewish families since time immemorial, but it is a more recent tradition to include women in this ceremony."
"Our dear Anna rejects the idea that she can't do something her brothers can, and she's right," Judy added, taking over.
"Several of her relatives will bring the Torah book, and then she will read us a portion, which she's practiced, in her lovely voice, and then she will share some words of wisdom of her own, inspired by what she will have read for us."

The happy parents took their seats in the front, while Anna's oldest (half-)brother, Lawrence, her maternal grandfather, Jon, and her maternal great-grandmother, Estelle, carried in an ornately decorated scroll. Nathan unrolled it, and Anna stepped up.


"You let her come here in that dress?" Judy's mother Diane whispered to Judy, referring to the excess of leg.
"She's her mother's daughter; doesn't listen to anybody," Judy whispered back.

Then, they heard a microphone squeak, followed by the voice of the young woman.
"I will be reading from the portion Shemot, the first portion of the book of Exodus," Anna announced, and then began reading.
She went through it with a measure of cockiness, masking her nervousness, chanting the ancient Hebrew words in the correct melody, with an accent.

Once that was done, the book was carried away. Then came her speech, in which she first alluded to the honor of reading the beginning of the book that was, in fact, the founding myth of the Jews, then the honor of doing it here, at the site of the former temple, inserted a jab comparing her mother to Pharaoh, and finally...

"The book of Exodus also has lessons for us. We need to ask ourselves, is the Federation an heir to the Israelites, or to Pharaoh. Are we really good, benevolent, and egalitarians, or are some species riding roughshod over others? Worlds who consider joining the Federation, afraid after recent events like the Dominion War, really need to wonder whether they are making the same mistake as the Israelites, and whether they, too, will have an Exodus."

Some relatives looked stunned and scandalized by the final assertion, but Judy and Max couldn't be prouder.

"We of the Federation must remember this, and strive not to be Pharaoh."

The applause began, a bit uncertain at first, but then louder, and then the candy was thrown.

[Later: Hotel -> Yehuda's Camp Market]

"Yes, let's go," Judy agreed, leaving her passive-aggressive verbal offensive for a bit.

Max led the way out of the room, followed by the two children.

They went down the elevator, to the ground floor, and then exited into the streets of Jerusalem on this chilly winter evening.

"We will be dining today at a restaurant in Shuk Makhane Yehuda, the Market of Yehuda's Camp," Judy explained. "It's one of those places where Jerusalem's three big population groups intersect. There are the Arabs, the secular Jews like ourselves, and the Orthodox Jews, and, since this city attracts the most fanatical of religious minds, not all of these groups really get along. For example, if mini-me wore that dress in the Orthodox prayer area of the Western Wall, she'd be in deep, deep trouble."

"By the way, what did you think about my speech?" "mini-me" asked, trying to distract while silently accepting her mother's awkward nickname for her.

[Yehuda's Camp Market, Jerusalem]

Judy looked down at her daughter with a smile, as if to say, "go ahead."

"Well," the young woman started, mimicking this verbal habit of her mother's. "The book of Exodus tells the story of how the Israelites left Egypt, where they'd been enslaved. The parasha, portion that I read covers the start of that, when the Israelites leave the land of Canaan, where there's a serious famine, and go to Egypt. The problem is that after a generation, the Pharaohs stop trusting the Israelites, because they're different, and they enslave them instead."

The two parents could be seen smiling proudly, pleased with the clever daughter they were raising. Sure, they didn't agree with many of Anna's fledgling ideologies, but they were proud of her for thinking the way that she was.

"Your metaphor was a little... what was the word we'd said?" Judy gently asked the kid, as she led the group into the market and down the open-air passages, past a collection of stands.
"Provocative, mother," Anna answered, whereas Judy had intended her to say "hyperbolic". "Sometimes, you have to exaggerate for people to listen. You do it all the time."
"You have my big mouth all right, mini-me."

[Yehuda's Camp Market, Jerusalem]

Evekh's scream-and-a-squirm naturally drew attention, both from the group and a nearby merchant who glared at them.

"Looks like someone else is getting impatient," Judy observed. "Let's pick up the pace."

Judy began to accelerate her walk, and the group followed suit.

"Anyway, Saya, there is such a depth and a wealth to the Jewish heritage, that you could devote your life to studying it and still find more and more. I have a long list of Jewish history book recommendations, that someday I'll get to. Maybe after I get these two into a good college."

Both children glared at Judy as they then approached a restaurant.

"This place is called Azura. It's not exactly a posh restaurant, and the portions don't look too big, but it's delicious and remarkably filling," the veteran officer explained.
"I remember Judy's parents invited us here, during our engagement, before these two were born," Max reminisced.
"Well, Anna never was born. She was cloned, as far as anyone can tell."

[Azura Restaurant, Yehuda's Camp Market, Jerusalem]

Ever practical, Judy got to pulling in some help. Casting her grey eyes about, she found a young waiter who didn't seem too busy.

"Young man," she addressed him. "Could you help us get together enough seating space for a party of 7? And get us a baby chair?"

The waiter looked at the odd group, and his mind got to work.

"I can seat you in the back," he offered, and motioned for them to follow. In the back, there were still vacant tables, and the screaming infant wouldn't disrupt their business too much.

"Thank you very much."

As they walked, Judy noticed both of her children looking judgy and displeased about the embarrassing incident. Judy eyed Max, signaling to him that it was his turn to deal with the younger generation.

"You were just as bad when you were that age," he reminded them, being a little more straightforward and less prone to guilting than his wife.

Soon enough, the tables were brought together, and the waiter headed away to check if they had an infant chair.

"I want to tell you it gets better," Judy told Saya and Kyo, before cocking a head towards her offspring. "Unfortunately, that's not the case."

[Azura Restaurant, Yehuda's Camp Market, Jerusalem]

Judy and Max both nodded sagely. They'd earned some wrinkles from these battles.

"There's a lot more going on here than on a starship," Max agreed with Saya, remembering the time he'd spent with Judy on the Whirlaway after the war. "I know even I was a little overwhelmed after spending so much time in space. I had serious allergies act up."
"You always have allergies, dad," Tom reminded, showing the Eastman side's hereditary argumentative streak.

Judy just chuckled, as she dug into her purse to retrieve an annotated menu, courtesy of a local friend.

"We'll be ordering hummus to share all around, as is customary. I think, looking at our head count, two servings; that's our appetizer."

Her grey eyes darted about the limited span of her reading segment, flipping over the various notes.

"Saya, your options are, unfortunately, a little bit on the limited side. Everything is okay, but limited as veggie options go."

From her two sides, Judy noticed Anna peering over at the paper, while Max retrieved his readers to do likewise. Tom stuck to his own menu.

"Kyo, the 'must try's' on my list are the Azura - the eggplant with beef - and the sofritos. Those are the flagships. I do think just about everything should be fine, depending how adventurous you're feeling on unusual meats."


"Does someone want to go half-and-half on the cow lung and something else with me?" Anna asked, looking at her parents.

"Actually, mini-me has a good idea. We could have some kind of sharing scheme so we can each sample multiple menu items."