Scavenger Hunt.

I remember in 8th grade, my NCSY chapter had a scavenger hunt at the mall.
We had to find out how many brands of shoes Florsheim sells, how many stairs there were on the main staircase, and lots more useless stuff.

The group that came back first with all the correct answers got a free ice cream or something. The rest of us bought our own ice cream, I guess. The cool thing was, as part of a team with a mission, you got to really feel close to your team members. It was a little too short a hunt to have a real bonding experience, but I could see how acquaintances could become friends while counting the colors of socks at sock world or finding out which color was most popular at the Gap this season.

So now, Yaakov and I are on a scavenger hunt. We went to the rabbanut, and they said we needed to each bring them: 2 passport pictures, proof of identity, proof of Jewishness, and 2 witnesses. In addition, we also needed to provide a kashrut certificate from the hall, and a letter from our rabbi.

So we set out. Yaakov got his paperwork done, sent his witnesses in, etc. I got my paperwork done, borrowed my mom's ketuba, got a kashrut certificate from the hall, and went to the "rabbanit" to learn how to be a good Jewish wife.

On Tuesday, I went to the rabbanut, convinced I had completed the scavenger hunt. Turned out that our letter from the rabbi wasn't good enough because they didn't know him personally, the kashrut certificate from the hall was expired, and one of my witnesses had shown up on a day when no one could take his testimony.

So the scavenger hunt continues, and in this mission, Yaakov is my teammate, and we're growing closer every day.

t.c.