Why?

A woman from another department who I have met once or twice needed to talk to the guy in the cubicle next to mine.

And yes, I work in Dilbert’s world, except my boss in not a pointy-haired dimwit.

Anyway, I turned around just to see who it was, and she said hello to me. Being a member of the human race, I said hello back.

But she would not let the conversation die.

My sister and her family are in Israel now, she told me. On some group that will have three busloads of people from Columbus.

Oh, that’s great, I tell her, not really sure why she is telling me this.

But the conversation is not over. Apparently her niece had the opportunity to have her Bat Mitzvah in Israel as well, but chose not to, so she could have a big party.

Still, this coworker said, the niece got to go to Israel anyway.

That’s nice, I tell her, as I think to myself why is she telling me this. Why is it that coworkers who have any connection to Judaism always try to show me how religious and connected to Israel they are? Sure, they don’t keep all those crazy things like shabbos and kosher, but hey, they did once attended temple and had a bar mitzvah.