White Hero

Snow arrived late this year. But when it finally fell along came the bliss of standing in a warm home holding a piping hot tea and gazing at the white wonderland Hashem created while we slept.

Year after year this first-morning-of-snow is as delightful as it was when I was just a little girl. But for the past six years it has taken on new meaning. No longer is it just about gazing at how when Hashem turns droplets into flakes the world’s soot and darkness are blanketed with peace and sparkling white. Seven years ago something happened that turned this beautiful tableau of nature into a deeper experience.

Part of growing up in Vienna is the annual winter trips to the nearby resort of Semmering. For some this means skiing; for others tobogganing or sledging; and there are those for whom Semmering means just trudging through knee-deep snow in the mountain air. But for all it’s a must.

Ask a Viennese-bred child to describe winter memories in Semmering and he will wax nostalgic about a tiny village less than 50 miles from home. The hot teas at the café in the valley lunch at the (no-longer-existent) kosher restaurant sleeping in the luxurious Panhans hotel or in a cheap guesthouse.