I am sure I never would have gotten the opportunity to be a mikvah attendant if I hadn't been to Bermuda. But how would I recognize her, I wondered as I sat at a patio table outside. Then I had to laugh as I saw how adroitly Cunningham had solved the same problem. Peeking out from the notebooks she was carrying was a small Simcha Torah-style Israeli flag. Interactions with Jewish tourists are a regular feature of the community's life on this island group located a little less than 600 miles east of North Carolina in a section of the Atlantic Ocean known as the Sargasso Sea.
People come and go so much it is always good to have three or four names.
The relationship between island residents and tourists appears mutually beneficial. A woman whose husband recently was assigned to Bermuda on a business matter expected to last a half year or more has arranged to import kosher foods from the United States, and has offered to include with her order those of any Bermudian who also wants kosher meats. Cunningham, a vegetarian, said there were several families who gratefully accepted the offer. The upscale group used to go to Hawaii, but this time they booked many rooms at the Southampton Princess hotel. Even if the requests seemed strange to Bermudian ears, the hotel was more than pleased to kasher the kitchen and to comply with Shabbos lighting regulations.