Searching for Sammy Spider

All 4 of us are great fans of Sammy Spider. For the unenlightened, the eponymous arachnid has a series of children's books chronicling his adventures on the ceiling in the Shapiro's house during chaggim. Hence the appropriate title makes perfect reading for parents and youngsters in the run-up to each Jewish festival. Which leads me to my recent hunt for the Rosh HaShanah installment in the series.

Now we weren't the only parents to have this idea. Indeed, our local Jewish bookshop had sold out, but we were assured that a new shipment was due within the week. This week came and went without trace of any delivery, so we tried our luck online. By this time we were now shopping for 3 copies for new year's gifts, and ordered these online via Amazon.

Job done - or so we thought. Disaster struck a few days later when we received an email from Amazon. "We're very sorry but while we thought we had your items in stock, in actual fact we sold the last copies while you were slow to click on the order confirm button".



We were resigned to a spiderless new year, until, could it be, 2 copies in the shop of North West Surrey Synagogue? Lucky we were there, on the last shabbat before the big Yom Tov. But the thing about Shabbos is, there is a bit of a taboo about buying things on the day of rest, and the middle of a shul hall during a big kiddush is hardly the place to attempt a public contravention of the 4th commandment. And hailing from NW London, we weren't exactly sufficiently local to return easily during opening hours.



"Don't worry about a thing..." I heard. Had a mortuary Bob Marley been dreadlock-davening with us? No. Terrific Tabick, the community's rabbi, had a solution. She could lend us the books, free of charge and available to take with us, and we could send them a cheque if it was too much hassle to return the books in person.

So we had 2 copies. Not all 3 we'd wanted, but infinitely better than none. Until we arrived home later that weekend, with an Amazon package on the doormat. One more copy of Sammy Spider's First Rosh HaShanah. The very last copy available for purchase in the free world.

Mission accomplished. Children happy. Jewish education ensured for another generation.

Shanah Tova Um'tuka to you all!