It's in the stars

"What are the chances ?!", you always ask yourself when bumping into someone you have met only once or twice before. It has happened a few times here in Sao Paulo, including today when we ran into a young Orthodox Jewish student, as he emerged from Shabbat services with his parents. (Religious Jews are fond of saying, "There are no coincidences!" although I suspect only if their interlocutor is also Jewish) It was outside a synagogue within walking distance from where we now live. He had, on our first meeting, given us a guided tour around the (quite famous) yeshiva where he studies in Bom Retiro, which happens to be close to our old home. One thing I have always appreciated in Sao Paulo is the ubiquity of Jewish life, at least in neighborhoods such as Bom Retiro, Higienopolis and, now, Jardins. My old home turf in London's SE1 is pretty much judenrein.

One of the big private security firms here is called Haganah, the name of a paramilitary unit which helped the modern state of Israel come into being. Alongside the name is the star of David, or in Hebrew, Magen David (shield of David). When I first saw the name and the company logo I was taken aback: it's not something you would see in London. The UK seems to have gone from a cross as it's religious symbol to a crescent, but the star of David remains a minority sport. Likewise, the politically-incorrect name of Haganah is not something you could envisage in the UK's increasingly antisemitic and anti-Israel streets.

The star of David I have also seen on necklaces in Brazil, one belonging to a woman in Sao Paulo and the other to a man up in Natal. On each sighting I asked the wearers if they were Jewish and to my surprise they said no. For them this was simply a nice, pretty, mystical, good luck symbol to wear around their necks. Again, inconceivable in the UK. (Mind you, there are also a lot of crosses on public display here, especially in offices, and this too would be pretty much a criminal offence in today's "diversity trained" UK.)

As we walked home tonight we were hailed by a man who heard us talking English. He, Mark, turned out to be a Brit himself who had lived here 20 years and had much to tell us by way of advice for surviving in this difficult but rewarding terrain. Too much to summarise here but he did conclude by vowing never to return to the UK.

Our latest acquaintance had certainly gone native in his easy warmth and approachability. And a few emails later it transpires that Mark's Brazilian wife is an old colleague of my sister's from their days at the Brazilian section of the BBC World Service. What are the chances ?!