Is the world shrinking?

Anyone who has spent any time in this tiny country called Israel is familiar with the 'small world' syndrome'.  By this I mean you can't go anywhere without running into someone you know.

I'm a relative newcomer here, but this last week has been freakishly full of such 'small world' encounters.

Last Thursday I did something I haven't done since moving to Israel; I played a wedding (for you newcomers: I'm a recovering professional trombonist).  The wedding was in one of the fancy hotels in Jerusalem, and aside from the guys in the band I really didn't think I would know anyone.

During the Chupah (the actual wedding ceremony) I looked around the room and a math professor who had suffered me gladly in my college days caught my eye and gave me a friendly nod.  Clearly his smiling acknowledgment indicated that he had forgotten about my inability to make any sense of his patient lessons about the laws of odds and averages.

After the chupah, some of the musicians and I played while the crowd escorted the newly married couple out of the room.  It was then that a parade of friendly faces began passing by and waving.

One after another a succession of women that I had dated in my college days passed by and gave me that smiling gesture that indicated they were not unhappy to see me.  A total of 5 such women passed the spot where I was playing... what are the odds?

Then another smiling face came into view... this time a fellow traveler in the online world; Chayei Sarah!  The world was shrinking faster and faster.

Later, as I sat on the bandstand listening to someone making a speech about the bride and groom, a mention of the bride's last name triggered a memory of another girl I had gone out with in my single days.  Sure enough, as I looked across at the bride's family, there sat her sister... with whom I had shared many a pleasant date.  This brought the total of former um, interests to an even half dozen!

I ended up having very pleasant conversations with all of my fellow travelers from the dating scene, and I went home feeling quite satisfied that, unlike some of my friends, I didn't have to duck and run for cover when I spotted women that I had dated.

Then, a few days later I found myself on the 12:30AM fight to New York (I almost missed the flight, but that's a story for another entry).  I figured, what could be more anonymous than an overnight flight halfway around the world?  Even if by some miracle of coincidence I happened to know someone on the flight, the lights would be out and I would probably miss them.

As I boarded the spanking new 747-400 I wandered to my seat and was immediately hailed by the guy sitting in the seat behind me.  He was a caterer whom I had known from my 17 years of playing in hotels around the Metropolitan New York area.  We had always had a good relationship, and he beamed as we caught up and he introduced me to his wife and kids.

While I stood there talking over the back of my seat, I noticed a series of waves and smiles from a few rows back.  It turns out a group of people from my old community in Connecticut had traveled together as part of a UJA Federation trip to Israel.  This was their return flight to the states... and I knew (or at least recognized) almost all of them.

A short way into the flight the dinner service was being rolled out and a few of teenagers were stuck next to me waiting for the service cart to move up the aisle.   One of the teenage boys turned to face me and his face split into a happy grin of recognition.  It was the son of one of our closest friends in Connecticut!  He was returning from being an adviser on a youth trip to Israel.

I'm only a day into a week-long trip to New York and I feel like the world could not possibly get any smaller. 

While I'm here I will be speaking to groups all over the tri-sate area.  What are the odds of running into more people from my past?

I think my old math professor would probably agree that the answer is approximately 100%.