Danny casually threw a towel over his shoulder as he walked into the living room and headed towards the front door of the house. "I'm off swimming," he announced to the room.

Melissa looked up from her comfortable position, sprawled out on the couch with a book cupped in her hand. "Why don't you stay around to help, Danny? Mom was counting on both of us helping her prepare for Shabbat."

"Why does she need help all of a sudden?" Danny turned to face his sister and asked indignantly, "Since when is it a guy's job to help cook, anyways?"

"Of course it is," replied Melissa, not giving up. "If you eat, you help! And anyway, you know this week is special. All your cousins are coming to stay and Mummy is making special food because they are guests - so we need your help."

"Oh," Danny laughed, "I am sure that you will do just fine without me. I don't know the first thing about cooking." And he turned towards the door and opened it, ready to leave.

Melissa hated being ignored. "Danny!" she almost shouted.

"Yes!" replied Danny, a bit irritated.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scream," Melissa calmed down a little. "Look," she continued, "it's a good deed to help prepare for guests.

"The Torah tells us how Abraham, our forefather, saw some angels, who he thought were regular travelers, coming towards his tent. What did he do? He invited them in, gave them water to wash their feet, and even though he was not well, recovering from brit mila - he personally prepared a whole meal for them, with meat and everything in it!"

"I do remember learning something about that," Danny admitted, gloomily aware that she was winning the argument.

"Well, yes, it is actually in this week's Torah portion. And guess what? Abraham was definitely a guy," Melissa humorously replied.

Danny smiled, giving in. "But of course I remember, how could I forget? I guess I will just have to call my friends and cancel swimming," he said, putting the towel down on a chair and picking up the cordless phone from its base next to the couch.

"Hello, Simon?" he said into the phone after a moment. "Yes, this is Danny… I'm sorry but I've just realized that I have some guests to take care of tonight… Yes, swimming? We can go another night… Yes, thanks. Goodnight." He winked at Melissa as he put the cordless down back in its base.

"C'mon, Miss Energetic, let's go cook the feast!"