Yesterday, I saw a car stopped on the side of the road - a very busy, highway-like road that is heavily traveled. It is rush hour so there is lots of traffic.
I notice a guy in jeans and a t-shirt on the side of the road and assume he is having car trouble and making a phone call. Then I notice he is standing kind of still, then I notice he is shukling. Ah! I realize he is davening Mincha because it got too late for him to wait until he got home.
Another time we were on a train and a man opened his laptop up and perched it on the top of a seat then stood in front of it. Wow, I thought (the train was empty) - he really doesn't like to sit. Then I noticed his lips moving. Ah - he was davening from the siddur on his laptop!
I know one can see people in America davening in public places but somehow the man on the side of the road in his jeans and t-shirt got me. This is a country where no one wonders what this man is doing - everyone, no matter how religious or non-religious, knows what he is doing.
So this is what it feels like to be home.
I notice a guy in jeans and a t-shirt on the side of the road and assume he is having car trouble and making a phone call. Then I notice he is standing kind of still, then I notice he is shukling. Ah! I realize he is davening Mincha because it got too late for him to wait until he got home.
Another time we were on a train and a man opened his laptop up and perched it on the top of a seat then stood in front of it. Wow, I thought (the train was empty) - he really doesn't like to sit. Then I noticed his lips moving. Ah - he was davening from the siddur on his laptop!
I know one can see people in America davening in public places but somehow the man on the side of the road in his jeans and t-shirt got me. This is a country where no one wonders what this man is doing - everyone, no matter how religious or non-religious, knows what he is doing.
So this is what it feels like to be home.
It is a rare sighting that the man at the side of the road was davening and not peeing. Just saying.
ReplyDeleteSo true, Arica.
ReplyDelete