All is black
Except for the white girl on the train
A silent car
Piercing with the stares of the many
The white girl is mumbling
No, reading
Hebrew?
Swaying a little bit?
People are looking
Why?
She looks different
And shes moving her lips
Another train mumbler
Except this time she is white
And not drunk
Suddenly
The girl drops her little book
Her holy book
It makes a smacking sound on the ground
Opening the eyes of the man across from her
And bringing the attention of the many
While she had already felt a little odd
Mumbling on the train and all
In what seemed like an hour
She thought to herself
As she stretched out her hand to pick up King David's words
Would she give her habit free reign on the train?
She picked up her little brown book
Her holy book
She stared it in the eye
She brought it close
She kissed the little brown book
And you know what?
Stranger things have been seen on the 3 line
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
15 comments:
:) Was the girl you by any chance? If so, as an out of towner, does it seem unusual for you to be reading tehillim on the subway? The fact is that a frum Yid davening or learning from a sefer on public transportation is as much a part of the landscape of Brooklyn, and even Manhattan, as lehavdil, a swarthy substance abuser being caught during a harebrained attempt at shoplifting from a neighborhood Associated or Duane Reade.
I actually saw someone who claimed to be Buddhoo (we don't write his real name either) on the A train once, but save for a Yoshke freak wearing tekheles tzitzis (and lehavdil, our dear Charlie Buttons), I never noticed anyone even remotely strange on the 2, the 3, the 4 or the 5.
BH I do notice many people reading Tehillim on the lines which service CH; I try to get on the same car with them so that there is strength in numbers, begashmius uberuchnius.
the black sisters do chitus too from the new testmant (the one they dont teach in beis rivkha )
lol, lol, Mimi, you should have seen the bochur who decided, to lay his tefillin in an over filled 4 train, running very late in the early afternoon, now that's a look you could watch on the young sista's face...
That is true, Shloime - and the black women and girls who do read such material on the train tend to be respectfully dressed, quiet and polite. Actually, I have seen immigrant Muslims read their sefer hasinah openly on the train as well.
In any case, no one has to be ashamed or feel strange reading tehillim, davening or learning on NY mass transit. We are as much a part (well, I won't be anymore as of Thursday) of the fabric of New York City as anyone else is.
The Chabad PDA.
Some have no shame in other public displays of affection...
It's priceless that our most Private Selves is that of reverence for G!dliness.
I guess the awareness of the public's intrusion into our sacred whispers is a shame to be proud of. (*blush*)
This reminds me of a time when I had to daven Mincha in a mall which is frequented by many Jews. I decided that rather than finding a phone booth, I would daven right at the foot of the escalator (off to the side, of course, so as not to block anyone), thinking that if another Yid saw me davening, he might be curious enough to ask me what I was doing - or he might be reminded of his youth in Warsaw, or Casablanca (this was Montreal) before his life and his Judaism were uprooted.
Months later, a Chabad house opened in that very mall, at the top and off to the side of that very escalator. In fact, the next time I davened in that mall, it was in that Chabad House, on a Shabbos!
Shygetz- A BaShemke Maayseh
der sheygetz: and which mall may that be?
Montrealer:
It was Decor Decarie - this goes back to 1990, when Steinberg still existed! Is that mall still there? The Chabad House was the Montreal Torah Center, now relocated to Hampstead.
Der shygetz:
it still exists though ur prob the only one who still calls it a mall:) btw, its called decarie square
LOL - yes - I did a Google Search and it was listed as a "dead mall!" I have not been to Montreal since 1992, but I remember the place when it was live, when Steinberg carried cholov yisroel at hmmm..3x NY price, and when there was a kosher Chinese restaurant on the first floor!
very nice poem/story mimi! i enjoyed it.
Awesome. I read a story about a guy once.He said that he had recently started putting on tefillin every day,but one morning he was in an airport and really embarrassed.So he crawled into some empty corner and started davening.When he finished,he realized he had been so involved that he hadn't realized when his little corner filled up with people!That's when he realized "nu,theirs weirder things to see than a Jew going about their business......"
Ahh, I can relate! I used to always say tehillim on the subway to the internship I had this spring. Sometimes, I got interesting looks, but mostly, I think the New Yorkers know how to understand/ignore it. It's so much fun to say tehillim on the subway in NY!
In Seattle, I might be more self-conscious of it. But in NY, I was always proud to just add further to the local color and diversity of people riding the subway.
Such a small thing can make such a huge impact on people. Not only "strange" but something unique, and special. I love it. =)
Post a Comment