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By ALFRKI) SEGAI,
It was Rush Hashonah and I, of
course, was in schul commending
myself to the goodness of God in
the coming year; yet my mind was
wandering. You know how it is
with a man in schul.
On some Sabbath he may dis
cover his mind running away from
holy matters toward more material
things: How to get even with that
so-and-so who had the better of
him in that real estate deal; or
what to do about his wife’s ter-
magent temper which has been get
ting simply awful; or how to chase
<>ut of the house that obnoxious
young whippersnapper who has
been courting his daughter.
That's the way a man's mind
may run off with him oven from
schul. until his conscience brings
him back to the holy things of the
synagogue.
On Rush Hashonah it’s somehow
different. True, on that day. too,
the man's mind may go wandering
away from the text of the service,
but he is thinking not so much of
those material things, but more
about the way of his life and what
to do to make it better in the year
to come.
Thus it was that, deep in medi
tations of my sins. 1 suddenly found
myself floating off far from the
\ oiec of the cantor which had be
come a distant humming, like that
of a bee on a drowsy summer day.
In this absent state of mind I was
not surprised to discover my fa
vorite angel, Abednego, sitting be
side me in the pew. (He is the one
who with Shadrach and Meshach
came through Nebuchadnesser's
fiery furnace without a burn or
even a singed eyelash. That cer
tainly qualifies Abednego as an
; ngel by high favor of God.)
Hello there. Abednego, what
lings you here?” I asked quite
casually. He was without his
win ;s, and, indeed, looked like any
nice young member of the schul in
a charcoal gray suit; and that’s the
way I like angels to look.
Abednego replied that through
many years he has been coming
down on Rosh Hashonah maybe to
help some people; to touch their
eyes that they may see themselves
better: to spank their consciences
to make them feel hurt on account
of hurts they inflicted on other
people, to throw some light on their
minds that they may see new and
better ways.
I confessed: “I guess 1 myself
need some treatment like that."
Frankly 1 counted off to him most
of the sins 1 had done in the past
year: Sins of commission as well as
omission; the sin of that sneering
laugh 1 cruelly gave that fellow
who had let himself fall into trou
ble; the sin, that time, of wishing
that guy who had offended me
would fall downstairs and break
his neck; the sin of not speaking
out loudly against a wrong that
had been done to a neighbor. (Ra
ther. I thought of what might hap-
I en to me if I came out loudly for
bis cause, i The sin of envy which
caused me to wish ill for one who
tad prospered beyond my own
meager means. The sin of spread
ing gladly certain hearsay, without
proof, that had come to my ear.
?Ianv sins like that, and sins of
pride and vanity . . . "What do you
think, Abednego?"
•'You might say," he replied,
'that such really are the worse sins,
simply because you never could get
arrested for any of them. What
makes them worse is that with such
sins on your head you can keep up
the pretense of being a respectable
man. They are the worse sins be
cause you are safe in them, and no
penalty ever will catch up with
vou, except the lashing of your
conscience, if you keep one."
"And what will God think of me
on this Rosh Hashonah on account
of these my sins,” I asked Abedne
go.
“Alfred," he replied, "you are
only as a grain of sand in the uni
verse an 1 how is one even as
mighty as God to count every fault
in every grain of sand like you?
There is so much to do to keep
the whole universe marching . .
the stars in their courses, and just
now the seasons are changing and
the sun must be started on its
southward way and the day be
come shorter. May we ask Him
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