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ftWay, 14, INI
TAB SOUTHBEN I8BABL1TB
Plain Talk — by Alfred Segal
I Enter A Church
It was noontime. 1 was walk
ing along Sycamore Street in
our town when in front of St.
Xavier Church I came upon a
Catholic friend of mine. He was
about to enter the church and he
said. “Come along with me into
the church for a little while.”
“Oh,” I exclaimed, “I’m so
busy at this hour and have no
time for church and besides, as
you well know, I’m Jewish, No,
I just can’t make it.”
He became insistent . . “Al,”
he said, "it may help you out
on a column to attend a church
that’s not of your religion. It
will give you some columnar
experience, something to write
about, I mean. Come along with
me into my church.”
I kept hesitating . .“Jim,” I
said, “you’re such a busy man
yourself and how do you find
time to drop into church even
at noon?”
"Yes,” he replied, "every noon
1 observe my religion in the
church, just before lunch. It
helps me to finish my busy day.
Come along with me into the
church. It may help your column
toward better religious under
standing . . not Catholic religion,
mind you . . . but for you to be
with a guy who in the noon of
a busy day pauses to speak to
God.”
Well, after hearing this from
Jim, I couldn’t reject his invita
tion. I entered St. Xavier Church
with him. Many kneeling over
the spacious auditorium, though
it was the busy hour of noon
and they had jobs to look after.
Jim himself knelt and whispered
a prayer.
I myself just sat there, think
ing. Well, it’s so strange ... all
these people caring about their
religion even at noon on a week
day. Oh, I myself am not often
m schul even on Sabbath days.
I felt a bit spiritually embar-
assed to notice Jim speaking to
God even in the busy hour. He
was through with his worship
after some ten minutes. He took
my arm . . "Al,” he whispered,
“be my guest at lunch,” and I
accepted.
We walked along the street
talking religion . . . “mind you,
Al,” he said, “I’m not talking
Catholicsm to you. I respect your
Judaism also; I know Judaism
in fact, as the mother of my own
religion. But as Catholic I’m
noticing how good it is to ob
serve a bit of religion every day
of the week. I’m not finding fault
in Jews not dropping into syna
gogues each noon. I’m just notic
ing one of the fine practices of
my own religion. What do you
think of it Al?”
I replied I had felt deeply im
pressed by the sight of all those
people in his church speaking to
God even at noon of a week
day ... "I myself must confess
to you that I have been quite lax
in the regular practice of reli
gious worship . . but there was a
time in my youth and in the
youth-times of many others of
us Jewish people.”
1 meant the time of my remote
youth, after I had been bar mitz-
vah . . . “Yes, Jim, each morn
ing I’d bind phylacteries around
my head and arm. You know
what phylacteries are, Jim? They
contain the Lord’s command
ments and each morning at pray
er time I had them on my fore
head and on my arm. It was in
obedience to a commandment
which says, ‘Thou shalt bind
them (God’s teaching, that is)
for a sign upon thy hand, and
they shall be for frontlets be
tween thine eyes. ‘Every morn
ing I put them on before prayer
when I was in my teens.”
Then Jim said: “Of course, Al,
you still do it every morning,
I’m sure.”
I felt a bit embarrassed to
answer him, but, finally, I told
him all: “You see, Jim, many of
us turn into Reform Jews; we
drop the ancient practices of
Jewish religion. I don’t know
wha ever became of the phylac
teries I put on at prayer each
morning, when I was young. We
acquire other ideas of what re
ligion is all about.
“Yes, we come to think of re
ligion as having more to do with
being a noteworthy, useful guy
in the world than with putting
on the phylacteries and the
prayer shawl. We have the idea
(hat to be good people is religion
enough.”
Jim noticed the bit of sad
ness in my memory of my past
when I bound my bead and arm
in Tfillim each morning, and be
said; “Cheer up, Al, you idea of
religion is high enough even
without phylacteries on.”
“Oh, Jim,” I replied, “I was
only bringing back a bit of fond
memory of my youthful religion
every morning, by way of notic
ing your own way of being re
ligious in church on a busy day
even at noon. I used to be
that way every morning at home.
Jim smiled . .
thing for you to
your column ...
ligkm in your youth,' and your
religion today. Maybe, yeofe a
very good Jew, after all, even
today. Really, even going to
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