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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 Come To EXPRESS LANES ISM Piedmont Rd. for FREE Bowling Instructions Phone 874-5703 W. 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