Prayer Interrupted
Before our tunnel tour, I took a few minutes to pray at the Western Wall. It's nice to be able to say, "Hey, I'm at the Western Wall, why not pray?!"
Background: At the Western Wall and throughout the Old City, there are many beggars and others collecting money for charities. I load up my pockets with small change when I go there.
Anyway, I was in the midst of the afternoon prayers when a young black hatted guy comes up to me to ask for money. Well, I've never been interrupted during prayer before and, I happened to be in the middle of the Amida, the prayer that one should not interrupt even if one's home (or synagogue) is on fire or if a Jewish king comes up to you to talk to you (but if it's not a Jewish king, you can interrupt the prayer because said king might kill you for ignoring him but the Jewish king should know better and not bother you).
The tradition also holds that one should concentrate so much during this prayer that even if a 17 year-old girl walks right in front of you, naked, you wouldn't even notice her! (I say "Test me!")
So, apparently, I was not concentrating enough because I was interrupted by the black hatter and I started saying the prayer out loud, hoping said black hatted guy would hear that I was in the midst of the Amida. He didn't notice and he started touching me and that's when I shouted "Shemoneh Esrei" (another name for the Amida) at him.
Once he realized his faux pas, he was so embarrassed and then he ran away. I guess he figured that someone who's dressed like me (i.e. not wearing a black hat) can't really be praying.
But, he did wait for me to finish and then asked again for money and I told him no way, dude and I gave to everyone else around him.
Background: At the Western Wall and throughout the Old City, there are many beggars and others collecting money for charities. I load up my pockets with small change when I go there.
Anyway, I was in the midst of the afternoon prayers when a young black hatted guy comes up to me to ask for money. Well, I've never been interrupted during prayer before and, I happened to be in the middle of the Amida, the prayer that one should not interrupt even if one's home (or synagogue) is on fire or if a Jewish king comes up to you to talk to you (but if it's not a Jewish king, you can interrupt the prayer because said king might kill you for ignoring him but the Jewish king should know better and not bother you).
The tradition also holds that one should concentrate so much during this prayer that even if a 17 year-old girl walks right in front of you, naked, you wouldn't even notice her! (I say "Test me!")
So, apparently, I was not concentrating enough because I was interrupted by the black hatter and I started saying the prayer out loud, hoping said black hatted guy would hear that I was in the midst of the Amida. He didn't notice and he started touching me and that's when I shouted "Shemoneh Esrei" (another name for the Amida) at him.
Once he realized his faux pas, he was so embarrassed and then he ran away. I guess he figured that someone who's dressed like me (i.e. not wearing a black hat) can't really be praying.
But, he did wait for me to finish and then asked again for money and I told him no way, dude and I gave to everyone else around him.
posted by Matt at 1:13 PM
1 Comments:
Ouch!
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