{"id":40401,"date":"2015-07-02T15:42:54","date_gmt":"2015-07-02T20:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=40401"},"modified":"2015-07-02T20:33:57","modified_gmt":"2015-07-03T01:33:57","slug":"on-the-new-york-city-subway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/on-the-new-york-city-subway\/","title":{"rendered":"A Blessing on the #1 Train"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"train1-featured\"<\/a>I am taking the Broadway #1 train from Penn Station to Van Cortlandt Park in the late afternoon. Van Cortlandt Park is the last stop on the line.<\/p>\n

About three stops from the end, everyone in my car exits. I\u2019m left alone.<\/p>\n

The door opens from another car. Enters a 30-something year old guy, big, and obviously drunk. I\u2019m at the other end of the car.<\/p>\n

He calls out, \u201cHey, you got a match?\u201d<\/p>\n

I answer, \u201cI don\u2019t smoke.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says, \u201cI guess then you wouldn\u2019t have any matches.\u201d<\/p>\n

He stumbles over to me. I\u2019m getting a bit nervous. He\u2019s bigger than me, and I\u2019m a worrying kind of guy.<\/p>\n

He leans over close to me, about five inches from my ear, and whispers: \u201cTzedaka. You know what tzedaka is?\u201d<\/p>\n

Surprised and amused, I answer \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

He waits. I pause. Then I take a dollar out of my pocket and give it to him.<\/p>\n

He begins to stumble away.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what happened to me, but I call after him, \u201cHey. I gave you something. Now you give me something.\u201d<\/p>\n

He looks back at me, not understanding. I say it again, \u201cGive me something.\u201d<\/p>\n

I call out, \u201cI gave you tzedaka. You give me a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n

He looks puzzled.<\/p>\n

I say, \u201cI have a kid who just had two knee operations. Do you have a blessing?\u201d<\/p>\n

He stops. Looks straight at me, thinking what to say. \u201cI guess you don\u2019t believe in Jesus, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n

I shake my head.<\/p>\n

He says, \u201cI bless you that your kid will be healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then he takes a step to walk away and stops. Puts his hand on the subway pole, turns back to me and says, \u201cAnd I give you a blessing, that whatever happens to your kid, God will give you the strength to handle whatever it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wow. I was overcome with emotion.<\/p>\n

I had given him a dollar from my pocket.<\/p>\n

He gave me a blessing from his heart.<\/p>\n

The train stopped. We said goodbye to each other. \u201cGoodbye friend, thank you.\u201d \u201cGoodbye friend, have a good day.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the moment, I didn\u2019t know what propelled me to ask him for a blessing.<\/p>\n

Looking back, I understand it like this:<\/p>\n

Asking for something \u2013 a cigarette or money \u2013 can be a very degrading and humiliating experience.<\/p>\n

He had given me the chance to be a giving person \u2013 to give to him. Though I hesitated and didn\u2019t give with a full, open heart or smile, after giving something to him \u2013 I actually felt good about myself.<\/p>\n

I wanted to offer him, too, the chance to give something and feel good about himself.<\/p>\n

In the end, he gave me so much \u2013 a moment of netzach, of eternity \u2013 a moment that I will never forget.<\/p>\n

Our souls are wired to give. That\u2019s how the Creator created us. Sometimes the kindest act we can do is to receive \u2013 to allow someone else to give to us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am taking the Broadway #1 train from Penn Station to Van Cortlandt Park in the late afternoon. Van Cortlandt Park is the last stop on the line. About three stops from the end, everyone in my car exits. I\u2019m left alone. The door opens from another car. Enters a 30-something year old guy, big,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133068,"featured_media":40405,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\nA Blessing on the #1 Train - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/on-the-new-york-city-subway\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Blessing on the #1 Train - OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I am taking the Broadway #1 train from Penn Station to Van Cortlandt Park in the late afternoon. Van Cortlandt Park is the last stop on the line. About three stops from the end, everyone in my car exits. I\u2019m left alone. The door opens from another car. Enters a 30-something year old guy, big,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/on-the-new-york-city-subway\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-02T20:42:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-07-03T01:33:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/train1-actual-featured.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"206\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"180\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Aryeh Ben David\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Aryeh Ben David\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/on-the-new-york-city-subway\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/on-the-new-york-city-subway\/\",\"name\":\"A Blessing on the #1 Train - OU Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/on-the-new-york-city-subway\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/on-the-new-york-city-subway\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/train1-actual-featured.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-02T20:42:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-07-03T01:33:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/b3f1ca0c52eea809167a8587f284c2b9\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/on-the-new-york-city-subway\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/on-the-new-york-city-subway\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/train1-actual-featured.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/train1-actual-featured.jpg\",\"width\":206,\"height\":180},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/\",\"name\":\"OU Life\",\"description\":\"Everyday Jewish Living\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/b3f1ca0c52eea809167a8587f284c2b9\",\"name\":\"Aryeh Ben David\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6595cc2f69b64376a613c7e80623e6d330231a5292ee8df0b5ce07b58e31ae6f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6595cc2f69b64376a613c7e80623e6d330231a5292ee8df0b5ce07b58e31ae6f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Aryeh Ben David\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/aryeh-ben-david\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Blessing on the #1 Train - OU Life","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/on-the-new-york-city-subway\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Blessing on the #1 Train - OU Life","og_description":"I am taking the Broadway #1 train from Penn Station to Van Cortlandt Park in the late afternoon. Van Cortlandt Park is the last stop on the line. About three stops from the end, everyone in my car exits. I\u2019m left alone. The door opens from another car. Enters a 30-something year old guy, big,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/on-the-new-york-city-subway\/","og_site_name":"OU Life","article_published_time":"2015-07-02T20:42:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-07-03T01:33:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":206,"height":180,"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/train1-actual-featured.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Aryeh Ben David","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Aryeh Ben David","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/on-the-new-york-city-subway\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/on-the-new-york-city-subway\/","name":"A Blessing on the #1 Train - OU Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/on-the-new-york-city-subway\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/on-the-new-york-city-subway\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/train1-actual-featured.jpg","datePublished":"2015-07-02T20:42:54+00:00","dateModified":"2015-07-03T01:33:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/b3f1ca0c52eea809167a8587f284c2b9"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/on-the-new-york-city-subway\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/on-the-new-york-city-subway\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/train1-actual-featured.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/train1-actual-featured.jpg","width":206,"height":180},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/","name":"OU Life","description":"Everyday Jewish Living","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/b3f1ca0c52eea809167a8587f284c2b9","name":"Aryeh Ben David","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6595cc2f69b64376a613c7e80623e6d330231a5292ee8df0b5ce07b58e31ae6f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6595cc2f69b64376a613c7e80623e6d330231a5292ee8df0b5ce07b58e31ae6f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Aryeh Ben David"},"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/author\/aryeh-ben-david\/"}]}},"acf":[],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133068"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40401"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40407,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40401\/revisions\/40407"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}