I walk into shul, sit next to the rabbi, and for the next three hours we’re silent except for rattling off our prayers..
Finally, after adon olam and kiddish, I shake his hand and say, "Gut shabbos."
"Look," he replies. "Did you come hear to talk or did you come here to pray?"
On the other hand, I hate it when I’m in shul chatting with my mates and some visitor hushes us.
Hey pal, you’re a visitor. We are members. You hush it, you big fat poofter.
"Did you go to Happy?" asks Jane.
"No. I felt like I needed a nice quiet read."
"So you read during services?"
"Yeah. James Kugel’s ‘How to Read the Bible.’"
"You have all day to read."
"I find it especially elevating to read during davening. It lifts my neshama."
At one of the Torah book stores I visited this week, the guy who processed my credit card came outside and said, "Mr. Ford, I read your blog."
