the synagogue

Our eyes met briefly, yet deeply and with an unmistakable impact...

Debra RobinsonSep 19, 2026

Some years ago, I was driving down Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn, NY on a weekday afternoon when I felt an unexpected urge to pray.
It moved over me...like a cloud blocking the sun.
It was palpable, unbidden, unexpected... what the old ones would have called ‘a prayer burden’.
I didn’t understand what the prayer was about or who it was for.
While I fumbled, not knowing how to pray, the feeling kept growing stronger... even urgent.
It was then that I remembered that some prayers are without words…
but with sighs and groanings for what cannot be uttered.

My dam felt like it was about to burst, so I let the tears stream down my cheeks...tears that flowed on and on.
They intensified painfully now.
I finally broke out in sobs...great heaving sobs.
I felt an almost unbearable sadness. There was nothing I could do to stop crying. I was caught up in a deep pain that wasn’t mine.
It was overwhelming and tears came in torrents.
It felt like the pain of the world was racking my body.
I wailed and cried out, finally unable to drive safely.
I had just enough presence of mind to maneuver the car out of the heavy traffic. I was able to slow down.
I meandered through brownstone neighborhoods looking for a place to park the car...some unobtrusive spot where I could let this run its course.
I tried to find a quiet spot to park, but there were people everywhere.
Several tries later, I spotted a long expanse of red brick without windows.
I had found my place finally...
I parked under the shadow of some large trees and bent down in the front seat in an effort to go unnoticed.
I was finally free to let the raging pain and the racking sobs come unhindered.
I was in a whirlwind of pain and sorrow.
It lasted another half hour or so and then the strange burden began to slowly let up.
It was as if I had been in another world and was slowly being released and returned to the present one.
It was a hard re-entry. I felt disoriented and raw.
Slowly I came around, moving my body to get the feeling of ‘me’ back.
I looked in the mirror. I looked as though I had come from another realm.
I wiped my face and combed my hair, trying to get back to something close to normal. I hoped that no one had seen me.
Finally, I dared to look up and survey my surroundings...just in time to see a man whirl out of the building I was parked in front of.
He was clad in the Eastern European suit and hat of a Hasidic Jew.
He had a long dark beard and curled forelocks.
I could only hope that he hadn’t seen me.
He was as startled as I was as he rounded the corner just as I looked up.
Our eyes met briefly, yet deeply and with an unmistakable impact.
He was wiping tears away, his face and eyes swollen like mine.
He had just come from prayer...

🙏

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