In the little Jerusalem shul where I daven the daily Minchah we were just about to begin the Repetition of the Shemoneh Esrei when two bare-headed men came in They were not there to join us for Minchah. Carrying ladder and tool kits they headed right to the air-conditioning unit in the back of the room and began tinkering with the unit.
Here were we reciting Kedushah and there were they working on the machinery. We said “kadosh kadosh kadosh”; oblivious to us they kept on working. We responded to every brachah; they continued working. We answered to Kaddish; they worked away. No Amen escaped their lips; no acknowledgment that this was a community engaged in prayer.
Watching them I hoped against hope that these fellows were not Jews. But unfortunately they definitely were. They were young Israeli Jews who had clearly never been in a shul who had never learned that when you hear a brachah you respond “Amen ” and that at the very least one should have respect for others who are in the midst of prayer. We continued reciting Amen Amen Amen and they continued obliviously tap-tap-tapping away.
We could have been on two different planets. As far as they were concerned they could have been in a Catholic church or an Arab mosque — although I must admit that I wondered if they would not have waited respectfully in a church of mosque until the prayers ended.
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