The Nun, the Rabbi and the Prison Inmate!

Sounds like an opening line to an interesting "...walked into a bar" joke. But, this is what happened to me today:

Sitting in my car at the Brainard Medical Center (overlooking I-271) with the AC cranked up really high, waiting for my son to come down from his Orthodontist appointment, I noticed a Nun waiting outside in the blistering heat, covered head-to-toe in the traditional Nun's habit. She looked to be at least 80 years old, and was lugging a heavy, hardcover black book in her arms. Wow, what commitment, I thought. Dressed like that in 95 degree weather, and shlepping along what appeared to be a Bible, to boot! When does an East-side Jew like myself get a chance to schmooze with a real Nun? So, I got out of my car to keep her company. After silently noting our respective religious symbols and eying her black book, I inquired, "Is that the Bible"? She seemed embarrassed, and muttered, "No, I left my Bible at home today." After we exchanged "G-d bless you"s, while I was turning away, I noticed that the book was actually a suspense mystery novel by Mary Higgins Clark. My son asked me what I was chuckling about in the car...

Two hours later, at the Grafton Correctional Institute, finishing up a class for the "Jewish brothers" (as they're referred to over there), I strike up a conversation with a young, charming African-American inmate, born and bred in a rough neighborhood in East Cleveland, who was sitting in the hallway of the chapel building. I asked him what he thought about all of the Lebron hype. He said, "man, all this talk about, Is he coming back?; Is he not coming back?; If you ask me, the only one who I really care about him coming back is JC!" At that point I noticed that he too had a well-read black book. Not worrying about making the same mistake twice, I asked the same question: "Is that the Bible?" "It sure is, and a well-used one at that", he answered with a big smile. Then he quoted verbatim a verse that I recognized from King Solomon's Book of Proverbs about the importance of reading the word of G-d.

Inspiration sure can come from interesting places!

The moral of the story: Everyone needs down-time, and everyone needs Torah in their lives!