Part of our job in Northern Colorado is to cover for the rabbi who is out of town.
Monday morning, a guy named Scott calls and asks for the rabbi. I explain that the rabbi is out of town and ask if we can help.
He tells me that he has some issues he needed to discuss. He can't come today (Monday) and wanted to see us tomorrow (Tuesday). We were a little hesitant because we were scheduled to go to a city nearby called Loveland and didn't plan on being in town. We told him that he can call us in the morning and we would schedule a time to meet nonetheless.
The next morning, he called us and told us he wouldn't be able to make it. In response to our suggestion that we go meet him, he told us he actually lives in Loveland.
Wow pretty cool!
We scheduled an appointment with him for four in the afternoon. When we arrived, we were surprised to be greeted by a person sporting a beard who we thought was either homeless or a hidden Chassid. After chatting for a few minutes we learned that he was not Jewish but did want money. We explained to him nicely that we would not be able to be of great help, and advised him to call the rabbi in a few weeks.
Bummer.
We were a little disappointed to say the least.
As we were leaving, a middle aged guy walks past us and mutters under his breath something to the affect of "you guys are here too!" We asked him if he was Jewish. "With a name like David Klein what do you think!?" (That is not his real name but you get the point.) Turns out he is a nice Jewish boy from Brooklyn.
We went over to his apartment and talked for a while.
His only previous experience in a synagogue was being told by a rabbi in Maryland that he was not eligible to participate in services since he was not a member of his temple.
Well he was pretty turned off, joined a Lutheran church and has been going ever since.
To make a long story short, David put on teffilin for his first time in his life at 48 years old! Now, that's what I call divine providence!
