In 1947, I was riding the New York subway late one night. I felt a little uncomfortable being one of the few passengers in the car.
One stop later, a gentleman got on the train, and I felt relieved that there would be another presence in the subway car.
I peered into his face anxiously, and was reassured to see a mild-mannered man, with a pleasant countenance and an amiable manner.
At the next stop, a middle aged woman boarded the train. Then she, too, began to wend her way in the general direction of where I and the man were sitting.
She peered over the man’s shoulder to see what he was reading. And then she began to address him in a language in which I was not fluent, but which I could certainly identify.
I didn’t know Yiddish, bit I did have an excellent command of German, which is quite similar. So I was able to follow the dialogue with very little difficulty.
“Where are you from…originally.” she inquired.
The man named a country in Eastern Europe.
“What city?” she asked.
He answered again, noncommittally, but beggining to look confused by the interrogation.
“What did you do…before the war?”
He named his profession.
“Look at me. Look at me!” she commanded. “Don’t you recognize meanymore?”
They were husband and wife.
Each had made his and her way alone to New York City to begin a new life.
And they had found each other, years later, on a subway car on the BMT line.
As this reunion (which was reported widely in all the local newspapers) unfolded before my disvelieving, tear-filled eyes, I marvelled at the force that had compelled the woman to take the seat immediately adjoining the man’s.
Perhaps I was placed there to serve as a witness. To be imbued, from an early age on, with the sense of mystery and excitement and awe that such a tableau inspires.
I was blessed to see such an incredible “coincidence” unfold before my very eyes; to stand at the threshold of life knowing clearly that with God …all things are possible.
Ruth Fisher
Comment:
Indeed with God, all things are possible. Being a witness to little miracles in the lives of others is also a miracle. It means that God has chosen us to witness His actions among others to show His love for us.
Fr. Hugh Duffy
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