education on a subway car

The other day on the 3 train, I witnessed a great exchange between a soberly-dressed Jewish girl and a large black woman with rings on all of her fingers. The Jewish girl was bent over a book of scripture, moving her mouth very quickly but not making any sound. They were sitting next to each other, which was beautiful.


Black Woman: What are you reading?

Jewish Girl: I’m reading about God.

BW: Jesus Christ?

JG: No, not Jesus.

BW: You don’t believe in Jesus?

JG: No.

BW: What about this man?

She pointed to a business card tucked in the piping of the subway ad on my left. The Jewish girl had put it there a few stops prior (I’d been watching her since she boarded). On the front of the card was a blurred image of an elderly, bearded man in a black hat, and then a foreign word that looked like “Messiah,” just spelled differently. The “M” and all the major vowels seemed to be in place.

JG: That’s ___ (I didn’t catch it).

BW: Is he dead?

JG: He is never dead.

BW: What do you mean? His body or his soul?

JG: He is dead in the traditional sense, in your sense, but he is never dead to us. He is forever. He lives forever.

BW: May I see the card?

The Jewish girl handed it to her. We rode in silence for a few minutes. When the black woman was finished reading (the back of the card was printed in English) I asked to see it, too. The card stated seven rules/laws, in a similar way to the Ten Commandments. I remember one of the seven said, “do not consume anything that comes from the body of an animal.”

After awhile the black woman turned back to the Jewish girl.

BW: Do you practice on Saturday?

JG: We practice every day.

BW: That’s nice, but I don’t believe the part about him not being dead.

JG: Well, that’s truth. You can’t argue with truth. Truth is truth.

The black woman nodded.

I got off at the next stop, thankful for New York City.
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