Not being a professional politician, I hate to write a post that might seem self-serving , but I have to tell someone this story, and it might as well be you. I’m only telling you, nobody else!

This is Shelter Week at Beth Shalom, when we house homeless guests from the South Oakland Shelter. I’ve been on Night Watchman duty, responsible for waking people at the time they request they can get where they need to go for the day. Sadly, most of our guests–decent, capable people–have no job to go to, so they spend the day at the Shelter.

On Tuesday evening, one of our guests–call her Q–was telling Julie Grodin (she’s in charge for the week) about her medical problems. I overheard enough to know that I shouldn’t listen to any more.

But on Wednesday evening, after dinner, Julie and Q were sitting together, and Julie told Q she should tell me what she told her earlier.

Q told us she felt unwell on Tuesday night and couldn’t sleep. She got up and walked over to the shul library–maybe she could find a book to take her mind off her problems. She picked up a copy of The Shabbat Morning Siddur and took it away to read some of our prayers. Reading the book  “made me feel like I was in heaven,” Q told us, and she felt relief from her pain.

I always worry when someone picks up a book I wrote. What mistakes will they notice that I didn’t already know about? And I often worry how non-Jewish people like Q might react to Jewish prayers. Often, we seem to pray only for ourselves, or only for the Jewish community. So I was delighted that someone like Q could find them inspiring and comforting, even in my translation.

I hope that Q will soon find all that she wants in this world–a job, transportation, and a place to live for her and her young children. She told us she sometimes takes the kids to look at stores like Target from the outside, so the kids will know about the stores when–one day–they have money to spend inside.

As for me who lack so little, may the familiar prayers become unfamiliar so they can somehow transport me to that other world.

(Oops, I almost forgot to link to Rabbi Jason’s blog! There’s always good reason to read what he’s thinking.)