Religion is not my thing....

Last Friday afternoon, while rushing down the grocery aisles doing last-minute shopping before Shabbat, a man came towards me. "That's you, Rabbi,” he said.

It was Edward, a retired Jewish man who I met over five years ago when he wanted to donate his used car. We then got to spend some time together and created a friendship.

Though I was in a real rush, I was very happy to see him." How have you been?" I asked. "We haven’t heard from you in a while..."

"Oh," Edward said, "you probably won’t meet me anywhere other than in grocery stores. I’m really not interested in religion…it's not my thing."

"That's fine. I'm happy to see you. How is the family?" I asked.

"They are all fine, thank you. And by the way, do you remember my son who I was so concern about?" he continued. "I was so happy when he told me that he put mezuzahs in his house. It was a real nachas! I couldn't believe it!"

"I guess I'm just like you," I told Edward. "I'm not interested in religion; it’s a waste of time. But 'Yidishkeit,' that's something else... there is no nachas to a Jew without that."

I excused myself to run to the cashier.

"Gut Shabbos", he said.