“Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,

Till earth and sky stand presently at God’s great Judgement seat”.

– Rudyard Kipling

They met this past Shabbos. In a small shteibl in the small space of approximately 6 sq. feet, East and West met and converged, overlapping, taking another look at the other, and at least for one direction’s part, were impressed with the other.

Rolling into shul Shabbos morning on time only a half hour late, I grab the closest available seat and commence praying. As it happens, this seat is a likely spot, nestled in the shul’s back right corner in close proximity to the Halacha seforim shrank. Which, as it happens, works out well, since I’m a firm believer that Halacha is one of the most matim limudim for those mid-davening breaks. You’d be amazed at how many simanim you can pound down in those few minutes. Soon, a friend from the block chaps the seat next to me, and before you know it, an hour has gone by and the oilam is holding by leining.

At this point, the Odd Couple (two local baalebatim in their low 30’s, Ploni and Almoni) sidle in. Nudging each other and guffawing all the while, they are here to schmooze, not to pray. Making a beeline for our spot, they seat themselves in the two empty chairs to our immediate left, and commence what will be a two hour marathon run of straight schmoozerai, interrupted only for a couple minutes devoted to the amidah. Thank G-d for small miracles. Basically, we ignore them, and they ignore Him. Five minutes later during bein gavra l’gavra, however, Ploni  touches my arm, and asks me for a favor.

“Sure, what’s up?”, I respond. Ever the gracious type, I’m known far and wide for my ability to handle all sorts of customers with charm and wit. As you can tell, I’ve performed up to my usual standard in this case as well.

“Well”, he says with a sheepish grin, “my buddy and I were kinda hoping you could vacate your seats and switch with us. Those seats are our makom kavuah”. This last he says with a not-bad yeshivish ha’avarah, betrayed only by his handling of the last syllable of the second word. Aside from the grin, you’d think he was serious about what he said. I lift an eyebrow at him.

“Makom kavuah?”, I repeat back to him, in an astounded tone. (They’ve spent more time talking than davening in the few minutes since they have been in the shul). “Yes, we really sit here every week, and you know, you’re supposed to sit where…”, his voice trails off as my left eyebrow starts heading for space. I can barely believe what I’m hearing. Still he asked in a polite tone, was not aggressive, and I honestly didn’t mind… too much. My friend and I switch with Ploni and Almoni.

As we’re changing places, I hear chaver Almoni complaining to Ploni underneath his breath. He’s upset that Ploni made us go through the hassle of switching, minor though it was- a sentiment I can identify with. To which Ploni explains that the truth was that he really preferred the corner spot for comfort reasons; no shaychis makom kavuah. Apparently the acoustics are better for low-level schmoozing there.

This gets me ticked off. Deserting my place during the next aliyah change, I head for the closest Shulchan Aruch. A few minutes of browsing later, I have the relevant Magen Avraham open before me. After waiting until the next leining break, I slide the tome over to Ploni and Almoni, and tell them to take a look at M”A 38. Almoni stares at me blankly. Ploni gives the amud a quick glance, and then turns to me. “Ah. It’s about makom kavuah”. A wise fellow, this one.  Again, I urge him to look at the M”A, 38. He peers intently at the small letters for a minute, and then looks up. “So what does he say”? Sigh. I take a deep breath, gathering the strength to explain a seven word halacha to what is no doubt a pair of highly uninterested baalebatim. And then Almoni interjects…

Leaning forward in his seat, he looks directly at me, and says in a truly eager voice, “Really, tell us the halacha. What does he say?” Well, you coulda knocked me over with an e-siddur. Whatever reaction I had been expecting, this wasn’t it. Upon translating the M”A into English for them* and explaining the svarah behind his amendment to the Mechaber, they both thank me in ehrnste (serious, non-facetious) tones.

Late? Check. Schmoozing? Check. Am Ha’aratzim? Check.

Desire to learn Torah and understand what Hashem wants from them? Check.

And that, ladies and gents, is why Klal Yisroel is still around. IY”H, all Jews, from all directions, East, West, North and South will soon be zoche to travel to that ultimate East.

Amen.

*The Magen Avraham (O”C, Siman    ,  , ) explains that the din of makom kavuah has a shiur of 4 amos, being that one can ever sit in the precise same place as he did yesterday anyway.