Sitting at a Safe Distance
Whenever I travel abroad, I always offer a prayer that I should not find myself seated beside a woman. I ask Hashem that neither I nor my escort sit near a woman. Baruch Hashem, most of the time, we merit seeing Hashem’s guiding hand, ushering us to kosher seats.
Once, while traveling from France to New York, we knew that a long, arduous flight awaited us. We therefore prayed especially hard that the third seat in our row remain empty, or at least be occupied by a man. But the Satan saw fit to place a woman there. The plane was full, so we had no choice but to accept the challenge of a woman seated next to my escort.
Suddenly, the woman stared at us as though we were terrorists. She was overcome with terrible fear and immediately stood up, demanding to switch her seat. Since all the seats were taken, and this woman would not be calmed until she found another seat, the flight attendants upgraded her to a different section of the plane.
The third seat in our row remained empty during the entire course of the flight. Our relationship with Hashem was upgraded, as we thanked Him for His kindness in removing this test.
- Son of the Rav, Rabbi Michael Yosef Alexander, delivering a lecture
