The Other Side of the Story - Shabbos Connection

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The Other Side of the Story - Giving People the Benefit of the Doubt

Shabbos Connection

I have a friend on the Internet who is a recent ba'al teshuva (newly observant of Judaism). I live in Israel and he in the United States. One motzei Shabbat here, I went on-line. To my astonishment, I see my friend also on-line, when in the U.S. it was still Shabbat, and logs off after a moment. (I have him on my buddy list.) Now I said to myself, what zechut (positive judgment) could I give him? Perhaps he was in Europe now? (It happened once before, and I found out afterwards that he had been in France where it wasn't Shabbat anymore.) I didn't think so. Perhaps, he forgot that it was Shabbat now? That didn't seem good either, since I knew him to be a ba'al teshuva for some time now, and that couldn't have happened.

Two days later I see him again on-line, and I ask him, "Were you on-line this past motzei Shabbat by any chance?" He says, "I don't think so." I tell him "I think I saw your screen name signed on when it was still Shabbat by you." So he tells me "Oh, that was a relative. She's not religious and since she doesn't have her own screen name she was using mine."


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Based on "The Other Side of the Story" by Mrs. Yehudis Samet, ArtScroll Series

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