Crying on the train

When the woman next to me on the train tonight tapped me and asked if I was okay, I said I was fine. There is no way to explain that I’m sitting on the train crying because a holiday that she’s never heard of (Sukkot) is nearly over and I haven’t seen the four species (a lulav and etrog [three branches and a middle eastern lemon]), let alone shaken them (one of this mitzvot [commandments]) of the holiday.

Over the past few years, I’ve always found a way to get to my syn