Sorry, wrong train

For anyone familiar with the New York Subway system, particularly in Crown Heights, you would know the difference between the 3 and the 4 trains.

The 3 train stops right outside 770, in the heart of Crown Heights, while the 4 train is an express train, it does not stop there, and it goes all the way to Schenectady, which is convenient for us Jews who do not live in a 'prime location'.

I would always take the 4 train to get home. It is more modern than the 3, it is express and it takes me closer to my house. The 3 also goes to that stop, but it takes longer to get there.

Now that my family has moved, and myself as well, I take the 3 train to get home, cuz the 4 train does not stop where I need to get off.

Sometimes people switch from the 3 to the 4 or vice versa, if they need the express or local train. I was on the 3 train and the 4 train was right there across the platform. Had I still lived in my old house I would have ran across the platform to get it. Or I would have already been on it. But the 3 train was what I needed.

How many times do we look at the 'goyishe velt' (secular world) and want what is out there, or desire to act or dress like them, or be like them? How many times have you stayed up late when you knew you should go to sleep early? How many times have you eaten candy when you know junk food is not good for you? (If you answered 'no' to all of the above, then congratulations, you are a tzaddik).

Many times in life we look out instead of looking in. The Frierdike Rebbe said, "It is better to be on the outside looking in, than on the inside looking out."

We have to say, what is not for me is not for me. It may be okay for someone else, but it is not good enough for me. Don't sit here with the guise of a frum person, while craving things that are not allowed. Rather, look inward, look towards your religion for the answers, because that is where you will find them.

I stayed on the 3 train, because that was the train I needed to take me to my destination. And the 4 train? I let it pass me by because after all, it will not take me where I need to go.