The Train at Night
by Gina Briefs-Elgin
Sleeping on a train can be a mystical experience, or a challenging one.
According to Hasidic tradition, thirty-six “saints” (lamed vavnik) are hidden in the world at all times, holding it together through their secret good deeds. Disguised as socially marginal figures—peasants, porters, and homeless, nameless wanderers—they appear among strangers and, through their