The following story happened six years ago on the seventh day of Passover, very early in the morning while it was still dark out.
I stood in my living room watching the vertical Venetian blinds rapidly sway back and forth. I thought it was caused by my cat playing, but he was nowhere in sight. The blinds covered my patio door, so I slid it open and found a television on the ground. It infuriated me that one of my neighbors had left their broken TV on my property, too lazy to take it to the dump. Now it was my problem.
I returned to the living room, and the clock revealed that it was a little after 5 a.m. Then I noticed an empty space where my TV had been.
Things were not making sense; it was as if my brain were in a fog. I walked to the bedroom and found the cover to my jewelry box perched on top of the blanket that had covered me while I slept. The box and jewelry were gone.
I was starting to wake up and able to focus better. I scanned my room and saw that my dresser drawers were pulled open with clothes spilling out like rags. The door to my closet was ajar and my belongings lay on the floor. I had just been robbed!
A feeling of anger swept over me when I realized that a stranger had entered my apartment and stolen items that belonged to me as I lay sleeping.
I thought that the robber might return for the TV and, if so, I would not be able to defend myself. I was now fully awake, and my anger had turned to fear. My sense of security was shattered. I was terrified of remaining alone in my apartment but had nowhere to go so early in the morning. It was Passover and I did not know if it was permissible to use the phone, so I decided to wait until 9 a.m. when I would walk to the management office and speak to Matt. So I locked my patio door and waited.
Matt called the police for me, and soon I was speaking to an officer who arrived to take my report. Within a week, a detective called to tell me that they had found a partial fingerprint on my TV but it was insufficient to identify the perpetrator. For over a month I slept on the living room couch with my doors securely locked and some pieces of furniture blocking the door. Eventually I was able to find another apartment with better security.
A couple of weeks after the robbery, I was able to piece together the sequence of events. The night of the robbery I was too tired to lock the patio door – big mistake.
The robber(s) must have tried random doors until they came to mine. I think that there were probably two thieves, a man and a woman, because on some level of memory I think of two people like that talking to each other and waking me up.
When they saw me get out of bed they became fearful and decided to leave. Incredibly, like a sleepwalker, I followed them out. The Venetian blinds were swinging as the couple made their way out the patio door. They left with the loot, including my TV, but dropped it when they saw that I was right behind them.
I fully realized then how close I was to danger. I was vulnerable when I was sleeping and they dropped the cover of my jewelry box on my blanket. They must have been mere inches away. They could have harmed me or worse. When I trailed after them, zombie-like, once again I was at their mercy. Thank goodness the One Above was watching over me just as He watches over all His children. I might not have deserved His protection, yet I remained safe and sound six years ago on the seventh day of Passover, very early in the morning. Life is a gift and I am grateful to be alive.
