Aug 16, 2026 · 5 min · 3 segments
What if the secret to starting your day well has nothing todo with religion at all? Rabbi Shlomo Levin shares a story about a crowdedIndian railway station at dawn — and what it revealed about a habit…
Shlomo LevinHost
In the broadest sense, this means connecting to something beyond the material, wanting to be in touch with something that is higher than oneself, seeking a meaning to, to human existence and, and one's place in the universe.
A friend described to me once how on a trip to India, he found himself one early morning in a crowded railway station waiting room.
And as he is a, a devout Jew, he wanted to recite his morning prayers with his prayer shawl and phylacteries.
But being in such a crowded space and among strangers, he felt somewhat inhibited.
Across the room, a Sikh was unwinding and rewinding his turban with his wife's help.
And later, he was to discover that in the East, engaging in morning prayer is the norm.
Surely the first thing one does in the morning at the start of a new day is to spend a few moments to locate one's place in the universe and to focus one's thoughts on that vast space that lies outside of ourselves.
How, he wondered, had we in the West lost this? Because for many, the day starts with a rushed cup of coffee or a gulped-down breakfast, followed by a stressful commute by car negotiating roadworks, diversions, traffic jams, or by public transport on overcrowded trains that don't always run.
A few moments at the beginning of each day to step back, to take stock, to gain perspective, and to connect in some meaningful way with the universe around and beyond us can make a huge difference to all that follows in the rest of the day.
In one of King David's psalms in the Book of Psalms, he describes how he would rise early each day to give time to reflection.
"Awake the dawn," he declares, "and take control of your life, rather than waiting for the dawn to arrive and the rest of the day to impose itself on us." See you next time.
In the broadest sense, this means connecting to something beyond the material, wanting to be in touch with something that is higher than oneself, seeking a meaning to, to human existence and, and one's place in the universe.
A friend described to me once how on a trip to India, he found himself one early morning in a crowded railway station waiting room.
And as he is a, a devout Jew, he wanted to recite his morning prayers with his prayer shawl and phylacteries.
But being in such a crowded space and among strangers, he felt somewhat inhibited.
Across the room, a Sikh was unwinding and rewinding his turban with his wife's help.
And later, he was to discover that in the East, engaging in morning prayer is the norm.
Surely the first thing one does in the morning at the start of a new day is to spend a few moments to locate one's place in the universe and to focus one's thoughts on that vast space that lies outside of ourselves.
How, he wondered, had we in the West lost this? Because for many, the day starts with a rushed cup of coffee or a gulped-down breakfast, followed by a stressful commute by car negotiating roadworks, diversions, traffic jams, or by public transport on overcrowded trains that don't always run.
A few moments at the beginning of each day to step back, to take stock, to gain perspective, and to connect in some meaningful way with the universe around and beyond us can make a huge difference to all that follows in the rest of the day.
In one of King David's psalms in the Book of Psalms, he describes how he would rise early each day to give time to reflection.
"Awake the dawn," he declares, "and take control of your life, rather than waiting for the dawn to arrive and the rest of the day to impose itself on us." See you next time.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
