Coincidence? Kismet? Fate? Accidental? -

Let me delineate the events and you, my reader, can place the event into the proper classification.

My son, Gregg, and I were proceeding to Temple Beth Torah on the morning of Sept. 16. It had rained the previous night. We were hurrying so that we would not miss the Rabbi's annual Rosh Hashonah sermon. Rabbi Katz usually delivers a powerful and meaningful speech on the High Holidays.

As we approached the Temple, Gregg bent over and picked up a piece of blue wet paper. It was a ticket for the holidays for Temple Beth Torah.

I folded it into thirds and placed it in the envelope with my family's tickets and kept walking at a brisk pace. We passed the crew of ushers at the door and shook hands and hugged a series of them and other congregants.

We sat in our seats and turned our attention to the services that were unfolding. There must have been a thousand people in the congregation. We were sitting pretty far back from the raised platform (bimah) from where the services emanated.

At that moment I remembered the wet, squishy ticket in my vest pocket. Many ushers had passed me by but for no apparent reason I stopped one of them.

I took the damp, blue ticket out of my pocket and said to the usher I had never met before, "We found this ticket outside the Temple. Please see that it is returned to its rightful owner." We had done our good deed for the day.

The usher smiled. He then said, "This is my ticket." "Please don't make a joke and give it to the proper person," I said, slightly annoyed.

The usher reached into his pocket and took out his driver's license. The names matched perfectly.

What are the odds?

Of the over 1,000 people praying and the 15 ushers patrolling the aisles, what was the probability I would unknowingly hand it to the very person who had dropped it.

I am still shaken by this incident.

I do not know what to make of it.

Coincidence? Kismet? Fate? Accidental? -

Or, "Act of God?"