Reply To: davening in public

There was a story with a certain big rabbi (Rabbi Zilber) who was approached by an anti-Semitic lady while he was in the middle of SE. The rav grabbed his chest and pointed at his mouth like he was having a heart attack and couldn’t breathe. By the time that medical assistance was summoned, he had finished davening and indicated that he now felt better.

In a case that a lady extended her hand to him, the rav purposely made himself trip and fall, and the lady ended up grabbing him by the elbow instead of by the hand. (Keep in mind that this was in Communist Russia.)