Besides the timing of his phone call, what connects the man who thinks he is dying to the rest of the story the woman is writing?

The man who thinks he is dying tells the writer that he has committed blasphemy; he has engaged in a forbidden act on one of the High Holy Days. He says that he did this because he was angry at God, which ironically proves to him that he does believe in God. This relates to the story the woman is writing because religion is one of the motifs in her story.