Reunion

Over 60 years ago a man, Reuven, was deeply perturbed while walking in Eretz Yisrael to shul on Yom Kippur. Roughly a short block from the holy sanctuary, Reuven was bothered by the sight of an old Jewish man sitting blatantly in full public view, smoking a cigarette on the sacred Day of Atonement. Approaching the frail man, Reuven grabbed his hand and blasted, “Today is the holy day of Yom Kippur! My beloved brother, do you know that you are smoking on this consecrated day?” The elderly man turned to Reuven, “I was in the concentration camps in World War Two. Before the war, I was blessed with an only son – the most beautiful boy with a lovely voice; I never saw him again. You cannot expect me – after all I went through to observe Yom Kippur?”

Turning to the survivor, Reuven exclaimed as he opened his hand in an embrace, “Yom Kippur is a day of forgiveness. Perhaps you could forgive Hashem a tad and join me at shul. They are about to say Yizkor – the memorial prayer for those we lost. Come say a prayer for your son.” The timeworn man consented. As the duo entered, the powerful voice of the chazan, cantor, reverberated throughout and the Holocaust survivor quickly walked up to relate his son’s name for Yizkor. As the weak man approached the chazan, and with tears in his eyes, he gave his son’s name – Natan ben Tzvi. Surprised, the cantor questioned, “Natan ben Tzvi?” and again repeated, “Natan ben Tzvi? That is my name!” Puzzled, the chazan and survivor looked at each other closely, and the younger uttered, “Papa?!” The fragile man replied, “Natan?!” As astounding as it were, father and son were reunited!

Each man had presumed that they were their family’s sole survivor. However, they were reunited because someone saw the man with the cigarette and cared. Reuven could have said to himself, today is Yom Kippur, why should I bother myself talking to this rebel? But no, that is not what we are here for, rather it is our purpose to make the impure pure.

We all can do teshuvah and return; it is never too late, nor too early. Now the time is ripe; let’s return to Hashem Yisbarach!

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By Aryeh Fingerer