For a glamorous charity dinner, I was feeling rather shortchanged.
All of the other guests at the table would spectacularly fail a breathalizer. One even tried that old line, "Are you two sisters?" on Ma and me. So smooth, ugh.
I had him pegged as a gay Irishman. But then he turns to Ta and launches into the halachos of a non-Jew serving non-mevushal wine.
"Rabbi Joseph Cairo: What a showman!" he says.
He is a child of survivors, and a father of four.
Ta has a client who tended to have romantic relationships with Jewish women; he even had a child with one of them. He is very proud of his Jewish son, who has now become more religious, donning tefillin every day.
Born in the Middle East, he was raised quasi-Muslim. Then one day he tells Ta that he was circumcised at eight days. Ta, stunned, tells him, "You must be Jewish as well! Only Jews do that!" It turns out, he is. His parents, fearful of reprisals, suppressed their Jewish identities.
"So many Jews, lost!" Ta says.
"Not lost, Ta. He 'accidentally' had a son with a Jewish woman, who is now frum. Nothing was lost!"
Where there's life, there's hope.
Ta has a client who tended to have romantic relationships with Jewish women; he even had a child with one of them. He is very proud of his Jewish son, who has now become more religious, donning tefillin every day.
Born in the Middle East, he was raised quasi-Muslim. Then one day he tells Ta that he was circumcised at eight days. Ta, stunned, tells him, "You must be Jewish as well! Only Jews do that!" It turns out, he is. His parents, fearful of reprisals, suppressed their Jewish identities.
"So many Jews, lost!" Ta says.
"Not lost, Ta. He 'accidentally' had a son with a Jewish woman, who is now frum. Nothing was lost!"
Where there's life, there's hope.
What a bittersweet story :-( :-)
ReplyDeleteI love that story. About 11 years ago, I decided that I absolutely MUST convert and be an Orthodox Jew. Being raised Xian never sat right with me, my whole life.
ReplyDeleteLong story short, I did a little research, and found out that my mother's mother was a Holocaust survivor, and that she hid her identity when she escaped to America.
One gerus l'chumra later, here I am, home at last! :-D
Becks: I know, right? I still get chills.
ReplyDeleteYocheved: WOW. That is AMAZING. I've got goosebumps!