A resident of Jerusalem was traveling from the United States to Israel. Seated next to him on the plane was an older Jewish man, a holocaust survivor. The Jerusalemite engaged him in friendly conversation and invited him to join him in his synagogue for the upcoming High Holidays. The man rebuffed, “I can not go to synagogue after what G-d did to me. He took my only son away from me. We were captured by the Nazis and split up to different camps. My beloved son was sent to one of the worst death camps. No one survived. My beloved son, so young, so full of promise… …I stopped speaking to G-d, I can never go to synagogue.”
In a very loving manner he said to the man, “You could just come for Yom Kippur so that you can say Yizkor for your son, to honor his memory.” The man sort of grumbled and the fellow figured he would never see him again.
Yom Kippur came and the hopeful host was pleasantly surprised to see that the man did indeed show up for Yizkor. The practice in that small synagogue as for the Cantor to go around to each person asking them for the Hebrew name and the relationship of each person whom they wanted to say Yizkor for. The Cantor reached this man, who sat himself sheepishly in the back, last. He asked him for the requisite information. The man was very emotional as this was the first time in all the years that he could bring himself to come to synagogue and say Yizkor. The man said with mist in his eyes and a lump in his throat, “I am saying Yizkor for my son Jacob Goldberg, his Hebrew name is Yaakov Yosef ben Moshe Aharon HaLevi.”
For no apparent reason, the Cantor swallowed hard and froze in his tracks, turning white as if he just saw a ghost. The Cantor stared intently at the man and finally managed to squeal in a shocked cracked voice, “Father?”….
In a very loving manner he said to the man, “You could just come for Yom Kippur so that you can say Yizkor for your son, to honor his memory.” The man sort of grumbled and the fellow figured he would never see him again.
Yom Kippur came and the hopeful host was pleasantly surprised to see that the man did indeed show up for Yizkor. The practice in that small synagogue as for the Cantor to go around to each person asking them for the Hebrew name and the relationship of each person whom they wanted to say Yizkor for. The Cantor reached this man, who sat himself sheepishly in the back, last. He asked him for the requisite information. The man was very emotional as this was the first time in all the years that he could bring himself to come to synagogue and say Yizkor. The man said with mist in his eyes and a lump in his throat, “I am saying Yizkor for my son Jacob Goldberg, his Hebrew name is Yaakov Yosef ben Moshe Aharon HaLevi.”
For no apparent reason, the Cantor swallowed hard and froze in his tracks, turning white as if he just saw a ghost. The Cantor stared intently at the man and finally managed to squeal in a shocked cracked voice, “Father?”….