Yesterday I read a news story about S., a ninety-three year old man who had found his faith anew after cutting himself off from religious practices upon losing his family and friends during the Holocaust.
Growing up in Hungary, he was considered to be a child prodigy and people expected him to become a great Torah scholar. For a number of years, his Torah learning partner was a young man named E., who had arrived in Europe from Israel.
After the war, S. migrated to Russia where he worked as an interpreter, cutting himself off from Judaism.
Later on he moved to Israel. His friend, E., visited him and begged him to return to his faith, to no avail. But that did not stop E. from praying for his friend day after day. For years, E. begged his Rebbe to pray for S. At one point, his Rebbe assured him that S. would not leave this world without repenting.
A few years ago, a Rabbi Weiss got in contact with S., due to research he was conducting about the city of Belz before the war. S. shared his memories and stories with the rabbi. One day, S. telephoned Rabbi Weiss, requesting Talit and Tefilin. He said he had not worn tefilin since the bombing of the concentration camp and would like to start wearing them again before he died. He also requested a Talmud which he learns from assiduously, trying to make up for lost time.
Yesterday he participated in a Shacharit minyan and drank "lechayim" with the Chasidim after prayers.
E. never witnessed his friend's return to Jewish practice. But he never gave up, praying for him every day. From this incident I learned the value of prayer and not to give up, even if we don't see our prayers being answered. Sometimes it takes a bit more time.
Pictures and article in Hebrew can be accessed here.
http://www.bhol.co.il/news_read.asp?id=19185&cat_id=2
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