yeshiva — יום כיפור #

a number of years ago a man by the name of mosa eranger an Israeli Jew went to Germany for business before yum Kipper because of weather problems in Germany his flight from Frankfurt to Tel Aviv got delayed and delayed and at some point they notified him that Boran airport is closed for yum Kipper and they cannot make it home for yum Kipper disappointed he called home shared with his wife and family that he won't be home for y Kipper the first time since his wedding that he would not preum Kipper in the shul where he moved he booked a hotel near the great shul of Frankfurt he walks to the great SCH moments before yipper he had his talit his prayer Shaw but he didn't have the prayer book for yipper he didn't have the white coat which we call the K he's sitting there in yish the word would be fak despondent dejected frustrated annoyed you know that feeling you're out of your comfort zone he really felt you know just like completely out of place and then the caner went up and [Music] started the whose name was saduk Greenwalt also a Jew from Israel who would fly in every year for the high holy days to Frankfurt to serve as the Kazan as the caner in the great synagogue of Frankfurt and he led the congregation few thousand Jews with passion and enthusiasm to the point in the middle of kidra the caner broke down sobbing and M Israel never heard such a kidre he never heard such emotion he never heard such passion he never saw such concentration he himself was moved to tears and after the davening after the services he went to thank the caner and they got into a little schmoo what are you doing here I got stuck and the caner says I come from Israel too every year my parents were Holocaust Survivors so it's very meaning for me to be able to lead the services yipper in the reestablished Jewish community in Germany after the second world war in this great synagogue which was remained from pre Holocaust Germany and repic says maybe God wanted you here so that you should appreciate yum Kipper he said I'm asking myself the same question but I'm also asking what made you so emotional I call nidre what was it what's the story and he says to him a few years ago I prayed and those of you who are caners know yum Kipper is not an easy day called and morning and the afternoon and was doing everything and at the end of that day he was knocked out a parged voice after seeing singing a whole day and the voice resonating in the great synagogue of Frankfurt he was really ready for a cold drink of water a nice Jewish bite and a good night's sleep in the Frankfurt Hotel getting ready to go back home for the holiday of sukot in the holy land where sadak lived he walks out of sh he puts away his cantorial garments and attire janitor shuts the lights and as he walks out the front Gates and he closes the gates which lock he sees a Jew bewildered standing in front of the gate he looked like in his 60s and with a mixed accent of German Russian and yish he [Music] says why are the gates to the synagogue locked iser he says I came here forid I came here for Yer it's usually packed there's usually 2,000 people why are the gates locked s greenal says I didn't have a heart to tell him I was quiet he says answer me answer me why are the gates locked at this point the Jew is very agitated he's nervous he's somewhat frantic I have no choice sik says to tell him theth truth and I say my dear yala I'm so sorry yum Kipper was last night the Drew breaks down sobbing oi oi oi says why you sobbing he says you don't understand my parents barely survived the Holocaust and then they assimilated they did not want to have to do anything with Judas and Judaism they suffered too much but one thing my father would do he would go to C OG on the night of yipper and before he died he said we are an assimilated Jewish [Music] Family Z but we're Jewish and he says how do you know that you're Jewish when you go to synagogue on yipper that's how you know you're Jewish and you're connected to 4,000 years of Jewish history and he looks at the caner and he says in my life I never missed y Kipper called nidre when my father was alive and after he died this year is the first time at last I'm not Jewish anymore that's why I'm crying sadic Greenwald knew exactly what he has to do he put his hand on the Jews shoulders and he said come with me he opens the gate takes him into Shore puts on his Talis his K his kin hat puts this Russian German Jew right near him and he says we're going to do kidre you and me God and he starts singing [Music] comid and saduk says I'll tell you the truth I'm a professional caner usually when I get up there's 2,000 people you know what I'm thinking about I'm thinking a little bit about God but what am I mostly thinking about I got to impress the people I want to impress the board of directors I need a contract for next year I want to get some compliments I need some validation I want to do a good job I want to be liked I want them to have a meaningful experience but here I was was alone there was not one person in the sh there was an old Jew an assimilated Jew who knew nothing who was I singing for but I felt God's presence with this TR and I broke down crying and I sang K nidre and I felt all of Jewish history coming to life at that moment I finished the kidre we say Thea together I give him a big hug and a big kiss and I say my Jew we just celebrated Yer and the Jew looks at me and he says in yish you will never know what you did for me and he went home and I went home the next year I come to synagogue he's there onum Kipper sitting in the front comes over to me he says you remember me I said of course I remember you he says what you did for me nobody but me and God will understand says every year since when I say kidre I go back to that moment and it's so moving for me it's so emotional for me I cry I heard this shared this he heard it from s the greenal and I thought to myself you know this story is so applicable not only in Frankfurt a m at the Ry River how applicable this story is in the United States of America at the 21st century even for all of us good Jews who come to the synagogue Kipper but we find the gates closed no I don't mean the physical Gates I mean our emotional Gates our spiritual Gates we often feel unmoved uninspired alienated sometimes angry dejected apathetic indifferent we often feel that the gates to our own heart to our own soul are locked yeah we go through the ritual we have our seats we have our tickets we go through the roads we have the prayer books but my inner soul is often locked I'm in different there's a certain lifelessness a numbness just doesn't speak to me I may be there in the right time in the right place but emotionally I don't feel present because very often we look at this month and there's an element of dread an element of fear we call it yum no an element of a and it's true there's an element of a but underlying the story of a is a story of profound and infinite love it's a story about the ultimate belief of Judaism that all of my trauma all of my insecurities all of my pain all of my jealousy all of my depression all of my Agony anger they may be true and real and authentic and cause me pain but they could not constitute your core self which remains wholesome holy and no experience in life and not even mistakes that you have made or that I have made and not even abuse that has been done to me by others willingly maliciously or even unwillingly can snuff out can obliterate can compromise can even dilute the truth of your internal wholesomeness and Holiness and thus the main process is to really work through through the debris not to allow myself to be defined by external layers but to excavate and to find that core powerful Divine self who am I I am an ambassador of God in this world are there other voices in me that give me other messages of course there are must always remember that there's a relationship that could never be locked there is a relationship that could never be compromised there is an authentic spiritual connection that every single person has which nothing and nobody can ever compromise because it's within each and every person to be able to open those Gates physically and mentally you were always connected you are forever connected you will forever be connected because who are you you are essentially an ambassador of love in this [Music] world watch the full class at the usa.net [Music]