One Minute Late

I'll never forget my first day on the job as a rabbi Shockers was called for 6:15 in the morning and I walked in one minute late the digital atomic clock in the wall read 616 when I walked in the show I was in for the shock of my life I noticed that most of the elderly members of the congregation were already sitting wrapped up in their talent filling waiting to start Dominic and I remember thinking to myself what's going on my name is joy Lee I grew up casting session where I come from one minute late is still a half hour early I quickly put on my thousandth fill in and daven after Dominic I remember a maybe year-old man walked over from the back of the show came over to me and introduced himself as Alma dumb dice he welcome you to the show congratulated me on my new position and then he said to me rabbi I noticed that you were late this morning rabbi it really hurts me to watch people come late to Dominic please try to be on time tomorrow I was so ashamed and so embarrassed I resolved right then and there to come a half hour early the next day I was determined not to be outdone by a ninety-year-old congregant little did I know that him Amram was going to open the show every morning at 5 o'clock so by the time I walked in at 5:45 he was already sitting in learning machine ayahs saying the hell I'm sipping on ass cup of coffee I had no chance it wasn't until a year later that I finally understood what Dominic meant Terrebonne room it was one Shabbos afternoon and I remember we were discussing his experiences during the Holocaust I was lucky enough to leave Ausmus winding up in a waking camp called wanna be when a I don't ever forget the leathers Arbeit macht frei he was forced to share a wooden plank at night with three other inmates to survive the freezing and frigid cold winter nights they took turns sleeping in the middle so they can warm each other with whatever body heat they had left in the right hand side as a friend of mine he says Amram I'm gonna share a secret with you but not the other two nobody else will know it I am going to go on to the barrack there's a pair of thrill waiting for me I will go for two minutes make believe I'm going to the bathroom and you go next to my little smiles roll and up you go about him turned to me and he said rabbi for six months until we were transferred to Bergen Belsen and we couldn't take the filling along my friend and I woke up every morning 15 minutes before roll call and sneaked out of the barrack crawled underneath we took turns to put the tefillin on we each said the Shema and then we finished Dominick on the march on our way to work we list our life everybody trying to at least that much we can do to say thank to the punishment Shema Israel there was a greatest gift that I had for the first six months today the Obama room is 94 years old and he's still opening the show it's 5 o'clock every morning and yes he still reprimands me from time to time for coming him in there too late but as I watch him rapid filling around the numbers on his arm I can't help but wonder and even worried who will teach our children about what sacrifice means who will teach them how to stay proud of who they are where they come from and stand for can any child of today understand what it meant to be a Jew in all times but if you really were brought up that you believe there's a boy - roiland even though you saw the tragic that you lost everybody but at least you're alive you have to continue once a year Hashem tells us get together as a family parents grandparents or whoever might be connected to the past become curious ask them questions because before we pull into the busy road of life we have to look back check our rearview mirror and make sure that we get into the right lane [Music]