A free translation of an article appearing in the newspaper BeShevah. The late famous Rabbi Shlomo Carlbach z”l flew many times around the world in order to perform his special music and was well known in the Airline World.

On one of his flights the Rabbi noticed one of the stewardesses mumbling her prayers from a siddur.  He was surprised at this unusual occurrence. He waited until she had finished her “davening” and politely asked her “Are you a Jewess?” She told him that she was a recent convert to Judaism, having been taught by an Orthodox Rabbi and she said “as you can see I am now abiding by the strict rules of the religion.” 

Shortly afterwards she returned to Shlomo Carlbach and said “I see you  are a Rabbi. Perhaps you will be able to help me with a pressing personal  problem.”    Rabbi Shlomo inclined his head and pricked up his ears when he heard her  words. “Recently I have become friendly with a Jewish young man, and we  both love one another very much. We would like to marry, but his  parents are very much opposed to our “Shidduch” on the grounds of my  conversion. Unfortunately he does not want to go against his parents’  wishes, as they have threatened to cut off all connections with him. He is very close to his parents and does not want to cause them grief.  Rabbi, perhaps you can help us.”    ”I will try” said Rabbi Shlomo. He took the parents telephone numbers,  promising that he would try to convince them to be in favor of the  marriage.    On arrival at his destination, he contacted the young man’s parents, but  received a hostile and frosty reception. His attempts to convince the  father to look at the situation from another angle failed utterly. In  fact the father’s anger grew even more until at the end he shouted  ”Don’t you know I am a Sho’ah survivor, and because of what the goyim did  to us Jews, I now hate Goyim, and I will tell you, if my son marries  this Goya (Gentile),I will kill him.”    At the end of this telephone call the Rabbi contacted the air hostess to  tell her of his failure. She did not immediately answer him, but in her  place, her father came to the phone. They conversed a little and Rabbi  Shlomo told the girl’s father of his attempts on behalf of his daughter.  The father then accused the Rav for ‘mixing in’ in the matter. At this  response Rabbi Shlomo tried to justify himself by saying “In the Talmud  it is written that the Almighty is busy for one third of his time in  match making, and I am only trying to help Him step by step. What is  clear to me is that your daughter and her young man are very much in  love and it is a shame that they will not marry.”    The concerned voice of Rabbi Shlomo Carlbach touched the heart of the  girl’s father. He started to cry and said with feeling “I will reveal  to you a secret that I have not told to anyone, something that I was  certain that no-one would ever know. I and my wife are Christians – but  not genuine ones. Both of us are survivors from the Holocaust and  because of what G-d did to the Jews – we hate Judaism. We brought up our  kids as Christians in every way. They don’t know the Truth.”     ”If this is so “said the Rav, excitedly, “your daughter is Jewish from  birth, and there’s no problem. The boy’s father wants his future  daughter-in-law to be a genuine Jewess, and now it is clear that she is  exactly this. Reveal to her the truth, and they will be able to marry.”  The air hostess’s father concurred and the Rabbi then succeeded to  convene a meeting of both sets of parents together in his hotel.    At the first moment of their meeting one of the fathers yelled out  ”Yankele!” and the other responded “Herschele!” – And they fell into one  another’s arms. Afterwards they explained to their respective, shocked  wives that before the outbreak of W.W.2. They both learned at the same  Yeshivah. Each one was sure that the other had perished in the Sho’ah.  Abundant memories came back to them. They remembered their lost  childhood and spoke nostalgically of the pain. One of them said “Do you  remember how we dreamt of the future when we were Yeshivah students?”  The other one responded “Yes, and we said to one another – when we grow  up and marry, our offspring may well marry one another. We forgot  entirely, but Hashem did not forget.”

Wholesome Break
Based on the talks of Harav Yaakov Kamenetsky, zt”l
By Harav Shlomo Aschkenasy

Harav Meir Simchah Hakohen, Rav of Davinsk and author of the Ohr Somei’ach was discussing some subtle halachic questions with a group of talmidei chachamim when all of a sudden a Jew ran in, pushing his way through frantically calling, “Rebbe, Rebbe, I have an urgent she’eilah. It’s very important.”
“Sure, sure,” said the Rav with a calming smile, “What’s the problem?”
“You know, I’m a kohen like you are. Now I have an opportunity to take a gerushah (divorcee). Am I too prohibited to take her?”
“No, no,” said the Rav. “It’s okay for you. Go ahead with hatzlachah.”
Relieved the man left with a radiant face.

Rav Meir Simchah then turned to the bewildered bystanders and explained. “This man is a baal agalah (wagon driver), a simple Jew who heard that a kohen is not allowed ‘to take (marry) a gerushah.’ In his naïve simplicity he didn’t know what it really meant and thought that perhaps he was not allowed to ‘take the gerushah’ in his wagon. Knowing that he is a good Jew who only wants to do what is right, I immediately realized the intent of his question, and answered him accordingly!”

This clear understanding of the nature of Jews, is the hallmark of a true leader of Am Yisrael. It was imbued into the manhigei Yisrael of all generations by the master of all prophets, father of all manhigim, the Rebbe of all Rebbes, the one whose spark ignites all the gedolei hadar and, as the Zohar says, is part of every Jew – Moshe Rabbeinu. My Rosh Yeshivah, Harav Yaakov Kamentsky, zt”l, said that this was the ultimate praise with which Moshe was complemented and was the crown of all his other attributes.

At the end of sefer Devarim, the Torah eulogizes Moshe Rabbeinu enumerating the miracles he wrought and the achievements he accomplished. Mattan Torah, yetzias Mitrayim, kriyas Yam Suf, the manna and all the other momentous events he orchestrated are acclaimed. The glorious finale is the phrase, le’einei kol Yisrael, “before the eyes of all of Israel,” which Chazal tell us hints to “the breaking of the luchos.” Why does it get such an accolade?

When Moshe came down from Har Sinai and saw the egel, he realized that there must have been some mistake. It was only forty days since they had heard Hashem’s voice. Only three months since they had been miraculously taken out of Mitzrayim. The memory of their experiences was still vivid, the echo of the commandments inspiring faith in Hashem and outlawing idolatry must be still reverberating in their ears. How could they flagrantly violate that which was so fresh in their minds?

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