I was COMPLETELY VERKLEMPT after reading this story. It is one of the jewels I often read about on Shabbat from the Chabad newsletter.
In the newsletter, there is always a little bit of Torah wisdom from The Rebbe, some thoughts about various mitzvot, etc...but my favourite part is actually the personal essay on the inside flap. You can get the whole newsletter on line here-but I'm republishing this essay here with credit to Chabad of Vancouver Island because it really blew me away.
Please read the whole thing.
Seriously. You will not regret it!!!
"Menora, Mezuza and Shofar"
by Rabbi Meir Kaplan
"One Monday, I got a phone call from Dave from Barriere, British
Columbia.
"Hi Rabbi, would you be able to tell me how to turn buffalo
horns into shofars?"
"To understand why Dave would like to make shofars out of buffalo horns
around Purim, I must first let you know how I got to know Dave, which is
one of the most inspiring tales I have been a part of since we made
Victoria our home."
"Weeks after we arrived in Victoria, I was contacted by Rabbi Lipa
Dubrawsky from Vancouver who told me that a visitor from Baltimore had
met a Jew on the ferry to Victoria. This person inquired about a mezuza,
and he had his phone numbers in case I would like to be of help."
"None of the numbers he gave me seemed to work. A few days later, I
learned that the 250 area code could be long distance, requiring a 1
before the number. I called Dave and found out that he lives in the
interior of BC in a town called Barriere, and he had been in Victoria
for a visit."
"Let me then mail you the mezuza," I said, to which he
replied,
"Please don't. I would like to meet you in person to get the
mezuza."
"When will you be coming?" I asked.
"I don't go very often, it may be
next summer, but you'll hear from me as soon as I'm there."
A few days later Dave was on the phone:
"My wife's uncle died suddenly in Victoria. See you tomorrow."
"When Dave came to my house it was clear that he had something to say. He
asked me and my wife Chani to sit down to hear his story."
"I was born in Austria to a Jewish family. At the age of three, I was
adopted by a Christian family from BC. They told me that my ancestors
were Jewish, but I didn't pay too much attention to it and I went on
with my life. When I decided to research my family to find relatives, I
was told that the Jewish people in my town had most probably all
perished in the Holocaust. When I heard that, I made up my mind to leave
the history behind and go forward with my life."
"I began a career in real estate and became the realtor of Barriere. I
established a family and had a peaceful life, until that one spring day."
"It was right after I sold a house, and went to see my clients and to my
surprise, I saw a menorah on their shelf. I had no idea what it was,
but I was confident that it was a Jewish item. When I inquired about it,
they said they weren't Jewish and the conversation ended."
"After leaving the house, I felt I had to go back and find out how this
family got to own this beautiful menorah. After some convincing, they
were ready to share their story."
"'My grandmother,' the lady said, 'hid a
Jewish family in her home during World War II. When the Nazis took the
family away, they left their belongings with her. She told us to carry
this menora with us and maybe one day we would find someone to give it
to.'"
Tears were falling down Dave's face as he continued the story.
"I said,
'I may be the one. I lost my entire family in the Holocaust. Would you
give me the menora?' When they heard my story, they immediately agreed.
They felt that the menora had finally reached its destination."
"Since I got this menora, I've become a different person; my Jewishness
has been awakened and I've been looking to learn more about who I am."
"A month later I found a silver item in an antique shop that seemed to
be Jewish. I purchased it and later heard from my learned friend that
this item is called a 'mezuza cover' and it's missing the parchment.
When I was on the ferry to Victoria in the summer, I saw a man who
appeared to be an observant Jew, so I asked him if he knew where I can
obtain that parchment."
"Chani and I were in awe from the story. It was a very emotional moment when I handed Dave his mezuza."
"Days before Chanuka of that year, I received a letter from Dave asking
if I can send him the blessing for the lighting of the menora along with
a kippa, so he can light the menora, which lit his soul, and celebrate
the Festival of Lights in his home..."
"Today, Dave is the treasurer of the Thompson Valley Jewish organization
and is looking to do programs for the community."
"You know," Dave tells
me, "we have Jews of all kinds. I thought a hands-on program is
something that everyone would be willing to participate in. I got horns
of a buffalo and was hoping we could convert them into shofars. I know
it's not the perfect timing, but I still think it will be wonderful to
get the Jews here to do something together."
"We are all one big family,
aren't we...?!"
