You can imagine the frustration when hearing your flight is delayed, especially when you have a connecting flight. When your connecting flight is in Warsaw, Poland, we can tell you: your worries triple.
When the flight finally did leave, we thought we had enough time to make it. But after a long security line in Warsaw, we sped over to our gate, only to be told we were too late to board the plane, even though the plane hadn’t yet left the gate.
It was 9:30 in the morning. The next flight would only be at 5:30 that afternoon. You can understand how frustrated we were. Instead of spending the day at the airport, we made our way to the old Jewish Ghetto.
While we toured the Ghetto, we met a Polish Jewish couple. The husband only spoke Polish, but his wife had a passable understanding of English. After a teeth-breaking conversation, we asked if he would like to put on Tefillin. His wife had never even heard of Tefillin, while he had once seen them, but never put them on.
As we strapped his arm and head, tears fell from eyes. Emotionally, he said the Shema prayer, and with his wife serving as an interpreter, he thanked us profusely.
We told him of our travel annoyances, and said this clearly was Divine providence; G‑d had engineered the days events to ensure we would meet them and give them the opportunity to reignite their souls. Smiling, they agreed and thanked us once again.
Before we returned the airport to catch our connecting flight, we made sure they had Matzah and a place for the seder.
We might have thought that our mission hadn’t begun yet. We hadn’t even arrived at our destination. Clearly, our mission is constant. We are always on call for when a Jewish soul cries out.
Who could have envisioned such an emotional Bar Mitzvah, filled with joy and hope, taking place at a historic land filled with painful, tragic memories? It is a moment we will never forget. A Memory we will always cherish.
With the Bar Mitzvah boy.
In front of the old Jewish ghetto.
