When we book our trip to Cairns every year, we always schedule our return flight for a couple of days after the Seders. This gives us time to pack up our Pesach paraphernalia and put it away in storage for the next Pesach, as well as to catch up on any house visits that we weren’t able to do in the days preceding the holiday.
Early Monday morning, after pulling somewhat of an all-nighter, our stuff was all stowed away. We had two more house visits planned for the evening, which meant that we had several free hours, so we decided to do something unusual for roving rabbis—hit up the local tourist attractions. We settled on Crystal Cascades, which features waterfalls, rain forests, and other natural wonders.
After two enjoyable hours, we headed back to our car, when we heard a voice saying “Shalom.” In our experience, most times this does not mean that the person is Jewish. We smiled up at the two men ahead of us and nodded our heads in recognition of their greeting, thinking that they were probably non-Jews being friendly and respectful. But they came over and inquired if we were from Israel. When we explained that we were from Melbourne and had come here to celebrate Passover, they proclaimed, “We are Jewish!” They even introduced us to their mother—an elderly woman standing a short way back.
Now, we had chills running down our spines. We thought we had come to this scenic location to relax for a while, but it was obvious that our steps were of a much higher purpose, directed by the One Above.
We were extremely curious as to how this Jewish family came to settle in remote Cairns, but before we could even ask, the mother told us that she was born in Holland to Holocaust survivors whose families had been entirely wiped out in the concentration camps. As a child, her parents never let her talk about their Jewish identity. They cut themselves off completely from Judaism, and from any Jewish people as well. Eventually, she moved far across the world to Cairns, where she raised her family. She too, was terrified to have her children associated with anything Jewish. Sadly, this is another legacy of Hitler’s that is not at all uncommon.
After hearing all this, we felt that we had clearly be sent to Cairns to share the beauty and light of Judaism with this family. We spoke for a while, explaining how special it is to be born a Jew, a sacred part of the Jewish nation. We told them that a Jew always remains a Jew, regardless of their actions, since they possess a soul with is eternally bound to G‑d, who loves and cares for us.
They seemed to be drinking this all in, so we offered to come and properly converse later that evening in their home. They jumped at the opportunity. We exchanged numbers and continued on our way to the car, completely overwhelmed by what had just transpired.
About an hour later, we called them. The older son answered and sadly informed us that his mother was too anxious to have us come over. We suggested that he visit us at our apartment instead, and he happily agreed.
The two brothers came over, and we had a long conversation. We left them with some books about Judaism to study, exchanged contact information, and they promised to stay in touch.
As we concluded our Pesach activities in Cairns, we felt that we had been granted a beautiful gift—a sense of purpose and direction, and a security in the knowledge that G‑d was guiding our steps. We hope that our actions paid a small tribute to the vision of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of righteous memory, who saw the value of every Jew, and established an army to bring them back home.
