Zalman Velvel

"I could not feel worse than I already feel, Rebbetzin," Or explained. "When I spoke to her last, she was in the hospital..."

He pounded until his hands hurt, but still, no answer. He rammed his body into the door until his shoulder ached. Finally, he managed to break the door open. "Yussie?" the rabbi called out. "Yussie, are you here?!"

Rabbi Levi looked down at the old man and sighed. It was sad to come to this, he thought, dying all alone in a hospital room, with no family or friends to give testimony to the life he led.

Gabriel stared back at the rabbi, not liking to be ordered around. But when he once again saw the tears streaming down the rabbi's face, tears he felt responsible for, his anger dissipated...

"G‑d, I am sorry," Yussie began. "I want to go inside to pray, but I haven't eaten anything for a day and a half, and I am afraid I will pass out and embarrass myself. So, please, G‑d, would you mind hearing Yussie's forgiveness prayer out here?"