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Short Summary
Main recommendation: Reach out to fellow Jews, even strangers, with care and urgency, because Jewish people take care of one another and such connections can bring a person back to Jewish identity. The story centers on Charles Abilafia, who got a flat tire near a Sao Paulo slum area and was driven by a stranger (also named Charles) to Guaruja before Shabbat; he then visited the stranger's dying mother, whom he learned was Jewish, which led her to recall her Jewish roots before she died.
Key Points
- Charles Abilafia, stranded by a flat tire near Sao Paulo's slum areas, was driven to Guaruja before sunset by a stranger (also named Charles) whose mother turned out to be Jewish.
- The stranger's mother had been sent to a Catholic school as a child after her family fled Holland, and she was raised and married Catholic.
- Charles Abilafia chose to visit the dying woman in hospital on Sunday morning, reasoning that Jews look after each other even without a prior relationship.
- At the hospital she spoke Hebrew prayer and wept, recalling that her grandmother lit Shabbat candles with her, and she asked for the cross on her door to be removed.
- The story is told by Rabbi Paysach Krohn as an example of caring for other Jews and being open about one's own Judaism.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: The transcript gives no step-by-step method. The actionable takeaways are to stop and help a fellow Jew in need, to visit someone who may be Jewish even without knowing them, to speak openly about one's own Jewish identity, and to be sensitive and persistent in reconnecting others with their heritage.
- Safety context: The speaker says Sao Paulo is dangerous, buildings and stores require video-gated entry, and highways are single-lane with carjacking risk.
- Charles Abilafia offered to leave his own car as collateral with the stranger and offered to pay him whatever he wanted for the ride, showing how the arrangement was made.
- Rabbi Krohn quotes David Cohen, who notes the visit may have led the woman to say the Shema before she died; this is the speaker's interpretation of the story.
Bottom Line
Caring for another Jew, even a stranger, can open the door to a person's return to their heritage.
