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Short Summary
Main recommendation: Show care for fellow Jews, even strangers, because that kindness can lead other Jews back to their heritage. Rabbi Paysach Krohn retells a story told to him by Charles Abelafia, who, while traveling to Guarujá for Shabbat, was helped by a stranger and then visited that stranger's dying mother, who turned out to be Jewish and reconnected with Judaism before she died.
Key Points
- Charles Abelafia, who had become more observant through the Shalom organization, got a flat tire on a highway to Guarujá with sunset approaching, and was stranded near dangerous slum areas (favelas).
- A stranger without a shirt, also named Charles, drove him to Guarujá in an old car so he could reach his destination before Shabbat began.
- During the drive, the driver revealed that his mother was Jewish, born in Holland in the late 1930s, whose family fled to Brazil and landed in Santos, where she was raised Catholic.
- Charles asked to visit the dying mother, Maria, out of Jewish solidarity, and on Sunday she spoke Shema Yisrael and cried, recalling her grandmother lighting Shabbat candles with her.
- Maria later asked Charles to remove the cross from her door when he visited her at home after she was released from the hospital, and she died a few days afterward.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: The story itself gives no step-by-step method. The actionable takeaway is to go out of your way for another Jew in need, even someone you don't know, and to visit those who are sick, which Charles did by asking to see Maria.
- Charles had to overcome a practical problem: he checked his gas but not his tires, which left him stranded. The lesson for travelers is to check tires as well as fuel before a trip.
- In São Paulo, buildings and synagogues have controlled entry, and the highway to Guarujá has one lane each way, where stopping can be dangerous.
- Rabbi David Cohen, quoted by Rabbi Krohn, said that it was because Charles cared (was makpid) that Maria was brought back to proclaiming her belief in Hashem, and suggested she may have said Shema Yisrael before she died.
Bottom Line
Reaching out to another Jew, even at personal inconvenience and risk, can restore a connection to Judaism that seemed lost.
