As Yom Kippur is approaching I would like to share with you a beautiful and powerful story for this special day. On Yom Kippur, over 60 years ago, in Eretz Yisroel, a man was walking to shul when he saw something that perturbed him. He saw something that really bothered him. Not far away, a block away from the shul, he saw an old Jewish man who was sitting blatantly in full public view, smoking a cigarette. He went over to the man. He took his hand and he said, “Today is the holy day of Yom Kippur! My beloved brother, do you know that you’re smoking on Yom Kippur?” The man who was smoking turned to this man and he said, “I was in the concentration camps in World War II. I had an only son – the most beautiful boy. He had a beautiful voice. I never saw him again. You expect me – after all I went through to observe Yom Kippur?”
The man turned to the survivor, and said, “Yom Kippur is a day of forgiveness. Perhaps you could forgive Hashem a little and come with me to the shul. They are about to say Yizkor – the memorial prayer for those we lost. Come say a prayer for your son.” The old man agreed. He walked with the man to the shul. They enter and the chazan (cantor) was singing beautifully. The Holocaust survivor who was smoking, walks up to give his son’s name for Yizkor. He approached the chazan, and with tears in his eyes gave his son’s name – Nosson ben Tzvi. The chazan looks a little surprised and says, “Nosson ben Tzvi? He repeats it again – Nosson ben Zvi?? That’s my name!” The chazan and survivor both looked puzzled. They looked at each other closely. The chazzan looks at the survivor – the old man who was smoking and he says, Papa?! The old man in reply says, Nosson?! You won’t believe it. Father and son were reunited!
They each thought they were the sole survivor of their family. They were reunited because someone saw the man with the cigarette and cared. He could have said to himself, today is Yom Kippur, why should I bother myself talking to this rebel? No. That’s not what we’re here for. We’re here to make the impure pure. We all can do Teshuvah and return. It’s never too late and it’s never too early – Now is the time! The time is ripe now! Let’s return!