[thereisone] Anyone in Your Family Jewish?

From: Gutman Locks <locks.gutman@xxxxxxxxx>
To: thereisone@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Thu, 5 May 2016 08:47:46 +0300

Anyone in Your Family Jewish?

     Three European looking young men walked into the Kotel area. They did
not look Jewish.

    “Where are you from?”

     “Austria.”

     “Anyone in your family Jewish?”

     Two of them shook their heads “No,” but one of them said, “Yeah. My
great, great, great, grandmother was Jewish.”

     “On your father’s side, right?” Sometimes tourists want to feel
welcome and make up stories they think we will like.

     “No, on my mother’s side.”

     “Wait a minute. Your mother’s, mother’s, mother was Jewish?”

     “No. My mother’s, mother’s, mother’s, mother was Jewish.”

     “Are you sure of that?”

     “Yes.”

     “Are you really sure of that?”

     “Yes.”

     “If your mother’s, mother’s, mother’s, mother was Jewish, then your
mother’s, mother’s, mother was Jewish. And if your mother’s, mother’s,
mother was Jewish then your mother’s, mother was Jewish, and if your
mother’s, mother was Jewish then your mother is Jewish, and if your mother
is Jewish…guess what? Then, you are Jewish.”

     I grabbed his arm and pulled him over to put on tefillin. When I put
the strap on his arm he looked almost frightened, and asked, “What are
these? What are you doing?”

     “This is a Biblical command to the Jewish men and since your mother is
Jewish you can do it, too.

     “We are told to take G-d’s words that are written in these boxes and
bind them as a sign on our arm and as a reminder on our head. It means that
we will do what G-d told us to do and we will think about what G-d told us
to think about.

    “Since you are Jewish you can do this too”

      I put tefillin on him and he read the *Shema* in English. Then I
explained what a big day in his life it was, that he just found out that he
is a Jew and it was the first time he had ever put on tefillin. And
certainly G-d was going to listen to his prayers. I told him to pray for
all the important things he could think of.

     When I took off the tefillin I explained if he wanted his children to
be Jewish he had to marry only a Jewish girl.

     His friends had left without him and he ran to catch up with them.

     Will the experience change his life? I do not know, but I do know that
this is what he came all the way from Austria to do at the Kotel.

     ----

To reply; email me directly at:  locks.gutman@xxxxxxxxx

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[thereisone] Anyone in Your Family Jewish?

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