Now may be a good time for a gem of Torah study.
www.GemsofTorah.com
Within a few hours, two people came up to me with the same story. Actually, they were entirely different cases, totally different details, but the story is the same.
I put tefillin on a man from England. I did not think that he was Jewish. I had to ask him twice. After finishing with the tefillin, he said that he had an urgent mission. He reached into his wallet and pulled out a small note.
“This is from my father,” he said. “My father is very religious. He goes to synagogue every day. He wants very badly to put this note in the Kotel. He wants G-d to help him with this. This is very important to him.”
“So, go put it between the stones.” I told him.
He wanted me to understand how important the note was. “My father has a great problem. It’s his daughter…He hasn’t spoken to her in over a year….”
“What’s the problem?” I asked. “Is she with a non-Jewish guy?”
“A Muslim,” he answered, meaning that it was even worse. “This is so important to my father.” He insisted again. “My father is so upset. Please put the note in the Wall.”
I asked if his father raised his daughter with her knowing that she had to marry only a Jew.”
“He ignored her, mostly,” he answered. Then he quickly added, “But this is so important to him.”
I told him to go put the note between the stones, tell G-d the problem, and pray that He will help. But I added, “The time to take care of these problems is before they happen, not after they are living together.”
The second case was that of a friend of mine who lives here in the Old City. His brother just passed away, and his wife and children are about to bury him in a non-Jewish cemetery! His mother is fighting this with all her might, and my friend and his wife just flew back to the States to try to make sure that he receives a Jewish burial. There is going to be a Judge’s decision on the matter.
What’s the story? The man was married to a non-Jewish woman, and had non-Jewish children with her. Well, unless there is a huge miracle, and please G-d there will be, surely, the judge is going to side with his non-Jewish family.
The question we have to ask is, why does the family wait until it is too late before they get excited enough to try to heal these situations?
I am sharing these stories with you so that you will take the proper steps before it is too late. First off, for yourself, decide that you want to have a Jewish family. Surely, you also want your children to have Jewish families, after all, their children are your family, too. Do you love your brothers, sisters, and other close relatives? Then you have to help them, too. And, even beyond your family, you should also try to influence your friends and acquaintances. Remember, the time to try to help is not after it happens.
Teach your children that it is important to you to keep your family Jewish, and that can only happen if they marry Jews. You cannot spring this information on them after they start dating non-Jews.
It is a lot easier to keep the glass from breaking, than to pick up those sharp, broken pieces after it falls.
(This link is to my short videos. Send, “Jews Should Marry Jews” to anyone you feel is in danger of intermarrying.)
