I found myself standing outside last Shabbat, looking for a minyan—a position I have not been in for a very, very long time. Our minyan has been thriving, but this week was tough. People are sick, people are away, and we only had 9 people for mincha. I was determined to find a 10th.
Now, having been out on the streets tracking Jews basically my entire life my radar is pretty good. So when Mike* walked past, I had a pretty strong indication that he was Jewish. I greeted him with “Shabbat Shalom” and he responded in kind.
“Do you mind helping us with a minayn?” I asked. “We need a 10th man.”
He declined.
I tried to pressure him just a little. “The sun’s going down and we cannot pray without you. It’ll just take five minutes …” (I meant five Jewish minutes. You know, mincha, Torah-reading, Torah class, and then maariv.)
Again, he declined.
“Do it for Israel,” I said. “Israel needs you.”
And I meant it! Every Jew, no matter who, no matter where, can do something for our brothers and sisters in Israel. We are all in this war together. An IDF soldiers can fire bullets at terrorists and save lives, and we can fire spiritual bullets by wrapping tefillin and coming to pray.
At that, he agreed, and followed me inside.
Now, when you do a mitzvah or a sin, there’s always an “Oy!” and an “Ahh.” When you sin, first you feel the “Ahhh,” and then later on the “Oy!” hits you. But when you do a mitzvah, in the moment you might feel the “Oy!” but later you experience the “Ahh.”
And Mike, doing this mitzvah almost against his wishes, definitely felt the “oy.” He agreed, but was palpably annoyed.
When we got up to the Torah reading, I called Mike up for an aliyah. “When was the last time you were called up to the Torah?” I asked. Turns out it was 45 years ago! 1978! That was the last time he went to shul.
We were honored to have Mike join us and give him an aliyah after so many years. And Mike discovered that he actually enjoyed the experience, so much that even when an 11th man joined, he stayed.
Now I know why our regulars didn’t show up this week. It was all orchestrated by G-d so that I would bump into Mike and bring him inside for his first aliyah in almost half a century!
So, go outside and do a mitzvah for Israel. Bring a friend to shul. Help a coworker lay tefillin. Bring Shabbat candles to your neighbor—or better yet, invite them over to light with you and stay for the meal.
Shabbat shalom.
*Name changed to protect privacy