Seventy-four years ago, the Nazis tried to destroy our nation. Horrifically, they succeeded in killing six million of us.
Seventy-two years ago, a little girl, Jacqueline Levy, was born in Paris, France. A beautiful Jewish princess. An infant whose life was in peril simply because she was born Jewish, in Europe, in 1940.
The Nazis searched for her. They wouldn’t allow even one little baby to live. She was forced to live in hiding with a Christian family until the end of the war. She was forced to conceal her Jewish identity, required to live a double life, but ultimately she survived. Her entire extended family was massacred. But although Jacqueline lived, moved away and raised her own family, she was never able to fully re-embrace her Jewish identity.
Until now.
Fast-forward to December 25, 2012. Jacqueline’s grandson, Sam, only 13 years old, found his own way back to Judaism. He has been coming to our Chabad Israel Center on the Upper East Side together with his mother Julia. So strongly did he want to commit to it, he underwent a brit milah (circumcision), despite his age and the pain he knew it would involve. He reclaimed his Jewish heritage—seventy two years after his grandmother lost hers. He embraced the covenant of Abraham, forging an eternal bond with G-d and His commandments.
In this week’s Torah portion, the Jewish people are finally allowed to leave Egypt. After 210 long years of slavery and hardship, they are finally about to be freed. Oh, the excitement and relief! But there was one small problem. As a nation, the Jewish people were considered “naked”—ie., bereft of mitzvot. In order to leave Egypt, they needed at least something in their “mitzvah pocket.” So G-d gave them two mitzvoth – the Korban Pesach (Pascal Lamb) and the mitzvah of circumcision. In the merit of these mitzvoth, they were redeemed from Egypt, and from two centuries of slavery.
We often think we’re in charge of our lives, but it’s important to remember that G-d has the final say. And sometimes He reminds us of that. The evil Nazis sought to kill this baby girl, and while she was fortunate to live through those hellish years, they did manage to snuff out her connection to Judaism. Nevertheless, the same way G-d redeemed the Jews from Egypt and made them His nation, He led Jacqueline’s grandson back as well.
May Sam’s courage and commitment serve as a lesson for us: A reminder that it’s never too late, and that G-d has a way of bringing His children back, even decades later.
And when Sam became Shmuel, and a full-fledged member of the Jewish nation, that was a true victory over the Nazis, seventy-two years later.