A Pleasanton / Odessa Bar Mitzvah: 1950-2007

I would like to share a powerful and moving story that unfolded before our eyes this past Shabbat:

Our 10:00am Shabbat morning service and the Bar Mitzvah of Baruch (Phillip) Vainer made for a tight squeeze and sizable crowd at Chabad. As the Torah reading began I approached an elderly gentleman in the audience asking him if he would accept an aliyah (the honor of being called up to the Torah). Realizing that this was not a familiar procedure for him, I inquired as to whether this was a first. Yes indeed it was.

“Ladies and Gentleman”, I proudly announced, “today we are celebrating more than one Bar Mitzvah. Please join me in welcoming the new Bar Mitzvah boy!” Together we sang and celebrated as this man – quite a few years past his 13th birthday - was called to the Torah for the first time.

The scene was stirring, but it did not end there. During the luncheon after services, this gentleman called me aside and began to tell his tale:

“We are from Odessa in the former Soviet Union. We emigrated to the USA and now live in Fremont. In 1950 my parents hired a teacher to prepare me for my Bar Mitzvah. The lessons, however, were short-lived. After only two months of study my teacher was taken from me, exiled to Siberia, never to be heard from again – all because he taught me Torah. That concluded my formal Jewish education. 

I never had a Bar Mitzvah ceremony and never formally celebrated the occasion. “

It was on last Shabbat, 57 years later, that this gentleman completed his Bar Mitzvah. What his teacher was exiled to Siberia for, he lived to complete.”

My friends, this is the answer to the VA Tech tragedy. When we, in our lives and communities, see the triumph of good over evil and of Judaism over the oppressors of morality and freedom, we are telling the world that ultimately it is G‑d’s will and goodness that reigns supreme. 

Yes, we are deeply pained by the loss and suffering. Yes, we are shocked by the perpetration of this outrageous crime. Yet we anxiously await the day when G‑d will wipe away our tears for good, and usher in the promised era of peace when we will know no more sorrow.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Raleigh Resnick