No Stranger to Mitzvot
When I was in Argentina, an unaffiliated couple asked me to bless their son with a complete recovery. I asked the father to begin laying tefillin, as a form of recompense, but he would not hear of it. I spent a long time explaining the virtues of this mitzvah and the merit of the Jew who upholds it. Finally, the man was convinced and accepted it upon himself.
- Dinner on behalf of the Yeshurun community, Argentina
Then I began working on his wife. I encouraged her to begin observing taharat hamishpachah. In this area, too, I was required to invest great effort in order to explain the qualities of this mitzvah and its reward. She, too, eventually accepted my words.
When I asked the woman for her Jewish name, I was shocked to hear that she had a gentile name. “A Jewish daughter should not be called by a name of the nations,” I reprimanded her.
“But I am a gentile!” she replied, with all equanimity.
I fell into a state of shock. But then I laughed at my herculean efforts to convince a Christian woman to accept the halachot of taharat hamishpachah.
I got over my initial shock and focused my efforts on encouraging the couple to divorce immediately. This time, I took pains to explain the severity of intermarriage.
This incident taught me a tremendous lesson. When a person sincerely introspects, even if he is a gentile, he can be encouraged to observe mitzvot. If this is the case with gentiles, all the more so is it true regarding the pure neshamah of a Jew, which is hewn from under the Heavenly Throne. When a Jew makes a personal accounting of his actions, he will surely arrive at the truth and merit returning to Torah and mitzvot.
