On Kol Nidrei night one
of the leading Lithuanian Rabbis demanded that his people come to
services in the morning with sums of money.
The worshippers were shocked by his request, but they trusted their
Rabbi who was renowned for his piety and wisdom.
On Yom Kippur morning they came to the synagogue and
assembled their money. The Rabbi then
explained why he asked them to violate the sanctity of the holiest day of the
year. He had been informed before the
Kol Nidrei service that a Jew who was known to be a revolutionary and an
atheist had been arrested and had been condemned to death. He was sentenced to be shot on Yom Kippur
afternoon unless a substantial ransom was paid.
True story. But the
moral is critical. It does not matter
our opinion of another, when a Jew is in trouble we come to his aid.
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