The Neilah Jew
| September 15, 2010Herman the Neilah Jew. That’s what Shimon Goldman next door called him. Herman lived alone ever since Ida passed on and his two sons both married to non-Jews had moved away. Shimon tried inviting him for a meal but he always got the same reply. “No thank you. I’m a Neilah Jew.”
The first Yom Kippur after he had moved in Shimon had watched with curiosity to see if Herman would indeed keep his word about being a Neilah Jew. But he never showed up so his self-description remained as cryptic as ever.
For the high-spirited Goldman boys it became a game. Eight-year-old Aharon was convinced that their neighbor was a lamed vavnik who hid in his home davening for the world’s salvation at Neilah time. Eleven-year-old Avi maintained that the old man was just making a joke and that was the view the rest of the family adopted.
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