“Rabbi,” said Shimon, “I came back to tell you, I fulfilled your brachah”
IT was a cold Friday morning in February 2001 when Roger Freenberger (the name has been changed) entered my office and said, “Rabbi, I’m ready to take you up on your offer.”
It took me a long minute to recall exactly what he was referring to. Roger was an unmarried, unaffiliated Jew of about 65. I had become the rav of Congregation Ahavas Israel of Passaic in 1997; I would often see Roger walking his dog in Nutley Park when I went there for a stroll. After a few months of these encounters, we started to have occasional conversations.
Eventually, Roger “bageled” me, although I had suspected his Jewish identity from the first time I met him.
“Rabbi, I’ll bet you knew I was Jewish from the start!”
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