All Will Know G-d

This was an amazing little story that happened to me today.

I went to CVS to get a flu shot. As I am waiting there for the pharmacist, there is an Ethiopian woman and her daughter sitting next to me.

At some point after sitting there for a while, she asks, “Is a synagogue nearby that I can take my daughter to.”

I ask her inquisitively, “Oh, are you Jewish?”

She says, “No, We’re Christian, but I want my daughter to learn the Jewish ways.”

Then she says suddenly, “Do you know that the Jews killed Jesus.”

I was a little taken aback at the change in direction this conversation was taking, and I say innocently, smiling–trying to make light of the situation–“I didn’t do it.”

She said, “No really, the Jews killed him.”

At that point, I corrected her and said, “Actually, it was the Romans that killed him.”

She nods and she turns to her daughter asking her what she thought.  The little girl goes, “What difference does it make Jew or non-Jew, we all believe in G-d.”

She continues, “There is no reason to fight because we all believe in G-d and that He created us.”

Impressed with this child, I ask “How old are you?”  She tells me, “Nine[-years old].”

I say, “Well you are quite a smart kid!”

Marveling at the wisdom of this innocent child, I say to the mother, “If only everyone understood what your young daughter does, then there would be so much more peace in the world and not war.”

Her mother nodded approvingly and again asked about the synagogue and I told her about a local synagogue that they may like to visit to learn more about the Jewish prayers and traditions.

Her daughter smiled glowingly.

And I remembered the teachings from Jeremiah 31:34, “No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘know the L-rd,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the L-rd.

I truly believe we are living in the time of the redemption, from the ashes of the Holocaust to the establishment of the State of Israel and even to the recognition of G-d Almighty, and all is coming to fruition just as the Prophets predicted almost 3,000 years ago.

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)