One Lord

"I can identify all the Jewish children in two minutes," proclaimed Rabbi Eliezer Silver. His long beard and crisp, new army uniform were an odd sight in the Krakow Monastery.

"In two minutes? Impossible!" declared Father Hugo. "These children came to us as infants and do not have the slightest hint that they are Jewish. If you can identify them, you may take them!"

With a grin on his face, the good rabbi continued, "Then you will allow me two minutes tomorrow at lunch time?"

"No problem," replied Father Hugo. And the rabbi was gone.

Rabbi Silver had arrived in Poland immediately at the end of World War II, determined to somehow locate and extract the hundreds (if not thousands) of Jewish children in monasteries across Europe. Their parents had placed them with non-Jewish families - who then decided to minimize their risk by sending them to monasteries.

In Krakow, Rabbi Silver had information that 30 Jewish children were in one particular monastery, and he was determined to obtain their release.

The following day at noon, he stood in the dining room of the monastery, facing 100 children in the middle of lunch, gazing at him curiously. The rabbi put his hand over his eyes and cried out the words of the "Shema": "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One!"

Immediately, 30 little children began crying, "Mama! Mama!" What the rabbi knew (but the priest didn't) was that the last memory these children had of their mother was reciting together with them the most famous Jewish prayer.

"These are the Jewish children," proclaimed the rabbi.

"You may take them," replied the father. And another 30 children were then reunited to their heritage.

Last week's Parsha had the first paragraph of the Shema, and the end of this week's Parsha has the second paragraph. The Jewish people have lived and died with the Shema throughout their history.