He who saves a single life...

Earlier this year I came across the story below, and even though very short in length, it has stuck with me; therefore I decided to share it here.  It demonstrates how even in the darkest of moments there are people, whom when need be, can shine like stars in the heavens.

“He who saves a single life, it is as if he saved the entire world.”  

These words, which have appeared in movie and song, originate in the Jewish Talmud. Rabbi Joseph Telushkin first linked them to the story below in The Book of Jewish Values; he credits the story to Rabbi Lawrence Kushner's Invisible Lines of Connection: Sacred Stories of the Ordinary.

I offer it here for Days of Remembrance, which began today…

A light snow was falling and the streets were crowded with people. It was Munich in Nazi Germany. One of my rabbinic students, Shifra Penzias, told me her great-aunt, Sussie, had been riding a city bus home from work when SS storm troopers suddenly stopped the coach and began examining the identification papers of the passengers. Most were annoyed, but a few were terrified. Jews were being told to leave the bus and get into a truck around the corner.

My student’s great-aunt watched from her seat in the rear as the soldiers systematically worked their way down the aisle. She began to tremble, tears streaming down her face. When the man sitting next to her noticed that she was crying, he politely asked her why.

“I don’t have the papers you have. I am a Jew. They’re going to take me.”

The man exploded with disgust. He began to curse and scream at her. “You stupid bitch,” he roared. “I can’t stand being near you.” 

The SS men asked what all the yelling was about.

“Damn her,” the man shouted angrily. “My wife has forgotten her papers again! I’m so fed up. She always does this!”

The soldiers laughed and moved on.

My student said that her great-aunt never saw the man again. She never even knew his name.

Yes indeed...

“He who saves a single life, it is as if he saved the entire world.”