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Baalei Teshuva Stories

After a long, busy day at the office, going to the auto mechanic wasn't exactly what Zev Jacobowitz had in mind. Nonetheless, he had been putting off getting an oil change for weeks, and now was as good a time as any. The best place to get an oil change was just off the Jackie Robinson Parkway in East New York-one of the roughest sections of town and not exactly what you would call a Jewish neighborhood. Nonetheless, since it was basically on the way home and they gave you a free car wash while you waited, it was well worth it.

Unfortunately, things weren't going Zev's way that day. After a half hour of waiting for them to finish, the head mechanic turned to Zev with the bad news that they had accidentally caused minor damage to his engine in the process of changing the oil and it would take them another hour to repair it. Zev was not at all happy to have to waste another hour of his precious time. He figured he should at least try to get a free oil change for the inconvenience. While five mechanics set to work on the "minor" problem, Zev set out to find the manager. The cashier pointed him in the direction of a very large, unfriendly looking guy with a shaved head, goatee and sunglasses, sitting in the back office.

"He's the manager," she said in a skeptical voice, "but don't count on getting anywhere with him."

"Is he nice?" Zev asked incredulously.

"Noooooo sir," she replied. "You gotta be crazy to go in there but it's your life. Good luck!"

For some bazaar reason that Zev could not understand, he asked her if the boss happened to be Jewish-mind you that there was nothing Jewish looking about him. Lo and behold, after asking around to a few of the other workers, it turned out to be a surprising yes--the manager was Jewish! Emboldened by the new information, Zev decided to try his luck,.

"What do you want," the manager barked when Zev knocked on the door of his office.

"I'm sorry to bother you sir," Zev stammered, "I was just wondering if I could have some compensation for the time I've had to spend waiting here."

"Compensation?" he bellowed with a look that could freeze Miami. "You're lucky that I'm even fixing it! Do know how much work I'm losing because of your stupid car-I have five guys working on it! I ain't givin' you a thing!"

Zev stood there for a moment regaining his composure. "You're Jewish, right."

"Of course I'm Jewish, but I ain't Shomer Shabbos!" the manager yelled.

"What's your name?" Zev asked bravely.

"My name's Ty," he shouted again, as if it was a name to be feared.

"No, what's your Hebrew name?"

"My Hebrew name's Tuvia-but I'm not Shomer Shabbos!"

"It's a pleasure to meet you Tuvia. I didn't ask you if you were Shomer Shabbos."

"Don't patronize me buddy. I know all about Judaism. I went to Yeshiva when I was a kid, I'm married to a Jew and I'm raising two Jewish children-but I'm not Shomer Shabbos!"

Seeing that Ty-or Tuvia clearly had an ax to grind, Zev decided to try to settle the score. He leaned close to him, away from the listening ears of his workers, and spoke softly into his ear: "Listen Tuvia. Seventy years ago, when Hitler rounded up our relatives, he didn't ask them if they were Shomer Shabbos or not."

Suddenly, Ty melted and a soft look came upon his face for the first time.

"You know, you're right," he said. "We Jews really have to stick together, regardless of if we're observant or not. We're all brothers, aren't we?"

* * *

That Friday, Zev bought an extra challah at the hamish bakery on the way home from work and decided to drop it off for Ty at the garage. He deliberately brought one challah instead of two, lest Ty think he was pushing him to become "Shomer Shabbos." When he arrived at the garage, the mechanics all groaned. "Oh no, is it broken again?" they asked.

"No, thank G-d everything is working great. I'm here to see the boss."

"The boss? You must really be crazy!"

When he walked into Ty's office, Zev found him with his usual grimace.

"What are you doing back here?" he barked. "Don't tell me it's broken again! I spent enough time on your car!"

"No, take it easy Tuvia. I actually came to wish you a Good Shabbos," Zev said while handing him the challah.

Tuvia sat there staring at the challah for a moment in silence. Then, with tears in his eyes, he looked up and said, "this is one of the nicest things anyone's ever done for me. My wife and I are really gonna enjoy this after she lights the candles tonight. . . ."

There's no shell that a kind word or nice deed can't break.

Underneath every hard exterior, is a beautiful Jewish neshama just yearning to come out.

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