The Unlikely Messenger

Sarah was a bright and quiet child. She was raised in a secular Jewish home amongst thousands of religious Jews in Brooklyn, New York.
 
At an early age, Sarah found an outlet for her kind but shy nature though an affinity and love that she felt for animals. Her childhood dream was to become a veterinarian.
 
It was the 1970's and Sarah was finding it impossible to get accepted into veterinary school. It seemed that although her grades were excellent, she had two strikes against her – she was a woman, and she was a Jew.
 
When Sarah was finally accepted into a veterinary school in Italy, she had her choice of two locations. She chose the campus that she did for an interesting reason. The campus was located in a certain province where a "saint" named Francis was buried. Sarah knew from her secular reading that Francis was known for his kindness to animals – so that's where she wanted to be.
 
Apparently even the German's had had some respect or maybe some fear of Francis; and during the war, they were careful not to drop any bombs over his tomb. For that reason, the place became an ideal spot for Jews to flee to and hide in during the war.
 
One night, not long after Sarah moved in. There was a knock at the door. Not knowing anybody, Sarah wondered who it could be. Hesitantly, she opened the door and standing before her were a police officer and a priest. Sarah didn't speak Italian very well but she understood that they wanted to know if she was Jewish. She told them that she was and they motioned to her to get into a car that was waiting in front of the house.
 
Sarah was frightened and so she did what she was told. She got into the car and they left. She had no idea where she was being taken and neither did anybody else.
 
It wasn't long before Sarah knew that she was in trouble. She saw a box next to her that contained several very large and sharp looking knives.
 
The car made its way through remote mountain roads. It seemed like an eternity had passed before they arrived at their destination. The priest motioned to Sarah to get out of the car. They took the knives with them and using flashlights, they walked through the woods – stopping at the bank of a river.
 
Sarah was sure that her life was over. As the priest took the knives out of the box, the flashlight cast an eerie, surreal light upon his face.
 
Then, in broken English, the priest told Sarah why he had brought her to the river. As he started to speak, Sarah thought that she detected a certain kindness in his tone which didn't fit at all with what was happening to her.
 
"There is an old Jewish woman," he said. "She cannot travel anymore. These knives are hers, but she can't use them until they have been dipped in the river and a blessing is made over them. The blessing must be made by another Jew. You are going to bless them for her."
 
The priest taught the blessing to Sarah and she preformed the mitzvah (Torah commandment). It was the first time in Sarah's life that she had made a blessing. It was also the first time in her life that she felt that anyone had needed her or valued her because she was Jewish. How ironic, she thought, that G-d had sent such an unlikely agent, an Italian monk, to bestow this wonderful gift upon her.
 
Though Sarah had grown up amongst thousands of Torah observant Jews, no one had ever reached out to her or shown any interest in teaching her about the richness of her heritage.
 
This was the first of many missions that the monk enlisted Sarah to do on behalf of a small group of elderly holocaust survivors. The mysterious monk had sheltered these very Jews when they were hiding from the Nazi's during the war; and even after the war, he continued in his mission to serve the Jews of that area until he passed away.
 
Through the monk, Sarah became connected to the survivors and their children. Their lives and stories of emuna ignited her soul's passion to live as a religious Jew.
 
Sarah had found herself.
 
When she completed her medical training, Sarah made aliyah and married a religious man. Today she is a practicing veterinarian  and mother of religious children and grandchildren. People from far and wide bring her blind and sick animals that are often missing limbs. She cares for as many as 40 animals at a time –  often at her own expense – giving them the medicine and love that they couldn't get in any other place.