Barney Edelkind is 96 and in almost 17 years he has missed coming only three times to Chabad of Naples Shabbat service, when he was out of town for his great nephew's Bar Mitzvah and another simcha.
This was his first Shabbat ever, when he was in Naples and missed the Shabbat service.
When I called him today he jokingly said, “What are you doing to my record, Rabbi?”
We connected in Yiddish, saying that we will get together and rejoice again for Shabbat.
We pray, dear G-d, please look down and see how many of us just want to be together and sing your praise — please make it happen soon.
We are sorry, G-d, for our assertiveness but we ask that You please remove this virus from our midst and allow us to return to our former ways and we promise we will be even better human beings.
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I have respected the rules - this photo of us was taken previously.