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The Rabbi (a WW2 parable/story)
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The Rabbi (a WW2 parable/story) |
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FoxXena Member
since 2001-06-13
Posts 141where dragons play, children run free and foxes are never hunted |
This is my first prose, so please be gentle. ------------------ A W.W.II Parable (The Rabbi) By: FoxXena A young German Nazi was sent home to Berlin for three weeks. This young Nazi was feeling guilty about what he had done during the war, and wanted to make a confession. It just so happens that this Nazi was a Christian. Being the soldier and patriotic teenager that he was however, made him hate Jews. So he walked down the street into a local church for confession. Unknown to this young man, however, there was a young rabbi about his age disguised as a priest in this church, and this rabbi happened to be doing confession on that particular day. The young man, dressed in the fashion of the day, entered the church and waited his turn to go into the confessional. He entered when someone left. "Teacher, I have a terrible confession to make." He began, licking his lips from nervousness. "God is listening." The 'priest' replied. The young man then went on to tell him what he had done, every single terrible thing and how it had tormented him in nightmares afterwards. The one thing he didn't feel guilty for was killing five Jews. The 'priest' listened to every word silently, and when the young man was through, he asked the 'priest' what his repentance was to be. "Is there anything else you want to confess?" The rabbi asked. "Oh…I don’t think it should really matter…" the young man trailed off. "Then you won't mind telling me then." "I killed five people." The rabbi seemed taken aback. "They were Jews." "Here's your repentance then. You are to go to the family of each and every Jew that you have killed and ask…no beg for forgiveness. Then I want you to pray to God that you never have to kill anyone again." "What!?!" The young man raged, "you want me to wade into their filth and beg!?! That’s absurd!!" "They are not as bad as you think they are." The rabbi replied, from behind the screen separating the confessor from the priest. "But Father Hitler said…" "What Hitler says isn't exactly true now is it?" The young man nodded no. "I had this friend. He was Jewish before they deported him. I could go to him to ask for help on anything, and he didn’t seem to mind. He was very generous and well versed in the Old Testament. Our friendship goes back before going to school. He had a wife and three adorable children, and they were pretty happy no matter what happened to them. Now I ask you again to go to the families of those five and beg for forgiveness. Get on your knees and beg for forgiveness when you do it." They continued like this for a while, and the Nazi decided that the rabbi wasn’t so bad after all. By that time they were out of the confessional and everyone else in the church had left. Just before the young man left, he asked the 'priest' his name. "Gregory." The priest replied, and out the door the young man went. The next day, the Nazi picked up a newspaper. The headline read "Young Rabbi Killed In Raid On Church." He was about to turn the page, when he got a glimpse of the face of the rabbi. It was Gregory. ~*~It is said that laughter is the shortest distance between two people...~*~ |
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| © Copyright 2001 Karen Cloud - All Rights Reserved | |||
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Sharon Member
since 2001-06-04
Posts 53Within a whisper |
I'll be creative and we don't cuss here! LOL I enjoyed the story but think maybe you should have let the bit out about the Nazi asking the priest's name..then the surprise would have been greater at the end. On a historical note: I'm not sure one conversation would have turned the young soldier's mind around. They were pretty far ingrained into the 'system' at that age. Anyway! I liked it. |
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