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The Prayer-Book
Little Nachum was a young lad when he lost his parents. They died as victims of the harsh times in which they lived, but the Polish lord of the manor took pity on the boy and raised him as his own son. Nachum enjoyed a harmonious life until he one day found his parents’ discarded Jewish possessions in the attic. The prayer-shawl and the candle-sticks and his mother’s prayer-book were strange yet somehow so familiar, the Hebrew letters spoke directly to his heart. The Jewish New Year was approaching and the boy saw many Jewish families arrive at the village. When he found out that they gathered in the synagogue, he ran home, fetched the old prayer-book and hurried to the synagogue. He stood among unknown men when the Kol Nidre was intoned, and he was shrouded in an age-old sense of belonging. Nachum realised that he could not sing the songs in the language of the others, and he burst into tears. In his frustration he raised his book above his head and prayed to the Lord to choose the right lines. It was the Day of Atonement and the community's very soul was burdened by a deep sorrow, a longing, but the boy’s words elevated everyone’s prayers as if on wings of elation.
"May all our yearnings be heard by you. The face of God is close."(Musaf prayer on Yom Kippur)
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