Dear Rabbi Mozes,

Thank you for officiating my Brit Milah!

I really enjoyed you and speaking with you and I hope to learn more with you as I take on my new responsibility. Thank Hashem and Your diligent efforts and the purity of our intentions, as ironically we overcame our first challenges together only moments after you spoke to me about life’s changes. I have been blessed by my first lesson from you, and I thank you for standing up and ensuring I have a Kosher Bris.

I am honored to have been blessed by your grace & your authority as I entered the Covenant of Abraham, Our Father.

May you and yours continue to be blessed by Hashem and merit the rewards of your kindness and Holy acts.

Also thank you for calling yesterday. It means a lot to me for you thinking of me. I am recovering nicely, Thank G-d, and you are deeply appreciated by me, as you will always remain bound to my spirit in thoughts & prayers.

Kind Regards & Shabbat Shalom

Michael

2017 Thank you note – Michael sent one year after the Bris

Dear Rabbi Mozes

Hi.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk to me.

My journey,it’s quite a story, as we all have one.

I was put in an orphanage in Italy, at birth.

At 55, I went back to Italy to find my birth mother.

My 10 year journey unraveled my Jewish descent.

I finally met my Jewish mother and we became very close.

This shined a spotlight on a new Jewish belief and accepting the Yoke of the Mitzvosand the 613 commandments.

My Judaism was brought to a new level by having the Mozes family perform my Bris at the age of 65.

This led to its history became very powerful to me; along with our Jewish culture.

Rabbi Mozes thank you for bringing me closer to HaShem.

Michael

Michael meets Mom 50 years later!

US Navy Veteran Moshe’s 2017 Bris

The telephone call came in on a Friday.

“Hi my name is *George & I need a Bris as soon as possible. My Rabbi that I recently became acquainted with said he knows you well & he gave me your telephone number. I live in New York City, & I am 65 years old. Please help me.”

The caller sounded like a very nice & fine person. The first question was to see if he may be Jewish. He explained his family history. His mother’s mother was a Jewish woman born & raised in Israel. However, she left Israel & intermarried & gave birth to the mother of George. His mother married & had two sons. The younger son George, never had a Bris.

He explained how he came over to the United States alone, many years ago & has no family here. He was in the US Navy during the Vietnam War. Now he lives alone.

He then shared with me his detailed medical history. We decided that as soon as his doctors say that he is healthy & fit for a Bris, we would go ahead with it.

The following Tuesday he was cleared by all his doctors for a Bris. On Wednesday, June 21, 2017, an excited George took the bus from Manhattan to Lakewood NJ. When he was picked up from the bus terminal, you could sense his excitement for his upcoming Bris.

The Bris B”H went well. His Jewish name was now Moshe. His feelings of pride & joy were palatable.

Soon after the Bris, I had the merit of driving Moshe home. The whole way, he spoke about how proud he was of finally being circumcised & how he looked forward to increasing his observance of Judaism.

Sure enough, just one month later he spent his first Shabbos as a guest in a religious home.

August 17, 2017

Two months after the Bris, I got a call from Moshe.

“Rabbi, I am in the hospital & will be here for a few days. Please come & visit me.” Naturally, later that day, I went to visit him & do the Mitzvah of Bikur cholim. When I walked in, his face lit up. He called the nurse & asked that his oxygen mask temporarily be removed. He told me that his breathing issues were improving & he hoped to be released in a few days. He said that the hospital Rabbi was taking good care of him & ensuring that he has kosher food.

He then said the following:

“Rabbi, you should know that I always wanted to follow my Jewish tradition & have a Bris, but I was always so busy & did not have the time. Now, I finally had the opportunity to have a Bris. Now that I have a Bris, I feel happier &very satisfied. It was a privilege to have the Mozes family help me come back & connect to my Jewish family. Now I feel very privileged to be circumcised & more connected to G-d & my nation.

My Jewish’ mother & grandmother, are now surely happily looking down at me from above & being very proud. I truly feel the change in me. It is a feeling of happiness from doing what is right.”

Having spent close to an hour with Moshe, I felt it was time to say good night.

Moshe said: “Wait Rabbi, let us say a Prayer together.” He pointed to his old black hat next to his bed & said how proud he was to have recently had it the hat cleaned for free. I placed the hat on his head. By now the oxygen mask had been replaced.

I had him reciting the Posuk of “ShimaYisore’ after me.

Speaking on a hospital bed through an oxygen mask may not have sounded clear to an observer, but in Shomayim it was surely clear. As clear as his Bris Kodesh and as meaningful as the tears streaming down.