After I finished speaking to him on the phone, the memories came flooding back. I hadn’t seen or spoken to him for twenty-seven years. We both used to belong to the same Jewish organisation in Glasgow and when we first met I was a "sage" of fifteen years and he was twelve. I was introduced to him by his big brother who was my close friend. This "little" brother looked up to me and often sought the guidance of my advanced years. Now he had phoned me completely out of the blue and asked if he could come once again for some help.

It turned out that he had been living for the last ten years not too far from Manchester, in the rather beautiful town of Buxton. He had married out and now after an acrimonious divorce from his non-Jewish wife, there were complications over access to see the child of the ex marriage. He needed to find a good family lawyer and thought that maybe I might know one. I certainly did, several in fact and it was easy enough to make a phone call and an appointment on his behalf.

Then we started to catch up on a missing quarter of a century.

It will be obvious that he is a completely secular Jew with no connection any longer to the Jewish community. This was the pattern of all his siblings. He was one of the fifty per cent of Anglo Jews who vanish and disappear from the Jewish world.

In our conversation, there was something he said which particularly intrigued me. He recalled the old Scottish song "I belong to Glasgow, dear old Glasgow town" and said,

His analysis was correct. I had put the latter part of it to good use once when I was in Yeshiva in England and five skinheads were menacing two Bochurim. I intervened and unleashed my Glasgow accent. The biggest of the Neanderthals simply couldn’t understand what he was seeing. His mind struggled with two opposing concepts, "Jew: He should be afraid of me. Glaswegian: I should be afraid of him!" It was too much for him and he and his fellow troglodytes departed with no damage done.

I told my old friend that I too was proud to come from Glasgow, but I was far prouder of being a Jew. Glasgow is of course Scotland’s industrial centre and it’s biggest city. It has a proud history, particularly in the fields of heavy industry and shipbuilding. It also has made significant contributions to the fields of medicine and science. In the scheme of the world’s history though, Glasgow’s story could be painted as a "Miniature". The story of Klal Yisroel by comparison, would require an entire wall for a "Mural" and it would have to be an enormous wall at that.

The world of Science Fiction loves the idea of a "Time Machine." From the genre’s earliest writers till today people like to imagine being able to travel into the past or the future perhaps to meet the Greats of history. I was once on an "Ask the Rabbi" panel in a Beis Yaakov school and one of the questions was "If you could travel back to any period in time, which would it be?"

With the publication in 1905 of Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity, the concept moved from the world of fiction to reality, or at least "Theoretical" reality. The science is complex and the inevitable outcome for anyone trying it would be instant death but it is theoretically possible.

You will I’m sure, be proud to read in this Newspaper first, that a Time Machine has in fact already been built and I have one in my hand as I write this article. It is called a "Pen."

The Chovos Ha Levovus in Shaar HaBechina, Chapter five, points out that with one of these machines a person can travel through time. He can go back to the world of people who lived thousands of years ago and read what their concerns were and what they thought. Through this machine too, a person can travel to the future and communicate his thoughts and ideas to those who have not yet been born.

So Jews have always been "Time travellers," certainly one of America’s greatest men of letters Mark Twain, thought so. Last century, he wrote an essay entitled, "Concerning the Jews" in which he wrote,

Several years ago, I was the joint guest speaker at a fundraising dinner for a Jewish Charity. My fellow speaker was the ex speaker of Great Britain’s House of Commons, Viscount Tonnypandy, George Thomas.

Viscount Tonnypandy told the tale of the first Jew he ever met. It was in his hometown of Tonnypandy in Wales at the beginning of the century. A Jew called Issacs approached little Geordie Thomas and asked him if he would be willing to come in and light the coal fire on Friday night and Shabbos morning. If he would do this every week, he would receive a twopennce! Little Geordie eagerly agreed and returned home proudly holding his fortune in his hand. He came into his mother’s kitchen where he found her washing dishes. She observed him out of the corner of her eye and carried on at her task. When she finished she turned to him and asked, "Where did you get that boy?" "The Jew Mr Issacs gave it to me Mam! If I go into his house on his Sabbath and light his fire Friday night and Saturday morning, I get a Twopennce!" His Mother looked at him sternly, "Take it back boy!" Little Geordie was stunned, "But Mam, he said I could have it!"

Again his mother told him to take it back. The future Peer of the realm looked up at his mother and his lip started to quiver and tears filled his eyes, "But why Mam?"

His mother looked at him and explained, "You don’t take money from a man, to help him serve his G-d!"

Geordie Thomas trod back to his benefactor still clutching his Twopennce and told him that he could not accept the money and why. The Jew would hear nothing of it and marched him straight back to his mother. Then Mr Issacs and Mrs Thomas started a debate, which ended in a compromise. Geordie could keep his Twopennce on that occasion but from now on would light the Shabbos fires for free.

Then Viscount Tonnypandy turned to his Jewish audience and declared,

"You Jews; you’ve forgotten who you are! When we in this country were still running around in animal skins, you had already built your golden temple in Jerusalem. While we were still living in caves, you had already written the book, which would go on to inspire the whole world. Never be ashamed of being Jewish. You’ve forgotten who you are!"

So we who read this newspaper and can answer Mark Twain’s question, "What is the secret of his immortality?" and are certainly not in anyway ashamed of being Jewish carry a special responsibility. The Chofetz Chaim Zt’l wrote whole Seforim,

(Chizuk HaDaas, Chomos HaDaas) spelling out exactly what it is. In Sefer Chizuk HaDaas Chapter 2 he writes about those he calls "lost sheep."

The Torah has carried us through the millennia but in every age Jews have lost the way and forgotten what it is that they are and eventually become ashamed of what they are. Instead they see greatness in that which is minuscule and as their vision contracts, are no longer able to view that which is enormous. Pride in coming from Scotland’s greatest City can blind a Scottish Jew to another story, a far, far greater story, his own story. Enchantment with all things Greek led tens of thousands of Jews to disappear forever. It happens in every age Hellenism, Socialism, Nationalism, Feminism etc.etc. It only stops when we reach out and teach our lost sheep the way home.