A friend of mine was sitting in Hotel Lobby in Miami. Across from him at a table sat two elderly Jewish gentlemen and he overheard their conversation. One said, "I’ve decided I’m going to go and live in Israel" and his friend said, "So why don’t you already"

"Yup!" he said "I’m definitely gonna go". "So what are you waiting for?" There was a pause and then he said, "I’m waiting till it’s too late!"

A few years ago in Manchester one of the Kehilla’s most Chosuv Talimidi Chachomim stood before hundreds of Yidden on Tisha B’Ov. He told of when he was a young boy and was deported to Auschwitz. He spoke for a long time but still managed only to tell a fraction of what had happened. A part of his tale told of the day his barracks was selected for the Gas Chambers. On the march to their deaths, he was asked by a non-religious inmate, "Do you still believe that G-d could save him even now." He replied,"Yes! even now. Just like Yetzias Mitzrayim when we were saved at the very last second HaShem can save us here too."

They were marched into the Gas Chambers and prepared for their execution. As they stood with the doors of the Gas Chambers closing on them, the Commandant of the camp arrived. There had been an "administrative error", a different barracks had been selected for extermination that day, not this one. The men were marched out, re-dressed and returned to the camp.

It is never too late for Ha Shem to help us; but we may leave it too late to help ourselves.

 In Metzora and Tazria we read about Tzoras, which is usually, translated as leprosy. Metzora begins…

The Alshich asks why the verse says that this will be the Law of the Metzora and why no fewer than eight times it refers to the Sufferer as the "Mitaher", the Purifier. Surely it is the Cohen who is the purifier.

This disease shares certain common features with ordinary illnesses but in essence it is totally different. The Illness is the physical expression of a spiritual condition.

Rashi cites three components that trigger the disease. They are slanderous speech, (which is how people engage in character assassination) haughtiness and miserliness. This is indicated by the symbolism of the components used for purification. He must bring wood from a Cedar tree, a tree that is tall and beautiful, paralleling how he saw himself. The scarlet wool dyed from a worm and a Hyssop branch, hint at Lowliness. This will be his remedy. He must lower himself and correct his view of other people.

That is why the "Treatment" is to lock away the sufferer for a week on his own. He indeed is the Mitaher, the purifier. He will have to examine himself and ask the questions as to what he could have done to cause this it will be his Teshuva that will remove the disease. The Cohen merely determines if he has been successful and if his symptoms have gone.

The only person who really knows you is you. Only we know what we may have done wrong. So this will be the law of the Metzora on the day that he purifies himself.

In Ovos D’Rebbe Nosson the question is asked as what was the origins of the great Rabbi Akiva? When he was forty years old he knew nothing about Judaism. While in the fields with shepherds he observed a rock which had a hole drilled into it by dripping water. He thought, "If this water can make such an impression on a hard rock then the "Hard" Torah should surely make an impression on my heart which is only flesh and blood."

He took his son and went to learn from an elementary level teacher. The teacher drew the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and then the second. Rabbi Akiva went away to learn them and asked himself why should they be those particular shapes? (The shapes of Hebrew letters have of course design and significance) He returned and asked the teacher to elucidate. After he concluded his study of the entire Torah he began with advanced teachers to attempt the Mishna. His teachers taught him a point of Jewish Law and again he went away to consider it. He returned to ask why the Law should be as he was taught and after further explanation he understood.

Rabbi Akiva had no shame in sitting with his son at the feet of a child’s teacher. He had no embarrassment in saying he did not understand and asking for more help. The person who turned Akiva into the great Rabbi Akiva was Akiva.

The same lesson occurs several times in the Torah. When Klal Yisroel are standing at the Yam Suf with an Egyptian army bearing down on them HaShem asks Moshe "Why are you crying out to me?" Rashi explains the Posuk, "The outcome does not depend on me but on you!"

Every Wednesday night I give a Shiur to students. For two years a student had sat listening as quiet as a mouse. He was one of my "regulars" but he hardly said a word he just listened. One night during his final year, I concluded my Shiur and people rose to go. The quiet young man stayed behind and asked me a very unusual question, "I would like to become Frum…but I don’t know how to go about it." Such a firm decision so suddenly expressed is very unusual. I told him that he should come for a Shabbos. Before we set out for Shul I gave him a Siddur to take. It was the Art Scroll and I opened it and pointed out how superb it was. There was a translation, there were instructions when to bow and when to take three steps back. There was a comprehensive explanation and the source of the prayers was cited. On top of all that it looked good! Despite my enthusiasm my guest seemed unimpressed. I asked him why and he looked at me and said, "I’m sure it’s good …but I’ve never actually seen a Siddur before." He explained that he came from a reform family who lived in the country. His parents had four children in all. The other three had all married Non-Jews two had married Germans. He said that sitting in my Shiur the thought suddenly struck him that if he didn’t marry Jewish, the family ended with him.

From that thought had come his request to become Frum and a Shabbos invitation. That Shabbos led many more and then to Yerushalayim,Yeshiva and eventually a new Jewish family who have gone on to make their own contribution to Klal Yisroel.

All that simply because a young Jew did not wait till it was too late.