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just forgot her and went sound asleep. I slept and slept. Even this was in God's plan. It did not
seem long until the woman was shaking me.
"Wake up!" she said, "Wake up! They're serving breakfast. We're just about an hour out of
Rome. Do you know you've been sleeping for eight hours?"
I said, "I have? I didn't realize that."
"Yes, you have. I've been checking my watch here and you've been sleeping for eight hours.
And here I am -- I haven't been able to shut my eyes. I've been wanting to talk to you and all you've
done is sleep, sleep. Tell me, how can you sleep like this?"
I said to her, "Now, if you'll just be still long enough and stop complaining, I'll tell you
how I can sleep."
"All right."
"But," I said, "you must promise me that you'll not interrupt me."
She promised.
In reverent tone I told her that I was a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and that He had
saved me and forgiven my sins.
"You can't convert me!" she broke in.
"Hush! Hush!" I told her in Yiddish. "You promised me that you wouldn't interrupt."
So she kept still. I had no more problems with her the rest of the trip. I witnessed to her all
the way to Israel.
When we deplaned in Israel, we saw hundreds of teen-agers at the airport on our side of
customs. With locked arms they were swaying back and forth singing, "Havenu Shaloma A leichem
[We bring unto you peace]." There were three EL AL planes in holding pattern above us, waiting
to land. They were loaded with immigrant Jews from Russia. The young people had gathered to
welcome these Jews, practically all of whom had spent years in Siberia or in prison and in
deprivation and poverty because they had made application to come to Israel. As they stepped off
the plane many of them fell to the asphalt and kissed it. Some of them ran a few feet where they
kissed the soil. There was much weeping too.
The Russians were allowed to go through customs first. They were quickly processed, for
in Israel there is a law of return. Any Jew who wants to return can do so and become a citizen the
moment his feet hit the soil. The immigrants were given little purses of money, a change of
clothing, and the address of a home which had already been furnished and was waiting for them.