[Avodah] Your brother's a Mumar; here's the solution!

[Joseph C. Kaplan]

I once heard a story from a prominent Orthodox rabbi who had exactly this situation.  He was scheduled to perform a wedding for a woman, a Holocaust survivor, who he did not know.  Shortly before the wedding he was speaking to her and he asked her if she had ever been married before.  She said she had, but her husband had been killed in the camps.  The rabbi then asked if they had children (no) and if the husband had a brother who was still alive (yes).  The rabbi then explained yibum and chalitza and asked if he could contact the brother.  The woman said he could but he had to understand one thing: the brother had converted to Christianity.  The rabbi contacted the brother, explained the situation, and, nervously, asked the brother if he would do the chalitza.  The brother said:  I love my sister-in-law dearly and I would do anything necessary to let her have some happiness in her life.  After the chalitza, the rabbi asked the brother:  forgive me for asking, but you were so willing to participate in this Jewish ceremony (which is not the most pleasant), and you have such a good relationship with your sister-in-law; can you tell me why, after going through the travails of the camps, you converted.  The brother answered:  Hitler considered as Jews anyone who had a Jewish grandparent.  I converted with the hope that the next Hitler won't come until my great-grandchildren's time.

Joseph Kaplan   
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