"For many years, my grandfather and family lived in Switzerland for the treatment of his daughter, who had contracted polio. They lived in an area where there was a small Jewish community, but they lived there among the gentiles, so it was not acceptable to wave their Judaism in public. "And here comes a family from the Land of Israel, which refuses to hide its Jewishness or to conceal the observance of the mitzvot. On Sukkot, Grandpa left the synagogue in the middle of the day, holding the lulav and the four species, wrapped in a tallit, and not afraid of what people would say. The Gentiles did indeed look at him with a slightly crooked eye at first, but the Jews were really angry with him, for supposedly disgusting them in the eyes of the gentiles, and causing them unpleasantness among their neighbors. "But Grandpa didn't hesitate. This happened not only on Sukkot, but at any time he would go with his tzitzit fluttering for all to see, he did not hide his kippah, and all his walks were like those of a Jew living in Bnei Brak or Jerusalem. "
After a while, Grandma heard from one of the gentiles in the area that the priest of the local church had spoken of them in his sermon on Sunday of that week. During the weekly preaching to those who came to the House of Worship, the priest rebuked them for disrespecting the commandments of Christianity, and sometimes even being ashamed to behave as Christianity expects of them: 'Learn from this new Jew who came to live here,' the priest told them, 'Look how proud he is of his Judaism, How does he fulfill the commandments of the Jews without fear of anyone, as if he were among the Jews? You are here among Christians, and you have a great deal to learn from this Jew, who is in his unnatural place, and yet behaves this way without any fear or shame.'"
.That day, the Gentiles in the area began to appreciate my grandfather, and even the Jews understood that he was actually a source of pride and not a source of shame, God forbid. Their attempts to dissuade him from his actions stopped completely; they learned to appreciate him and respect his special way."
