I was on Shindler's List

A Beautiful Divine Appointment, as told by Barry & Linda Wagner

Aviva Nissenbaum with Barry and Linda Wagner.

Oscar Schindler (center) Aviva (right).

We never know when God will bless our lives with a very special Divine appointment.  So it was while traveling throughout Israel in early June with a group of Christian Pilgrims from Pine Castle United Methodist Church located in the Orlando Florida area.

Linda and I were in the elevator of the Holiday Inn in Tiberius on our way to the dining room to meet up with our fellow travelers for the evening meal.  Stopping at one of the floors on our descent, a lovely, elderly Jewish lady stepped into the elevator with us.  We both greeted her with, “Shalom, shalom” to which she responded, “You’re Americans aren’t you?”  After some typical conversation we all use upon meeting a stranger, we were surprised to learn that she and her family had been four of the names on “Schindler’s List” during the terrible holocaust years.

Linda and I both felt so humbled just to be in the presence of Aviva Nissenbaum who had lived through so much horror at the hands of the Nazis.  She said, “If it had not been for Oscar Schindler, I know that my father, mother, my brother and I would not have survived those horrible years.  He was truly a Righteous Gentile.”

I asked her if she had ever had the opportunity to see the emotionally charged film, “Schindler’s List,” directed by Steven Spielberg.  She said that she had seen it and she was so grateful to Mr. Spielberg for telling the story of her, her family and the twelve hundred other Jewish people that he was able to save.  “The world must never forget those holocaust years lest it happen again,” Aviva whispered.

I asked her about the last scene in the film, when the Rabbi presented Oscar Schindler with the gold ring he had fashioned from the gold fillings of one of the survivors.  It was then that Schindler said, “I could have saved more.”   “Why didn’t I sell this pin?  I could have saved two more.”  “Why didn’t I sell this car?  I could have saved ten more.”  By that time Schindler was weeping almost uncontrollably. The Rabbi said to him, “In the Jewish tradition, it is said that if a man saves one life, he saves the world.”  “You did everything you could do,” he said.

I just had to ask our new friend Aviva, “Did those events take place as Mr. Spielberg had it portrayed?”  Aviv answered, “It happened exactly as you saw it in the film.  I was standing in that crowd with my mother, my father and my brother as we said good-bye to Mr. & Mrs. Schindler for the last time.  It was a very sad moment for us all.”

Linda and I thank God for blessing our lives with such a Divine appointment.  Aviva made an impact on our lives that we will carry into eternity.  Having shared the work of Ezra International with her she said, “Please tell the Christians who are helping the Jews to return to Israel, thank you from us all.”