Hello ,
On August 11, 2017, the world's oldest man passed away, just a month short of his 114th birthday—making him one of the 10 longest lived men since modern record keeping began. If you knew nothing else about him than this, you might expect to discover that he had led a peaceful life, free of fear, grief, and danger.
The truth is the opposite.
The man in question was Yisrael Krystal, a Holocaust survivor.
Born in Poland in 1903, he survived for years in the Lodz Ghetto, and was then transported to Auschwitz. In this ghetto, his two children died. In Auschwitz, his wife was killed.
When Auschwitz was liberated, he was a walking skeleton weighing a mere 82 pounds. He was the only member of his family to survive.
He was raised as a religious Jew and stayed so all his life. When the war was over, with his entire world destroyed, he married again, this time to another holocaust survivor.
They had children. They moved to Israel and centered in Haifa, there he began again, setting up in the confectionary business, as he had done in Poland before the war.
He made sweets and chocolate.
He became an innovator.
If you have ever had Israeli orange peel covered in chocolate, you are enjoying one of the products he originated. Those who knew him said he was a man with no bitterness in his soul. He wanted people to taste sweetness.
"Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need." Phillipians 4:11-12 (NKJV)
Not everything in life is wonderful. Some of the things that we experience are downright awful. Yet, when we are able to connect with the Almighty in a close and personal way, life can be a journey of blessings.
Have a great day and God bless!
Pastor Mike / The Open Word
