When he was a cantor in Lincoln, Neb., Weisser confronted diehard Ku Klux Klan leader Larry Trapp, befriended him and eventually inspired the life-long racist to renounce hatred and speak out publicly against bigotry.
Three months before his death from diabetes-related kidney disease in September 1992, Trapp converted to Judaism under Weisser’s guidance, in the very synagogue that he’d once plotted to blow up.
“The truth is, human nature is good, not bad,” Weisser said in a recent interview.
It would have been hard to predict such a lesson emerging from Weisser’s first encounter with Trapp. Weisser and his family had just moved into a new home in Lincoln when he picked up the phone and heard Trapp snarling, “You’re going to be sorry you moved in, Jew boy.”
Threatening hate mail followed. Weisser called the police and learned about Trapp: A bitter man confined to a wheelchair, he had terrorized countless other Jewish, black and Asian residents over the years. Weisser called Trapp’s racist hot line and sat through a 10-minute message that spewed hate at nonwhites. At first, Weisser intended just to tie up the phone line, but then he started leaving messages.
“Larry, there’s a lot of love out there. You’re not getting any of it. Don’t you want some?”
“Larry, you’d better think about all this hatred that you are involved in, because you’re going to have to deal with God one day.”
“Larry, the very first laws that the Nazis passed were against people like yourself, who have physical disabilities, and you would have been among those to die under the Nazis. Why do you love the Nazis so much?”
One day, Trapp picked up the phone. He yelled at Weisser for, of all things, harassing him. “What do you want?” Trapp demanded.
Weisser stayed calm. He had talked to Julie, his wife at the time, about what he should do if Trapp ever answered, and she suggested he say something nice. Weisser said he knew that Trapp had a hard time getting around, and so he offered him a ride to the grocery store if he ever needed it.
Trapp was momentarily speechless. Then he said, in a quiet voice, “I’ve got that taken care of, but thanks for asking.”
That simple moment of kindness unlocked something in Trapp, and he began to struggle with regret over how he’d lived his life....
From Forward
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The story of the Weissers and Larry Trapp has touched many over the years. Kathryn Watterson wrote a book about them called Not by the Sword, and David Roth wrote the song Dragon to Butterfly as a tribute. You can get his CD, If You Can’t Fly, by calling (800) 232-7328. Here are some of the lyrics from Dragon to Butterfly:
Michael helped Larry back into the house,
And then Michael’s wife Julie helped Larry to bed,
A lifelong diabetic confined to a wheelchair,
He couldn’t do much for himself any more.
So they’d taken him in to unravel the pain,
How his father made fun of him, planting the seed,
And the root of the anger that grew so completely,
Once strangled his heart like a weed.
Larry’s last breath in his bedroom at Michael’s,
Came later that night with his friend at his side,
"Thank you"was all he could whisper,
"For changing a dragon to a butterfly."
Comment:
Parallels:
According to GIttin 56a-b Nero went to Jerusalem and shot arrows in all four directions. All the arrows landed in the city. He then asked a passing child to repeat the verse he had learned that day. The child responded "I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel" (Ez. 25,14). Nero became terrified, believing that God wanted the Beis Hamikdash to be destroyed, but would punish the one to carry it out. Nero said, "He desires to lay waste His House and to lay the blame on me," whereupon he fled and converted to Judaism to avoid such retribution. R. Meir the Tanna was a descendant of Nero.
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Posted by: kidney pain | October 02, 2013 at 05:08 PM