The revelation came while Yosif, who lives in North Brunswick, N.J., was mourning her grandfather’s death. A cousin who had inherited his belongings came upon old identification papers for their grandmother, who had died many years before.

It finally found its way into my synagogue’s newsletter. Making its rounds on the internet is a sermon entitled “Ehr kumt” (Yiddish for “he’s coming”) given during last year’s Jewish High Holidays by Rabbi Shlomo J. Lewis of Atlanta’s Etz Chaim (Conservative) synagogue.