A 96-year-old World War II veteran who had not merited to receive his bris at its proper time, finally had the procedure performed at the Chabad-led Jewish Russian Community Center (JRCC) of Willowdale in Toronto last Thursday evening.

Armin Konn was born in a Ukrainian village in 1926 and raised under the existing oppressive communist regime. As a teenager, he fought against the Nazis alongside other partisans in 1942-43 before joining the Red Army’s Air Force.

In 1944, his plane was shot down over Lithuania. He was captured and placed in a Nazi prison camp, where he spent the remainder of the war.

At his Thursday bris, he likely became the oldest person since Avraham Avinu to receive his bris milah. And like his forefather, he too was named Avraham.

“R’ Avraham is easily one of the most inspirational people I have ever met,” Rabbi Dr. Avi Rosenberg, the mohel who performed the bris, told YWN. “Before doing anything, we had to ensure that the ‘rach hanimol’ could undergo the procedure, and when I explained to him that he had to be cleared medically, he was taken aback, not understanding why medical clearance was necessary for something that to him was little more than a ‘minor procedure.'”

As the various hurdles standing in the way of performing the bris were overcome one by one, Rabbi Yisroel Zaltzman of the JRCC had a baby boy, and preparations were made to perform both brissim at the same time.

“Remarkably, his bris was one of the smoothest I’ve ever been a part of,” Rabbi Dr. Rosenberg said. “We truly had the helping hand of Eliyahu HaNavi with us at every step.”

Following his bris and that of the newborn, R’ Avraham sat and entertained the nearly 200 attendees of his bris seuda well into the night. He had been planning to drive himself home afterwards, but others insisted on providing him a ride. And the next morning, he was seen shopping at a grocery at 7:30 am.

“He is a truly remarkable yid,” Rabbi Rosenberg said. “If only I had half the kochos he does…”

Since the 96-year-old Avraham’s bris, many others in the Toronto community who have been hesitant about undergoing the procedure themselves have expressed increased interest in getting it done.

R’ Avraham not only got his own bris performed, but through his brave action is bringing others into the bris of Avraham Avinu.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)