Video: When Avraham Fried Sang with the Survivor

A stage set. A packed house. All eyes focused on the King of Chassidic Music with rapt attention, not wanting to miss a note of the soul stirring melodies.

Among the hundreds of participants, there sits a man, enjoying every moment, his hands clapping to the beat, his head nodding in unison with his tapping feet, a broad and beautiful smile framing his face.

Renowned singer Avraham Fried finishes a touching rendition of a Chassidic song and amid the copious applause asks the audience to please direct their attention to the giant video screens erected around the hall.

As the screens spring to life, so do the tears in the eyes of the man enjoying every moment, clapping, nodding and tapping – the broad and beautiful smile now turning to disbelief, shock and finally full fledged tears of cognition.

Mr. Jacob Kolton is invited to join Avraham Fried on stage and as he makes his way to the front of the room, the cheering crowd, risen to its feet, now too cries along with Mr. Kolton. The tears in the room are now the tears of every Jew, tears filled with sadness, yet tears filled with hope and renewal. Tears that tell the story of the man featured on the giant video screens during the concert held at the National Jewish Retreat.

Jacob Kolton’s childhood, spent in the beauty of Jewish light, culminated in the horrors of the concentration camps.

Surviving alone, he arrived in the United States, discarded his Jewish upbringing, and never spoke of his past.

60 years later he received a flyer for the JLI class, Beyond Never Again, an uplifting curriculum of hope and inspiration.

Intrigued, he attended and rose at the end of the first class to declare that he was there. Spontaneously he began singing Ani Maamin, the song of hope and faith sung by Jews on the way to the gas chambers.

For the 1st time in 60 years he attended Shul at Chabad of West Orange and continued until his passing.

Mr. Jacob Kolton, Guest of Honor at the National Jewish Retreat, 2009, passed away of old age, two days ago, at his home in New Jersey.