Cozumel is a Mexican island in the Caribbean Sea, a popular cruise ship port of call famed for its scuba diving.

More important is the local Jewish presence. The Chabad shliach in Cozumel is the incredible Rabbi Dovid Kaplan.

On a recent Friday, Reb Dovid met a Chassidishe man, Hershey, and his wife, on the streets of Cozumel. He invited them for the Shabbos seudah that night.

On Shabbos morning, everyone at the table recounted personal experiences.

Hershey recounted that he met a war hero named Milton Peak, a 102-year-old Jewish man, in the hotel he was staying at in Cozumel. While they were talking, he asked Milton if he had a bar mitzvah. Milton told him no. And he is not interested.

Reb Dovid told himself that such an opportunity should not be missed. That week, he went to the hotel to meet Milton. After a long conversation, Milton agreed to put on tefillin for the first time in his life.

And the next day, Milton went to the Chabad house to receive an aliyah in honor of his birthday.

Tefillin and a bar mitzvah at age 102!
It’s never, ever, too late.