I wanted to relate and amazing story I hear from Rabbi YY Jacobson:

There was an Israeli businessman who was traveling in Germany and due to technical problems with his return flight he was stranded in Germany away from his family, shul and yeshiva for the holy day of Yom Kippur. It was the first time in his life he would not be in his yeshiva and he was very upset. Left without any choice, he rented a hotel room near the main shul in Frankfurt and made his way to prayers for Kol Nidrei. He only had his tallis and slippers, but had no machzor or kittel. He entered the shul and asked the gabbai if he could provide him with these missing items. The gabbai was very helpful and gave him everything he needed and placed him in a seat for the davening.

As the cantor stood up to beging Kol Nidrei, the Israeli businessman became a bit more comfortable and slowly eased into his reality. The Kol Nidrei service was very inspiring to him as the cantor was extremely emotional and prayed from his heart. The businessman was so moved that he went over to the cantor to speak with him after prayers. The cantor explained that he was also visiting from Israel and that he flies in every year to lead the main shul in Frankfurt in the prayers. The cantor explained that he was a child of holocaust survivors and it was very important to come back every year to Frankfurt the same shul his parent's used to pray in, to lead the service. The businessman asked the cantor why though was he so emotional during Kol Nidrei, it was something he had never seen before.

The cantor told the businessman the following story:

A few years ago as Yom Kippur ended, he was readying himself to return from the Frankfurt shul to go back to his hotel to break his fast. He gathered his belongings from the shul and was one of the last people to leave as the janitor finished cleaning up, the cantor locked the shul and closed the gates. As he left an old jew approached him and asked him in a mix of German/Yiddish/Russian, where is he going? The cantor responded that he was going home. The old man asked why is the shul locked and closed? It is Yom Kippur and nobody comes any more? The cantor realized that this old man must have been confused and explained to him that last night was Kol Nidrei, the gates are closed because Yom Kippur is over. The man let out a huge cry and said to the cantor, "I have never missed Yom Kippur". He continued to explain that his family after the holocaust dropped all observance and become totally secular. He knew he was Jewish but wasn't brought up with any observance. On his father's death bed he said to him, we don't act very much like Jews, but how do you know we are Jewish? Because we observe Yom Kippur. No matter what each year you should observe Yom Kippur because you are a Jew. The man continued and said, "I am no longer Jewish". The cantor was taken aback and obviously heartbroken over the man's distress. He did the only thing he could think of. He put his hand around the old man, took out his keys and opened the gates to the shul. He turned on the lights and sat the old man inside next to the "bima". The cantor then went and put on his special cantor garbs and his tallis and began in a booming voice the tune for Kol Nidrei. The cantor explained that normally when he prays he is worried about so many different things, that he has a hard time to even speak to G-d in his prayers. This time though I felt like G-d was right there and present with me as I sang.

The old man was very grateful and left with uplifted spirits. The next year the cantor arrived and the old man approached him again, this time on the right time and right day ready for the Yom Kippur service. He told the  cantor that nobody will ever realize what he did for him except for G-d.

Shabbat Shalom,

Heath