Illuminations
Menorah
Germany
Leora G\'s maternal great grandparents passed down a special menorah. Leora\'s great grandparent’s received the menorah as a wedding gift. Leora\'s great grandparents, Erna and Simon brought the menorah to the United States from Germany in 1941. In 1985 there was a fire in Erna and Simon\'s apartment. Erna and Simon\'s children, Leora\'s grandparents went into the apartment to save a few special items. One of the special items was the menorah.
This menorah taught Leora and her family about the importance of passing down sacred objects from generation to generation.
Menorah
Poland
Lindsay H\'s paternal great - great grandfather, Phillip S, possessed a menorah that he passed down to his son Morris H. He passed this menorah to Neil H, and then to Lindsay\'s dad Brian H. This menorah originally came from Poland. Phillip S. came to the United States in the year of 1898. This menorah is invaluable to Lindsay\'s family. It is significant to the family because they use it to light Chanukah candles every year. The menorah is silver, has two lions on it, and there is a little pitcher on top to hold oil of the Shamash. Lindsay\'s family has kept the menorah in good condition and will continue to pass it on from generation to generation.
Lindsay\'s family has kept the menorah in good condition and will continue to pass it on from generation to generation.
Menorah
Kracow, Poland
Emily H\'s maternal great- grandfather had a silver menorah which he gave to his wife Esther Laulicht. She brought the menorah to America from Krakow, Poland. Emily Herschmann\'s family has kept this menorah because it was one of the only things her grandfather has from his father who was killed in the Holocaust. Now this menorah belongs to Emily\'s grandfather, Murry Laulicht.
He lights it and uses it every Chanukah.
Candelabra
Rome, Italy
When Yehuda K\'s maternal great-grandmother, Elza R\'s husband passed away unexpectedly, she bought two silver candelabras. After this tragedy, Elza knew that she would have to start a new life, so she decided that she would move to America. She bought two identical candelabras - one for herself and one for her sister, Joli, as a gift - because Elza was going to live with her sister for a while. Nowadays, Yehuda K\'s maternal grandmother, Miriam, keeps both candelabras in her house for her daughters to use when they come to her house for Shabbos. These candelabras are the only religious objects that she has from her mother, Elza, because the Nazis took everything else during World War II. This candelabra is important to Yehuda K\'s family.
It shows that even in hard times, Elza Rosenbaum wanted to do the mitzvah of lighting the Shabbos candles.
Menorah
Germany
When Nechama L’s maternal great-grandfather Aryeh G died, the family gave his magnificent menorah to Chana, his daughter. When she died, the family gave the menorah to her son Joseph. Aryeh was a skilled machinst who had survived the Holocaust and was living in a Dangendorph D.P (displaced person) camp in Germany. Aryeh used his machinist skills in the D.P camp to construct a menorah out of machine parts. He used this every year until his death in 1963.
This is special to the Levie family because they still use this every year on Chanukah.
Candlesticks
Poland
Ayelet R\'s maternal great-grandmother, Paula Cappell, risked her life in the year 1944 to go back to her parents\' apartment to retrieve her mother\'s silver candlesticks after her parents were taken by the Nazis. They would both later perish in the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Tightly gripping the candlesticks, she went down to the street to find a Nazi officer near the front of the building. Suddenly, a top of one candlestick fell to the ground. Paula immediately realized that picking it up would draw the attention of the officer to her, and she would meet the same fate as her parents: death. So she left it on the ground. To this day, it is missing one top, which serves every Shabbos as a reminder to Ayelet\'s maternal grandmother, whom the candlesticks now belong to, of the legacy represented by the candlesticks. The candlesticks have been handed down for two generations and will be given to the oldest daughter in the family for each generation to come. First it will be handed to Ayelet’s mother and eventually to her, to use and cherish as a memory of those who perished and the ability of their family to survive. “Besides the people I love in my family, the candlesticks are my most valued possession,” said Ayelet\'s grandmother.
Though both Ayelet\'s great-great-grandmother and great-grandmother who first possessed the candlesticks are no longer alive, their spirits and memory linger on through the significant candlesticks.
Menorah
United States
This precious chanukiah belonged to Shira G\'s paternal great-grandparents, Herman and Bertha G. Herman G died in November of 1940, and the chanukiah was handed down to Shira\'s paternal grandfather Herbert G. He gave it to Shira\'s father, Stephen, circa 1981. What made this brass chanukiah relevant to Shira was that she received a gift in connection with her American Girl doll, Rebecca Rubin. Rebecca is a doll fashioned according to Jewish culture of approximately 1914.
The miniature doll\'s Chanukiah is a replica of the one Shira\'s family uses every year on Chanukah.