Chanukah - Light in the Darkest Times - Rabbi Avi Wiesenfeld

at the end of World War II a young Jewish soldier in the US Army found himself marching through Western Europe liberating towns and Villages that were in German control at one point winegar's unit was assigned to a small German Village with orders to secure the town search for any hiding Nazis and help the villages in any way that they could possibly need one night out on patrol winegar saw a slim figure running through the field just outside the village he gave Chase and shouted stop or I'll shoot the figure ducked behind the tree winegar waited and eventually the figure came out and looked around to see if he was still being pursued figuring that the soldier was no longer nearby he went to a spot near a large tree and started to dig wieger waited until the figure had finished digging and removed an object from the ditch then he was once more on the Move winegar stepped out from a nearby patch and said stop or I'll shoot the figure ran winegar decided not to shoot but rather to try and catch the figure he soon caught up with him and tackled him to the ground to his surprise he found that he had captured a young boy with a beautiful manure in his hand the Mana fell to the ground and winegar picked up the Mana the the boy tried to grab it back shouting give it back to me it's mine Wier assured the boy don't worry I'm one of your friends furthermore I'm actually Jewish as well this boy who had just survived several years of the Holocaust had been in a concentration camp and was distrustful of any man in a uniform he had been forced to watch the shooting of his father and he had no idea what it ever had become of his mother winegar calmed down the boy brought him back to his Barrack and in the weeks that followed he took the young boy whose name is were doid under his wing as they became closer and closer winegar's heart went out to the young boy had lost everything in the wall and needed a stable home in which to grow up the soldier offered David the opportunity to come back with him to New York after his duty was finished and doid gladly accepted wiar went through the necessary paperwork and eventually adopted do it after the war winegar settled down and became an active member of the New York Jewish community and one of his acquaintances was actually working in the Jewish Museum and he took a look one day at D's mana and he said this is gorgeous this has to be for everyone it's worth a fortune and he offered doid $50,000 for the manua doid refused generous offer but he said no this Mona has been in my family for over 200 years there's no amount of money that would ever make him sell it that year when haneka came David and his newly adopted father lit the manura in the window of their home in New York City the candles burned bright and for doid it was a memory of his family and everything they represented of happier times they watched the manura burn eventually doid went to to his room wiar remained by the candles suddenly there was a knock on the door wiar went to answer it and standing by the door he found a woman with a very strong German accent who said she was walking down the street and she saw this Mano in the window she said we once had a Manoa just like that in our family and she had never seen anything like it could she take a closer look Wier invited her inside and said that the manura belonged to his adopted son and perhaps he could come downstairs and tell her more about it wio went upstairs and called David from his room to talk to the woman David walked down the steps stopped and screamed mama and he couldn't believe it he ran into her arms the mother that he had no idea anything about was standing in front of him they embraced the manura represented that incredible time when they reunited when it comes to the young of Hanah what an opportunity what warmth we see within the candles but more than that it represents that we reunite we reunite with our creator we connect back with the we light the candle within the darkness in the midst of the winter and we say we're looking for your connection we remember the Nissim we remember the tremendous Miracles that you gave to us and now we want that connection we want that warmth we want to be embraced once again by the RAB to Listen to More by Rabbi AI weisenfeld [Music] visit