By: Chaya Sora Jungreis-Gertzulin
Chanukah lights. Lights that connect us to the past, to a story that happened over 2,000 years ago, yet speaks to us today.
As we kindle the menorah, we recite the brachah “Who made miracles for our fathers, in those days, at this time.” A blessing that makes us one with our ancestors.
To this day we continue to celebrate the Jewish spirit. A spirit that survives the ages.
In our lifetime, too, we have seen modern day Maccabees. Jewish souls who defied spiritual oppression, and remained connected to HaShem, no matter what.
I.I. (Yisroel Yitzchak) Cohen, a Holocaust survivor, wrote about his Chanukah experience under Nazi tyranny. Even while interred in various concentration camps, Mr. Cohen was able to keep track of the Jewish calendar. With a group of inmates, he reminisced about Chanukah celebrations gone by. Memories of menorahs, latkes and dreidels. How their fathers would light their menorahs with such fervor and simcha. They all longed to feel the warmth of Chanukah. But in a concentration camp?
A plan was hatched. One offered the small dab of his daily ration of margarine to serve as oil. For wicks, they unraveled threads from their ragged concentration camp uniforms. All they needed now was a menorah.
Mr. Cohen was somehow able to sneak in a spoon. A spoon that would serve as the menorah. With the margarine and threads placed on the makeshift menorah, they lit the “wicks” and recited the brachos. They sang the Chanukah songs, and their souls soared. Modern day Maccabees, bringing spiritual light to the darkest of dark.
Mr. Cohen survived the war. He built a beautiful family. Children and grandchildren. For the rest of his life, every Chanukah, as he lit his silver menorah, he placed his Auschwitz spoon alongside it. The triumph of the Jewish soul.
Yosef Mendelevich was a refusenik in the former Soviet Union who spent 12 years in the Gulag for defying Communist rule and observing Torah and mitzvos. Even in solitary confinement, he kept track of the calendar, and realized that Chanukah was approaching.
Mendelevich identified with the Maccabees’ fight for spiritual freedom, and resolved to somehow have Chanukah, even in prison. He managed to get a match from one of the guards, and pulled threads from his prison garb, which he braided together to form wicks.
There were just a few days to Chanukah, but he had no idea how he would find a menorah. He eyed a broken piece of brick on his cell’s floor, and with it, etched an image of a menorah upon the cinderblock walls. When Chanukah arrived, he lodged the wicks into the crevices of the wall, and struck his match. While it remained lit for only a few seconds, his heart was filled with renewed hope.
Mendelevich was freed as a result of massive international pressure and protests. He received a hero’s welcome upon arriving in Israel. A true modern day Maccabee, who continued his Jewish studies, becoming an inspiration for the Russian community to this day.
Yuli Edelstein speaks about his imprisonment in the former Soviet Union. A Prisoner of Zion, arrested for teaching Hebrew to fellow Jews.
December 19, 1984. Edelstein was already in solitary for three months, when he was summoned to hear his verdict. His sentence for engaging in illegal religious activities was three years of hard labor in Siberia.
One would think that Edelstein would fall apart. Instead, he made a quick calculation upon hearing the judge announce the date, and figured out that it must be Chanukah. He hadn’t seen his wife while jailed in solitary, and had no idea when he would see her again. Twenty-six year old Yuli cried out in the courtroom, “Tanya, what night is it?”
At first, his wife didn’t get it. The guards began to whisk him away. Once again, Edelstein called out, “What night is it?” Tanya now understood. “The second night, Yuli, the second night.”
That night, Yuli held two burning matches together and stood by the prison window, holding on until the fire singed his fingers.
Yuli never gave up. His religious convictions grew stronger and stronger, even under the harshest conditions of the Soviet Gulag. After he was freed, he and Tanya emigrated to Israel, where he completely immersed himself in advocating for the needs of the Russian community. He ultimately rose to become a government minister and Speaker of the Knesset.
Three Chanukah heroes.
Three men, who like the Maccabees generations before them, fought the battle against spiritual oppression.
Three men who lit up the darkness.
Three men who made a difference.
The power of the Jewish soul.
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V’heyeh Brachah…Be A Blessing.
HaShem’s words to our patriarch Avraham. Words that speak of a life mission, to make the world a better place. To be there for others. To reach out to all those around us with a listening ear, an understanding heart, a kind smile. To touch another neshamah.
Before my mother, Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis a”h, passed away, she wrote what was to be her final book – BE A BLESSING. My mother wrote of how we so often seek brachos, blessings. Brachos for good health, brachos for parnassah – sustenance, brachos for shidduchim, children, shalom bayis – peace in the home, and so much more. Yet, we forget HaShem’s message to Avraham. The lesson that our Creator has chosen a mission for each of us, a message to live our life being a blessing.
From Avraham to Avraham. While V’heyeh brachah was HaShem’s message to our father Avraham, it was also the way of life that my Zeide, HaRav Avraham HaLevi Jungreis zt”l, raised my mother and her siblings.
My mother writes of the difficult dark days she endured in Bergen-Belsen. But even there my Zeide gave her a mission – to put a smile on her face. Zeide explained that a little girl with a smile could bring joy to others, even if only for a fleeting moment.
These words guided my mother throughout her life.
As a nation, we are experiencing our own darkness. A surge of anti-Semitism, up 125%. As individuals, we all have our moments of difficulties and challenges.
This Chanukah, let us light up the dark. Read BE A BLESSING. With the Rebbetzin’s sage advice and timeless message to us all, we can bring ohr l’choshech, light to darkness, by truly being a blessing.
Shabbat Shalom, Ah freilichen Chanukah, and Chodesh Tov.
Chaya Sora can be reached at [email protected]
This article was written L’zecher Nishmas / In Memory Of HaRav Meshulem ben HaRav Osher Anshil HaLevi, zt”l and Rebbetzin Esther bas HaRav Avraham HaLevi, zt”l
