28 November 2021 – The above is a painting by Yoel Judowitz, inspired by a famous photo taken in 1933 by Rachel Posner, a young woman in Kiel, Germany married to Rabbi Dr. Akiva Posner, who had set up a Menorah on a windowsill opposite the local Nazi headquarters:
On the back of the photo she wrote:
“Chanukah, 5692. ‘Judea dies’, thus says the banner. ‘Judea will live forever’, thus respond the lights”.
Yoel became a friend and contact during the filming of my Holocaust series. He said:
“I imagined what the menorah would have looked like that night after it was lit.
The contrast between warmth, faith, and light versus cold, soulless darkness.
It has become an annual Chanukah tradition for me to post my painting on LinkedIn and my blog.
It feels like I just posted this yesterday … time flies.
Wishing all a Chanuka filled with sweetness, light, and inspiration.
May we all find the strength to overcome the darkness, individually and collectively”.
Yesterday my film crew and I did a Chanukah special which will broadcast in about a week. In closing I noted that given the heightened political division and isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic I appreciate even more the religious obligation to light candles, as a way of publicly showing light, and solidarity.
The metaphor of light is a powerful statement – in a time we lack powerful statements.
And the menorah? The family fled Germany in 1933. Both the Posner family’s original menorah and the original photograph are on permanent display in the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Center in Jerusalem. But each year, the menorah is returned to the family for one week when Rachel and Akiva’s descendants continue to light the Hanukkah candles using the same menorah that was brought to Israel from Kiel almost 90 years ago.