A miraculous menorah that has come to symbolize Jewish perseverance has arrived at the front lines of the war between Israel and Hamas.
The historical piece is famous for an iconic 1931 photograph taken by Rachel Posner, a Jewish mother of three who lived in Kiel, Germany.
The challenging snapshot shows the menorah on a window sill, with all eight candles lit, while a Nazi party flag flies ominously outside.
On Sunday, December 10, the fourth day of Hanukkah, Posner’s great-grandson Raziel Gilo, a 35-year-old Israel Defense Forces reservist, carried the menorah to the Gaza border to inspire his unit.
“We are facing a brutal and terrifying enemy that wants to destroy Israel,” Gilo told The Post. “This enemy does not separate a religious Jew from a non-religious Jew. “They want to kill all the Jews because they are Jews, exactly like the Nazis tried to do.”
His great-grandmother Rachel, along with her rabbi husband and three young children, lived opposite the Nazi headquarters in Kiel and were forced to flee Germany in 1933.
Jewish mother Rachel Posner took this photo from her home in front of Nazi headquarters in Kiel, Germany, on the last day of Hanukkah in 1931. Yad Vashem Photo Archive Posner’s grandson Raziel displayed the menorah and photograph in an IDF base on December 10, the fourth day of Hanukkah 2023. Courtesy of Raziel Gil
They arrived in Palestine during Hanukkah 1934, escaping persecution with the simple brass menorah in tow, as well as Rachel’s photograph.
On the back of the photo, he wrote what his granddaughter Nava Gilo now calls “prophetic” comments: “Death to Judah, so says the flag/Judah will live forever, so responds the light.”
Since 1974, when Posner sent the image to the Kiel museum, it has become an iconic symbol. Dani Dayan, Israel’s former consul general in New York and current president of Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, previously told The Post that he posted the photo of the menorah on his social media channels every year for Hanukkah.
The Posner family menorah is now on display at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Israel. Yad Vashem Photo Archive On the back of the photograph, Rachel Posner wrote: “Death to Judah, so says the flag/Judah will live forever, so answers the light.” Yad Vashem Photo Archive
Last year, Nava, who lives in the central Israeli city of Rehovot, and his brother Yehuda Mansbach brought the menorah to Germany for the first time in nearly 90 years and met with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin to turn it on the second day. of Hanukkah.
It is usually displayed at Yad Vashem, except on Hanukkah, when the Posner family brings it to one of their homes and Mansbach takes it to Israeli schools to share “our important story and message” with children, Nava said. “It is very important that this does not remain stagnant in my generation.”
Rabbi Dr. Akiva Posner, his wife Rachel, and their three children: (left to right) Shulamit, Tova, and Avraham Chaim, at the Kiel train station upon leaving Germany in 1933. Yad Vashem Photo Archive
“It is surprising the difference between the last Hanukkah [and this year]Nava said. “This Hanukkah there is a new dimension to the story. The war reminds us that we still have a long way to go, but we travel it with our heads held high and with great conviction. As my grandmother wrote: ‘Judah will live forever.’”
This year, Nava’s son Raziel, a rabbi in his unit, asked to take the menorah to a base near the Gaza border where, on Sunday, he pulled the treasured family keepsake from his backpack and shared the story of its survival.
“To continue our human life we have to destroy evil. We cannot accept it or swallow it: we have to destroy evil,” Raziel, who lives in Lod, told his troops as he lit the candles. “These days we see it so clearly that if we don’t win, darkness will swallow us up. But this will not happen. We are here thanks to previous generations who fought against evil and we will win…
In 2022, Posner’s grandson, Yehuda Mansbach (right), brought the menorah from Israel to Germany, where he lit it in front of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and First Lady Elke Büdenbender. Bundesregierung / Sandra Steins
“This is a long-standing war between the forces of light and the forces of darkness and [we] I believe there will come a day when the light will definitely win. This is the meaning of the little light of the Hanukkah candle… My great-grandmother saw two things: one, that the candle will win, and second, that it is the eternity of Israel.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn