Translation by Yehoshua Siskin
Tonight marks 84 years since Kristallnacht, the "Night of Broken Glass." Rabbi Eliezer Chirik, a Chabad emissary in the German city of Nuremberg, tells the following story related to that infamous historical event.
In 1938, on Kristallnacht, thousands of synagogues, Jewish homes and stores, were destroyed in a pogrom throughout Germany. On that night, the great synagogue of Nuremberg was also destroyed. A mob of young Germans went wild until the Nuremberg synagogue lay in ruins. One of those young Germans was a child who took a large menorah from the synagogue and kept it with him for years. A few weeks ago, the nephew of that German boy suddenly approached Rabbi Chitrik and presented him with a golden menorah and the following letter:
"My uncle took this menorah from your burning synagogue. He was ten years old at the time and paid for this theft with beatings that he received from his father. His father demanded that he return the menorah to Jewish neighbors, but the entire Jewish community fled, disappeared, and was decimated in the coming years. I am now happy to return the menorah to the people to whom it belongs. I would like you to receive it as a token of peace and reconcilement, and I wish you and your community in Nuremberg much success."
I asked the emotional Rabbi Chitrik what he thought was the meaning of this story. "84 years passed, but the stolen menorah was finally returned to its rightful place," the rabbi said. "For me, this is an important symbol because this is precisely what our mission in Nuremberg is all about: to return the light of Judaism to everyone from whom this light was stolen for many long years."
Thanks to Yisrael Groveis who brought us this story.
