Emily Klausner, ’22

These are my Great-Great-Grandmother Sara’s Silver Candlesticks. Sara and her mother had to escape Poland and their home within a few minutes of an SS Soldier coming to their door and warning them to run and not come back. All they took was the clothing on their backs, and Sara’s mother grabbed her mothers’ silver candlesticks which she had used every Shabbat before her death. The candlesticks were the family heirloom that predated World War I and were made in Poland. Sara carried those candles sticks from Poland into the woods where she hid with her mother for weeks and eventually escaped to Russia. They lit those candles sticks every Shabbat. After World War II, they carried those candlesticks back through Europe to South America. She made sure to light them every Shabbat she could. When Sara’s grandmother passed away, Sara began lighting the candles each week. When Sara and her husband Abraham moved to America to live near their children Ana and Isaac, the candlesticks came with her. Upon Sara’s death, Ana (my maternal grandmother) started lighting them and has not missed one Shabbat since then. These candlesticks survived World War I, World War II and traveled across the world and back. These candlesticks remind me and my family to stay hopeful even when times get tough. No matter how hard the situation is to overcome, we will always be reminded of Sara and her silver candlesticks.