Thursday, December 22, 2005

   ugh...
Feeling MAJORLY sick...so, I'm just going to post a little story for you all to read today. I have three stories, so you guys get one each day for Christmas. ^^

"The Markovitz family was one of just a few Jewish families in a quiet suburban neighborhood in Pennsylvania where Christmas decorations lit up the street. In their home, however, an illuminated menorah in the window reminded everyone that is was also Hanukkah.

Around five o'clock one morning, Judy Markovitz was awakended by the shattering of glass. "My husband and I ran downstairs and saw or window had been broken and the menorah was on the floor. The frame was shattered. they must have used a bat. Whoever did it had to squeeze behind bushes to reach it."

For the Markovitz family, it was an assult compounded by personal history. "both of my parents were in the camps at Auschwitz; my husband's mother was there also," explained Judy, who came to America from the Ukraine in 1974. "All of my mother's family died. There are things we don't talk about, but I know older people like her need to feel safe, so I didn't tell her much about this. And I tried to isolate my children from it, too.

"We were home much of that day because my husband had to get the window replaced," she recalled. "Neighbors kept approaching us to say how sorry they were."

One of those neighbors, Lisa Keeling, now living in North Carolina, explained their thinking. "I know that a menorah represents a miracle by our God before our faith was known as Christianity. I knwo of a king who told the Jews they couldn't practice their religion. When they reclaimed Jerusalem and saw the Templehad been desecrated, they wanted to reconstruct it, but found only a tiny bit of iol for a night. They decided to use it anyway and it burned eight nights. That was a miracle from the same God we worship, and why anyone would take a symbol of his love and use it for hatred, I don't understand."

There were things the Markovitzes did not understand as well. After workmen repaired their shattered window, the family went to judy's brother's home, usaware that their neighbors were working determinedly to repair something else.

That evening, when the Markovitzes came home from their visit and turned onto their street, they were met by an extraordinary sight: Nearly every home on the block was adorned by an illuminated menorah.

Vicky Markovitz, Judy's daughter, now 18, remembers those glowing windows as an affimation of compassion and community. "It was as if they said, 'If you break their windows, you will have to break ours.'" And the light spread."


Even if you don't like religion, I think that's a very nice story. A story of people actually being kind to one another...a good example to live by. Ja ne!
----------------------------------
No pics today...can't think...ugh...ow...*dies*

Look at PREVIOUS post for pics, since i posted it later than usual.
Comments (5)