On Ḥanukka 1932, just one month before Hitler came to power, Rachel Posner, wife of Rabbi Dr. Akiva Posner, took this photo of the family Ḥanukkiya from the window ledge of the family home looking out onto the building across the road decorated with Nazi flags.

On the back of the photograph, Rachel Posner wrote in German:

Ḥanukka 5692 (1932)

“Death to Judah”

So the flag says

“Judah will live forever”

So the light answers

Rabbi Dr. Akiva Posner, doctor of philosophy from Halle-Wittenberg University, served from 1924 to 1933 as the last rabbi of the community of Kiel, Germany. After he wrote a protest letter in the local newspaper expressing indignation at the posters that had appeared in the city, “Entrance to Jews Forbidden,” he was summoned by the chairman of the local branch of the Nazi party to participate in a public debate. The event took place under heavy police guard and was reported by the local press.

When the tension and violence in the city intensified, the rabbi, his wife Rachel, and their three children were forced to flee their home and make their way to Eretz Yisrael. Before their departure, Rabbi Posner was able to convince many of his congregants to leave as well and indeed most managed to leave for Eretz Yisrael or the United States. The Posner family left Germany in 1933 and arrived in Eretz Yisrael in 1934.

Some eighty years later, Akiva and Rachel Posner’s descendants continue to light Ḥanukka candles using the same Ḥanukkiya that was brought to Israel from Kiel. On Ḥanukka 5770 (2009), Akiva Mansbach, dressed in the uniform of the Israel Defense Forces, saluted and read out a poem he had written in Hebrew, inspired by the poem written by his great-grandmother Rachel Posner in 1932.

Translated it reads:

In 5692 the Ḥanukkiyais in exile, it stands in the window / It challenges the party flag that doesn’t yet rule / “Judah die!” it says / And Grandma’s rhyme responds / In its own tongue, without despair: So the flag says, but our candle answers and declares / “Judah will live forever.”

In 5770 the Ḥanukkiyastands in the window once again / Facing the flag of the ruling State / The descendant Akiva, named for his great-grandfather / Salutes through the window and lights the Ḥanukkiya*/ Grandmother, give thanks above and say a prayer / That “the Redeemer will come to Zion” and not delay.*

YadVashem.org

Point to Ponder Why do you think this photograph has brought so many people comfort?