Priorities in Order

This past erev Shabbat I was visiting with a dear lady in my community who is a Russian Jew. She has been through her fair share of suffering both in and out of communist rule. She was showing me some pictures of her mother when she was young and of her aunt with whom she came to America with. Then she showed me her Chanukah menorah. It was nice, nothing fancy, just a plain, nicely sized, servicable brass menorah. She held it up and said, "When my aunt and I come to America, we buy three things. We buy a washer and dryer and a menorah. Now we in America and we can have those things. We buy this menorah because nobody can point at us and say 'You Jew!' We were free." I looked at this once plain menorah and now I saw the most beautiful of menorahs...perhaps as lovely as the one from the Beit Ha'Mikdash. A symbol of priorities in order and first things first. A symbol of miracles and freedom in so many ways. To the Maccabees, to the Jewish people, and to a dear Russian Lady who is finding her way closer to Hashem and has proven that no matter what, the 'pintele Yid' shines bright within each and every one of the Jewish People.