This evening on the way home from the Chanukah celebration in Marlborough, I said to my children, "let's take a drive down Route 20 and maybe someone else will be cheered up by the Menorah on our car". We drove down Boston Post Road and pulled in to the Rugged Bear Plaza to check on the large Menorah that is there and my son Mendel started adjusting the correct number of lit bulbs.
All of a sudden a car pulls in, and the driver rolls down the window and asks to chat with us about our Menorah.
We then had a nice and meaningful conversation which at times became emotional as he shared his story of how he grew up, and was the poorest boy in the class who couldn't afford synagogue membership and couldn't go to services. He described how the morning after Yom Kippur he was teased by his friends for being the only Jewish boy in the class who didn't go to services (as they couldn't afford the tickets).
He emotionally remembered how his mother would get him dressed in a suit on Yom Kippur and then walk him to the courtyard of the Synagogue as the services were ending so that they could walk home and pretend that they had been there with everyone else so that he wouldn't get teased the next day in school about being so poor.
Between these stories and getting repeatedly kicked out of Hebrew School in the years that followed, his connection with Jewish tradition had faded over the years.
Yet when I offered him a Menorah and Candles so that he could once again light a Menorah and celebrate Chanukah, he graciously and warmly accepted the gift and was excited to once again kindle a Menorah.
We exchanged numbers and I wished him a Happy Chanukah but not before I invited him over and certainly this story will continue....
We said goodnight and my children who had heard and been a part of this moving conversation said to me, "that was so special, now we know why we just drove down Route 20 with a Car Menorah on our roof, so that we could meet this gentleman and help brighten his Chanukah".
A little light can dispel a lot of darkness....