the war on terror, page-82

re: snook:the war on terror - yak Yak,

I saw your post of the other day but thanks for the repost.

My late mother when she used to light the Sabbath candles took a few minutes doing it. Firstly she lit one for every member of the family, not the grandchildren, just my brothers, father and of course herself.

Every now and then tears would rolls down her cheek and as a kid I used to ask her why she was crying. Of course she told me that I wouldn't understand but as I got older she explained that at the moment of lighting, she would think of the positive things in life and the good things she wished for us all.

About the tears, that was at the times when she reflected on her life in the camps, when she last saw her parents, when her brothers and sisters were snatched away or selected to another queue from whence they never returned.

That part of her shed the tears I think, just about every Friday night.

Why she still had faith in humanity is beyond me, but as we came back from shul, and sang the Sholom Aleichems, and the Eishat Chayils and my mother beamed and radiated absolute joy, it never ceased to amaze me, of the resilience of the human spirit, but at the same time re-enforced in my own mind, never again.

And she was only one of the millions of Yiddeshe Mommas out there, nothing special, a regular old lady, who just happened to be my mom.