December 27, 2002

Israel   |    Hebrew Union College   |    Travel   |    Family   |    Fun   |   Thoughts   |    Recent Photos   |    Home   


Erev tov (good evening),

It was a beautiful day in Jerusalem -- the sun was shining, it was warm enough to walk around without my ski hat (that I sometimes even wear inside!), and it was Friday... almost Shabbat. Challah(Shabbat bread)-baking, soup-making, cleaning, and an exercise class at the Y. Then it was off to Shabbat services and then on to dinner at our friend Jay's (the Dad of Motek, our canine guest last week). Like I said, it was a beautiful day.

As I anticipated (based on what I mentioned in last week's update), there wasn't much fanfare around Christmas here. Mark and I found a Christmas Eve concert to go to at the Y, however, and we really enjoyed it. The auditorium was filled with mostly Westerners (perhaps Pilgrims?) and the whole program was done in English. It was amazing to be sitting in Jerusalem listening to songs and scriptures all about this area... 2,000-plus years after the fact. For those of you who celebrated this week, I hope your Christmas holiday was very special and meaningful.

This week was the bar mitzvah of Yair Shachar. Our connection goes back over a half decade. But wait, doesn't a bar mitzvah take place at 13 and aren't I only 30? Yes and yes. What I mean, of course, is that our families have been intertwined for the past 57 years. In 1945, Ernest Michel, Yair's grandfather, was finally free. After years in concentration camps, struggling to survive, escaping his fate several times (sometimes by physically escaping his surroundings), Ernest returned to the only place he knew to call home -- Mannheim, Germany. It was there he met my Grandfather, Albert Hutler, then a Lieutenant in the US Army and responsible for the Displaced Persons (DP) camp. DP camps were set up to assist those who made it through the Holocaust, but didn't know where their families were, had no place to live, no direction to head. Although they didn't share a common language or certainly any common experiences, here were two Jewish men meeting at the end of one of the most trying periods in our history. One there to help, one there to get helped. One whose family happened to emigrate to the United States years earlier, and one whose family most likely perished at Aushiwitz - except for his sister, who also escaped. They fell into a fast friendship, these two, and Grandpa Al would later play a significant role in Ernie's emigration to the US and to his subsequent career in Jewish philanthropy.

So Yair's bar mitzvah was of special significance -- to both our families. Especially for Ernest, though, a man who at one time probably didn't know how he was going to make it to the next day. How very much it meant for him to see his grandson fulfill the Jewish tradition of bar mitzvah in Jerusalem. And I was honored to be there, to be a part of the celebration, a representative of a past connection and a witness to triumph. And one day I'm sure Yair will be helping Mark and I celebrate a similar milestone.

Take good care, my thoughts are with you.

Love,
Rachel Ann

p.s. We have some updated pictures on our website, including one of Yair when we celebrated Chanukah with his family ... https://millers18.tripod.com/recent.html

Back to December e-mails
January e-mails

Back to Thoughts Page

Link to Israel page Link to Hebrew Union College page Link to travel page Link to family page Link to fun page Link to reflections page Link to recent photos page