One Candle

Over a holiday meal, with candles lit and the house full of people, a family turns to a tale that Grandma and Great-Aunt Rose recount every year. Each generation receives it as a story of endurance through the Holocaust's bleakest years, and of the determination it took to keep observing Hanukkah with whatever little the family still had.

The account moves through the family's memories of hardship and resilience, and it shows how customs and kinship can carry a people through terrible times. Its message is that remembering both suffering and survival gives younger generations a reason to look ahead with hope.