Susan Bloomfield places the menorah on display at the Ottawa Torah Centre.

Susan Bloomfield places the menorah on display at the Ottawa Torah Centre.
Photo Credit: Ashley Burke/CBC

Christian keepers of a Jewish menorah donate it to Ottawa’s new synagogue

Susan Bloomfield had always cherished the menorah that was passed down through two generations in her Christian family.  But she did not know the history of the sacred object at the heart of Hanukah celebrations.

Her mother, who had given it to her, was always reluctant to talk about it, and would change the subject even when asked directly by her grandsons, who were becoming curious.

When Susan Bloomfield recently informed her 83-year old mother that she was going to donate the menorah, which had never been lit, to the new synagogue in her Ottawa neighbourhood, her mother began to share its story;  a story of sacrifice, terror and endurance.

CBC producer Ashley Burke, sat down with Susan Bloomfield earlier this month and recorded the story of the menorah, and the families it united.

The menorah was brought from Den Haag, Holland, by Bloomfield’s grandfather.  Like the family it originally belonged to, it survived the German occupation.  During this Hanukah season it was lit for the first time in more than seven decades. and Susan Bloomfield was there to experience the light.

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