During the Holocaust, Nazis were rounding up all the women they could find so they could kill them. They told the Gentile German women that after the Jewish women were gone, they would be able to take anything that belonged to them and keep it for themselves. Many of the German women were too eager and greedy to wait until the Jewish women were deported and killed. Two German women ran to a nearby Jewish neighbor’s home and met her at the door. She was wearing a lovely fur coat and had a suitcase in hand. The German women ripped the coat off her. They dug into its many pockets and pulled out silver shabbos candlesticks, a menorah, Kiddush cups, a seder plate and more. Other pockets had jewelry and other valuables stuffed deep within.
But as they searched, they found something even more amazing: a baby! One of the German women, who couldn’t have children, told her friend she would give her her share of the loot in exchange for the Jewish woman’s baby. So the deal was made.
Years later that baby grew up to become a respected doctor whose mother was very proud of her. But the day finally arrived when the mother died. Reluctantly, a close friend told the doctor the secret of her identity, for this friend was the mother’s partner in the cruel act against the Jewish woman years before.
The daughter didn’t believe what she was hearing, so the friend told her to look among her mother’s possessions for the necklace the baby was wearing when she was found in the coat. The doctor searched through her mother’s belongings, and indeed found a necklace with Hebrew letters on it. She was upset and confused and decided to go to Israel to learn about her true heritage.
While in Israel she met a group of yeshiva students and asked what her necklace said. They replied that the name on it was Esther.
The doctor remained in Israel, embraced her Jewish heritage, married and had children of her own. One day, in Jerusalem, she heard a bomb go off. She rushed to the scene of the disaster to help. An elderly man under a table was wailing, “My granddaughter, my granddaughter, please find her!” The doctor found a young girl in need of medical attention, treated her wounds and reunited her with her grandfather.
As they were waiting for transport to a hospital, the doctor held the girl in her arms—and noticed that she was wearing a necklace identical to her own. So the doctor asked the old man where his granddaughter had gotten the necklace. He said that, back in Europe, he had been a goldsmith and had made two identical necklaces for his two daughters. One of his daughters was this girl’s mother, he explained, and the other had perished in the Holocaust.
Tears streamed down the doctor’s cheeks as she pulled her own necklace from inside her shirt and said, “Tata, I am Esther, your daughter!” The man was astonished and hugged and kissed his long-lost child.
This true story had great impact on me because it shows how Hashem cares for and watches over each individual. It was not a coincidence that Esther was raised by a German lady and that her friend revealed her identity. It was not a coincidence that she was a doctor and had the responsibility to help the wounded. It was not a coincidence that her father and niece were hurt, and that she was the one who found them. G-d orchestrates everything. He makes no mistakes! We have to look for the good in our lives even in very challenging times. We must have faith and trust in Him, because everything he does is for the best, and we are only a part of His master plan.
Chaya Brocha Pekier lives in Milwaukee and is in 7th grade at Yeshiva Elementary School.
Esther's Story
The Coalition for Jewish Learning is the education program of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.