Buying Something Special

I can pass up most opportunities to spend money without thinking twice. Today we visited an artists’ colony outside the Old City of Jerusalem. After spending time looking at beautiful but expensive jewelry, I thought it would be just one more experience of “just looking”. That is, until I visited the studio of Emil Stenfeld.

I was immediately attracted to a collection of some of the most beautiful menorahs I had ever seen. Each piece was different. Each piece could have won a design competition. Mr. Stenfeld took great pride in describing each menorah -- giving its name, telling us the history of its design, and showing all the possible arrangements of the movable pieces.

The menorah “Reflections” was quickly my favorite. Not only was it well designed, but it could be used year around to support candles for multiple occasions. However, it was well outside our budget for souvenirs for this trip.

We ultimately ordered our own version of “Reflections”, choosing a combination of aluminum and stainless steel. The artist said it would require three full days to make the menorah. We settled on an inscription including our names, Jerusalem, and 2006 to be placed on the bottom of the piece.

We will receive our menorah in two months time. I expect we will use it every Hanukkah for the rest of our lives and many Shabbats in between, each time remembering this visit to Jerusalem.