Grandma Bea’s Lucky Candle Sticks, A New Year, A New Book, A New Publishing Company

My daughter Robyn Reinhart just posted this photo on Facebook with the caption: “Grandma Bea's Shabbat candle sticks warm our hearts at Auntie Jeni's house for yummy dinner.” These were the very same candlestick from North Bergen, NJ –our home on 75th Street – the candlesticks I saw every Friday evening at Shabbas, with Mom covering her head, and with her hands covering her closed eyes deep in prayer -- with a holy welcoming-wave-like motion -- bringing the glow and warmth of the candles into her essence, as she recited the Shabbas prayer.

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They were also used during Passover, Channukah, Rosh Hashannah, and for three amazing gala Bar Mitzvahs (1952, 1957, 1958), all day open houses with hundreds of guests until the wee hours. Those candlesticks witnessed our births, each child’s holidays, milestones, joys and smiles from start to finish, and now they will grace key events for my daughters, their soul mates, granddaughters and grandsons – and this is written, this is at it should be. I stare at the photos in awe, locked into images and memories of my childhood and youth, a selfless, totally devoted mother who gave her life, her being, her soul to her children, and on Friday Shabbas we welcomed the Shabbas bride – the Shabbas Queen -- into our home, a happy home; and every Shabbas sans work and care and stress, with reading and conversation, and forgetting the trials, tribulations and stress of the week, we glimpsed a little hint, a tiny preview, of what was in store for us in heaven. These are not any old candlesticks, these are not ordinary; these were my Mom’s. These were our family’s, no one else’s. When they are used for a Tell function today, with the woman of the home using them in the exact same way, for the same purpose, Mother Bea is alive and well, and present beside us, sharing the nachas and joy of the moment, pleased with her family for all eternity. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE--- L’SHANA TOVA –May this year be the healthiest, happiest and most prosperous of your life! Hugs --- Jay americanastampcoin.com This is my friend Melissa Davis’ new website, for her new publishing company – The Beatle Works Ltd Her first book (co-authored with Prof. Michael Broken, PH.D.) , The Beatles Bibliography: -- A New Guide To The Literature – With the richest, most beautiful book cover since the Guttenberg Bible. 606 pages, 3,000 reviews of every Beatle book, article, blog and website unearthed for 50 years; for libraries, high school and university music departments, publishing houses, and legions of Beatles fans around the world. Thought I would share. The birth and launch of a new publishing company with the birth and start of a New Year; both destined for greatness!

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