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A Personal and Confidential Note

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In September 1955, Rabbi Martin Kessler penned an intimate pastoral letter to Jewish women in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, sharing a treasured candle-lighting prayer composed by his mother—a text that would bridge Holocaust memory with American Jewish renewal. The prayer, written in English interspersed with Yiddish phrases, offered both practical religious instruction and a poignant memorial to Holocaust victims, while expressing traditional hopes for family wellbeing, prosperity, and continued faith. Through analysis of this rabbinical correspondence and related primary sources, the document illuminates how Holocaust survivors and their families wove together grief, religious leadership, and community guidance as they rebuilt Jewish life in post-war America. The prayer's dual function as both liturgical practice and commemoration exemplifies how immigrant Jewish communities preserved and adapted their religious traditions, particularly women's devotional practices, while processing profound personal and collective losses. This examination of religious correspondence reveals the delicate balance between maintaining spiritual continuity and crafting new American Jewish identities in the shadow of the Holocaust.

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    Published 1955

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    Martin Kessler