The Story Behind The Photo

I used this photo to illustrate tonight's post on Shiloh Musings.

I took the picture in Arizona, in my parents' apartment.  They live in a modern "old age home." It's not a Jewish one.  This is their little "Jewish spot," with my mother's Shabbat candlesticks, a Chanukiyah, Chanuka Menora, Havdala spice box and that little "statue."

My parents were never religiously observant, but they were always strongly Jewish in identification and culture.  They're of the generation that shed Jewish observance to be more American.  That didn't stop my father from letting (or allowing) people to know he was Jewish when serving in the American Navy during World War Two.  They called him "The Jew."

No doubt people who enter their apartment notice this arrangement.