The Hanukkah Elves are a secretive folk. They scrub and dust your hanukkiah so it's perfectly clean when you find it. They sprinkle secret spices onto your latkes to make them taste fine, fine, fine. They'll turn your teenager's grape juice into low-alcoholic wine. They make the candles shine brighter, the children sing louder, and your wife's sweater a little tighter. In conclusion, Hanukkah Elves make Hanukkah extra-awesome. And we don't even know it. Like I said, secretive folk.
Shlomo was a lonely elf. He lived in a community without many Jewish folks. In fact, there was only one family in Shlomo's town that celebrated Hanukkah, the Nimoys. David and Charlotte Nimoy lived with their two children, Rachel and Samuel, in a little brick house with a multicolored hot air balloon mezuzah by the front door.
While Shlomo scrubbed and scrubbed, the first snow began to fall, and Charlotte was beginning to think about purchasing the candles for Hanukkah. It was only a week away! She went to her closet to check and see if she had purchased candles on sale last year, after the holiday. She hadn't, but Shlomo had already planted a beautiful rainbow-sparkle candle set with the rest of the Nimoy's decorations, complete with a marked-down sale sticker! Charlotte smiled wide, carried the box to the kitchen table, and turned on some holiday music. She started to unwrap her decorations.
Shlomo was startled out of his reverie by the sound of jangling alarms. He ran to his computer, where he saw on the screen that Charlotte was opening up her box of decorations. Oh no! He wasn't quite finished with the hanukkiot! Consulting his spreadsheets, he determined that this was uncharacteristically early for Charlotte to be decorating. In the past seven years she had waited until approximately three days prior to the holiday before beginning this ritual. He ran back to the pile of hanukkiot, gathered the clean ones (there were four clean menorahs, two that were yet to be scrubbed) and ran to the Nimoys' home.
He peeked in through the kitchen window. Charlotte was gingerly unwrapping a shiny porcelain dreidel. She was singing loudly along with the music, "Not by might and not by power/ but by spirit alone!/ Shall we all live in peeeeeeace!" Her frazzled hair swayed back and forth as she gripped the dreidel like a microphone, eyes closed with passion. Now was Shlomo's chance! He slipped silently in through the window, sneaked the hanukkiot into the box, and scampered back out the window. Quick as a wink!
He watched from the window again. Charlotte had recovered from her moment of stardom and was unwrapping one of the menorahs he'd just returned. It was shaped like a giant red heart, with the candle holders marching over its curvy top. She looked a little confused, but pleased, at the clean, shiny surface that she had not cleaned. "My David must have cleaned it to surprise me! He'll get a special present this year," she said, and smiled wider.
Shlomo grinned and scurried back to his workshop to finish his work.
The reason why Shlomo was so lonely was that Jewish Law mandates only one Hanukkah elf per family per community. So, since the Nimoys were the only family in his community, there could be only one elf. Him. One thing that Shlomo did not know is that David Nimoy's parents were coming to visit for Hanukkah this year. And their elf was on her way as well.
Three days later, a knock came at Shlomo's door. He was busy mixing up special spices to add to the Nimoys' latke mix to make it extra yummy. He glanced at the computer on his way to the door. He could see that the Nimoys were greeting someone warmly. "Huh," he thought. "Someone's come to visit them the same time as me."
Expecting his Hanukkah Elf supervisor, Cranky Dan, he slowly opened the door. There in the doorway, holding her fingers to his race car-shaped mezuzah, was a spunky little elf with bright green eyes and shiny, short brown hair. She wore a purple velvet coat over her royal blue and white dress. She wore a beaded yarmulke with a glittering purple menorah design.
"Hi there!" she waved. "I'm Miriam! My family, the Nimoys, are in town to visit your family. So Dan told me I could stay here!"
"Sh-sh-shalom," said Shlomo. "I'm sorry about the mess. I didn't know you were coming," he gestured for her to come in, "Let me take your coat."
"Thank you," said Miriam, her big green eyes taking in the neat little room. There was a soft blue couch with a dreidel-shaped pillow, a low wooden table with a laptop, a little television, and a table with two chairs. A stack of books rested on one of the chairs. The spices and several bowls lay strewn across the table. Perched in the tiny window was an ancient silver hanukkiah.
Miriam dropped a dark purple suitcase with a rhinestone-encrusted luggage tag and rushed over to the hanukkiah. She picked it up and cradled it. "It's beautiful!" With one finger, she lovingly traced the proud lions that flanked the candle holders. "Hear, O Israel!" was written in blue enamel Hebrew letters across the bottom. She turned to Shlomo, "How old is this? I'm a collector. I'd say it's one hundred years old. Is it real silver? My name is Miriam." she kept talking for a while, going on and on about the beautiful piece, and where she was from (Florida) and her family, the aging Nimoys.
Shlomo just stood there and let her talk. He could still hardly believe that there was another elf, especially a female one, in his home. He muttered one-word answers to most of her questions. The menorah was, indeed, one hundred and twenty-five years old. His name was Shlomo. Yes, he enjoyed latkes very much. He picked up her suitcase and moved towards one of the doors.
"You may sleep in the bedroom. Please excuse me, I'm going to straighten it up a bit." He went into the room. Miriam fluttered about the room. She looked at his DVDs. She poked her nose in his cupboards. She examined the dreidel-shaped pillow. You may think her invasive, but Hanukkah Elves are natural snoops. How else would they be able to study their families closely enough to enhance their holiday? By the time Shlomo returned, she had examined every little inch of his home, and was brewing up a few ideas.
"Please let me know if you need anything during your stay. I'm going to finish my work now, but I'll make dinner later, around seven. Make yourself at home." He returned to the spices at the table. Miriam went into the bedroom and unpacked some of her things. Then she got to work.
On the first night of Hanukkah, the elves were in high gear. They arrived at the house long before sunset. Miriam tidied and dusted under Charlotte's nose. Shlomo added secret spices to the chicken that roasted in the oven. Miriam quieted the hollering children so that the socializing parents weren't annoyed. Shlomo whispered good conversation ideas into their ears to keep things light and interesting. Miriam called forth a gentle snowfall, and increased the volume of the crackling fireplace. Charlotte noted the time, and got up to light the candles. The children came and gathered around the menorah. She had chosen the heart one as the family menorah, even though her favorite smiley face menorah, which she had thought lost, had reappeared a few days ago in a closet.
The extended Nimoy family blessed the candles and sang happy songs. Shlomo and Miriam were hard at work spicing and shimmering and enhancing the moment for them, but Shlomo couldn't help thinking how he wished he could have a family of his own with whom to spend Hanukkah. Miriam kept smiling at him and making jokes. He liked her a lot, and wondered if she had a lot of friends where she was from. Since she was from Florida, he guessed that she had. He just sighed and returned to his busy work.
Later that evening, after the candles had burned down without a spill, the dreidel had been played and everybody spun a "gimel" many times, the latkes had been noshed down with reverence, the sleepy Nimoys said goodnight to each other and went to bed, happy and satisfied. Shlomo and Miriam were exhausted, but when they returned to his little home, Miriam said, "Don't go to bed yet. I have a surprise for you!"
She brought out a packet of gleaming silver menorah candles! "Let's celebrate Hanukkah together!" she smiled at him. Weary, he smiled back. He couldn't help but catch her enthusiasm. They lit the candles together.
Then, out of her case, she brought a silver platter filled with piping hot latkes and colorful donuts! "Let's eat! You must be famished!" she said. Eagerly, Shlomo enjoyed the delicious food, the best he'd ever eaten.
Then, after they were full and Shlomo was beginning to think about bed again, Miriam had one more surprise for him. She pulled out a gift! A small box, wrapped in silver paper, tied with a purple velvet ribbon, and a little gift tag with his name on it. Shlomo was speechless. "This is too much, Miriam! I don't know what to say." He touched the velvet bow. He had never received a Hanukkah present before. Miriam looked shy. "Where I'm from, everyone gives a present on the first night of Hanukkah," she said softly.
Shlomo opened the present. Inside was a mezuzah, purple and glittering in the shape of a heart. He looked at Miriam, confused. She blushed. "It's my mezuzah. From my house in Florida. My family is coming to live with your family, so I'm moving here, and… well... I thought…" she trailed off.
Shlomo smiled. "Why don't you stay here?" he asked her. Miriam grinned and threw her arms around him. "Oh Shlomo! That would be so wonderful!"
And it was. They worked hard together for the rest of Hanukkah, and for many Hanukkot thereafter. They got along well, and Shlomo was never lonely again.
The End
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