Leah’s Lucky Hanukkah

It was the coldest December Leah could remember.

Leah was an orphan. She lived with other girls in an old building. It had rusty pipes and peeling paint.

Each day, people would come by to see the girls.

“Do you think this Hanukkah we will get a family?” one of the girls asked Leah.

“If we are lucky,” Leah said. Leah wished for a family too.

On the first day of Hanukkah, a woman named Rachel came to see Leah.

Leah was reading to a little girl when Rachel said “Hello.”

Leah stood and smoothed her dress. Rachel smiled.

Rachel looked deep into Leah’s eyes.

“Hanukkah celebrates light in the darkness,” said Rachel. “Kindness is a form of light. We must always be kind to each other.”

Then she took a present from her bag.